Coffee in Paradise

It’s push comes to shove time, many of us are having to decide what we really need to shop for and what we can to without. In an attempt to stave off financial ruin, I have whittled my grocery list way down. I used to think I spent a lot on groceries, but it turns out my spending is average for the size of my family. I’m convinced my family is not really average and that I can bring my grocery bill down. It’s just one of the ways I’m choosing to economize in these interesting times.

I can’t find it in myself to give up my whole bean coffee, roasted to perfection by some corporate megalomaniac, I’m sure, but all the same I adore it. It’s worth waking up for. I can’t go with out my morning companion, and cheaper imitations just won’t do. They are to acidic, to light, to green, to pale, to mass produced, canned and vacuum sealed. They have no real personality; they just masquerade as having great depth. Their charm is gone the moment you get a whiff of their scent, like a guy wearing cheap cologne on a first date.

So in an attempt to economize, I have taken to actually measuring my beans to make each perfect cup o’ joe. I’m measuring the water too, so no left over, unused, unwanted, cold growing, stale cups of coffee get washed down the kitchen sink.

Into the grinder I carefully placed one and one half tablespoons of beans per cup o’joe. I ground the beans fine and dumped them into the French press coffee pot ( the only way to go if you really love the taste of coffee- no paper filter to soak up the delicate oils infused with essence of coffee tree, bloom and growth ).

One measured cup of steaming hot water for each cup of coffee followed.

I don’t know about you but I was fascinated to find that my coffee “cup” holds about two cups of coffee. I measured my china from the 30’s and 40’s and guess what? A cup held a cup. I wondered when we became such gluttons. Or were there copious cups all along, they just were not included with a set of delicate china? Did big mugs become fashionable in the 50’s? I had to know, it’s just me so I went on-line (don’t you love the internet?) and found this:

Archaeologists found mugs carved from bones dating to the Stone Age. The first coffee shop appeared in 1475 in Constantinople. The first coffee mugs were made out of wood during that time. In 1748, Britain banned coffee and all merchandise associated with it, including mugs. This led to a shortage of mugs, and the black market prices for mugs rose. DAMN! I sure am glad that I do not live in Britain in 1748!

Fascinating- but let us get back to the story-

I wrapped the coffee pot in kitchen towels to keep the heat in and let it set the required 4 minutes. Wa-la I mused as I poured the perfect cup of coffee. Steam rose to delight my nose as I lifted the mug and took a first sip.

Instantaneously it seemed that I had entered a worm hole and was projected back in time to a warm September afternoon. The sky was cloudless. Shade dappled the table I sat at, with tiny flutters of shadow in the warm breeze. The sun, just past mid point in the sky reflected a billion diamond like wave caps off the distant ocean, laid out before me with no end in sight. From my seat at the top of the island, I could see coast line curve for many miles before it wandered around the island, the ocean surrounding it like a square dancers skirt in full twirl. The dust had settled on the dirt road, the last car passed half an hour ago and the only sounds were the call of birds I could not identify in the distance, as they meandered through the coffee plantation, and the low hum of the coffee roaster in the plantation’s thatched roof “factory and retail shop” down the walk to my right. The flagstone patio was empty; presumably the tourists were off pursuing more aquatic interests in the heat of the day.

The cup of coffee in front of me was hot, and made the air seem cool, a respite from the humid warmth of the big island air. The coffee was dark and rich, tasting like once ancient volcanic lava now weatherized to a soft black nutrient rich soil, and sweet dreams of paradise and sea turtles and palm trees and orchid leis.

A moment later I was back in the kitchen, - Wow! That is one good cup of coffee. I'm making it just like that from now on. The unexpected mini vacation-in-my-mind just the icing on the cake of a great economical cup 'o joe.

Am I Dreaming?

I woke this morning, sun streaming into the room through the huge window beside my bed. I threw back the covers and stood to look out the window. This is what I saw:



What a beautiful way to start the day I thought as I absorbed this incredible sight before me. Then, my mind stopped for just a second, and started again. Wait a minute I thought- I'm not awake yet. This is a dream. I am dreaming. What a beautiful dream to start the day with. Then I woke up.

From The Same Flame.

I went to see “Horton Hears a Who” this week, and it was like licking a windowpane and I don’t mean the kind in your house if ya get my drift. If you don’t, well lets just say it was very colorful. I don’t remember the book really well, it was so long ago, but I can’t recall the part where the little yellow thingie (what ever it was) told Horton that she had an imaginary world where all the inhabitants were ponies that ate rainbows and pooped butterflies. Maybe I just don’t remember that part or maybe the film makers elaborated a tad. I did think it was interesting and entertaining imagery. Horton started questioning whether there might be something bigger than himself somewhere up above and that possibly his whole world was just a speck teetering on the edge of some huge flower. Yes Horton, we have all been there. So I was drifting off to sleep last night, with my bestest cat wrapped around my head like a furry thinking cap, and pondering that giant elephant in the sky. It got me to considering how we end up with our furry little friends. I imagined a huge being pulling hot coal out of the universal fire. The big being fanned the coal until a flame sprang forth. That was the human soul created. The being knew the heart of the human would long to return to the creator and would be lonely wandering the universe waiting for that day. The being felt compassion for the humans loneliness and decided to give the human a gift. The being held the flame in one hand and with the other pinched off a little piece of the flame and sent it spinning around the central flame. Like a little planet of fire orbiting a torch. Then the big being blew on the pair and sent them spinning off into the universe, one human and one pet soul, from the same flame. I think the being knew that the pet would not live as long as the human, and in making them from the same flame the being made them eternally inseparable. The pet soul would always return to the flame it was born of, life after life, and there by teach the human soul the truth of impermanence of all things and the true nature of love, ever changing but never ending. The human soul could also learn, if it were willing, the lesson that Horton and his friends learned. To be kind to all, for a soul is a soul, no matter how small.

