Followed by a wall shadow

The other afternoon I went into the kitchen to top up my iced tea and noticed an interesting shadow on the wall.

Sun was reflecting off the rear window of an SUV in the cluster parking lot, and the rays outlined a shoot of one of the shrubs in my front yard. I thought it was pretty.

It’s Friday, folks. In August. That’s all I got today.

Not grapes of wrath

Back in March I heard a story on NPR about vineyard owners near the Klondike fire in Oregon last year getting stiffed by California wineries whose owners said they wouldn’t buy the 2018 harvest as contracted because the grapes had been tainted by smoke. These growers had survived the fire, but were still going to lose a lot, so it was not very short of miraculous that a bunch of Oregonian wineries banded together to buy the grapes, get them harvested and make them into wines under the Solidarity label.

Something about that story prompted me to go on the Cellar 503 website and order a three-pack of the wines, due out late this summer. They weren’t particularly cheap, but I thought that if I could help out these guys and get some wine in return, why not?

Also, I really like Willamette Valley pinots, so I reckoned the chances were good that I wouldn’t be disappointed.

Then, of course, I forgot all about it—it’s been quite the five months.

Well, lookee what arrived yesterday:

I can’t say I know anything about the Rogue Valley wines, but I’m looking forward to learning. And I’m glad I was able to support the effort, even in a small way.

Neighborhood walk

I was killing some time before a doctor’s appointment yesterday and took a walk around what I suppose passes for beautiful downtown McLean. A couple of observations:

The 7-Eleven in question is smack next to a Starbucks. I expect it’s at least a regional promotion, this dollar coffee, but I did wonder how effective it is against the juggernaut next door's attractions.

Also, this was interesting: “$1 coffee; all sizes”. The last time I recall getting coffee from a 7-Eleven was about 16 years ago, on my way to Lancaster, Penn., so my memory is hazy as to whether it was any good. But who’s going to pay a buck for a small coffee when that same dollar will buy you an extra-large bucket-o-caffeine?

Also—I don’t care how much coffee you can get for whatever bargain price: I’m not downloading another scrape-my-data app onto my mobile. End of.

 The other objet trouvé was this pair of sandals, very neatly placed next to the parking lot of the doctor’s building:

What’s the story behind that, I wonder?

Home improvement

So, this came across my Twitter feed a couple of days ago:

I understand that apartments in Paris are expensive, and that you’d want to make every square meter count, but…

Non.

Gratitude Monday: cooling off

We’re definitely in the Dog Days here in the District They Call Columbia. It is the second half of August, after all, and this is only to be expected. We’ve got temps in the 90s and humidity right up there alongside. Whatever gullywashers of storms we get don’t ever seem to break the heat.

Summer is the price we pay, after all, for the glories of Spring and Autumn.

So here are two things I’m grateful for today: central air conditioning and ice. My bog-standard fridge-freezer doesn’t have an ice maker, and I grumble about having to fill ice trays like my ancestors did. But being able to drink ice-cold beverages in a cooled house on hot days is a wondrous thing, and I’m deeply thankful for it.