A Different Drummer

Finally, after what seemed like years of winter, we had a day of summer. It almost never happens in San Francisco, but on this day I swear it was about a hundred degrees. We were in the full sun, digging, clipping, pruning, and planting as though it might never be sunny again.

I was concentrating on pulling dead growth from my yucca when Mike said in all earnestness, "you know, I don't think the Beatles would have had nearly the impact if they had kept Pete Best. Ringo made the difference for them, don't you think?"

Mike's eyes had all the sincerity of a dog trying to nab a snack. Guess I'd really never thought about it in quite that way.

My fuschia was wilted and my succulents were getting way too much sun. Mike was trying to find the right place in the yard for that giant fern that had adopted us many homes ago. Pete Best? "What about if The Beatles had found Keith Moon before he found The Who?" I asked.

Mike shook his head. "Sometimes," he thought to himself, "she just doesn't understand."

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photo, l-r: Keith Moon, Pete Best, and Ringo Starr