Joannie Kervran Stangeland

Yesterday, we drove to Kennewick, WA for the Tri-Cities Wine Festival. It’s an auction and a contest with a lot of tasting and appetizers involved. Tom and I went to pour our Cloudlift Cellars wines–six of ‘em!

It was a beautiful day for a drive over the mountains and then past the orchards and vineyards and the miles of high scrub.

Then we set up and prepared to pour wines for a few hours. Here is our booth:

I was glad to share these wines with people, because I really like them.

And then Tom won medals! A bronze for Updraft, our Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon blend, and silvers for our two Merlot blends, Panorama and Cloud 2. Very exciting.

After that long day, I felt so thankful for the extra hour this morning. We got up early anyway, but it still felt good.

I’m also thankful that punch-down is almost over. Then we’ll get to a more normal schedule in the mornings and Tom won’t have to stay so late at night.

I’m thankful for these pretty late-autumn days, and for the few leaves that linger and burn with their own inner fire.

I’m thankful to have new poems published online in Autumn Sky Poetry and The Prose Poem Project.

Finally, I’m thankful to have gotten my books in the mail, and for all the support I’ve received from friends and family members–giddiness with my gratitude.

Open the door. Open my heart.

I’m thankful for my energetic, insightful, and irreverent book club, and a chance to go to Bainbridge Island, and Erica’s fabulous dinner, and Katherine’s contribution of caviar–which was a specific literary reference, because we’d read The Bell Jar.

Reading The Bell Jar made me so thankful that mental health diagnosis and treatment has come a long way (in anti-depressants and other medications and therapies) since Sylvia Plath lived and died.

I’m thankful to have a poem in the new issue of  Valparaiso Poetry Review. It’s always a pleasure and an honor to be included in VPR.

I’m thankful for  long talk with an old friend yesterday (Husky traffic precluded meeting in person).

I’m thankful for a chance to walk to an errand when I’d started to feel blue–the way I do sometimes on Sunday (and the reason I started this gratitude journal). The errand part took longer than the walk, but it did the trick.

I’m thankful for time–to put the finishing touches on (this draft of) my manuscript and to find some progress on some of the September poems.

I’m glad, even thankful, that punch-down is over for the Merlot. A little more rest tomorrow morning…

I’m thankful for the kale, which continues to grow bit by bit, for the herbs still green in my garden, and for the hummingbirds (who chide me when I’m out in the backyard gathering those herbs).

I’m thankful for a chicken in the pot (in the oven).

I’m thankful for this story, and for all the stories of individual people coming to these protests, and to their variety of ages, perspectives, and experiences. I’m having a hard time getting behind the fragmented, disparate nature of the Occupy protests, but I’m completely behind the 99%/1% message, and I believe that the more different people to show up, the more likely (crossing finger) our elected “representatives” will bend half an ear.

The kale in the Italian garden has germinated! So tiny and so cute.  (It doesn’t look like much now, but use your imagination…) I’m thankful we’ve had just enough warmth in the weather for that, and I hope they don’t get plucked by hungry creatures.

And I’m thankful we had the good weather yesterday, when we were crushing the Merlot.

I’m thankful my third East Coast reading date looks like a go.

I’m thankful whenever I notice my mistakes–and when I’m able to fix them!

I’m thankful whenever I have time to write.

I’m thankful for my new vacuum cleaner (one that works!), even though I haven’t had time to vacuum yet.

I’m thankful for my cat who is extra cuddly these days and sitting on my legs while I write.

I’m thankful for my job and the people I get to work with and learn from. (No, this is not all roses–but the best parts are beauties!)

Most of all, I’m thankful my daughter came home from college for the weekend. It was wonderful to see her hear her stories and to hang out together (and go poster-shopping at a store that’s been on the Ave since I was in high school!).

Open the door. Open my heart.