lummi island wine tasting june 5 ’26
Open Friday from 4-6 pm
a long-ago sunset-moonset
Friday Bread This Week
Dried Cherries and Pecans –A nice rustic loaf from a levain that mixed with a sourdough starter the night before final mixing of the final dough from the levain, bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat, and loaded up with dried cherries and toasted pecans . –$5/loaf
Pan de Cioccolate – Also made with a levain, this delicious chocolate artisan bread is a rich loaf made with bread flour, fresh milled rye flour, honey for sweetness, vanilla and plenty of dark chocolate. – $5/loaf
…and pastry this week…
Rum Raisin Brioche: A delicious brioche dough of eggs, butter and sugar, filled with golden raisins, chunks of almond paste, and a chocolate glaze. – 2/$5
This week’s wine tasting
Chapoutier Belleruche Blanc ’23 France $14
Delicious blend of grenache blanc and roussanne; fragrant and perfumed with a light, grilled-lemon note over ripe melon, and a lingering palate of rich white peach.
MAN Vintners Pinotage ’23 South Africa $14
Aromas of dark coffee beans, red berries, nutmeg, and vanilla spice turning to dark berries and smoky plum; rustic yet silky and juicy, with smooth tannins, balanced acidity, and comforting intensity.
MAN Shiraz ’23 South Africa $16
Aromas of leather, forest floor, and balsamic notes wrapped around a core of red fruit, notes of fresh dried herbs, sweet spice and red currant; medium bodied with juicy mouthfeel, soft tannin, and a lingering finish.
Economics of the Heart: Meanwhile Back on Planet Earth…
it’s all in Our Hands, folks….
Macroeconomics is the theoretical foundation of how economic systems interact, including natural resources, businesses, consumers, workers, transportation networks, government agencies. Microeconomics is the theoretical foundation of how individual economic players (“households”) allocate their time and resources to earn income and exchange it for goods and services in markets.
Every person, household, business, and agency must continually balance their income stream and expenditure stream. When (income > expenditures), savings occurs; and when (expenditures > income), dis-saving occurs. Every purchase is a cost for one party and income for the other; both the buyer and the seller feel better off after each willing exchange.
This particular moment in American history seems curiously driven by the soulless and self-centered greed and cruelty of a handful of extraordinarily wealthy men so devoid of emotional sensitivity they are incapable of feeling empathy, curiosity, or awe at the fact of our very existence together for awhile on this lovely little planet.
With cool resolve and sneering superiority they systematically loot our Federal Treasury, sell our national secrets to our enemies, and take away public assistance for food and health care from our most needy families. Similarly they assault and round up tens of thousands of non-citizens regardless of immigration status, beat them, imprison them in unsafe and unsanitary captivity, or “disappear ” them, never to be heard from again.
The Even Worse news of this moment is the growing understanding that our once-noble country has been successfully boarded and taken firmly into the hands of a strain of emotionless, Borg-like human pirates, devoid of empathy, kindness, personal responsibility, or historical perspective. Perhaps they are driven by what my college roommate described as:
“…there are only so many “good deals” in the world; so the more people you can F**k Over, the more good deals will be left for you!
The apparent unifying Project 2025 intention seems to be to convert the former United States of America into a second-rate, armed, “White Christian” police state where women are essentially owned by their “husbands,” required to carry all conceptions to birth, and barred from higher education or employment outside the home. All facts, whether scientific or historical, will have to conform to conservative Biblical interpretation.
Imagine Winston Churchill thoughtfully puffing his cigar while muttering something like, “Noooo…I don’t think so…”
lummi island wine tasting may 29 ’26
Open Friday from 4-6 pm
the ski trail down from the Moon…??
Friday Bread This Week
Multi Grain – A prefermented portion of the flour, water, salt & yeast is mixed and fermented overnight before mixing with bread flour, fresh milled whole wheat, rye, plus some cornmeal, flax, sunflower and sesame seeds for a bit of crunch and extra flavor.- $5/loaf
Rosemary Olive Oil – Also made with pre-fermented dough. Mixed the next day with bread flour and freshly milled white whole wheat for additional flavor and texture. Fresh rosemary from the garden and olive oil to make for a nice tender crumb and crisp crust. $5/loaf
…and pastry this week…
Traditional Croissants – Made with both a levain and prefermented “old dough – where a portion of the flour, water, salt and yeast is fermented overnight before adding flour, butter, milk and sugar, before being cut and shaped into traditional french croissants. Some people say these are the best they have ever had! –2/$5
This week’s wine tasting
Cannonball Chardonnay ’22 Calif $16
Nose of pear, pineapple, citrus, and stone fruit; medium bodied, smooth palate; polished style with hints of oak; partial malolactic fermentation and lees-stirring adds a pleasing rounded texture.
