Reading Ronda's blog this afternoon (http://saenz2007.blogspot.com/) I was reminded of a couple of tall glasses of beer Rene and I enjoyed last Saturday in some upscale shopping complex in Tokyo. Rene chose it; a German brew labeled Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse. What a damn fine beer. Melba took a generous gulp from my glass and her eyes lit up. "Wow!" she pronounced, and the girl has a more discriminating palate than I. We'll have to track that label down once we get an opportunity back in the States.In that instant the beer brought to mind the shift I have begun to make in my psyche over the switch from waking up to a South Texas landscape in a few days, rather that the one I have grown accustomed to in Japan over the last few months. I have imbibed precious little beer since I arrived here. Back home I only drank a couple on a Sunday afternoon at the Ranch or a couple during the week with my compadres, but never alone. Here in Japan I have been separated from both my like-minded male friends and the familiar comforts of the Ranch. I thank God that on a few occasions Rene and I could shoot the breeze over a couple of cold ones.
