Hello there! Just reaching out from beyond the vacational horizon, to say hello, friends, and to start a thread for interactions between folks for whom this is a meeting point!
You know better than I what’s happening in the news, weather, and sports of the world. I’ve just tumbled out of bed after ten hours of indulgent oblivion; rarely do I get more than five or six. I stepped onto the deck and searched for the sun; it was there, but creeping low, just 23 degrees above the horizon. We’re halfway to the Arctic Circle. But some bright leaves still illuminate the green gray landscape. This has been a spectacular autumn, and it’s hanging on. There’s beauty in persistence.
But signs of the changing season arrive more frequently every day. Downtown Portland’s dozens of Pop-Up Shops are opening today. Three ski areas will open this weekend. K103 will be playing Christmas music any day now, I just know it. Actually I don’t, so please don’t lobby me either way. But there is a contest going on, and somebody is going win cash by correctly guessing when. I would be derelict in my Dripster duties by not providing a link!
Thanksgiving is one week from today. In our family, five or six households gather in love at one table, each bringing what we bring best. You’ll be surprised to hear that my wife and I bring wine. This year, our eyes have been freshly opened to a new level of appreciation, thanks to a Willamette Valley winemaker who generously taught us some nuances and distinctions among Pinot Noirs that made me realize how much wine appreciation rewards knowledge and attention. Like baseball. The winery, by the way, is R. Stuart and Co. in McMinnville, a lovely town an easy drive from Portland, which more people should do. I interviewed the winemaker, Rob Stuart, for a weekly program that runs on the iHeart Portland network. Here’s a link. He’s having an open house this Saturday; other wineries throughout the valley are open the following weekend for Wine Country Thanksgiving. (We caught up with dear friend Mary Volm and her traveling companion Jim Mayer, who live one town over in Carlton. There’s the better part of a century of Portland journalism and civic history there).
Oooh…just got a text for our mutual friend Craig. He’s under the weather. We’ll do our quarterly reunion another time soon. Get well, my friend!
I see that the fickle finger of foolish behavior now points directly at one Senator Al Franken, who put some ham-handed moves on a fellow entertainer–now a radio news anchor–during a USO tour ten years ago. There’s even a photo; here’s a link to her report. He’s not denying it, and says he’s sorry and ashamed. It just proves that the meatheadedness of some in my gender knows no party boundaries, or any boundaries at all.
Oh..my phone just buzzed to alert me that the House passed the tax bill, but it’s in trouble in the Senate. What that tells me is to silence my phone. Did you know there’s a meteor shower starting tonight?
Portland's Daily Drip 