Re-creating my life

The four years of high school would soon be over. I hadn’t wanted to attend high school at all. It seemed like a waste of time. Why couldn’t I go straight from eighth grade to college? But my parents told me it wasn't an option.  Somehow, I’d survived the four years. Four years of feeling like a misfit, walking the halls between classes to get to the next class. Halls lined with football players in their letterman’s jackets scoping out the girls, catcalling, making comments and laughing. I was so aware of my glasses and my studious, bookish look. But I'd shown them. It was straight-A’s all the way through. Except for one class, that is.  Bowling . I’d signed up for it my freshman year. The class met at 7 am at Cloverleaf Bowl. My thinking was that I could get P.E. out of the way early in the day, and have an excuse to be on my own and out of the house in the morning hours. I felt so grown up and independent, taking the city bus to the bowling alley three times a week. I never...

  So let us harken back to yesteryear and make ourselves some Christmas cheer...  What is mead? Mead is a fermented drink made from honey. There are different versions of it, with various spices, but the basic components are honey, water, and yeast. The alcohol percentage can range from 3.5% to 23%, depending on how it's prepared. Most natural mead tops out at around 3.5%. A brief history I first tried mead at a Renaissance Pleasure Faire, back in 1990. As an English major, I had read about the beverage in various Old English texts such as Beowulf. In that ancient story, there was a building dedicated to the drinking of mead, the Mead-Hall that was named Heorot, where a feast for the warrior Beowulf was thrown after he slayed the dragon Grendel. Here’s an excerpt: ‘Hrothgar’s spokesman spoke thus: ‘And may the Almighty Father reward you well...May He guard and keep you safe in His grace. You’ve brought it about that all people everywhere on earth will forever honor you...