lummi island wine tasting november 8 ’14 winter studio tour
This Week’s Breads
Janice brings a basket of fresh-baked bread for sale each Friday afternoon shortly after 4pm.
This week:
–Italian walnut with a hint of rosemary;
–Breton Bread which includes buckwheat and rye flours – awesome with cheese and coldcuts.
Whatever the recipes of the day, after 4:30 or 5:00 the pickings often get slim…be warned!
Studio Tour Artists
This weekend we continue with our showing of recent works by Anne Gibert, plus adding some new works by Meredith Moench. We will be open for wine tasting Friday from 4-7, Saturday and Sunday from 1-6 pm.
Two sides to every story
For the dinner table on Sunday Pat picked a bouquet of hydrangeas down the street. Not only were they lovely and exotic, but the difference in coloring from different angles makes them seem two entirely different plants. Our weather continues to be unseasonably mild though quite wet. The occasional sunbreaks are a relief and a treat, and the lingering echoes of a long and lovely summer still show in the landscape around us. Though the weather has been very pleasant much of the past year, in another sense it has been so weird for so many months that it definitely heightens concerns about our climate future.
As the old teaching goes, “Things are not as they seem……nor are they otherwise.”
Green Ketch Afloat!
For the past few weeks we have been following the fate of the Green Ketch, which spent much of the summer anchored in Legoe Bay, and which broke away from her mooring two weeks ago and got stranded on shore, unfortunately perched on her side against the concrete ramp used for launching reefnet rigs. There the waves were relentlessly making the small hole in her side bigger and bigger, which prompted the heroic mobilization of Island volunteers to move her south to better shelter and a friendlier beach.
Yesterday we noticed she was again afloat, her two young crewmen Bud and Kyler busily pumping our water after having spent much of the night patching her cement hull. They were as surprised as anyone that she was floating, and concerned that pressure on their cement patchwork would open up. But today she was still afloat, and presumably last night they continued the repair on the inside part of the hole, reinforcing the work they did the night before. They turn out to be resourceful and committed to getting the boat back to her home anchorage in Olympia. Almost certainly they will need to do a lot of electrical system replacement before the engine will work again, but we are betting they will make it happen. Arrrr, fair winds to ye, lads, and an easy, followin’ sea…!
Mah jong Ladies
As I have often mentioned, my Thursday evening blogging coincides with the weekly meeting of the Local Neighborhood Ladies Weekly Mah Jong Time-Out Time. This is an unlikely group pursuing an unlikely activity in an unlikely place, and it has been going on for some years now. Tonight I had to take time out to shoot a few photos of the new paintings that Meredith just installed this afternoon (see above) and found this unruly crowd. Depending on the season, and who is around and available any particular Thursday night it seems to vary from three or four to, in this case, seven.
I have gotten the impression that one of the attractions is that there is no agenda and no objective except to step away from the mundane demands of daily life, share wine and conversation, and yes, play this ancient game, although everyone knows nothing at all is at stake.
So this is a good lesson for all of us, to remind ourselves many times a day: “Nothing Ultimate is at stake here…!”
This Week’s Wine Tasting
Marchetti Tenuta de Cavaliere Verdicchio ’13 Italy $16
Full-bodied, with lush pear, melon, and a touch of honey; a little off-dry, with an extra month on the vine to develop greater body, structure, and fruit essence; deftly made, with beautiful acidity. Lovely!
Marchesi del Salento nero d’avola ’13 Italy $9
no notes available…but hey, I must have liked it for some reason!
Borsao Garnacha ’12 Spain $9
Inky purple. Aromas and flavors of blueberry, blackberry and bitter cherry are brightened by peppery spices. Concentrated and velvety in texture, with good finishing breadth and cling. An outstanding value.
Domaine Girard Malepere Rouge ’12 France $14
An easy-drinking Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Franc and Merlot; vines are 17 years old; harvesting is manual and totally destemmed; soils are mainly clay and silt, with some gravels.
Matthews Blackboard Red ’12 Washington $18
Aromas of strawberry, plum and chocolate. Silky and pliant on entry, concentrated and seamless in the middle, with plum and spicecake flavors complicated by vanilla and cola notes, finishing with soft tannins and moderate grip.
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2072 Granger Way