An Eighth Shot of Espresso: Coffee and Creativity on Mum's Third Shift

Step through the gates into a different world. Knights in full armor charging on their noble steeds Pirates of all stripes eye patches and parrots hook hands and peg legs The pious monks in brown habits the ladies under delicate parasols trailing velvet dress trains in the dirt The occasional satyr and faun and the glittering fairy wings Hold a massive turkey leg in one hand and tankard of grog in the other. The fire eater takes the stage and the minstrels wander around with lutes and harps and violins in hand. Tarot readers and fortunetellers tea houses and coffee places or even champagne and mimosas. Crafters and their wares Haunted castles and plague doctors Lords and Ladies, knaves and rogues all are welcome from dawn till dusk.

A new transition from mother to elder but a young woman still lives within my breast. There's so still so much I want to see and do! Where did the time go? How much of it wasted? The young ones need me safety and stability in a world that is so uncertain. No one else knows the path I have trod but that road is not yet closed. Don't need to be bound by the old traditions Share the knowledge you have and accumulate more. No need to be resigned and wait for death when there is more to accomplish.

Tsundoku: acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up without reading them Life rushes past cairns piled all over the place haphazardly stacked about to fall over I could open my own bookstore with what I've acquired Shelves overflowing with tomes great and small fantasy tales languages history philosophy only some of them dogeared and some of them still new A few just appeared, I swear I don't remember buying them but they are here. Silent voices pleading for my hands to pick them up and for their voices to be heard. As days gone by they become silent testaments to a chaotic existence.

The Elixir of Life brings clarity focus productivity serenity It comes in many forms solid to cool the brow liquid to quench the thirst gas to unclog a stuffy head quite versatile. A natural part of the world Up in the clouds stretching from the horizon blanketing the ground in white. A force of nature not to be reckoned with sweeping all in its path fickle and unpredictable benevolent yet raging. Sailors respect it Gardeners welcome it Fish depend on it necessary for existence yet so underestimated.