Footprints in the Snow

“I made a snowman and my brother knocked it down and I knocked my brother down and then we had tea.”

~Dylan Thomas

Dylan Thomas is one of my favorite poets, if not my favorite of all time, and…

If one was to replace “tea” with “beer” within Thomas’ brief passage, it would describe perfectly the relationship between the seven Mahoney boys in our family.

We lost the oldest, Phil, some years ago, and Tuesday April 5th at 2:45 P.M., we lost the second oldest brother, John, to complications brought on by cancer some five months prior to his 62nd birthday.

We will miss him greatly, but in his honor, we will continue to build snowmen, knock each other down, drink afterwards, and remember the two gone before us by following their footprints in the snow.

Here’s to brother John, and as always…

Cheers!!

Sunday Morning Church Disservice: Roll Out The Pumpkin!!

It's going to be a cool but sunny Sabbath in Bagwine, Ohio today. I will of course, from 11-7 today be passing out the libation to a myriad of thirsty, um...Bagwiners.

As it should be.

And after my shift in the Beer Mine I shall return home, sip some beer, and as I do every Sunday evening catch up on reading all of my favorite bloggers. Ahhhhh.

Of course, yesterday was filled with much more excitement than what I shall be experiencing today and this evening. Yesterday, Ryno and I attended a family Oktoberfest hosted by brother Marty and his lovely wife.

As Ryno and I approached the palatial estate, which has a pond and room for a pony, we saw that the house was decorated with the joy that is Autumn...

Prior to running into Marty or his wife, Ryno and I were greeted by a celebrity host...The Travelocity Roaming Gnome!!


We proceeded down the walk way to the East porch. Pretty, no? And look. I think I spy another famous attendee ready to celebrate Oktoberfest with us.


Holy Cow!! Marty was unable to get Pope Benny to stop by, but by golly, St. Francis knew that to miss this autumnal soiree would be a sin!!


Mmmmmmmm. Beer....And while this beer looks lonely, trust me...There were soon to be plenty of beers happily co-mingling in the stomachs of one and all.


Time to fire up the grill. Here's Marty doing what he does best...playing with his meat. Whenever Marty plays with his meat the results are always delicious.

Of course, being the legendary athletes that all in my family are, we had to have some competitive activity. The game of choice? Pumpkin Tossing!! The rules at hand...


Well the rules call for three rings to be made for the target area. If we could find the can of orange spray paint that Marty bought for the event, we could paint them. Let's see, where could it be..?

Oh here it is...in the spot that Marty keeps all of his highly flammable materials...Next to the fire pit!!


I had Ryno grab the hot can of paint and we laid out the target area...


Fun was had by all. Especially since Marty hooked up his Karakoe machine and had me provide hurtful color commentary during each participant's attempt to hit the target.

Of course, everyone was a winner because this was the view that overlooked the target area that we were seeing while standing in Marty's backyard.


However, there was a view that we was even prettier than that. Ryno caught the majestic sight on the Bagwine camera. Ladies and gentlemen, five of the seven Mahoney brothers. Don't we look hot!?


Okay, perhaps we look like a basketball team called,"The Lollipop Gang" which plays every Tuesday and Thursday in the Over 40 Gay Men's Basketball League.

But nonetheless...Thanks to Marty and his wife, we all got together and a good time was had by all.

And that, is what Oktoberfest is all about.

Amen, and Amen.

Have a wonderful Sunday, and as always...

Cheers!!