Georgia, the US state, not the country, although I hear it's a nice place. Not Atlanta, but in the south part, the boondocks.
I just joined this forum today and thought I'd make an introduction. I teach high school English and college Latin and do a little farming on the side. Also, I'm engaged to a lovely second-grade teacher. She and I work at the same school.
Strange how things come to be sometimes, and for a few weeks I've been writing a story that may never see the light of day. It's up over 30,000 words. But, to wit, there's the main character, a 16-year old young man, and then his dad, whom the young man relies upon for a great many things he faces as he is becoming a man. The dad is not unlike me, although he's a little taller and more muscular, of course, and he played college baseball, which I didn't do. The dad smokes a pipe, and no idea why I decided to include that in as a part of it, but the dad started out smoking cigars with his two best friends (twins) when they were in high school. He still smokes cigars sometimes, too, but he also has smoked cigarettes for quite some time as he followed the family tradition like his dad and dad's dad. He wants to quit them since he and his son lift weights as a part of baseball training they do together, and the dad has found he is winded more quickly than in his younger days. He regrets somewhat that he let this oldest son start smoking cigars with him, but things happen. However, the dad has never been one of those cigarette smokers who inhale so very deeply and thoroughly that they nearly exhale nearly nothing, which is probably why he, at 48, can still bench, squat, deadlift, etc. with little trouble and is still a rather strong fellow with a decent physique.
So to add some verisimilitude to the story, I was researching pipe tobacco flavors on various sites, and the next thing I knew, I'd found a Lorenzetti bent-apple pipe I liked. Next thing I knew, I'd ordered it along with two types aromatic pipe tobacco and a Czech tool. Vanilla and cherry may be trite, but that is what I picked. It is all arriving tomorrow. Never having smoked a pipe before, I am sure it will be a learning curve, but I have done some research. It will be something new.
It is hard to explain, but I have gotten tired of smoking cigarettes after a fashion, something I've done for too long now, maybe over 30 years, although I have never done it in excess and don't inhale deeply, mostly just taking it into the mouth and sometimes exhaling through the nose. I, too, just turned 48, and like the dad in the story, I have gotten back into weightlifting for over two years now, losing a good 30 pounds in the process, and I am enjoying the journey of becoming jacked old guy. Yet desire oftentimes triumphs over reason. I never have been able to reconcile how I think it is a good idea to finish lifting in the early morning and then smoke, but that is what happens. I have the morning ritual of coffee and smoking that is inured into my behavioral pattern. I'm think ready to move away from the cigarettes, although I've just come in off the front porch from smoking one to sit down at the computer, so we will see how this works out. I may not pull it off. I go all day at work without smoking, but then, before my foot hits the ground at home, I'm lighting one. Add to that that the future mother-in-law, future brother-in-law and several others I'm around a good bit smoke cigarettes like proverbial sifters. The sifter may be a regional term, but I have always heard it. I picture a flour sifter and the dust it produces while vigorously sifting. At one time, I had developed a taste for Macanudos, and at times, I've chewed tobacco, but it is so messy; the juice gets in my beard. I could probably get away with chewing tobacco at school. I noticed the softball coach goes around with a big wad of tobacco in his cheek sometimes at break, and one day one of the football assistant coaches asked me if I had any chewing tobacco. My first reply was that I didn't think we could do that at school, but apparently you can. I told him I didn't have any. It all comes down to a nicotine addiction, obviously.
But, I thought I'd give the pipe a go. Whenever I was in elementary school, I can remember the headmaster of the school smoking a pipe and the wonderful smell of the pipe smoke. It is so unlike cigar or cigarette smoke. I grew up with my dad smoking cigars in the house and everywhere else, and a grandad who was a cigarette smoker par excellence, and I guess that is why I fell into it all since I was de facto smoking from birth onwards. I never have been one to smoke indoors, but as pleasing as pipe smoke is, I might just try it. It seems like it would be highly relaxing to have a pipe and sit back in the recliner and watch a little Star Trek.
