Well, it's another rainy Monday here in Durham but after a great cup of coffee I'm doing well. As you probably know, today is National Coffee Day! I found out via FB early this morning, so I planned my errands around my trip to Dunkin Donuts to get my complimentary medium cup of dark roast coffee. Unfortunately, DD is several miles away so I rarely get down there, but it's the nearest DD to our house and is located near Duke Medical Center. I didn't go during rush hour, of course, so I didn't have to wait at all! I always expect the worst whenever I hear that something is "free" but this trip was a breeze and worth the trip.
I've been known as a "coffee snob" so I have a mental picture of coffees that I've had in various restaurant chains. Dunkin Donuts is my favorite restaurant coffee, followed by Bob Evans, Ihop, and Cracker Barrell. Fresh ground is always best, so at home I'm currently grinding my Costco coffee beans (the 2 lb bag with cat eyes on the front). All I really know about this coffee is that it's from Guatemala. Incidentally, when I was in Guatemala a few years ago and the family that I stayed with didn't even serve coffee at breakfast! So, early each morning, I walked a few blocks to the town square of Antigua so that I could buy a cup of coffee. Then I headed back to the house to have breakfast at 7 am. But I digress. I do hope that you've had at least one great cup of coffee today! I'll continue to be a coffee snob and refuse to drink instant, decaf, or McDonald's coffee. It's one of my simple pleasures.
In thinking about coffee, this leads me to think about books. There is no better aroma to me than the smell of fresh coffee, books, and newspapers. How can this aroma be described? I can't think of any great adjectives, but you know what I mean. When I walk into a bookstore where coffee is sold I purposefully inhale and take it all in. Wow - it's a warm, cozy feeling that helps me to leave my personal woes at the door.
Today I was thinking about the books that I've read that are in a series. I've had the opportunity to read books in a series such as the books of James Herriot (All Creatures Great and Small, etc.) and C.S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia). I've also read multiple books by the same author such as seven books by Barbara Kingsolver, two books by Chaim Potok (My Name is Asher Lev and The Gift of Asher Lev), two by Vickie Myron (Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World & Dewey's Nine Lives), two by Haven Kimmel (A Girl Named Zippy & She Got Up Off the Couch), John Irving (A Prayer for Owen Meany & The World According to Garp), Frank McCourt (Angela's Ashes, 'Tis, and Teacher Man), and others. I read the series books when I was a child. I greatly enjoyed the stories of James Herriot who was a country veterinarian in the U.K. The Chronicles of Narnia were written by the great Christian author, C.S. Lewis and are filled with symbolism of spiritual truths. For me, I couldn't read just one book by each of these authors because they went together. I read the other books that I've mentioned simply because I enjoyed the first book SO much that I just had to read more books by the same author.
And now for the next five books in my card catalog. During the past 30 years I have also read:
The Cost of Discipleship by Bonhoeffer
A Marriage Made in Heaven or Too Tired for an Affair by Bombeck
Tramp for the Lord by Corrie ten Boom
Save Karyn by Bosnak
Apples and Oranges by Brenner
Have a beautiful week, wherever you are.
-Melissa
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