One word to describe our Friday foray into the Gulf: heavenly. Not sure if I mentioned that the daylong kayak rental was among my birthday presents from CCB this year–I just had to pick a date, and since my birthday is early August, we knew we’d have to wait until the weather lifted. And my [...]

  Is it worse than usual this year—that sudden arrival of the holiday season? Seems like everyone’s talking about how it can’t possibly be Thanksgiving yet, and yet, here it is.   Everybody notes impending stressors of the holiday season (which, ironically, stem from the pressure to, like, enjoy the holidays). And though there are [...]

I’m trying to figure out how to transition my usual weekly ramblings into a focused, health-oriented blog. But…no dice this week: It’s all beer and cheese.   Mr. Beery’s often hosts beer-and-cheese pairings, but last week’s twist–grilled cheese sandwiches–had CCB drooling in anticipation for weeks. Alas, it turns out, it wasn’t just the anticipation: CCB [...]

  The office of the editors here at the mag is quiet and sunlit, on the second floor with one wall of windows overlooking Pineapple Avenue. Sometimes over the tappity-tapping of the keyboards, we hear the conversations of passersby on the sidewalk below. Everything’s been more hectic the past week or so with the Chalk [...]

Not sure this pumpkin was worth the two fingers I lopped off while carving… When Mike met Amy Beerslinger Bud in his usual position. This is a great photo for playing "Spot the Zombie." So that was that, and now they’re playing Christmas music. It’s amusing to me that, instead of getting its own stand-alone [...]