I just joined this forum today and thought I'd make an introduction. I teach high school English and college Latin and do a little farming on the side. Also, I'm engaged to a lovely second-grade teacher. She and I work at the same school.
Strange how things come to be sometimes, and for a few weeks I've been writing a story that may never see the light of day. It's up over 30,000 words. But, to wit, there's the main character, a 16-year old young man, and then his dad, whom the young man relies upon for a great many things he faces as he is becoming a man. The dad is not unlike me, although he's a little taller and more muscular, of course, and he played college baseball, which I didn't do. The dad smokes a pipe, and no idea why I decided to include that in as a part of it, but the dad started out smoking cigars with his two best friends (twins) when they were in high school. He still smokes cigars sometimes, too, but he also has smoked cigarettes for quite some time as he followed the family tradition like his dad and dad's dad. He wants to quit them since he and his son lift weights as a part of baseball training they do together, and the dad has found he is winded more quickly than in his younger days. He regrets somewhat that he let this oldest son start smoking cigars with him, but things happen. However, the dad has never been one of those cigarette smokers who inhale so very deeply and thoroughly that they nearly exhale nearly nothing, which is probably why he, at 48, can still bench, squat, deadlift, etc. with little trouble and is still a rather strong fellow with a decent physique.
So to add some verisimilitude to the story, I was researching pipe tobacco flavors on various sites, and the next thing I knew, I'd found a Lorenzetti bent-apple pipe I liked. Next thing I knew, I'd ordered it along with two types aromatic pipe tobacco and a Czech tool. Vanilla and cherry may be trite, but that is what I picked. It is all arriving tomorrow. Never having smoked a pipe before, I am sure it will be a learning curve, but I have done some research. It will be something new.
It is hard to explain, but I have gotten tired of smoking cigarettes after a fashion, something I've done for too long now, maybe over 30 years, although I have never done it in excess and don't inhale deeply, mostly just taking it into the mouth and sometimes exhaling through the nose. I, too, just turned 48, and like the dad in the story, I have gotten back into weightlifting for over two years now, losing a good 30 pounds in the process, and I am enjoying the journey of becoming jacked old guy. Yet desire oftentimes triumphs over reason. I never have been able to reconcile how I think it is a good idea to finish lifting in the early morning and then smoke, but that is what happens. I have the morning ritual of coffee and smoking that is inured into my behavioral pattern. I'm think ready to move away from the cigarettes, although I've just come in off the front porch from smoking one to sit down at the computer, so we will see how this works out. I may not pull it off. I go all day at work without smoking, but then, before my foot hits the ground at home, I'm lighting one. Add to that that the future mother-in-law, future brother-in-law and several others I'm around a good bit smoke cigarettes like proverbial sifters. The sifter may be a regional term, but I have always heard it. I picture a flour sifter and the dust it produces while vigorously sifting. At one time, I had developed a taste for Macanudos, and at times, I've chewed tobacco, but it is so messy; the juice gets in my beard. I could probably get away with chewing tobacco at school. I noticed the softball coach goes around with a big wad of tobacco in his cheek sometimes at break, and one day one of the football assistant coaches asked me if I had any chewing tobacco. My first reply was that I didn't think we could do that at school, but apparently you can. I told him I didn't have any. It all comes down to a nicotine addiction, obviously.
But, I thought I'd give the pipe a go. Whenever I was in elementary school, I can remember the headmaster of the school smoking a pipe and the wonderful smell of the pipe smoke. It is so unlike cigar or cigarette smoke. I grew up with my dad smoking cigars in the house and everywhere else, and a grandad who was a cigarette smoker par excellence, and I guess that is why I fell into it all since I was de facto smoking from birth onwards. I never have been one to smoke indoors, but as pleasing as pipe smoke is, I might just try it. It seems like it would be highly relaxing to have a pipe and sit back in the recliner and watch a little Star Trek.
