Weekend Coffee Share 6/4/16

Posted on June 4, 2016 by Maggie C

If we were having coffee, I would tell you I am worried about my dog. He hasn’t been well the past few days; lethargic, eating grass (to ease his tummy, I think), and vomiting his food on a few occasions.

Okay, maybe that’s not suitable conversation over coffee. But it’s what’s on my mind.

I grew up in an environment where cats and dogs were primarily consigned to the outdoors. Cats were mousers and dogs were watchdogs. I didn’t understand people’s close relationships with their pets. Something happens to your dog or cat? Okay, feel bad, but then get over it. It’s not like it’s your child or something.

Now I realize that any relationship we hold is a valuable part of who we are. Of course I care more about my children than I do my pets – and I certainly hope all parents would feel that way – but that doesn’t alter the relationship I have with my pets.

You know that phrase “it’s all relative”… not true, in my opinion. If something happens to your pet, if a baby bird falls out of its nest, if the centuries-old tree down the block is cut down… it can all matter to you, if you are in relationship with it.

So baby birds fall out of nests all the time. It’s part of nature. And it’s not like an endangered silverback gorilla being shot and killed in a zoo (which happened in Cincinnati this week). No, it’s not the same. But it’s also not relative. I can care about both.

I can care a heck of a lot more about the gorilla than the bird. And I can care a heck of a lot more about the safety of the boy who was believed to be in danger in the gorilla enclosure. But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t care about a bird.

Caring about a bird or a pet does not take away from caring about any other living being. I can hug a tree and still care very, very much about world hunger and poverty and child abuse and war.

We obviously have priorities, and appropriately so. It’s all interrelated, but it’s not all relative.

Dang, here I go off on another rant during our coffee date. You’re going to dread coming over. I’ll stop now.

It’s supposed to get up to 100 degrees (F) today, something we’re not accustomed to here in the Pacific Northwest. I’m going to keep an eye on my listless little guy, and try to keep us both cool. I’ve got lots of yard work to do, but I’ll work on indoor projects and stay out of the heat as best I can.

I hope your weekend goes well. Thanks for stopping by.

Thank you Diana at PartTimeMonster.com for hosting the #WeekendCoffeeShare.

Weekend Coffee Share 5/28/16

Posted on May 28, 2016 by Maggie C

If we were having coffee, I’d ask you to pour. I’m still rather stove up from falling off a ladder yesterday. It was more like I “flew off,” with a very hard landing on a cement walkway. I didn’t have the presence of mind to take a selfie. I know that’s protocol these days.

Instead, I had to ward off the all-healing doggie kisses from my eskie Chules, make sure nothing was broken (you know, like my ladder, the screwdriver I’d been holding, the cement walk…), and then make it into the house while I could still manage the porch step.

The good news: I had cold brew coffee on hand, so I didn’t have to set up the coffee maker this morning. And I have poppy seed muffins. Help yourself.

I’ll have to keep this brief, though. I need to try and get Chules out on a walk before the muscle relaxer meds kick in. He was very upset last night when I couldn’t chase him around the house and hold our nightly wrestling match. He’s very good at laying on the guilt, with his whining and pitiful puppy eyes.

Thanks for stopping by. Mind the ladder on your way out. It looks innocent enough, but it has a mean streak a mile wide.

Thank you Diana at PartTimeMonster.com for hosting the #WeekendCoffeeShare.

Weekend Coffee Share 5/14/16

Posted on May 14, 2016 by Maggie C

If we were having coffee… well, I’d be offering herbal tea today. Rather late in the day for caffeine. For me, anyway. After weather hovering in the mid-80 degree (Fahrenheit) range, today turned cloudy, wet, and has cooled down to the 50s, so warm tea seems apropos.

If we were having tea, I’d tell you that this past week has been one of introspection for me. With years and years spent on the self-help/self-improvement track, I never managed to become very self-helpful, no matter how many books I read, seminars I attended, meditation techniques I tried…

But life threw me enough ~~curve balls~~ – make that hand grenades – that I had to finally just hunker down and work on survival. Not getting rich, gaining power, living the life of my dreams, finding true love, finding nirvana… Just surviving.

