The Coffee Shop Chronicles No. 2

I was sorely tempted to stay home. We had been gone for the weekend and being away always makes me feel behind. Even though in reality there was nothing to do at home. The house was clean before we left, except for those cookie cutters on the counter. Emptied out of their container so the dog food for the dogs when at the dog sitter could go in it. The container not quite empty yet, the cookie cutters remained on the counter. Aside from that the house was still clean.

Looking out the window though, the rare blue skies and sunshine propelled me out the door. Even if my car temperature display did read a down right frigid 7 degrees.

I arrived at a quarter to nine. The coffee shop my sole destination for the day.

The Order Taker was in her normal place behind the register, as cheerful and helpful as ever, but there was an air of fluster about her. The Assistant was missing. Hopefully it was her day off or she was coming in for the lunch shift instead of breakfast. I knew the Order Taker was flustered when she asked if I wanted my Cherry Chocolate Chip Muffin heated and with butter, to which I answered yes. She handed me the muffin heated, but the sinful butter was missing. I probably should have taken that as a sign that I didn't need the butter, but instead I asked the Order Taker for it.

I seated myself at my "usual" table. After one week I had a regular spot already? I took note of the occupants of the tables around me. A completely new cast of characters, except for one.

The lone return character, who I didn't even make note of last week because he was seated behind me. A regular in every sense, the Order Taker knew him by name, and the delivery gal who brought out his coffee and bagel with cream cheese didn't need to holler out his name to the whole restaurant to find him.  He was seated to my left, at the table occupied by the college professor and pre-med student last week. I have a feeling that this is his "usual" table since he made a bee line for it. I also have a feeling that he has a "usual" chair. Since he quickly traded the wooden slat back one he was going to sit in with one from a nearby table. He sat in that chair and still was not happy, because next he traded it with an extra one that was lined up against the wall. That was the one, he was happy. The funny thing is that I totally understood what he was doing as I wiggled in my own rickety slat back chair, praying that it wouldn't break.

The table were the three ladies in their 60's sat last week was occupied this time by three business men dressed in casual business attire. They all seemed to be in the 50's age range. They reminded me of start-up business owners. Each from a different start-up, meeting and conferring together. One had a well worn brown leather bound notebook and a expensive looking shiny silver ballpoint pen. The Notetaker.

As I watched these gentlemen, the only ones in my direct line of sight at the moment. I noticed their shoes. I think you can tell a lot about a person by their shoes. Especially in cold, wintery weather such as this. The Notetaker had on practical black business dress shoes. The gentleman with his back to me had on deck shoes. He struck me as somebody who spent a lot of time on his sailboat, and was probably getting ready to leave for Florida. The third gentleman had on the most interesting shoes. They were a cross between biker boots and cowboy boots, but short like business boots. Similar to these…

I am not quite sure what that says about him. They started to pack up so my attention shifted to a new arrival.

A young college aged couple seated themselves at a table in front of me but he was partially hidden by a column. As they waited for their soy chai drinks I watched them hold hands across the small two seater table and gaze lovingly into each other's eyes, exchanging no words.

Once their drinks arrived the casual conversation began. Soon her iPhone came out and she scrolled through Instagram and Facebook. Then suddenly he jumped up and came towards me, I thought "oh no, busted", but no, he quickly snapped a photo of the framed picture of Jesus hanging on the column near me.

Then he returned to his seat. Of course he had my curiosity peaked now. He was dressed in a mid length, dark heather gray, wool dress coat, he had oversized black, plastic frame glasses which every guy seems to sport these days. Then I looked down at his shoes and they were spectacular…

Cerulean blue suede, wingtip dress shoes. I wanted to get a picture of them so badly, but he moved too quickly, these that I found on the internet are very similar. Is this hipsterish attire? I wonder.

Once back at the table, they continued to scan their phones. She occasionally taking a photo of him and posting it to Instagram. Eventually they finished their drinks, returned their phones to their proper places and bundled up to leave. Probably off to class. 

By this point it was time for me to head out as well. Home to walk the dogs while the blue skies and sunshine still prevailed, these elements helping to offset the 10 degree temperature. Hopefully...

5 Random Friday Finds

I went to our local Antique Mall this week to find my random finds. It is good to try something different  once in a while.

Find No. 1

When I was finally old enough to get my own phone, I wanted one like this one so bad. I did not get it.

Find No. 2

 In case you still Like Ike you can have a picture of Dwight D. Eisenhower for your wall.

