For the enlightened mind...he always started his philosophical discourse this way...for the enlightened mind...it has a nice ring to it, but with each tasting of wine, the more his metaphysical speculation became plausible. Sarah and I were at the Hermanoff Winery in Hermann, Missouri, and our barkeep, our philosophical guide, was telling us about how the Missouri river had the rightful claim to being called the longest river in the world. This is for the enlightened mind, you understand. See, any good Missourian knows the Missouri flows like mud. As old Mark Twain said, "It's too thick to drink, but too thin to plow." And when the Missouri meets up with the Mississippi in St. Louis, what do ya think you see? Well, I'll tell ya what you see--the Mississippi is olive green and it comes flowing down into a confluence with Old Muddy. After the mixing, it's all brown, brown all over. So, for the enlightened mind, is the river south of St. Louis the Mississippi? Or the Missouri? (Incidentally, "missouri" means "men in long canoe".)
These enlightened minds kept drinking. The barkeep kept talking and we became even more enlightened. It was wonderful. The winery is cozy, built in the German beer haus style--in fact the whole town is built in this fashion--and it offers locally made cheeses, krauts, bratwursts, and sausages to eat along with the wine. Highly recommened. For the enlightened mind, that is.
