I always laugh about going to New Orleans for an event called Swingfest. I know it’s golf, my friends know it’s golf, but still…whoever came up with that name has a cleaner mind than me. Though that doesn’t narrow the crowd down much.

I’m mid-trip at a layover in Houston, at Houston Hobby. It’s a pleasant little airport, clean and compact. A string quartet playing in the central hall. Decent food, though expensive. Twenty dollar burritos, fifteen dollar draft beers. I’ll wait to get to NOLA for a nosh.

Meanwhile, while killing time at the airport I’ve made the arrangements for our 2023 olive harvest. We pick olives on 11/8 and get them pressed for oil on 11/9. Exciting! I hope to have about a ton of olives, which will produce 15-30 gallons of oil. That’s a bit more than we use in a year, so we either find a retail outlet for a few gallons or give friends and family lots of holiday gifts. Just-pressed oil is like nothing most folks have ever tasted. Fresh, green, buttery and herbal. Great stuff.

I’m not much of a farmer, but I like the end result. The combo of fresh oil and great wine is worth all the work and money. If you’re in Socal those dates, come by and help pick. (We pay in oil and take frequent wine breaks. A pretty good gig.)