Find No. 3

I was very tempted by this 1950's Girl Scout uniform. If I did portrait photography….hmmm…my niece Anna is about this size. There was this camera there as well…

That could lend itself to a fun portrait session. I will need to think on this. 

Find No. 4

If I had the right wall for this, or young children…which is not going to happen until there are grandchildren.

Find No. 5

I am old enough to remember S & H Green Stamps. I loved going to the redemption center with our filled booklets to redeem them for some exciting gadget. I would love to find some old booklets, they would be wonderful to photograph.

Joining Nancy for Random 5 Friday

Joining Kim for Friday Finds

Every Girl Needs an Anthem

Every Sunday there is a blog link up party hosted by Kathy at You'll Shoot Your Eye Out. The party is called Song-ography, an interpretation of the words of the featured weekly song incorporated into your photography. I do not participate in this party, not because I don't want to, but because I know my scheduled blogging party limitations.

A few of my friends do participate in this link up, so I get to read their lovely words and see their interpretation of the song. This week as I was reading my friend Nancy's post, something stirred inside me. I was moved by her words. I was also moved by the song. The song is Brave by Sara Bareilles.

First of all, she has a great name even if she is missing the "h". Second of all, I have heard the song before. First exposure coming from watching The Voice (one of my favorite TV shows). I have been exposed to a lot of new music by watching that show, hopefully that will help keep me hip for years to come. Having heard this song on the show before, I knew that I liked it, but obviously not enough to pursue looking up the artist on iTunes or downloading the album. That is until I read Nancy's post and really listened to the words.

BRAVE

"You can be amazing 

You can turn a phrase into a weapon or a drug

You can be an outcast

Or be the backlash or somebody's lack of love

Or you can start speaking up

Nothing's gonna hurt you the way that words do

When they settle 'neath your skin

Kept on the inside and no sunlight

Sometimes a shadow wins

But I wonder what would happen if you 

Say what you wanna say

And let the words fall out

Honestly I wanna see you be brave…"

You can read the rest of the lyrics here.

My word for 2014 is Courageous. I debated back and forth between Courageous and Brave. So I feel the perfect sidecar word to Courageous is Brave. Courageous is acting and Brave is a feeling inside. I want to feel Brave in my writing, in my photography, in everything that I do. So this song is going to be my Anthem for 2014.

Do you have a song that could be your Anthem? I would love to hear what it is.

The Coffee Shop Chronicles No. 1

I arrived at a quarter past nine. My first venture into going to a location to write. I really had no idea what to expect. How busy would it be now that the roads were snow and ice free? I had some idea of how bad the house bound wanted to get out and rejoin the world of face to face conversations, yummy treats and warm drinks. After all that was part of the reason why I was here, but my main objective to be here was to observe and write. I am committed to focusing on my writing this year along with continuing to hone my photography skills. I make general observations wherever I go but I want to take that to a deeper level which means taking the time to just sit and watch.

As I stepped up to the counter to place my order for a cranberry walnut muffin and a Chai latte with skim milk, no whip, I noticed an assistant standing close to the order taker and listening intently. As I soon learned, the assistant was "in training". Haven't we all been there, that feeling of inadequacy, even though in the rest of our life we are fairly confident.

The assistant received her instructions; muffin placed on a paper napkin on top of a clear plate, then put in the microwave and press number 2 (obviously the perfect muffin heating setting.) Once out of the microwave, add the fork, knife and the pat of butter. The assistant delivered it to my table in record time. Her next task was the making of my Chai Latte which she seemed to master in short order and again she delivered very promptly. The new assistant will do well, I have great confidence in her.

As I settled in with my muffin and steaming Chai, I assessed the tables around me.

One held a group of three ladies in their later 60's. They were quite fascinated watching me as I unpacked my bag; journal, pencil, writing book that we are reading in my writing group, and last but not least my DSLR camera with the 50mm lens attached. I had homework to do for my 50mm class and what better place to do some people photography than in a coffee shop.

At the table closest to me sat a college professor and a student. The student, a girl in her senior year, reminded me of my daughter. Mallory has always had great relationships with her teachers and professors. The professor and girl were discussing her plans for life after graduation. Medical school seems to be in her hopeful future.

The last table my eyes settled on was directly across from me. It contained a lone college student. On the table next to him sat his backpack. In front of him was a cup of coffee, his laptop and his phone with ear phones attached. Soon the laptop went away and out came a text book. He went up to refill his coffee cup and as he sat back down away went the textbook and out came a magazine. Seems to have a bit of a short attention span. I briefly glanced to the ordering counter to see how the assistant was doing with a more steady stream of new customers. I glanced back to the table where the college student had been and poof, he was gone. Like I said, short attention span.

