There is a billboard here in our neighborhood - maybe yours too - and it shows a man atop a ladder clearing away a pile of leaves from the edge of a rain gutter. Some creatives from Covered California are behind this one, and it mostly shies away from shock or much melodrama and, as such, it is not immediately clear on first glance that the ladder is falling back and away, though the man's extended hands and fingers (and his mouth agape) would suggest he has lost his grip. 

I'm waiting to cross Broadway at the corner of 40th, just outside Clove & Hoof, and I notice this billboard for the first time. A dad and his child of maybe seven are a few feet from me, waiting too, and they are also looking up at it. The dad reads the giant text aloud, to his child or to himself or perhaps to no one in particular: Life can change in an instant. For a moment, I fix on the image and some adman somewhere gets his wings... I feel old and concerned and think about my back problems and odd health issues I've had in the past. That's when the kid speaks up.

Is he going to find some money hidden up there?

The dad and I smile at each other and there is levity. We feel excited about our week ahead. Invincible again. I step out first, crossing recklessly. Not looking any way but forward.

Maybe, the dad says, with a chuckle. Maybe...


TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights. Italian Whites and all Malbec for the Red Flights. Wines by the glass too! Flights $12 from 4-8pm. All levity and all love here. Leave your worries at the door. Throw your homework onto the fire. Come out and find the one you love.

SATURDAY 1/26: Wines of Piemonte. Arneis, Erbaluce, Barbera, Nebbiolo! All vibrant, dry and exceptionally food-friendly wines from Northern Italy. Flights $15 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 9pm.

SUNDAY1/27 : Wines of Oregon! 2017 Bow & Arrow Melon, 2017 Kelly Fox Pinot Noir, 2017 Leah Jorgensen 'Tour Rain' Cab Franc/Gamay. These are three of my favorite wines in the store right now - come taste for yourselves and see why. Flights $15 from 2-6 and glasses until 8pm.


See you soon,

Daniel