Idilico Tempranillo ’21 Washington $19
Aromas of leather, forest floor, and balsamic notes wrapped around a core of red fruit, notes of fresh dried herbs, sweet spice and red currant; medium bodied with juicy mouthfeel, soft tannin, and a lingering finish.
Catena Malbec’23 Argentina $ 16
Leads with an elegantly perfumed, juicy bouquet accented with turned-earth aromas; precise, vibrant texture, and high-toned finish with a savory, sturdy core.
Economics of the Heart: Republican Parodies of “Masculinity”
As a seasoned combat veteran and oyster farmer who speaks plainly and directly, Maine’s Graham Platner* holds indisputable credentials as a “man’s man.” He is running against incumbent Susan Collins for US Senate in this year’s election. At the moment he is leading her in some polls.
Platner’s candidacy comes at a particularly interesting political moment after decades of nonstop Republican chest-pounding have expended so much political and $$ capital defining themselves as “Real Men,” which they seem to define as ignorant loudmouths like the Tweetster and the personal, post-integrity, and intelligence-challenged servants in his Cabinet.
Charlie Kirk made himself famous — and, sadly, a target– as the leader of a movement designed at least in part to demoralize young men about their prospects in today’s world. His mission was to convince them that Real Masculinity meant marriage to a stay-at-home housewife who would have and raise large numbers of his wonderful babies while breadwinner Dad was out in the world every day working hard to make ends meet. That’s just what guys DO, right…?
This sort of eyebrow-raising fictional nostalgia was part and parcel of millennia of religious dominance– and even cruelty–to women and girls over many centuries and cultures. You wonder why the Equal Rights Amendment, even after many years, never became part of Constitution? Because enough men were insecure enough to somehow believe that equal rights for women would somehow eunuch-ize them..? Really??
In a certain way this anti-feminine plank in Republicanism widely touted by Kirk and others encouraged large numbers of young men to embrace their unquestioned right– duty, even– to completely dominate the family household. Women were properly condemned to a sort of imprisonment as obedient household servants who would certainly not need higher education (though these days well over half of college grads are women) making them in a strange way the opposite of the eunuchs of old, whose castration made them safe servants to the family.
In like manner, the anxieties of young Republican men have been purposefully stoked by a mythical image of masculinity as the achievement of successful employment, marriage, and home ownership as their very simplistic “aspirational version of the future.”
Obviously a lot of young male voters fell for this nonsense in 2024, and many are indeed still victim to it. Many harbor a sort of anger at women over it, a crisis of confidence in themselves, or some weird kind of peer pressure. It has the feel of any intentional project of right-wing media, fundamentally sexist, abusive, narrow-minded, and cruel.
At the same time, more and more young voters are waking up to these facts every day. This article in today’s NYT discusses these issues at some length, concluding with data from extensive text conversations with some 35,000 college voters, and inding that… “the Gen Z voters they surveyed cared most about corruption and perceived authoritarianism by Mr. Trump, the economy, and the war on Iran. Respondents were concerned about gas prices felt that Mr. Trump had abandoned his promise to avoid foreign entanglements.” nyt
All of this is being underscored in the US Senate candidacy, in my home State of Maine, of Graham Platner, a “man’s man” if ever we have seen one. A Marine vet of three tours in Iraq, an Army vet of a tour in Afghanistan, a Maine oysterman, and pretty much a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) kind of guy, Platner is running for US Senate against Susan Collins, who for 30 years now has held the seat previously held by Bill Cohen* from ’79-’97.
* curiously I am unable to get links to any photos of Mr. Platner online that I can successfully use on this page.
