Harmonicas and Virgins At the end of every harvest I’m as changed as the color of the hardwood trees in New England. Every trace of any capacity I once held to bring any enterprise to fruition has been spent, and I’m ready to fall. Ready to spin out over the graying and blustery landscape, to […]

Original Sin I think it might’ve been Hallowe’en morning when I first noticed the persimmon tree in my neighbor’s yard, its dazzling orange globes suspended amid its broad and whispery leaves. It was such a beautiful morning anyway, and I was on my way, on foot, up towards Codornices Park and the canyons beyond, from […]

Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood A new wineshop opened recently, just a few minutes walk from my front door. The shop is called Vintage Berkeley, and, appropriately, it’s on Vine Street, just across the street from the place I walk to each morning for espresso. Interestingly, Vintage Berkeley is situated in the old East Bay […]

Whiskey Before Breakfast(And other songs of the itinerant…) So many times when I go out on the road to sell wine it means rising in darkness to catch a flight in order to reach my destination by dinnertime, even if it’s only from Oakland to Columbus, Ohio. I made exactly such a journey a few […]

Can’t Forget the Motor City As Detroit finally came into view, from my seat just in front of the wing, I got a glimpse, not so very far to the East, of the thunderstorm system that had kept us at Chicago/Midway for four and one-half hours past our original scheduled departure time. I’d had it […]

First Bird Sometimes we live in the country, sometimes we stay in town; Sometimes we’re not who we think we are, when things come tumblin down… I been out beyond the blue horizon, where the water tastes like wine, Aw, but you know I can get just as lonesome, either side of the line… —Steve […]

Lo, How a Rose In the first dark and quiet hours of Good Friday, April 9th, I awoke from a variety of minor discomforts. There wasn’t anything unusual about that; I’ve got a cranky back, my shoulders and knees get stiff from lying too long on one side or the other. One’s bladder always needs […]

The Miles Could Tell a Million Tales Strange, the little miracles that rocket through our nervous systems these days. From the passenger seat of a Saturn wagon passing first North, then West through the outskirts of St. Louis, I project my voice, via cellphone, to the waiting ear of a driver in a late model […]

Diamonds In The Rough I get a little confused sometimes about what to eat. Yesterday I had lunch at Zuni Cafe, in San Francisco, (whose Chef-owner, Judi Rodgers, has just been awarded the James Beard award for Best Restaurateur, for, I think, the 2nd time) while I was out selling wine, and I had Caesar […]

The Fugitive/The One-Armed Man I’d like to settle down, but they won’t let me– A fugitive must be a rolling stone. Down every road there’s always one more city; I’m on the run, the highway is my home. The Fugitive (Merle Haggard) Sometimes we’re not who we think we are, When things come tumbling down. […]