Say Hello to Monday

I woke to a noise, not a clang or a gong,
It sounded more like small voices in song-
It's morning I’m sure, there is sun through the curtain
That noise I’m hearing –it’s a song I’m quite certain
But why am I awakened by this wee little song-
I’m alone in this bedroom, no, wait am I wrong?

And that is when I saw them.

It was Monday morning, a week ago that I encountered the vision. It’s taken me a whole week to process this terrifying event and encase it in cryptic verse. I was minding my own business, getting a few extra Z’s before the week started.

I usually start Monday morning by giving thanks. Thanks for the warm bed I slept in, thanks for the roof over my head, thanks for the wonderful people in my life, you know, just to start the week in a positive frame of mind.

Well, this particular Monday I woke to a wee song, it started out low, and then it started to grow, and the room was filled with the sound of a vision, and there they were.

Da hoo dor-a, dah hoo dor-a
Welcome Monday, bring your light
Da hoo dor-a, dah hoo dor-a
Welcome in the cold dark night
Welcome Monday, ba hoo ram as
Welcome Monday, ba hoo ram as
Welcome Monday while we stand
Heart to heart and hand to hand
Welcome, welcome, da hoo dar-a
Welcome, welcome da hoo dor-a
Monday morning’s in our grasp
Long as we have hands to clasp

Every Who down in Whoville, the big and the small
Every Who down in Whoville, the short and the tall
Hands clasped in a circle, the notes just a ringing
Swaying to and fro, all those Who voices signing!

They were clear as day with their holly wreaths, big furry feet, and round little faces and big buggy eyes. I could see their furry butts, long feathery fingers and goofy bow ties. They were all there, everyone prismatic- the colors so bright - striped bellies, two toned tummies and spiky hair in a rainbow of colors. (Except of course, Cindy Lou Who-who was no more than two- she was almost human looking so I have to assume she was adopted- and what’s up with her feet? Does she have any or was she put up for adoption by mutant mermaids?).

Now, I’m not one of those people who loathes Mondays. In fact, I like Mondays. I actually take a few minutes out of my Sunday to make a list of things I want to accomplish in the next week. I like to hit the ground running on Monday, because I know that the more I get done on Monday, the more wiggle room I have at the end of the week, so mid-week, when the you- know- what starts hitting the fan, I’ve got it covered. I like to start the week off in a happy fashion.

But this, this was just too much. I was frozen with fear. Terrified by the implications.

How the hell did those Whos get in my house? Was I having a nightmare or did I eat a three decker toadstool sandwich with arsenic sauce from which I was suffering hallucinations? What would Freud say?

I hid under the covers and started my thanks, thank you for not making me a schizophrenic- You didn’t, did you? Thank you for my feet planted firmly on the ground, thank you for my sanity, thank you for the results of that recent brain scan that said I was perfectly normal.

I loosened the grip my lids had on my eyeballs and peeked out from under the covers. Nothing. It was quiet, they were gone, not a bistel bingler, or pan cuckler in sight to prove they had been here.

Now another Monday’s dawning, for me and for you
I hope on this Monday, you take a clue from a Who
If you’re one of those people, and get in that state
The start of the week, yes, Mondays you just seem to hate,
Take a moment to say thanks as the week ushers in
Let your heart grow three sizes and say "welcome" with a grin.

Jimmy Buffett, Margaritas and Beaches

OK, Y'all know I was thinking of beaches last week ( if you don't, go back and read TGIT? ) and the funny thing was, that very evening my friend called me and warned me that she was gonna drop by on her way home from work. Then she started talking about listening to Jimmy Buffett at work and how she was thinking about the beach and margaritas.

Talk about two people being on the same wave length!

Maybe we were having some kinda psychic connection or something, or maybe it's true that great minds think alike. Anyhow, she showed up at my house after work and had a couple of adorable margarita glasses in her hand- you know, the kind with the big cactus stem? Too Cute!

Anyway, I just happen to have a bottle of tequila, triple sec, some key lime juice, margarita salt and ice! Isn't that a strange concidence! Is this some amazing psychic phenomenon? Is it a case of the second sight? Some kinda leak of information from a parallel universe?

Is time just like a big old stack of pancakes that we can sometimes glimpse through and see the future? I don't know, but after a couple of margaritas we had all kinda theories.

Anyway, this post is for my friend and for everyone out there who is having a beach of a day. Come on back anytime ya feel like seeing the beach, and enjoy my photos of some of the beaches I've visited.

Big Island, Hawaii

Kona Coast Big Island, Hawaii

Long Island, New York

Oahu, Hawaii

Galveston, Texas

Cancun, Mexico

Key West, Florida

Isla Mujeras, Mexico

Oahu, Hawaii

Pensacola, Florida