A Tea Drinker's Take on Coffee

As you know, I am an avowed tea drinker. Coffee is just not my thing. Plus I have something personal against paying lunch prices for a fancy cup of joe. Although I did develop a penchant for McDonald's' mocha frappes last summer....

On our recent trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, Himself (who drinks even less coffee than I -- exactly none) and I spent a few days in Kona, land of the quintessential coffee. One morning, we stopped in for a free tour at Greenwell Farms, a coffee farm in existence since 1850 and still owned by the Greenwell family. The tour was extremely informative and interesting. Since the tours are informal, there were only five people in our group, so we could ask all the questions we wanted. (I have some photos of coffee trees more than 100 years old and still producing, but I'm still on the library computers and can't upload the photos.)

Of course, there were samples galore at the end of the tour. Greenwell does not offer sugar or milk with their samples, as they want the coffee's individual flavor to take center stage. Himself and I both sampled several varieties, and I fell in love with the chocolate macadamia nut (decaf for me, please). I bought a bag to bring home, and I drink it black, thanks very much. Me, who has always added sugar and milk! Alas, Himself is not a convert; he thought a few were pretty good, but that's all.

Then again, I'm no convert either. I'll always be a tea drinker. But it's nice to branch out once in a while, isn't it?

Getting Settled In

We've been in Maine for almost two weeks and are just now getting settled into the cabin. The place was a disaster after the renovation project we had done over the fall and spring, and it took lots of elbow grease -- not to mention cleaning products -- to get it ship-shape. Plus, the washing machine started leaking water all over our new wood floors, and we had to have that repaired.

I'm also having laptop issues, so I'm typing this on a public computer at the library. I thought I'd gotten everything fixed, but today, when I plugged the thing in, it wouldn't power on. Aarrrgh.

Such is life, eh?

Not all is glum, however. I love seeing the hummingbirds at my feeders. Laundry on the line and blowing in the breeze makes me happy, too. Jasper is having a blast playing with our neighbors' dogs, and we've fit in plenty of time to visit with friends and have fun on the boat. Small joys like these season our days.

She Is Too Fond of Books: Playing Catch-Up

It's been weighing on my mind that I've written NO book reviews in ages. But I have been reading. So I took a break from packing to share a list of what I've read over the past few months. These are off the top of my head, so I'm forgetting a few, but this is better than nothing, right?

 

• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, by Stieg Larsson
• Shakespeare, by Bill Bryson
• Tyler's Row, by Miss Read
• Midwives, by Chris Bohjalian (not as good as The Double Bind)
• House Rules, by Jodi Picoult (Okay. Learned a lot about Asperger's.)
• 84, Charing Cross Road and The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, by Helene Hanff
• The Unbearable Lightness of Scones, The World According to Bertie, The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party, and Love Over Scotland, all by Alexander McCall Smith
• The Forgotten Garden, by Kate Morton
• The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain

And my favorite thus far:

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, by Helen Simonson

 

If you're looking for titles for your summer reading, these should get you started. Happy reading!

A Tale of Two Summers

Holy cow. I don't know about you, but I am worn out. June has been its usual (at least for the past three years or so) frantic, frenetic, frenzied, barely controlled chaos with a few added sparks tossed in just for fun.

There was a security breach on my Amazon account, resulting in my account being closed, which discombobulated my seller account (and I had pending sales!). It's taken a bit of time to get sorted out, what with my Kindle (yes, I lost some books there). Amazon gave me a gift card to cover the loss of my downloaded books I lost; I was grateful. Then there was a mammogram scare that turned out to be nothing. And that was just last week!

Betwixt and between the unprepared- and unlooked-for events, we've juggled daily swim team practices; weekly swim meets (this year, I co-chaired concessions for two home meets -- a new experience for me); practice rides and lessons each week on the equestrian front; three horse shows; Miss Priss's first-ever middle school choir mission trip to Pensacola, FL; dental, ortho, and eye appointments; getting together with friends; pool visits (the girls can go by themselves this year -- hallelujah!); a complete overhaul of the study/schoolroom; Jasper's weekly obedience training; AND our trip to Hawaii. Plus we're getting ready for our journey to Maine, which is a monumental task with a multitude of its own requirements.

June in the deep South. That's my first summer.

By this time next week, we'll be in Maine, and my second summer begins. More on that later.