As much as I wasn't sure how this whole observation adventure would go, I must confess I enjoyed it and look forward to more coffee shop outings. The big dilemma I have now is, do I return to the same place or do I try a new place to continue to expand my horizons.

I guess you will have to wait and see.

5 Random Friday Finds

Find No. 1

Our snowblower is getting quite a work out this winter. It is a good thing we bought a new one a couple of years ago.

Find No. 2

I have always had a big fascination with Sinclair gas stations. I think it is the simplicity of the lettering and the cute dinosaur on the sign. This is a miniature station set up in a model railroad display.

If you are interested in reading a little history on this company started in 1916 click here.

Find No. 3

With the right light and placement, even a chewed on and much loved dog toy can look pretty spectacular. 

Find No. 4

Mallory got a new pair of boots for Christmas. She needed something else beside her Bogs to wear in the snow. I had to put waterproof spray on them for her, and in the process thought they would be fun to photograph for my 365 project, using my 50mm lens. 

Find No. 5

I was in need of a new daily devotional/daily reading book, and thanks to Mallory looking for some C.S. Lewis books I found a good one.

Joining Kim for Friday Finds

Joining Nancy for Random 5 Friday

Missing Things

As I sit here writing this, I am anxiously awaiting the clock to strike the 8 o'clock hour. I need to cancel my haircut for 9 o'clock this morning. With a real time temperature of -1 and a wind chill of -23, my hair can wait another week. With these horrifying temperatures my hair is going to be living under a hat whenever I go out anyway, and hat hair looks like hat hair whether it has been cut or not.

As I sit here writing, Scout is sitting closely by my side, starring at me woefully. He is wondering what has happened to his morning walks, or any walk at all for that matter. The best he has right now is to go from the downstairs slider, along the path that Glen has shoveled to the bottom of the deck steps, up those and back into the house through the slider on the porch. A good 50 yards at the most. The poor darling, his is bored out of his mind.

As I sit here I think "well I was going to start writing on Tuesday mornings", but that was suppose to start next week. No time like the present I guess.

Most of all as I sit here starring out the window at this wintery nastiness, I started thinking about all the things I miss…

I miss a fire in our fire pit, sitting around it reading a book and enjoying its warmth.

I miss grass. I even miss mowing it, but don't tell Glen that.

I miss the splashes of color that the flowers in my garden offer.

I miss the growing heirloom tomatoes in my narrow little vegetable garden.

I miss my "Taking the Backroads" adventures. My wanderlust is hugely unsatisfied right now.

I miss Lake Michigan and the beach.

Most of all I miss walks with the dogs. Walking through the neighborhood making sure everything is as it should be.

So even though I know I need this time of year, because it forces me to stay inside and do all the things I put off the rest of the year. I am just not an inside person, there is too much to see and explore out in the world, and I hate missing it.

Photo - Heart Connection ~ December

Riley….

You would never know looking at this sweet docile face that at the age of 3 months I would have gladly returned him to the breeder. He had by that time already earned the nickname "Devil Dog". He was constantly jumping on us and biting us, as well as getting into everything, including any dirt filled puddle he could find in the backyard.

I blame all his naughtiness on the fact that he was an only dog.  He never had any siblings to bite him back or take him down a peg or two in the pecking order. My theory on this was proven when we added our second Golden Retriever, Scout, when Riley was 10 months old. A big part of the reason we  added Scout was so that Riley would have a playmate/bitemate. Scout quickly put Riley in his place and that was the end of "Devil Dog".

I took this photo of Riley on a recent Sunday morning. We were all rushing around getting ready for church, yet there he lay, peacefully at the end of my daughter's bed. The sunlight coming through the window illuminated him so perfectly that I had to quick grab my camera and get a few shots of him.

At 11-1/2 he is starting to slow down a little. He needs a boost up onto the bed now, but he still loves daily walks and he can hear the crinkle of a cheese package from anywhere in the house. I will know he is truly getting old when he doesn't come running for a piece of cheese anymore.

**I kind of fell off the Photo - Heart Connection wagon the second half of 2013, but I have committed to resuming for all of 2014. Thanks to Kat Sloma for hosting this wonderful opportunity to share a favorite photo from the past month and share the story behind it as well.