I bet Abraham Lincoln would have practiced mindful drinking, if he drank. And the reason I mention it is because Barbara asked me to write something about Abraham Lincoln so she could do an illustration of him. From what I've read, Lincoln was a teetotaler, and in fact spoke against it at a Washington Temperance Society gathering early in his career. But that did not stop him from saying, when informed that General Grant drank whiskey while leading his troops, "Find out the name of the brand so I can give it to my other generals." He also said, according to a magnet I saw in a bookstore, "It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues." Which is why when Barbara and I get together on his birthday to have a quiet cosmo in his honor, I'll know he'd have approved.
5 comments:
I fear you can only be mindful about drinking until drinking makes you mindless.
Very good point.
Thanks for commenting, and special thanks for commenting without using contractions. I do not know why certain punctuation marks come across in the comment column looking like the what comic strips use instead of curse words.
xom
There is a sign at the microbrewery in Wilmington VT (sorry I forgot the name, the hat is in Posy's car) that reads, "Remember, beer has food value, but food has no beer value!"
Words to live by, and easily translated into "Cosmospeak."
Also, since you didn't like "Anglopolitan," how about "Sloan Gin Buzz?" It's a riff on Sloan Square, a hipster site in London and the sorry old drink "Sloe Gin Fizz."
Really, ladies, how creative do you want me to be??
P.S.
Wait for the photo of Posy quaffing the night the electricity went out. OOOOOOHHHH Mama! I'll send it to Barbara from my cell phone!
I went to a lecture on the history of McSorley's Ale House the other night (it was even duller than it sounds).
In perhaps the sole interesting part of this torture, Mr. Lincoln came up. Some believe he stopped at McSorley's after his Cooper Union speech. The historian-lecturer-brainkiller said this was highly unlikely, but also pointed out that in the 1800s, being a non-drinker might only mean you didn't drink hard liquor. So Abraham's teetotaling remains a question for the ages.
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