The Cigar Life

 Saturday, June 20, 2026 Asylum 13's are my current favorite cigar. Lit one up on this Saturday afternoon.  Smoked it in the yard.  These take a little more than 2 hours.  They're well worth the time commitment.  Listened to my most favorite Sarah Vaughan album while relaxing. 

 Saturday, June 13, 2026 Lit up this afternoon. Big, fat Asylum 13. Which is one of my favorites.  Temperature was in the lower 70s. The humidity was low and it was comfortable enough when the sun was out but then the clouds moved in.  So I went back inside and grabbed my leather jacket. It started to rain so I moved into the garage.  This size Asylum takes about a couple hours to smoke.  Listened to Lush Life - The Music of Billy Strayhorn . By Joe Henderson. 

Sunday, May 5, 2024 Absolutely gorgeous day. Seventy-one degrees. Lit up a Macanudo which was beautifully mild. My On the Rocks pre-made Old Fashioned was a perfect compliment.                         A Macanudo was the first premium cigar I ever bought.  I was 18 years old and I believe I made the purchase at a cigar store in Southdale.  Dale sat outside with me for a bit and we got a kick out of the neighbor kids playing on their jungle gym. Listened to Oscar Peterson. 

 Sunday, March 3, 2024 Old Fashioned at brunch today. This is my last cocktail of the weekend. Sorry I won't be having one with my cigar this afternoon.  The temperature cracked 70 today. Beautiful although very windy.                        Dale went off on a bike ride and I lit up an Oliva. It was fantastic. For backyard jazz I put on some Thad Jones.  Quite a beautiful weekend and I fit in FIVE cigars. They were heaven. 

Thursday, September 21, 2023 Nice day at work however yesterday was tough. Minor annoyances yet there were seeming 10 million of them and they all added up. Dale had a pretty rotten day as well. I've been pretty successful limiting my alcohol this month, usually once a week and only on the weekends, but today called for playing my emergency you-need-a-cocktail card. Was very reasonable and had a pre-made/store bought Old Fashioned. Didn't finish so I had a little bit left over for today.  Lit up in the backyard.  And finished yesterday's Old Fashioned.  Listened to an eclectic mix of music.  And relaxed. This past weekend was light jacket weather however it has warmed up a bit since then.  Thank God tomorrow is Friday. Overall good week except for yesterday. Productive yet exhausting. That's teaching for you. 

Friday, June 16, 2023 Today's the first day of summer vacation and I'm celebrating with a Hoyo de Monterrey. What a year. It wasn't a bad one but it one of the more challenging one's I've had. I switched grade levels and the post-covid challenges continue to be much greater than I could have ever suspected. All that said, I'm grateful for the break and today is progressing splendidly.  The weather is beautiful. It's a perfect Minneapolis summer day.  And I, of course, listened to lots of music while smoking my cigar. 

Saturday, April 8, 2023 Had Mike over this afternoon for cigars. I met Mike way back in junior high school. I think it was in Spanish class. We were friendly acquaintances but not chummy. We reconnected on Facebook back in the late aughts when people our age were getting on Facebook. I invited him and his wife over for dinner and we've been hanging out ever since.  I had an Oliva on hand. We lit up in the garage and them smoked the cigars in the yard.  We listened to Oscar Peterson.  It's good to be outside again. It was good to see Mike and I let him know it. It had been since New Year's Eve.  Dale ordered Chinese for us and we watched Johnny Guitar. It's a camp classic and I think Mike quite liked it.  And Mike brought over some seltzer.