Wine Tasting Adventure

            Today I had an incentive to get up earlier than normal because I was going on a wine tour! I had to take a quick shower before leaving because I didn’t want to sully our day with my body odor. I dressed in black jeans and top with a berry cardigan; it was quite felicitous for the occasion. On the trip to the tour the group seemed quite disinterested in wine.  Luckily I was able to lift their moods and abridge our period of apathy. However high spirits were short lived as emotions plummeted when it started to rain. We were in the penumbra of a great cloud. The weather was most mercurial. By the time our tour started everyone was a little dispassionate.

            I was starting to feel a little vexed that changing emotions was dumping on our day. Moods began to improve with the incentive of wine. The first vineyard we visited also produced olive oil, which allowed for some good jokes about anointing the wine. Between jokes and being dilettantes we started having a wonderful time. Others on our wine tour were slightly offended by our levity but this did not dampen our mood. We did however substantiate the stereotype that young people are loud and obnoxious. The driver managed the tensions between the older and younger patrons of his tour with great equanimity. Thank goodness he was kind and not a bossy martinet.

            Around the fourth hour of the tour we began to lament our lack of snacks. Our upset was mitigated by the promise of food at the next stop. Our lunch stop was filled with pulchritude. Our server seemed to be a little of a libertine.

Incentive - something that encourages greater action such as a reward

Sully- make dirty, stain, tarnish

Felicitous - marked by happiness, admirably appropriate,

Disinterested - impartial, not interested

Abridge - reduce, lessen

Plummet - plunge, fall straight down

Penumbra - outer part of a shadow from an eclipse, any surrounding region, periphery, fringes

Mercurial - quickly and unpredictably changing moods, fickle
Dispassionate - calm or lacking emotion, not having a selfish or personal motivation

Vex - annoy or bother; puzzle or distress

Anoint - rub or sprinkle oil, make sacred

Dilettante - A person that takes up art or another activity for amusement in a superficial way

Levity - lightness or lack of seriousness, sometimes in an inappropriate way

Substantiate - support with evidence or proof

Mitigate - make less severe, lessen, moderate

Equanimity - composure, evenness of mind, mental stability, especially under stress

Martinet - Person who adheres to rules extremely closely,
Lament - mourn, express grief or sorrow, regret,

Pulchritude - physical beauty
Libertine - morally or sexually unrestrained person, free thinker