Once the dust settled and I could lift my head above the trench I had cowered in, I came to a kind of peace with myself and my life. It’s okay. Everything is okay. More than okay. A lot of facets of my life are pretty freaking amazing.

No, I didn’t win the lottery. I didn’t suddenly figure out how to “make friends and influence people.” But I realized that what I truly wanted in my life had very little to do with what the self-help gurus were peddling.

I’m not perfect (okay, stating the obvious now), my life’s not a bed of roses. Dandelions, yes; roses, no. But I get to just be me.

The real work I see for myself at this stage is learning to be comfortable with being me. Comfortable with my lifestyle choices, with my appearance, with my priorities. And not feeling the need to compare myself to others. Not overthinking everything and stressing over what everyone else might think about me and my choices.

Wow. How did I get off on this tangent? From chatting about the weather, I managed to segue into life values. Hmmm.

I’ve been introspecting so much here that my tea has gone cold. Yours too, probably. And I have no spiffy wrap up planned for this unplanned post. More tea, perhaps?

Next time I’ll let you do the talking. Hope you have a great week ahead.

Thank you to Diana at PartTimeMonster.com for hosting the #WeekendCoffeeShare.

Weekend Coffee Share 5/7/16

Posted on May 7, 2016 by Maggie C

If we were having coffee, I’d warn you to rescue your cup before my photo-bombing Eskie got ahold of it. I shudder to imagine what Chules would be like if he were hyped up on caffeine.

I’d tell you that the weather has been great, and Chules and I have been taking longer walks, getting out to the parks and trails that are so pretty this time of year, with the trees filling out with vibrant green leaves, the wild roses and rhododendrons blooming, and – according to Chules – a plethora of utterly intriguing smells along the paths.

I’d share that my house painting project is moving along at a snail’s pace, but progressing nonetheless. And since there’s no rush, that pace is just fine with me. I seem to have difficulties with being very methodical about the whole thing, so it’s coming together rather piecemeal. But that’s okay, too.

I didn’t paint this morning and instead met with my daughters and grandkids for a nice brunch. While we were watching a very shaggy dog pass by, my youngest daughter commented that my dog Chules looks like a fluffy white ottoman with a cute face and pointy ears. What do you think? Be honest; Chules and I won’t be offended (even though I pretended to be when my daughter made the observation).

I might get out and putter in the yard later today, but I’ll wait for it to cool down some. So we can rest here a bit longer and enjoy the shade as we drink our coffee.

Sit back and put your feet up. Oh! — not there… that’s my dog, not a foot stool. It’s alright. Anyone could have made that mistake. Apparently.

Thank you to Diana at PartTimeMonster.com for hosting the #WeekendCoffeeShare.

Weekend Coffee Share 4/30/16

Posted on April 30, 2016 by Maggie C

If we were having coffee, I’d offer you some cold brew, a cold coffee concentrate that is intended to be diluted 4 to 1 with water. I drink mine straight. And then have the jitters all day. Good stuff!

I’d tell you that it’s the final day of the A to Z blogging challenge that I’ve been participating in on my other blog, Glass Manifestations. Frankly, I’m feeling a bit “blogged out” for the moment. Or maybe it’s more of an overall creativity tank. So maybe I’ll take a bit of a break from blogging and let the tank refill.

Or maybe I’ll wake up tomorrow with more creative ideas than you can shake a stick at. Maybe I’ll write a blog about the origins and meaning of the phrase “more than you can shake a stick at.” Hmmm.

If we were having coffee, I’d show off my yard as you came in the house. It’s very green and lush right now. With clover, that is, not grass. The beautiful yellow flowers (dandelions) have now turned to beautiful white puff balls (seed heads) that will soon be propagating a whole new batch of pretty yellow flowers.

