This past Thursday (June 16) was Youth Day, a National Holiday, in South Africa. Now, a National Holiday usually means a day off...woohoo!!! So, there's good news and bad news. The good news is my husband, Lou, had the day off. The bad news ...... so did most of the coffee shops in the area! Fortunately, The Grove Tea and Coffee Shop, which is usually open only on weekends, happened to be open on Thursday! This week's crawlers cruised a few miles out of town, and met at The Grove, a renovated dairy farm situated on Lakeside Road in Theescombe. Along with Lou (who brought the sunshine for his first crawl) I was joined this week by Stella and Beryl Dawson, Fran and Keith de Beer, June and Howard Nash, Marie and David Nash, Nomusa Nkomo and Les Baldwin. We were greeted by Sean Page, cook, barista, and brother of owner, Deirdre Kohler. Sean quickly moved some tables together for our group and settled the twelve of us in for this week's holiday crawl.
The first round of LavAzza coffees included seven cappuccinos and four black coffees, along with a pot of tea for Nomusa. Few places in PE serve LavAzza coffee but maybe more should consider it.... the coffee was excellent....certainly good enough for the crawlers to order 2nd, 3rd, and 4th rounds!!! Sean was a very personable host and kept up with the onslaught of coffee orders with a smile and a sense of humor.
The Grove, which only 18 months ago was a dairy farm's cattle barn and storage room, is now a tastefully decorated coffee shop in a beautiful rural area. It is a large, one-room shop that serves not only as a coffee shop but also as a venue for corporate events, parties and receptions. The weekend menu is hand-written on a chalkboard. Sean says that when they run out of something on the menu, it just gets erased! Sean's specialties include oat waffles, lemon meringue pie and, his piece de resistance.....ice cream cake. We sampled some as we were leaving...WOW! This coming Sunday being Father's Day, The Grove is having a special luncheon including South African lamb, chicken, and prawn potjies. Lou and I will definitely be there.
So, what do marriage, a lunar eclipse, politics, and television have in common? Answer...absolutely nothing, but those were hot topics around the table this week. Right out of the blocks, Lou and I led a toast to Lou's parents, Lillian and Sabie in Binghamton, NY as they celebrate their 55th wedding anniversary! Needless to say, the talk of weddings led to some interesting conversation. My vote (and the only one that counts since this is my blog) for the best comment on the subject of marriage is Howard's....."The first 25 years is all downhill, then it levels off and gets better after that!" I don't even know what to say about that. Anyway, Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!
As for topic #2, skywatchers in the Southern Hemisphere witnessed an impressive total lunar eclipse Wednesday evening. Lou and I were on the phone with Jeff (in NY) at the time and asked if he was watching it....oops....it was 3 pm in NY, so I guess not. Clear skies here made for excellent viewing. Sadly, my photography skills are not honed enough to do the eclipse justice. So, on to politics. At the table were 8 South Africans, 1 Brit, 1 Zimbabwean, and 2 Americans. Enough said?!? And finally, something that came as quite a surprise to me... the South Africans at the table informed me that SA has only had television broadcasts since 1976, and at that time for limited hours. "The Bob Newhart Show"and "Dallas" topped the list of early favorites. I'm still stunned at this........both TV in '76 and their top choices!!! :)
During our visit to The Grove I had an interesting conversation with owner, Deirdre Kohler. She gave me some background on how she came to start up the coffee shop. It was the result of checking off things on her "Bucket List" after she was diagnosed with a brain tumor four years ago. The shop, traveling to Egypt, starting a brain cancer foundation, writing a book, rediscovering her inner artist, working on her Master's Degree in Philosophy at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.... all these things she has accomplished since her diagnosis. I bought a copy of her book, Brutal Honesty, which she signed for me. What an inspirational woman. Check out her website/blog at <deirdrekohler.com>
Celebrations to note:
*Happy Father's Day to all fathers, grandfathers, and godfathers this Sunday.
*Happy Birthday to our friend, David, in Horseheads, NY, who celebrated on coffee crawl day (June 16)
*Happy Birthday to my brother, Chuck, in Erie, PA, whose big day is today (June 17)
*Happy Birthday to coffee crawler, June Nash, who will celebrate on June 20...we will sing to you next week!
Thank you to Deirdre and Sean....we all had a great time visiting The Grove!
Thank you to my husband, Lou, for being so supportive of me with this blog and for bringing the sunshine with you on Thursday. And, Lou, contrary to what Howard says, our first 25 yrs (and the 6 yrs since) were awesome!
Until next week,
Ellen
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| This Week's Crawlers Nomusa, Les, Lou, Howard, Stella, Beryl, David, June, Marie, Fran, Keith |
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| Meet the Owner Deirdre Kohler |
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| Meet the Barista Sean Page |