My daily walk to and from the bus stop became more interesting in the last week or so. An old building that I pass every day has been in the process of being renovated for some time now. While the upper stories are going to become condominiums and are still in the process of being refurbished, look what has opened in one of the bays below . . . I knew the intention was to rent them out as commercial space but I had no idea that one had actually been filled.
Well Grounded Coffee opened a week ago and I think I have found a new favorite place to have a coffee and find a little peace and quiet to read and relax.
The coffee flavor of the week is Persephone Blend and it's yummy. I can actually taste the floral tones (I've always thought my taste buds just weren't refined enough to pick up these things, but I think it is less me than the coffee I've been drinking or the way that it's brewed). I just needed a few gingersnaps to bring out the taste. How fitting that I am reading a book while drinking a coffee inspired by the myth of Persephone! Even had it not sounded tempting I might have had to try it for the name alone. A literary Sunday afternoon all the way round.
Book flavor of the week? I shouldn't, but I did. I picked up the first Kathy and Brock Mystery by Barry Maitland called The Marx Sisters. I have one class left to go and I feel a massive mystery/crime binge coming on when I am done. Although if my side bar is anything to go by I have already started binging and can just come out into the open now. More about the other books tomorrow.
Aside from the fact that I have had the book on my shelves for years and years, the setting is a "quaint section of London inhabited by Eastern European immigrants" called Jerusalem Lane. The book, the setting, the story has all sorts of appeal for me. Doesn't this sound interesting?
"The area which we know as Jerusalem Lane is really the whole of this city block, which is divided into two irregular halves by the line of the Lane itself, apparently all that remains of the rural track which once ran from somewhere around what is now King's Cross down to Holborn. Do you know that the peculiar kink in the middle of the lane is probably a corner where four fields met and the track had to change direction round them? I think that's rather wonderful, isn't it, that we still have to walk along the boundaries of odd-shaped fields that disappeared hundreds of years ago."
Actually I think that's really pretty cool myself.
Well Grounded brews Intelligentsia Coffee, which is located in Chicago and is a direct trade coffee company. And part of Well Grounded profits go to building wells around the world so people have access to clean drinking water. So it's not only delicious (I've sampled a few things so far . . .), but I feel good supporting not only a neighborhood business, but one that is trying to make the world a better place. How can I resist?
Look--a sunny space. Doesn't it look really inviting? I live in one of the older sections of Omaha and there are still lots of "quaint" old buildings (okay, so nothing like London, but) with lots of personality. Finally a place I can enjoy just a few minutes walk from my house. If you're ever in Omaha, let me know and I'll buy you a cup of coffee (or a cup of tea) and we'll chat about books.