lummi island wine tasting july 10-11 ’26
July- August Hours: 4-6 pm Friday & Saturday
cloud reflections….
Friday Bread This Week
Whole Wheat Levain – Sourdough mix fermented overnight to start gluten development. About 25% fresh milled whole wheat, a ‘toothy’ crumb, great texture and flavor and a nice crisp crust. – $5/loaf-
Breton – Flavors of the French Brittany region; bread flour, fresh milled buckwheat, and rye make for interesting flavor, and sel gris – Brittany grey salt adds minerality to pair w/meats and cheeses- $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Black Sesame & Candied Lemon Brioche: Brioche dough full of eggs, butter and sugar. Filled with fresh lemon zest and candied lemon and topped with a black sesame streusel before baking. – 2/$5
This week’s wine tasting flight
MAN Chenin Blanc ’24 South Africa $14
Free-run juice preserves a crisp, clean, natural character; light, bright flavors of quince, pear, and pineapple, palate of fresh stonefruit and apple, and a round, soothing mouthfeel.
Kiona Lemberger ’22 Washington $14
Perfumed aromas with traces of orange zest and flower, with notes of blueberry; an agreeable palate that pairs particularly well with spicy foods!
Pascual Toso Reserve Malbec ’22 Argentina $21
Dry, full-bodied and richly layered with aromas and flavors of ripe blackberry, sous bois, and toasty oak, with firm, fine-grained tannins that go well with savory, rich. or spicy spicy dishes. A long-time local favorite!
Economics of the Heart: Revisiting Joan Robinson, Pondering Graham Platner
Maine Senate Candidate Platner
Over the years on numerous occasions I have instinctively been drawn to a brief phrase from early 20th century economist Joan Robinson. Born in 1903 in England, and an early proponent of Keynesian economic theory, she established what came to be known as “The Cambridge School,” and was a prominent force in shaping economic theory during the Depression.
Here’s the quote: ““Every economic system requires a set of values, a set of rules, and a willingness in the people to carry them out.”
That concept was a central plank in FDR’s New Deal, which increased taxes on the ultra-rich to fund projects that created jobs for unemployed workers and spurred infrastructure development to boost economic development. Like cranking to start an old Ford of the era, it stimulated employment, production, and individual incomes just as Japan and Germany were building war machines.
The very rich were very unhappy about increased taxation on their vast wealth, which they considered as, to quote Dick Cheney, “their Due” for some reason, an entitlement for their investments. This idea that the owners of the means of production deserved huge profits went hand in hand with the notion that workers were sort of drone-like, undeserving creatures who served them at subsistence wages for which they should be grateful.
For nearly 50 years a handful of the world’s wealthiest white men have been plotting to take it all back, reducing wages, eliminating public funding for the expendable needy, embracing climate change, abandoning environmental regulations, and replacing the Constitution with some kind of dumbed-down, compliant, Christian police state.
All of this is the background for strange goings-on around Maine’s 30-yr Democratic Senator (lifetime appointment?!) Susan Collins, who has perfected the art of saying she will vote one way, but always voting with the nastiest Republican version.
Enter Graham Platner, unlikely political contender for Collins’ seat in the coming election. As a Marine he did three tours in Iraq and a fourth year with the Army National Guard in Afghanistan. Service in Iraq and Afghanistan were considerably more risky than service in the earlier Gulf War. Nevertheless, numerous Afghan War and Iraqi War veterans have recovered and returned to combat and have served two or more tours. Also, it is important to note that while the Vietnam War had a 2.6/1 wounded-to-killed ratio, the Afghan and Iraqi Wars registered ratios of approximately 15/1…lots more injuries.
I take a particular interest in this election because a grew up in Maine (Bangor), took ROTC at Bangor High, graduated from the Naval Academy, and my ship did one tour in Vietnam, carrying various cargo and personnel in and out. Later, as a psychotherapist, I learned a fair amount about PTSD, how it blocks people, and how to work with it. And it is that understanding that makes me sad that Mr. Platner was forced to bow out of the election at the last minute because of behavior that was almost certainly a result of PTSD, and a result of his service to this country.