*personal note: In the 60’s my older sister was a legal secretary in Bill Cohen’s brief pre-political stint as a Bangor lawyer; his brother was my HS classmate; and everyone who ever watched young Bill play basketball way back in the late 50’s came away thinking “how did he DO that…?”
lummi island wine tasting may 15 ’26
Open Friday 4-6 pm
artist’s concept of the surface of Venus…for a long time
the ancient Venusians called it “global warming”…~!
Friday Bread This Week
Jewish Sour Rye: A traditional rye bread made with a rye starter instead of a wheat starter and made with traditional rye flavors, about half rye flour, malt syrup and caraway seeds. Brushed with a cornstarch glaze before and after baking to finish.- $5/loaf
Toasted Pecan & Flax Seed – Made with a rye starter instead of wheat flour for a different flavor profile. The final dough includes bread flour and whole wheat, toasted pecans, flax seeds, and honey. – $5/loaf
…and pastry this week…
Bear Claws! – Danish pastry dough rich in cream, eggs, sugar and butter, rolled out and spread with almond paste, powdered sugar, egg whites, and just a bit of cinnamon…and because bears (and people!) love honey, topped with a honey glaze after baking. –2/$5
This week’s wine tasting
Chapoutier Belleruche Blanc ’23 France $14
Delicious blend of grenache blanc and roussanne; fragrant and perfumed with a light, grilled-lemon note over ripe melon, and a lingering palate of rich white peach.
Chiarlo Le Orme Barbera d’Asti Italy $23
Ruby red with hues of violet; elegant and intense aromas, with notes of fresh cherry and currant; harmonious palate, with good structure and roundness, beautiful savory finish, and a local favorite!
Chehalem Corral Creek Pinot Noir ’21 Oregon $32
Elegant, smooth, complex, and light; bright aromatics of strawberry, cherry, toasted oak and baking spice; long, silky, and juicy palate with soft tannins and lingering flavors of bright red fruit.
Economics of the Heart: Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics
courtesy Star Trek
….Republicans have No Honor!
Every day we are bombarded with speculation about likely outcomes from this year’s Congressional elections. That makes sense, because the Republican majorities in the House and Senate have demonstrated complete support for Project 2025’s plan to replace our Constitutional government with an authoritarian Police State. If Democrats do not win majority control of both Houses this November, the future they intend for us will look something like our entire country being assimilated by the Borg in Star Trek: (something most devoutly to be eschewed!)
From many years in survey research I have grown particularly skeptical about polls that survey about, say, party leanings, without connecting that same person to their likelihood of voting at all or are otherwise being affected by broader current political events. You know, like being terrorized on local streets by heavily armed, masked ICE agents, and our new dictators abandoning long-standing international alliances for new ones with historic adversaries like Russia and China.
This recent article in the NYT ( just resubscribed ) takes a deep dive into some of the survey data in recent years, and concludes that recent election predictions have hovered within 1-3% of the actual outcomes for several of the top polls. Another column in the same issue notes that Republicans currently hold firm control across the federal government, with the White House, both chambers of Congress, a majority of Governorships and their very own conservative Supreme Court. However, that dominance will be tested in the midterms, when all all 435 House seats, 35 Senate seats and 39 governor’s races will be on the table.
“The Tilt“ column in the same issue notes that Republicans currently hold firm control across the federal government, with the White House, both chambers of Congress, a majority of Governorships, and a conservative Supreme Court. However, that dominance will be tested in the midterms, when all all 435 House seats, 35 Senate seats and 39 governor’s races will be on the ballot.”
Press analysis has shown that the last three recent Congressional elections have all been very tight, generally won by a mere 1-3% and shifting very few seats. Gerrymanders, a favorite Republican dirty trick, have their own risks, such as risking a party’s advantage in one district to improve in another. So even though it has become a favorite tool of Republican legislatures nationwide, it is by no means a slam-dunk, and will hopefully backfire on them. Oh, and by the way, everybody knows that each of these latest gerrymanders is already illegal and yet these legislators persist.
Every day alienates more of their former voters. Every day brings more crazy s#@t, more hardship to Americans, more global warming; more ICE violence against innocent people, more idiocy from the so-called Cabinet, more incompetence than anyone could have made up as the Maggits cheer their lunatic leader, and more $billions of taxpayer income disappear into AI black holes and the bitcoin pockets of “family and friends” around the world.
