How quickly summer has flown, especially when it seemed there was no summer! Now that the grapes have been safely picked before the first serious rain that fell this past weekend, WineSpirit is emerging out of some dormancy with plans for our holiday party on Sunday, December 5, from 1 to 4 PM, to welcome the holiday season with Paul Wagner exploring wine's place in literature as a means for celebrating and toasting life's blessings from the past. What a wonderful segue it will be to inspire us all to look again at what and how we are doing on life's stage at this point in our journeys. What sets the WineSpirit holiday party apart from others is that like a fine blended wine, the party is a blend of culture and just plain fun, as participants through the joy of the experience remember that so much of life is a blessing all to often overlooked in the rush and crush of the day. Comments from last year's party included appreciation that we do our party early in the season to set a tone for balancing happiness and fun with reflectiveness on life's meaning, often inspired by the specialness of the toasts shared. I look forward to seeing you at the party!
It is also exciting that WineSpirit webmaster and videographer Scott Schrader has just upgraded the website to invite more participation, extending community through the web; shortly he will add capacity for us to include videos we have done and also audios of programs past, worth revisiting. With that in process, I am also delighted to report that Scott is now editing the latest of videos we have done of Elders and Sages in the wine world...Mike Grgich, filmed last year and now being edited thanks to a yearly grant from the President's Fund (thank you, Joe Peatman!) of Napa's Gasser Foundation.
On the Sippin' front, in additon to hosting Paul Wagner's class in a Cultural History of Wine at our WineSpirit home (this evening, October 26) connecting wine and spirituality based on Sippin' on Top of the World, friends in Marin will be hosting a Sippin' party on November 21 in Mill Valley (Marin County). If you would like to either attend that party or host one of your own, email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) It was great hearing from WineSpirit Advisory Board member Don Corson in Port Angeles, Washington, who has sent along another wonderful muse suitable as a Sip of WineSpirit, to be added to the new website shortly.
My best wishes to everyone as we move through the end of the year.
