Holiday greetings, mes amis!

Wine Santa made a surprise delivery this morning! I did not see that coming. Trani and Candace are the best of the best.

I called Trani to thank him and ask if I have to wait until Christmas to crack open a bottle. We decided I should do a quality check tonight.

Seven Bridges Winery is located in downtown Portland. The name pays tribute to the seven bridges crossing the Willamette that can be seen from the winery. Pretty cool.

Right now I am battening down the hatches in preparation for the bomb cyclone blizzard that is to come barrelling into town tonight. The good news is that if the forecast holds we will get some snow and freezing rain but will be spared the blizzard, and the mess will pass through fairly quickly. I have wine, I'm baking bread. Should be okay.

Tomorrow figures to be miserable, with low of 17 or 19, high of 20 or 22 (National Weather Service and Weather Underground numbers, respectively, as I type at 4:25 pm). Those figures are ever so slightly warmer than than what those sites were posting earlier in the day, which I hope is reason for guarded optimism. Current projections call for back up to freezing on Friday and in the 40s with rain for Saturday and Christmas. I won't complain about a rainy Christmas.

Ginsberg part two is a mess on a grand scale. I do not know what I am doing. Yesterday evening I decided to step away from it for a few days.

Memo from the editorial desk: A Look Back at Allen Ginsberg (Part 1) was published on the 13th with the threat that it would be continued. That is now a firm maybe.

This figures to be my last blog until end of next week with the annual taking stock at year's end effort. I hope everyone has enjoyed the holidays thus far and that you keep the festive spirit coming on into the new year. Stay safe and warm. And, as always, thanks for your encouragement. It is appreciated more than I can find words to express (a terrible thing for one who fancies himself a poet to admit).

More anon.

Yr obdt svt