:Ramblings with wine glasses

The lead-in makes little sense. Or all the sense in the world. I am drinking coffee. It is, after all 6:42 in the morning. The past few days…well, I don’t know about you, but I’ve been feeling very irritated. Who am I going to call when Mountain Pet Grooming or RMR Woodworks needs a bail-out. Ghost Busters??

Philosophically, I consider myself an Adlerian Objectivist. Ayn Rand was a 20th century novelist and philosopher, whose Objectivist  philosophy stressed objective reality over supernatural beliefs, reason, self-interest, and capitalism. Alfred Adler, a contemporary of Sigmund Freud,  was an Austrian medical doctor, founder of the school of Individual Psychology and espoused the development of social interest and democratic family structures as ideal for raising children.  

Ayn Rand quote: I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.  

Alfred Adler summed up:

1. Man is a social being and his main desire (the basic motivation) is to belong.

2. All behavior is purposeful. One cannot understand behavior of another person unless one knows to which goal it is directed, and it is always directed towards finding one’s place.

3. Man is a decision-making organism.

4. Man does not see reality as it is, but only as he perceives it, and his perception may be mistaken or biased.

How does one find a political party that incorporates my beliefs, the way I try to live my life? The strength of our society should be built on the qualities of the responsible, responsive individual. None of this trickle-down crap led by irresponsible looters with golden parachutes. A while back, double-checking that my voter status should remain unaffiliated, I explored the available parties…and I’m not referring to the top two. Alas. Alack. None of them spoke to me. Not the American Constitution Party. Not the America First Party. Certainly not the Communist Party. Or the Socialist Party. Not the Libertarian Party. Or the Green Party. Or the Pacifist Party. There was even a Party dedicated to the legalization of marijuana. Can’t find the name of it right now…perhaps it was Pot Party.

With that as a segeway, today I will celebrate the Wine Party!

My sisters brought 2 bottles of wine and 3 wine glasses from a nearby Nebraska winery….Cuthills Vineyards.

I love the Cuthills Vineyards banner…

While I have no early memories of grape vines in Nebraska, the barn is classic in style. My freshman English teacher, Miss Faye Gordon (she also taught my parents and Johnny Carson – appeared on his show several times), told us the most beautiful sunsets were in Nebraska and Italy. Indeed, Nebraska regularly has spectacular sunsets, as evidenced in the banner. Burrr. The familiar Nebraska winter lighting in the vineyard makes me shiver!

When Faye was here for the Specialty weekend, she generously presented me with this It’s Five O’clock Somewhere wine glass.

Full of bling and surprises, there’s a recipe on the bottom of the glass…

“5 O’clock Somewhere”
3 oz. Red Wine
2 oz. Lemon Juice
2 tsp. Simple Syrup

:No Woman cheese..

I just have to share this! Knowing how much I love cheese, all kinds of cheese, Rick often picks up a chunk of ‘unknown’ cheese. I love to start my work day with a small piece of cheese, toast, muffin or a bagel and a cuppa joe. Pack it in Suzanne and off we head to work. Savoring the flavor, I save the cheese for last. The latest pick was No Woman – Jamaican flavor – by Beecher’s handmade cheese.

:Cobblestone on main streets…

Sisters’ Weekend by its very nature would be expected to be nostalgic. We met in a small town..well, small by lots of standards – for western Nebraska, Alliance is large with a population of 8,000some. Norfolk’s population was 20,000 when I was growing up. I don’t know what the population is now. Norfolk was – and is – one of the larger towns in Nebraska. The idea of our weekend was to back roads trip it. Get in the car, drive somewhere, anywhere, nowhere taking country roads, maybe stumbling upon an old cemetery or two. This was easier said than done because western Nebraska’s roads aren’t laid out in a grid system. But we didn’t do too bad. In fact, the ranger at Agate Fossil Beds was surprised to learn we’d come in the ‘back way’. 25 miles of gravel road. That’s back road trippin’ at its finest!

Just after getting in the car and heading towards main street (there’s always a main street in little towns), we came upon this..

Zesto! When we were growing up there was Zesto and Dairy Queen. Too bad it was closed for the season. We could have started the day with ice cream. Downtown (yep, that’s what it’s called – a little different than uptown and downtown in New York City) we pulled over because Kelly wanted photos of the cobblestone streets…

And I wanted photos of this cool art deco movie theater…

We parked on a side street for the photo op and quickly discovered an awesome clothes boutique right there. I mean, right there…

The above shot is taken from the side street where the car was parked. Here’s the entrance as we went around the corner…

The clothes in the window were awesome. How could we resist being drawn in?! Nothing like a combo of nostalgia and cool clothes. If I lived in the area, this store – Rhoades 2 Clothing – would become a main stay. A main stay on main street.

A few years ago, at some swim meet in some large city somewhere in Texas (they all run together in my mind) there was a new shopping complex. The center was park-like, about a city block square, with streets on all four sides. On the other side of each street were stores in two-story brick buildings with pull in parking, not parallel parking. Only the pristine sparkle of new and the stores’ names let you know you hadn’t time traveled. The Repackaging of the American Dream, as Anthony pointed out. I have seen more and more of this ‘new’ main street style. Makes one wonder why it was ever left behind. In some places, it never was.

:Coffee, not chai…almost…soon!

Dawn’s soft glow is hitting the mountain. Not so quietly, I unloaded the dishwasher. Allowing myself ten minutes with a cuppa joe and the blog, here I am. Back home. Almost back to normal. Winding down the past month of whirlwind after whirlwind, I met my sisters – Lori and Kelly – in Alliance, Nebraska which is about half-way for all of us. My sisters live in my hometown, Norfolk, Nebraska. For the people that only know the state looking out the car window while rushing through…well, they’ve missed the beauty.

You might look at the above photos, thinking what the heck is that?! Pretty?! Maybe Deb needs her eye prescription adjusted. Stay tuned! I’m going to share more – cobblestone streets, an art deco movie theater, Nebraska wine, memories for my sisters…  But, right now I’ve got to swing by Dr. Hess’s for Ponya’s progesterone test.