Today, August 21, is the Feast Day of Pope Saint Pius X.Born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto on June 2, 1835, in Riese, Venetia, then part of the Austrian Empire (now in Italy), he served as pope from 1903 until his death in 1914. Pius X is remembered for hi…

The AJ Fernandez Blue Cheese is a cigar I’ve been wanting to try for some time, and finally picked one up last week during a visit to Slow Burn Cigar Co. Instead of the resting period I typically give new acquisitions, I smoked this one just a few days…

I’ve been married for 12,785 days
How it started 35 years ago

How it’s going

During our visit to Chicago earlier this summer, I picked up a bottle of Starlight Distillery Cigar Batch Bourbon, Batch 0003. Other than recognizing the distillery name, I knew little about it. Starlight products are not available at Virginia’s state-…

Birding photos from Dutch Gap on Aug 15, 2026
My best bird photo from this morning is a dragonfly (Eastern Pondhawk, I think).

Least Sandpiper

Green Heron

Red-headed Woodpecker. It’s a juvenile, so its head is not actually red yet.

Today, August 14, we commemorate the Feast Day of the Martyrs of Otranto. These faithful Christians were victims of a brutal conquest during the Ottoman invasion of the Italian city of Otranto in 1480. After a two-week siege, the city fell on August 11…

As I prepared to head out to the screen porch for an evening smoke and sip, I was in the mood for an Old Fashioned. I quickly mixed the drink right in the glass and dropped in a large ice cube. In the interest of brevity, I skipped grabbing an orange p…

Last week I finally found time to drive out to Slow Burn Cigar Co. in Remington. Travel and a busy schedule had conspired to keep me away for more than a month. I was excited to get back and see what was new on the shelves.The Comfortable Lounge at Slo…

We’ve experienced a very wet summer this year, with more days of rain than sunshine. Or at least that’s how it has felt of late, even if we’re told the region is still rated “extremely dry.” For my part, I know there are new washouts in the yard that w…

Lately, as I’ve looked back over many of my cigar and beverage pairings, I’ve noticed an unintended trend. Many — if not most — of the cigars I’ve been enjoying recently had been resting in my humidor for at least a year, and often closer to two. That …