On the third night of Hanukkah a photographer gave to me..

... an awakening to the pleasures of Gin and Tonic.

Who knew?

My only experience with Gin was back in art school, when, under the influence of Quadrophenia-era Who mythology, I tried my hand at Gilbey's.  On the rocks.  

I swore I could feel brain cells being incinerated with every sip.  Tasted like ass, too.

Then last night, during the latkes and before the lighting of the candles, my photographer friend Zara said "Oh, you've really got to try one".  It was her house (okay, her and her mother and brother's house), and so how could I refuse?

As we sipped Zara quipped "Ahh, the perfect drink for colonizing the world, eh?", and how true that was.  Or for just relaxing at the club after a rousing game of quoits with the fellows.

Still, the drink was a marvel or refreshment, all limey and tonicy and delicious.  Now I get it.  

Thanks, Zara.  Summer and my liver will never be the same.

And Happy Hanukkah to all.

In other news...went to  Renga for some last minute shopping today and heard Alex Chilton's great song "Free Again".  Thought it was Big Star (must still be fuzzy from the Gin & Tonic), but I was wrong.   We met the folks who own the place and they are the kind of lovely, smart, funny, creative and committed people that make this part of the world so inspiring.  

You never step into the same river twice.

South Fork of the Yuba River, 2008.

Bronwen Dickey reflects powerfully on the legacy her father's book "Deliverance" has on the Chatooga River.  In "The Last Wild River" (Oxford American Magazine #61), Ms. Dickey writes of what our insatiable desire for access to "nature" as adventure/entertainment does to both the land and communities involved.  Does the government have a right to restrict access to public lands in an attempt to preserve a sense of "wilderness"?  What is the impact of one person on a landscape?  Ten people?  Ten thousand people?  

Does an area having its "wild"-ness admired in publication immediately start the process of its destruction?  The people around the Chatooga undoubtedly prospered in the short term from tourist revenue, and were happy to do so.  Some thirty years later, disgusted by the influx of "outsiders" insisting on what's best for the river, not to mention having to routinely fish out dead whitewater enthusiasts, there is plenty of resentment among longtime residents who used and most assuredly abused the river for their own ends.   

Ms. Dickey's account is certainly good reading for those interested in the nuts-and-bolts aspect of our collective relationship with "the outdoors".

By the way, The Oxford American is one of my favorite magazines, especially their annual Music Issue (out now at very selected bookstores) .  It always includes a great cd of Southern music from every genre and period.   This year, they're going nuts with a 2-cd set, so you really need to get your copy NOW!  

Additional viewing:  Werner Herzog's "Encounters At The End of the World".  Amazing stuff, and who knew that Henry Kaiser is a cinematographer?