It’s our 250th National Anniversary. Everything is at stake.
lummi island wine tasting may 8 ’26
Open Friday 4-6 pm
Spring comes…the world shines
Friday Bread This Week
Pain au Levain – Made with a nice mix of bread flour, freshly milled whole wheat, and rye flour. After building the sourdough and mixing the final dough it gets a long cool overnight ferment in the refrigerator to develop the bread.- $5/loaf
Cinnamon Raisin – Made with a poolish of bread and fresh milled rye flour fermented overnight before adding bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat and rolled oats, honey, and milk, raisins and cinnamon mixed into the dough for a hearty rustic loaf. – $5/loaf
…and pastry this week…
Individual Cinnamon Rolls – Made with a rich sweet roll dough full of eggs, butter and sugar, spread with pastry cream, sprinkled with cinnamon/sugar, rolled up, and sliced into individual rolls for baking. – 2/$5.
This week’s wine tasting
Decoy Chardonnay ’23 California $16
Blended from several CA central coast vineyards; aromas of sweet mandarin orange and white peach; juicy and vibrant palate of tropical fruit flavors with a hint of oak from its time in barrel.
Zenato ‘Alanera’ Rosso Veronese ’23 Italy $17
Dark, inky color; rich, focused nose of ripe berries, dusty oak and waxy vanilla bean. On the palate delivers extracted flavors of cherries, strawberry, clay, and hints of crushed mint, soft tannins, and rounded finish.
Angels & Cowboys Proprietary Red ’22 California $22
Attractive nose of red berries, orange peel, spices, and crushed stone; medium to full-bodied and succulent, with silky, mellow tannins and flavorful finish.
Economics of the Heart: Adapting to Chaos
The Tweetster’s little foray against Iran, morphing as it has as if from some lost, dark Lovecraft novel, has been oozing unrest “over, under, around, and through” our planet’s networks of life, commerce, politics, economics, and society. This constantly unfolding canvas of chaos seems to have cloned itself from the larger, better organized, and catastrophic disaster of Project 2025. Like many spawns of unlikely unions, it manifests unpredictably moment to moment on the whimsical turns of a sociopolitical card game where the rules constantly change with the whims of the dealer.
Browsing today’s NY Times (recently resubscribed as hints of truth are reappearing) revealed some interesting surprises with somewhat hopeful threads. Where 2025 sowed confusion, conflict, cruelty, anger to mask and distract from Project 25’s purposeful destruction and looting of our 250 yr-old rules-based Constitutional government, 2026 has doubled down on brutality against immigrants, students, people of color– you know, everyone who is not a wealthy, white, Christian, male billionaire.
Economics, Stocks, Bonds, and Policy
There’s been a lot going on American politics that does not fit neatly into traditional macroeconomic theory, particularly with regard to balancing investments between stocks and bonds. Generally one buys stocks betting that their value will increase over time, and buys bonds when at least you earn a little interest even if the stock market crashes. E.g. during the “stagflation” in the Reagan years, I was able to put my meager savings into a bond fund at 17% interest.
Several business reporters have observed over recent months that a significant number of investors regularly seem to know about planned changes in federal economic policy about a hour before the markets opens, using a tip from their pals in the Administration about a pending policy announcement, buy or sell related stocks for enormous profits on their very generous donations to the Tweetster.
The economic chaos being created by the T’s war on Iran, together with Netanyahu’s relentlessly brutal extermination of Palestinians and all their supporting infrastructure in Gaza and Lebanon, has for years now showcased a relentless and merciless genocide to mostly innocent working families.
On a somewhat brighter note, during today’s reading I ran across a reference to an improbable and unlikely Republican politician named Tom Barrett. After looking at his blog I was surprised to find everything I read to be entirely honorable, caring, and in service to his constituency and our country. If this were a multiple choice questionnaire from the Republicans, I would happily check “more like this one!”
** Perhaps the first sighting of a notable departure from the old cartoon where the little girl in the kitchen with her mother looks up and asks, “Mommy, is it true that Republicans have hearts of stone…?” And the mother looks up thoughtfully and says kindly, “No dear, it’s not. Republicans don’t have hearts…”
2072 Granger Way