That brings us squarely to operative hypocrisy that the so-called President, a convicted rapist, can steal $billions from our Treasury, fire our professional civil servants and top military leaders on a whim, sever ties with our historical allies, sell national secrets to our enemies for personal profit, and do and say any F-ing thing he wants without consequence while making us a second-rate nation in the eyes of the World. But a decorated combat Marine with PTSD from his service gets humiliated with big slaps in the face from Democratic “leaders.”
lummi island wine tasting july 3 ’26
Open Friday July 3 from 4-6 pm
(closed on the 4th)
Friday Bread This Week
Barley, whole wheat & rye levain- Nice mix of bread flour, fresh milled whole wheat and rye. A fair amount of black pepper and toasted walnuts give this bread great flavor with just a bit of peppery bite to it. Works well with all sorts of meats and cheese- $5/loaf
Spelt Levain – Spelt is an ancient wheat w/ a nutty, slightly sweet flavor and is made with a levain before blending with bread flour, spelt flour, fresh milled whole spelt and whole rye. – $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Chocolate Croissants! – The traditional laminated french pastry made with sourdough and another pre-ferment to create the traditional honeycomb interior, rolled out and shaped with delicious dark chocolate in the center. – 2/$5
This week’s wine tasting
Quinta de Aveleda Vinho Verde ’24 Portugal $14
Loureiro, Trajadura and Alvarinho blend; apples, lemons and a touch of ripe pear fill the palate. It is an off-dry very young white wine, refreshing and crisp with a mineral aftertaste…a longtime local favorite!
Alto Moncayo Zisnero Garnacha Spain $16
Ruby red; aromas of cherries and currants; pleasant freshness with notes of laurel and toast, balanced acidity, lingering palate.
Stoller Helen’s Pinot Noir ’19 Oregon $25
Elegant nose of heady floral, baking spice, and red fruit, which gives way to secondary notes of earth and black raspberry. The palate is layered and vibrant, which carries red fruit flavors and a ferrous minerality through a long finish.
Economics of the Heart: Corruption, Self-enrichment, Abuse of power, and Defying the courts.
Every American in the last 250 years has known what the “Fourth of July” stands for. We have taken pride and joy in it, marched in parades for it, lit firecrackers and sparklers in summer twilight, picnicked and barbecued with friends and family, and wholeheartedly sang the Anthem, the Battle Hymn, and America the Beautiful together.
We knew we were uniquely blessed and proud, happy, grateful, and committed to doing whatever it might take to preserve this blessed nation and its freedoms. It seemed Solid, Strong, Safe, and Reliably committed to a Constitution which defined the rules.
No surprise it has been gut-wrenching to experience it all being ripped to pieces not by armed enemy nations, but by a domestic coup outlined and described in great detail by Heritage Foundation’s manifesto known as Project 2025 and made public in February of 2024 for all to see. We have written about it here in a scores of posts. P2025 was designed from the beginning to do away with Constitutional government completely and replace it with essentially a business plan to privatize control of Federal Assets into the greedy hands of the 0.1% that already had most of the nation’s wealth but somehow needed it all.
The United States of America, the richest and most powerful nation on Earth has been the target of a massive power grab and no-holds-barred reorganization, looting, and traitorous defiance of Constitutional oversight of the federal government. They systematically replaced the competent, loyal, intelligent, and experienced career civil servants who have kept the lights on, wheels turning, laws enforced, regulations followed, and the work of the nation done to high standards since the New Deal, with deeply unqualified, less-educated, untrained, unquestioning, mean-spirited traitors.
Fast forwarding through 18 months of White House defiance of Congress, the Constitution, federal laws, individual rights of citizens, asylum seekers, people of color, and critics of all persuasions to today brings us to a surreal world. The conjoining fiascos of the White House so-called” fight night,” the reflecting pool disaster(s), the deliberate demolition and despoliation of the White House, its grounds, its art, and its history.
