Two parties, one winery

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It was a party at the winery! Actually it was two parties and I’ll bet there were more that I don’t know about. The parties we went to were at the Port Townsend Winery just before the first roundabout as you come into PT. It is a great venue so I suspect that several other groups held their party there also.

The first party was for The Leader employees, hangers on, and guests like BJ. I really don’t know a lot of the folks at the paper since I email these columns in. As a result it is nice for me to get to see them on this once/year event. BJ and I sat and enjoyed great conversation with my copy editor, Cate Winters and her husband Billy.

“Mo Chili” provided outstanding brisket, pulled pork, macaroni and cheese, beans, bread and carrot cake. Cate and BJ threatened to have a salad upon their return home. It was fun to meet and talk with Bill Grindall who works at the golf course here in Port Ludlow but in the middle of every Tuesday night he delivers bundles of The Leader to the post office for mailing and to commercial establishments around the county for selling. Yep, I know, he actually delivered them last night this week because of the holiday.

The next party at the winery was the annual “thank you” from the Jefferson Community Foundation for donors and supporters. Lots of good food, joviality and wine was on tap. Key players Myron and Val Vogt from the Boeing Bluebills were there, Myron with a Christmas sweater straight out of the last century. It could have been the middle of the last century. My friend Steven Gross and I spent time conversing with the young and energetic Justine Gonzalez-Berg, editor and staff writer for “Strait Up.” The publication is a celebration of the eccentric community on the Quimper Peninsula, better known as Port Townsend. Justine and her collaborator Danny Milholland fit the bill perfectly. Our friends Emmet and Judith Wolfe were also enjoying the evening. Frankly, they are some of the most generous people I know. They used to have a Porsche and our shared interest in the marque is how we got to know them. They actually gave the car away to their daughter! Generosity like that is rare, and maybe irrational. It was great to see locals Doris and Milt Lum enjoying the fellowship and levity of the evening.

Current inbound Chimacum High Rotary Foreign Exchange student Jennifer Kim from South Korea is staying with Richard and Judi Smith in Port Ludlow. Anybody who knows Judi knows she is a dedicated “horsewoman.” To me that means she has two horses and rides one of them. You should also know that she looked like she was having so much fun she got Jennifer to mount the horse and get her picture taken. It was Jennifer’s first time and her mother declared that she had never been on a horse either.

Tomorrow is Christmas and I hope the store was out of coal when Santa went shopping for your gift. I also suggest that anyone who believes that men are the equal of women has never seen a man trying to wrap a Christmas present.

Love a curmudgeon and have a Merry Christmas!

(Ned Luce is a retired IBM executive who lives in Port Ludlow and bears a passable resemblance to Saint Nick. Leader staff have threatened to stake out his home Christmas Eve to see if a reindeer team shows up.)