lummi island wine tasting sept 20 ’24
Hours, September 20-21 ’24
Friday 4-6 pm Saturday 3-5 pm
Note: Special tasting on Friday, see below!
Friday Bread This Week
Heidebrot – Translated as “bread of the heath,” after a region in central Germany known for fields of red heather. This is a farmhouse bread from an aromatic, lighter sourdough made with whole grain rye. a rye-fed sourdough starter, fresh milled whole grain rye flour, and regular bread flour as well – $5/loaf
Sweet Corn & Dried Cranberry– Made with polenta and bread flour, then enriched with milk, butter and honey for a soft and tender crumb and loaded up with dried cranberries for great corn flavor… A delicious bread that makes great toast!– $5/loaf
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
Island Bakery has developed a rotation cycle of several dozen breads and pastries. Each Sunday the Bakery emails the week’s bread offering to the mailing list. Orders received before 5 pm Tuesday (and not already claimed) will be available for pickup at the wine shop Friday from 4:00 – 5:30 pm. Contact us at least two weeks before your visit to get on the bread list .
Another Fall Equinox
Here is a Sunset from our place on a past Autumnal Equinox. Equinoxes being what they are, corresponding Sunsets appear more or less in the same direction near the horizon every year on a given date. At the Moment of Equinox someone at one particular place on the Equator can experience looking straight up at the Sun at Local Noon. An instant later the Sun is over a spot below the Equator. That’s right…the Equinox happens in a Single Moment over a Single Spot on Equator.
For those non-Navigators our there, “local noon” is the moment on any day when the Sun is directly South of you in the Northern Hemisphere, or directly North of you in the SH. One Very Cool thing about this “Local Apparent Noon” (LAN) is that at Sea you can always tell your Latitude by observing the angular elevation of the Sun over a period near noon. You can observe it increasing to a maximum and then start decreasing. The maximum elevation always occurs when the Sun is on the same North-South Meridian as you are and it is a relatively easy matter to compute your Latitude from this One Observation. That also explains how, by the way, Joshua Slocum (author of the Classic “Sailing Alone Around the World”) was able to navigate Around the World back in 1898 using a wind-up clock that had lost its minute hand…!
This week’s Wine Tasting: Kasari Cellars
On Friday we will host Marty Kmiecik, owner/winemaked at Kasari Cellars. Marty has deep connections to Lummi Island. His Dad is Mike Kmiecik, a familiar island resident and prominent member of Funny Side Farm on Granger Way, with its well-kept gardens and landscape of fruit trees and a broad array of whimsical artistic structures. Marty lives in Skagit County, but also owns a two-acre parcel almost across the street from us on Granger Way.
Marty is just releasing his first commercial vintage, and we are delighted to provide this venue for you to meet, greet, and taste the new wines! Grapes for these wines come from several well-established Washington vineyards.
Kasari Sauvignon Blanc ’22 WA $22
100% sauv blanc; aromas of citrus, melon, and herbs leading to primary flavors of lime, cantaloupe, and lemongrass, complimented by a refreshing minerality on the clean finish.
Kasari Roussane ’22 WA $24
Aromas of honeysuckle, baked apple, and beeswax lead to a palate poached pear, floral notes,honey and white pepper with refreshing acidity, supple mouthfeel, and lingering finish.
Kasari Malbec ’22 WA $34
90% malbec, 10% cab sauv; vibrant garnet color; opens with abundant aromas of fresh blueberry, dark cherry and vanilla bean; palate of berry compote, baking spices, and earthy, well balanced tannins.
Economics of the Heart: Polling and the Sword of Damocles
en.wikipedia.org
An ancient Greek story tells of a tyrannical King (Dionysius) who was feared and obeyed but also hated. His inability to imagine another way of ruling made him quite paranoid (although in his case they probably were out to get him!) and caused him to take extraordinary measures to protect himself from treachery, and which made his wealth and position a great burden.
When Damocles, one of his loyal followers, complimented him on how happy and contented his wealth, power, and position must make him, he grew irritated, because he was neither. To give Damocles a sense of the King’s everyday burden, he indulged him in luxuries of food, drink, and comfort, which young Damocles very much enjoyed…until he became aware that above his head dangled a great sword, hanging by a single horsehair which might break at any moment to kill or maim him. Thus did he understand how the King’s burden of living under constant threat of injury or death takes an emotional toll Damocles was happy to give up.
The November 5 Presidential election is unlike any in our nation’s history, with one party embracing a platform of doing away with our Constitution entirely and replacing it with the Fascist tyranny of Project 2025 led by the muddled, brain-impaired, aging Tweetster who cannot finish a single thought, grasp a single concept, or perform even the most simple kind of reasoning.
This has been increasingly clear in all of his recent appearances, whether in court, at the Debate, at his Convention, or at his rallies. To make matters worse, his VP pick also has no qualifying public executive experience and is not any more qualified by temperament, education, or experience to be President than the Tweetster– putting the whole world under a Sword of Damocles.
Our country and to some degree the entire world are at present divided into irreconcilable political camps of Authoritarians vs. Humanists. Authoritarians believe the natural order of human society is for One Tough Guy and his loyal lieutenants to control how power and wealth are allocated, and that objective Truth is whatever the Leader pronounces it to be. Humanists believe that: 1) all human beings share the same needs for safety, affection, attention, approval, and equal opportunity to live healthy and satisfying lives, and 2) that Truth is based on observable facts which can be verified by observation, repetition, and analysis.
For 250 years our nation has struggled toward inclusion, fairness, justice, and equal opportunities for all citizens to share in both common responsibility and prosperity. But over the past 50 years, would-be authoritarians have been at work sabotaging this fundamental American principle with their own goal of white male supremacy and its associated rascist, sexist, patriarchal religions. In today’s world it has become perfectly clear that Republicans have abandoned democracy in favor of an authoritarian government that specifically promises (in Project 2025) to do away with our Constitution entirely.
We see behind us in our nation a stained tapestry of deals, trades, treachery, lies, murders, ambition, and the unbridled vanity we call “politics,” which we have survived as a nation. We see in front of us a particularly virulent form of the political disease, wherein a massive subculture has been created over the past forty years which is completely unwilling or unable to distinguish fact from fiction or truth from lies, and which sees the Constitution as a constraint, not a sacred commitment.
So: the coming election is the Sword dangling by a thread over Civilization itself. At this moment we, like Damocles, are enjoying a bit of luxury as hopes rise, young people flock to support Harris/Walz in many swing states, and we really want to be Optimistic, but we are worn down by a legal system that has let the Tweetster skate on legal case after case, and a Supreme Court that has replaced the constraints of Constitutional law with political and religious overreach.
At the moment Truth, Justice, and guarded optimism seem to have a little edge thanks to growing numbers of advocates for women’s rights, the pride and commitment of service vets, and young voters registering en masse to vote against the tyranny of Project 2025. Not to mention, you know, Taylor Swift...
Even though that Sword still looms over us, each day seems to add a comforting (and tentative) thread or two of hope…
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2072 Granger Way