It’s all about Destruction, Insult, looting billions from the Treasury, selling secrets, pardons, and favors through bitcoin and family. It is not governing, it is using the power of the United States to hurt as many people as possible as much as possible. The bottomless greed and cruelty lie directly at the feet of the card-carrying sadistic psychopath who always lies and whose only enjoyment in life is making people suffer.
Below are links to a few quotes from a couple of thought-provoking recent Salon articles by writer Heather Digby Parton, whose perspective we have found ourselves nodding and agreeing with for several months. Below are a few brief quotes from each article to tease your interest.
https://www.salon.com/2026/06/30/how-donald-trump-hijacked-americas-birthday/
“throughout these last 250 years, many have looked to America as a beacon of hope, opportunity and freedom from places that had too little of all of that… this weekend’s “celebration” in the midst of what is more and more looking like a slow-motion ethnic cleansing all the more disorienting. The Supreme Court’s ruling, issued June 25, allowing the deportation back to failed states and war-torn countries of millions who have made lives here drives that point home.”
“It’s tempting to say that the (July 4) celebration has become a metaphor for Trump’s second term — but then everything from the tariffs to the Iran war to the Reflecting Pool is the same metaphor, which pretty much says there’s no need for metaphors. Because of course, our national 250th birthday celebrations would be botched. Everything is.”
And from: https://www.salon.com/2026/06/30/how-donald-trump-hijacked-americas-birthday/
“It’s a cruel quirk of fate, or maybe just a tragic irony, that we are celebrating America’s semiquincentennial during one of the most surreal periods in American history. We’ve certainly been through tougher economic times, and our latest war in the Middle East is not as ambitious as even the ones we waged earlier in this century. But I don’t think things have ever been as downright strange on both a domestic and global level as they are in the era of Donald Trump. Celebrating the Declaration of Independence under these circumstances is downright phantasmagoric.”
“In 1976, having come through the tumultuous period of the Vietnam War, Watergate and massive social change, the country seemed to be in the mood to pretend they had all never happened. The bicentennial celebrations took place over the course of a couple of years and memorably included the 26-car American Freedom train, which carried historical artifacts across the country. There were concerts and festivals in various venues on the Fourth that featured superstars including the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Queen, The Who, Elton John and Elvis Presley. In retrospect, it presaged the flag-waving and jingoism that were at the heart of the Reagan Revolution.”
“Reports from middle American towns — like Lawrence, Kansas, which has welcomed the Algerian national team, and the Algerian fans who have gathered there — may just tell us more about ourselves than the crass, political pageant taking place in Washington. Perhaps the ideals of the Declaration do still live in the hearts and minds of ordinary people who can see the shared humanity in all of us. Maybe, just maybe, this joyful embrace of the world and the sport that binds it together more than any other is the first real sign that, for zthe noise and ugly divisiveness of the Trump era, there is still hope for us yet.”
The breathtaking magnitude of the grifted/grafted $billions being stolen by the Tweetster, his family, cronies, Congressional co-conspirators and federal administrators at every level for their own selfish enrichment has become increasingly obvious, documented “news.” Taken together with the ongoing cruelty of disappearing/torturing entire families of innocent immigrant refugees, a growing majority of Americans want their Constitutional government back, with improved checks and balances, ethical/reliable administrators sworn to protect everyone’s right to vote and have their vote correctly counted and implemented.
lummi island wine tasting june 25-26 ’26
Open Friday & Saturday from 4-6 pm
- Fridays tend to be louder and more crowded...
