Weekword=Cynosure via Junebug

By now you all should be familiar with my usual style, and this weekend is no different. I'm taking a little R&R today out to a fabulous brewery in Santa Rosa and planning on having a great day to take lots of pictures. So come back tomorrow to see my post and Happy Weekend all!

UPDATE!

Okay back and ready to just say how much I love this word; Junebug you found a beautiful word for this week. There was a lot of brilliantly attractive things that jumped into my world this week in preparation for this word, though I didn't get pictures of any of them :P I figured I'll make a list of a few of the more eye catching little focuses of attention I got to enjoy and then get to the big one I thoroughly languished in all day yesterday...

Brilliantly Eye-catching Attractions This Week:


1. Purple corduroy tight pants on a grown man (a Chemist even!)
2. An entire pasture of mini horses-seriously the most squealy cutest thing I've seen in a long time! It was a real life My Little Pony scene!

3. A delicious, decadent and oh so pretty salted caramel chocolate cake from my favorite bakery-Freeport Bakery

For everyone who isn't familiar with this word (I love words and had never heard of this one, even when studying GRE vocabulary), here's a definition from the web:


cynosure [ˈsɪnəˌzjʊə -ʃʊə]

n

1. a person or thing that attracts notice, esp because of its brilliance or beauty

2. something that serves as a guide

[from Latin Cynosūra the constellation of Ursa Minor, from Greek Kunosoura, from cyno- + oura tail]

cynosural  adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003

I'm enchanted with the idea of this word being related to the constellations, particularly when I looked a bit more into it and realized that it's origin was connected to Polaris, the Dog Star. What better way to celebrate the guidance of the cosmos and the mariner's pole than to truly divulge myself into a 2 hour road trip in search of the hoppiest pleasure maybe possible in the United States, or dare I say, the world???

For those who aren't familiar with  common hops in beer, the plant's taxonomic name is Humulus lupulus (named for the wolf). It also is a relative of a much more potent cannaboid, Cannabis sp. No wonder hops have such a draw!

Yesterday, my great friend John and I went in search of Russian River Brewing Co.'s Pliny the Younger. Lauded as a triple IPA and a total hop bomb, it's a beer that is on tap for an extremely limited time once a year (last year their supply lasted 8 hours!!) and people flock from all over to have a chance to taste it. After a one and a half hour wait outside, we finally entered the hoppy holy land and spent the rest of the day "hopping" around Santa Rosa tasting and trying beers of every sort. On the way home we stopped in Petaluma for more tasty beer at Lagunitas Brewing Co, and then missed our exit home :) We made it home at last with stories to tell and the wonderful taste of bitter beer and the smell of hop flower buds in our noses-it was fantastic!

The line stretched the whole block!

Love this shirt and really really want one because I've definitely hit my Lupelin threshold!

Go say hi to Junebuggy and friends to see the other great posts for Weekword!