venti

my favourite coffee mug with treats I bought yesterday from my local grocery store

Ah yes! Starbucks here in my little village. Actually they have carried these little half pound bags since early in the summer. I live in cottage country and in the summer the demographic of this area changes dramatically. Mercedes Benzs, Jags, Subaru Outbacks and Passat Wagons tool around the village streets and fill the grocery store parking lots - the rest of the year those same streets and parking lots are normally filled with a variety of beater cars (like mine) or shiny new humongous pick up trucks. We get all classy here in the summer and the grocery store merchandise really reflects that change in clientele (thankfully many of those items do stay on the shelves all year round for those of us who enjoy crimini mushrooms, pine nuts or arborio rice). I guess the local crowd (who most likely doesn't even brew their morning coffee - many just go for the sudden version - it's a throw a tea bag in and add hot water, or throw some granules in and add hot water - kinda crowd) weren't buying. So these sweet little bags of the good stuff, at 8.99 a half pound, sat on the shelf with no takers. Yesterday afternoon I spied them in the 50% off grocery cart. A favourite haunt of mine - as it always seems to contain some marked down food item that I would like (all natural soda pop, or tins of organic soups, gourmet peppercorns, etc). And a girl, or this girl, does love a bargain - I bought every sweet little bag.

So, this morning I'm sitting here in my usual spot with a big ol' cup of Starbucks coffee. It's funny, memory and scent or aroma. I've had a lot of Starbucks coffee in my day but almost always I've been drinking it from a giant venti take out cup, tucked into some hotel bed in some exciting big city. Having just woken up, washed my face, donned the baseball cap, down the elevator and out onto some bustling city street in search of Starbucks (which thankfully seem to be attached, practically, to most hotels). Back up to my room with 2 venti (large - I am an addict) steaming hot, triple milk and half a sugar javas, climb back into the big heavenly bed, local news channel on the TV and plan & dream my big city day.

There's a big city girl living inside this happy rural girl and this morning I'll go back to my bed with a big mug of Starbucks and dream of my next venture out of the village.

Guess who I ran into yesterday? After dropping my car off for an oil change and walking the short distance to the grocery store, a dirt bike came peeling down the little side street by the garage. Impossible not to look back as they make SO much noise. Like a souped up chain saw. On the bike wiry, skinny, goateéd, no helmet - of course - Mathew (the wood piling fairy). Smile. I mailed Mathew a sad little plea Monday, I didn't want to call him and put him on the spot, but just said in my note that if he wasn't busy and would like to make some extra money I would be thrilled if he would pile my wood again this year. He's in, he said yes, yeah! I just need to let him know when it arrives, which I'm thinking could be any day now. Amazing how things work out, it must have been meant to be, that he was peeling down his street just as I was leaving the garage. I know my Aunt Sally will be as thrilled as I am (and Vee too) 'cause they fret about me. It's a nasty job, piling 4 cords of wood. What dynamo Mathew can do in 4 hours, honestly, would take me months. The whinging and sighing and feeling sorry for myself definitely slowing my wheelbarrow down. Spring would come and there would still be a big pile of wood outside... trust me, it's happened before.

Plus freakin 17C here this morning. Yahoo! rain (who cares) it's balmy all the windows are wide open, Starbucks here by my side, I can check worry-about-wood off my list of pressing things to obsess about and it's low tide, what more could a girl ask for.