- Saturdays tend to be calmer and less crowded
Friday Bread This Week
Barley, Whole Wheat & Rye- Levain bread with sourdough culture built over several days with bread flour, whole wheat, barley, and re flours.- $5/loaf
Spelt Levain – Spelt is an ancient wheat w/ a nutty, slightly sweet flavor and is made with a levain before blending with bread flour, spelt flour, fresh milled whole spelt and whole rye. – $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Chocolate Croissants! – The traditional laminated french pastry made with sourdough and another pre-ferment to create the traditional honeycomb interior, rolled out and shaped with delicious dark chocolate in the center. – 2/$5
This week’s wine tasting
Maryhill Winemaker’s White ’22 Washington $15
Sauv blanc, viognier, semillon, albarino, pinot gris; careful early morning harvest, slow press cycle, limited oak, and blended to keep each varietal’s profile in both aromas and flavors– a complex, versatile, and tasty white blend!
Maryhill Winemakers Red ’22 Washington $15
Aromas of blackberry, cherry, and baking spice with hints of chocolate and dried herbs; ripe black currant and cherries on the palate with hints of tobacco and a rich, chewy finish.
Stoller Helen’s Pinot Noir ’19 Oregon $25
Elegant nose of heady floral, baking spice, and red fruit, which gives way to secondary notes of earth and black raspberry. The palate is layered and vibrant, which carries red fruit flavors and a ferrous minerality through a long finish.
Economics of the Heart: The Grift That Keeps on Grifting
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty
Our beloved 250-yr old nation has suffered a long, Hellish ten years of concerted Republican trashing of everything noble this nation has ever stood for. Whether you call it MAGA, or Project 2025, or the Republican Party/Heritage Foundation’s traitorous efforts since the seventies, the Reagan Revolution’s trashing of “fair and balanced” news reporting, or the breathtaking hubris of modern wannabe Southern slave-owners, it has become starkly clear to the entire world that the United States of America is being dismantled and sold for parts by a small group of disturbingly emotionless billionaires.
It is also clear to everyone that the so-called “President,” family, and friends (yes, hard to imagine…) are raking in $billions on bitcoin, selling the White House piece by piece, and selling Presidential pardons to those who can afford them, while trashing the iconic landmark with cheap trinkets or destroying it completely. It is heartbreaking that any President could possibly be so tasteless or vain to do such a thing to “the People’s House” on the whim of a moment. It can only be understood as a deliberate middle finger to the entire nation by a sadistic psychopath.
Our nobly motivated Constitutional government of, by, and for the People has been beautifully symbolized since October, 1886 by what Americans have always known as New York Harbor’s Statue of Liberty. The French nation and artists who crafted it called her “La Liberté éclairant le monde,” or “Liberty Enlightening the World.”
And, indeed, she has been a symbol for the whole world, welcoming visitors and immigrants alike to our shores. She stood for something rare and beautiful that gave hope and welcome to immigrants longing for a better life. As Americans, we all stood with her and should still be standing with her, because that’s who we are.
The past year and a half have generated many yardsticks for how far we have fallen, losing respect from traditional allies and foes alike for the subversion of our values, the dumbing down of our leadership, and the shadows over what we really stand for as a nation.
Indeed, the Statue represents over two and a half centuries of competent, human, caring, and Reliable alliances, understandings, compromises, and promises. For some years now Congressional Republicans have rejected all of these values and replaced them with loyalty only to the $bottom lines of billionaires, and been largely silent as federal employees, military leaders, and Inspectors General whose job it is to keep agencies following the rules were eliminated on Day 1.
All that needs to happen to “make America Great Again” is to restore the values represented by our long history and symbolized by the Statue of Liberty. Sure, in one sense it’s just a metaphor. In a much more important sense, though it is an iconic symbol of the ideals, the meanings, and the guarantee and commitment to “certain inalienable rights” that Really made America Great in the first place.