I can feel the glares emanating from my neighbors as they watch the uninhibited progression of a yard run amok. Maybe I’ll work on getting it under better control this week. Glaring neighbors can be such a nuisance.

That being said, I’d better go find the lawn mower now. Thanks for stopping by for coffee, and watch your step as you proceed through the jungle… er, I mean the yard. Feel free to pick some flowers on your way out.

Weekend Coffee Share 4/16/16

Posted on April 16, 2016 by Maggie C

If we were having coffee, I’d talk about the weather. Not merely as a conversation starter, or to avoid politics, religious and financial topics. But because I’m in the process of painting the exterior of my house. By hand. With a brush. Because I want to.

So I want the weather to be dry, which is asking a lot in the Pacific Northwest in springtime. I want it to be not too hot and not too cold. Kind of like Goldilocks’ porridge.

I’d tell you that, even though I used an online calculator to figure out how much paint I would need, I overshot by a huge margin. An expensive error, and one that is going to leave me with a whole lotta “dark pewter” paint on my hands. Literally and figuratively.

And so, I’d suggest that if you had anything outdoors that needed painting, you might consider the color “dark pewter,” and I could probably get you a really good deal on a few gallons.

If we were having coffee, I’d note that April seems like a good time for house painting around here because, despite having to work around rain squalls, I’m running into very few creepy crawling, buzzing, multi-legged creatures. Which suits me fine. They certainly have their place in the ecosystem and balance of life, but I’d prefer that their “place” not be overly close to me.

I’d tell you that I spent a lot of time and energy in the early hours of this morning, lying in bed and debating whether I should paint the garage door the main dark pewter color (for which I have ample paint; very ample; mega-ample). Or whether I should paint the garage door the trim color, which is “rain forest” green.

I’m toying with the idea of painting the front door a crimson red. Good feng shui, isn’t it? And maybe finding subtle ways to tie the red into other parts of the house. But I don’t want my house to look like a year round Christmas display, all red and green. Maybe crimson and rain forest wouldn’t have that effect.

Are any of you good with color? I’d rather not lose more sleep over this. Although I am thankful that garage door colors seem to be my only major concern at the moment. That, and the fact that I’ve run out of coffee.

Okay, I’m off to paint some more. Feel free to offer your color scheme ideas. And thanks for stopping by for coffee.

If we were having coffee… 4/2/16

Posted on April 2, 2016 by Maggie C

If we were having coffee, I would most likely be the one sitting quietly, listening intently, and secretly thanking the gods of social interaction for having someone else here willing to carry the conversation. At the inevitable lull, when the heavy mantle of converse would fall upon me, I would mention a blogging community I just discovered through The Daily Post blog.

Connecting under the hashtag #weekendcoffeeshare, the intent is to publish a post each weekend (or with whatever regularity suits you), in which you (the blogger) write about what you’d share with your reader if you were visiting over a cup of coffee, beginning your post with “If we were having coffee…”

It sounds interesting, but a bit intimate. I’ve tried to not get too personal on this blog, and I don’t know if I want to change that. Or challenge that. Or challenge me. Or bore my readers.

I guess – in a way – whatever I post is innately personal to some degree. Each post is a glimpse into what I think is notable, beautiful, humorous, interesting…

So maybe I’m not being as elusive and anonymous as I think, posting surreptitiously from the shadows of my laptop, hiding behind my dark shades and low-brimmed hat. Maybe it’s not such a huge leap after all to sit down on a lazy Saturday morning with my warm cup of caffeine, and tell you what’s on my mind.

Maybe. I might give this weekend coffee share community a shot. Most likely not every weekend. But some. And next time… I promise to leave the dark glasses and Dick Tracy fedora at home. I can tell that the barista behind the bar is getting a bit nervous.

I’ll get this one, if you’ll leave the tip.

A big thank you to Diana at Part-Time Monster for hosting the weekly link-up where we can check out what other bloggers are discussing with their #weekendcoffeeshare.

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