The Smell of Coffee

snowbird

I've returned to work, and, at the request of my long-suffering boss, am taking it slow and easy.

He has just put on a pot of joe; the aroma is overpowering.

One of my earliest memories is getting up around 5 am to share a morning cup with my papa.

I must have been around 2 or 3 at the time, because my parents separated when I was going on 4.

Papa taught me to read from the Maxwell House coffee can, having me read the words, GOOD TO THE LAST DROP to him each morning.

Whenever I get a whiff of coffee brewing, I am taken back to those long-ago mornings in a lamplit cabin, sitting on my father's knee, sipping coffee and reading to him, basking in the glow of his praise and love.

Syl

MsDucky

I love the smell of coffee brewing in the morning too. I just can't drink it like I use to. I can tolerate about a 1/2 a cup a day. It makes me jittery now. I guess going through menopause had something to do with it. Sometimes, I try to sneak in a second 1/2 cup later in the day.

I'm glad that to hear that you are filling better!

snowbird

Hey, McD!

I can't drink coffee anymore, either.

I can savor the smell, however.

Syl

compound complex

Beautiful, Syl!

Memories brought to the surface because of this thread.

Quiz:

In the 1948 film I Remember Mama, featuring Barbara Bel Geddes, the young daughter's dramatic rite of passage was marked by her father's pushing the girl's calendar forward by doing what?

Do you know?

CoCo

snowbird

Do you know?

CoCo

No, sir, I do not.

The only thing I know about Barbara Bel Geddes is that she starred in Dallas.

Syl

compound complex

I hope you don't mind all this info, Syl. It's very relevant, IMHO. I wouldn't have this wonderful remembrance sans the coffee thread!

Love,

CoCo

Katrin brags to Christine that their mother is going to buy her the dresser set she has long admired as a graduation present. Her sister tells her Marta is planning to give her their grandmother's brooch as a gift, so Katrin is surprised when she receives the desired dresser set instead. As she is about to leave to perform in the school's production of The Merchant of Venice, Katrin is informed that her mother traded with the storekeeper her beloved heirloom for the gift Katrin wanted. Distraught by the news, the girl performs badly in the play, and later presents her mother with the brooch after trading back the dresser set. Katrin's father presents her with her first cup of coffee, which she had been told she could drink once she was grown. Before giving it to her, mother adds a healthy amount of cream.

Marta learns Uncle Chris is near death, and she takes Katrin to say goodbye to him at his ranch. He reveals he has no money to leave his niece because he had long been donating most of his income to help young children with leg or foot problems walk again, including Arne, Sigrid's son. After enjoying a final drink with his niece and Jessie, Uncle Chris dies.

Katrin is dejected when she receives her tenth literary rejection letter. Determined to bolster her confidence, Marta takes some of her stories to famed author and gourmand Florence Dana Moorhead and convinces her to read them in exchange for her prized meatball recipe. Marta returns home and advises her daughter that Moorhead feels the girl has talent and should write about what she knows best. Marta urges Katrin to write a story about Papa. When the girl's story is accepted for publication, she is overjoyed to be paid $500. After announcing some of the money will go towards the purchase of the winter coat Marta always has wanted, Katrin confesses her story is not about her father but is titled Mama and the Hospital. She begins to read it to her family, and its introduction concludes with the line, "But first and foremost, I remember Mama."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Remember_Mama

snowbird

Of course, I don't mind!

As I've mentioned before, my family was, to put it charitably, Luddites.

No electricity, no TV, no movies, no cars, no trucks, etc.

So, you see, when it comes to stuff like that, I'm at a distinct handicap.

Syl

compound complex

Hmmmmm ...

Machine smashing. Intriguing.

Reminds me of the origin of the word sabotage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite

Thanks for the new word.

CC

snowbird

Word History In French the word sabot refers to "a wooden work shoe." Naturally, walking around in such shoes can be noisy, so the verb saboter was formed and used to mean "to clatter with sabots." From this verb the French derived the noun sabotage, meaning "the making of sabots." In time sabotage acquired the added sense of "the botching or bungling of something." Apparently, walking in these clumsy, clattering shoes became associated with working in a careless or slipshod way. Later the word was used for "the deliberate destruction of an employer's property." This kind of sabotage was done by workers in order to force employers to agree to their demands. This sense of sabotage was borrowed into English around 1890. The term was especially appropriate during the great French railway strike of 1910 when the strikers destroyed the wooden devices (also called sabots) holding the rails in place. Since World War I sabotage has been commonly used for "actions taken by enemy agents against a nation's war effort."

From Merriam-Webster

Luddite or luddite - One opposed especially to technological advances.

That describes my family to a T.

Syl

TotallyADD

I love coffee. I am lucky I can drink it anytime of the day. That is the only good thing about having ADD. Coffee in the morning seems to get me going and coffee at night puts me to sleep. And during the hot summer don't forget ice coffee. It's so good. I also remember the smell of coffee as a child. I always loved the smell but hated the taste of it until I turned 34 years old. One day I was offered a cup. I drank it and feel in love with it. To this day it is one of my life's simple pleasure. Totally ADD

The Smell of Coffee

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