lummi island wine tasting june 19-20 ’27
Open Friday & Saturday from 4-6 pm
This weekend we are open both Friday (louder)and Saturday (calmer)
Friday Bread This Week
Fig Anise – Made with a sponge fermented overnight, then the final dough is mixed with bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat. Honey, dried figs and anise evoke all the flavors of the Mediterranean. – $5/loaf
Semolina Levain – Made from durum wheat, a hard wheat often used in pasta. The flour has a lovely golden color that comes through in the bread. This bread uses a sourdough starter that ferments overnight before mixing the final dough of bread flour, semolina, and fresh milled whole wheat. Great toast!- $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Pain aux Raisin – Uses the same laminated dough as croissants. The dough is rolled out, spread with pastry cream and sprinkled with a mix of golden raisins and dried cranberries soaked in sugar syrup, rolled up and sliced before baking. Baker’s favorites! – 2/$5
This week’s wine tasting
Maryhill Viognier Washington $14
Carefully picked and slowly pressed to extract vibrant aromas of melon, pear, and apricot with traces of pineapple and grapefruit, continuing into a sensational and crisp fruit finish.
Goose Ridge g3 Red ’20 Washington $14
Syrah-cab-merlot blend; supple ripe plum and blackberry notes with hints of spice, vanilla, black currant and Bing cherry. Nicely balanced with a lush, round mouth and a long, lingering finish.
Can Blau Can Blau ’20 Spain $16
From the lovely Montsant wine region SW of Barcelona; aromas and flavors of cocoa bean and ripe, dark fruits and berries; seamless texture and silky finish that improve with aeration.
Economics of the Heart: A Social-Political Theory of Relativity…?
From the “Doonesbury” archives. (Courtesy of Universal Uclick)
The media have been spending an inordinate amount of time (every minute of every day….really?) on all things Tweetster— as if everything he says, however hateful, ignorant, self-serving, or detached from any observable reality, is in fact the Real Truth about our real enemies, from whom Only He Can Save Us, like some magical obi-wan-trumboni.
These myths date way back to the 80’s when cartoonist Garry Trudeau often made him a character in his comic strip “Doonesbury,” including one strip in which his character admits the Presidency is the only office he would consider. And it was Funny because even then everyone knew it was a ridiculous idea.
Yet somehow Trumpism has dominated world news since that ride down the escalator in 2015 launched us into this never-land fantasy world in which the entire nation became the target of a small group of extraordinarily wealthy white “Christian” men who wanted complete control of the entire country, replacing Constitutional government with an authoritarian police state, and dumbing down education enough to ensure an End to Critical Thinking altogether.
Women would become servants at the pleasure of their husbands and families, “barefoot and pregnant” housewives banned from higher education. In recent days political analyst Joyce Vance has posted an attention-deserving piece on the substantial movement supported by many young women to embrace that kind of dystopian future for themselves and their future families. It’s hard to imagine how anyone could imagine a world that small for themselves without running around screaming!
The series of conversations with these young women is astounding in their unquestioning acceptance of letting husbands make all their decisions for them, giving up voting, working outside the home, careers, or even basic equal rights. It’s creepy!
A similar view is evident in this brief CBC video.
The bad news is that so many people are so gullible. The good news is that every day more and more Americans are waking up to the reality that our nation has been taken over by a bunch of pandering under-achievers who, like the apparently large numbers of Christian women who would be content letting their husbands vote for them. Is that what young women are really like in Red States?
Underlying all of this brings us to the social value of education and learning. In 1970 Harvard Prof William Perry began a years-long inquiry into how people learn to think. Over many years of working directly with many students, he realized that everyone has their own unique relative understanding about self-and-the-world.
We all begin with something of a two-dimensional world of opposites like good/bad, better/worse, this/that. Over the years, the countless distinctions among things reveal a broad, multi-layered matrix of inter-dependencies among facts and reason.
So…what can Perry teach us about the contradictions we see all across today’s American political landscape? The answer takes us back to H.L. Mencken’s famous observation: “For every complex problem, there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.”
Perry’s deepest takeaway about student learning was that deeper understanding doesn’t make relationships simpler, it makes them more complex by infusing reality with interacting conditionalities and dependencies that drive our beliefs.
The Tweetster’s months of bombing Iran have lost massive goodwill, trust, and respect for our country from all around the world. We may or may not be getting out of Iraq soon, but our position in the world has been forever changed by the first year and a half of this accursed Administration, and America has lost of lot of fans because of it.
2072 Granger Way