The Power of Beer

I continue to be amazed by the power of beer!  I've told you in the past how generous and caring this community of  home brewers, that we now consider family, can be.   I wish you could see and understand how diverse this group is and how supportive they are of each other.  It is an interesting bunch to say the least and I love them all.

A few weeks ago one of our brew buddies posted that he was going to be a part of the Walk for Autism in honor of his daughter.  Like they always do, the brew club decided they would support the effort and contribute what they could to the cause.  Hubby and I put our heads together to figure out how we could contribute.  Hubby came up with a great idea.

One of our favorite hangouts, Brewmasters Bar and Grill, hosts Homebrew Humpday one Wednesday each month. The way it works is a home brewer donates his home made beer and donations are collected for charity.  AWESOME!  Hubby decided this is what we would do to help the cause and we put the word out.

Hubby took 10 gallons - yep - 10 gallons of his now famous and award winning home brew.  The first keg was tapped at 6:00 and by 8:00 the second keg was kicked.  That's 10 gallons of beer gone in two hours! Needless to say the response was overwhelming.  We couldn't have imagined such a great crowd.  The best part is we raised over $450 for the Autism Society.  How crazy is that?!?

Beer is there in good times and bad.  Beer brings people together and sometimes can tear us apart.  Beer is there when we need it most and sometimes when we don't.  Beer has let many paths cross that may never have otherwise.  Beer is a means for us to show generosity and support for each other.  

Beer does not judge.  Beer is good!

This may sound crazy, but I know my life if fuller and richer because of the power of beer.

Change is Good

Rush hour after a long day with a pretty sunset, just a shame my phone doesn't take better photos.

So I mentioned in my last post I had changed  jobs. I am still doing the same type of work but for a different organization.  I think I have shared in the past how stressful my old job had become.  The problem wasn't necessarily the work but instead the environment.  No direction, no leadership and zero morale made it a hard place to be.  The place had just worn me down.  I had been there for 25 years.  I grew up in the place.  My children were born and raised there, my parents died there.  The place was or still is, in some way,  my home.  I hated to leave, I didn't really want to leave, but I felt like the time had come for me to make a change.  

My new job is great.  I really enjoy the folks I work with.  There is a lot of work to be done there and there is some stress but it is all good.  It is very different but a good different.  I never saw myself in a different place but am glad I made the decision to make a move.  Change is good.

So this week I will be helping with a beer competition.  I will be serving the judges crackers and water to cleanse their palettes between tastings.  Ha!  I think it will be fun.  I've never been involved with the judges before so it will be interesting to see how things work.  Piedmont Brewers Cup competition is this weekend and I'm hoping Hubby will bring home a ribbon!

Missed this!

Boy have I missed my blog!  I've missed everything about it; the writing, creating, thinking, picture taking and you.  I hope you are well and have had a good summer.  I  hate to see summer come to an end.  There is a certain feeling of freedom about summer.  Not sure what it is but I feel like I'm not restricted to just work and chores.  None of that really changes throughout the year but summer just feels different.  I love being outside, seeing the world full of color and spending evenings on the deck.  Saturday we had a typical early October day, about 85 degrees.  Today it is 48 and pouring rain.  As I've said before - gotta love NC weather.

Lots of things happening on the beer front.  Casktoberfest was last week at Big Boss Brewery.  We had fun with our brew buddies and tried some interesting beers.  Some were better than others and we enjoyed trying them all.  Hubby entered competition beers for the Piedmont Brewers Cup coming up in a couple of weeks.  I can hardly wait to see how he does.  He's been brewing and working on some new recipes.  I'll let you know what he comes up with.

Not much happening on the knitting front here.  Not sure why.  I guess I've been sewing a little and looking a lot at Pinterest for inspiration.  I've been thinking a lot about things to do for Christmas gifts.  Hopefully I will have a break through soon and the creative juices will start flowing. My buddy Kathy did send me a knit pattern to test that I am going to start working on soon.  I will have to share her blog with you.

Let's see - since I last blogged, which was forever ago, a lot of things have happened.  I changed jobs!  That is worthy of its own post one day so I think I will hold on to that.  Little Girl is a senior in high school - that makes my heart hurt a little so we won't talk about that today.  Big Girl is loving her job and her little family is fantastic.  Hubby is working away and brewing when he can.  The garden didn't do that well this summer but we got plenty of jalapenos, which is good.  We've had lots of snakes this summer and I have a funny bat story to share.  We still have two crazy cats that cause me lots of headaches some days.  I did one craft show over the summer which was a complete failure. There is nothing really good on television right now since the season for Breaking Bad is over.  Ummm...... that is all I can think of this very moment but I am sure I can come up with more.  I will fill you in on some of the details on a few of these things.  I hope you will check back in soon.

The past week has been one of heartbreak and deep sadness but full of laughs and love.  My dear father-in-law passed away suddenly, somewhat unexpected Saturday morning at his home.  The events of that day are etched in my mind but are also hard to recall.  It was one of those days that you couldn't plan for or predict - he just  passed away.  There was no warning, no call for help, no great suffering -  he just passed away.  Yes, he had been sick for a long time with emphysema and he had been in and out of the hospital over the past few months but still  - he just passed away.  The past week has been hard.  Things had to be done and some things had to be said that were tough.  Lot of tears have been shed but I believe there have been more laughs.  Good memories and love outweigh the pain.

One more thought before I go.  Sometimes all it takes is a kind word from someone we don't really know to get us back to where we need to be.  With that said, I want to say thank you to Diane W.  You were the inspiration I needed to do this today and I thank you.