Morning Coffee

Morning Coffee

By Jimmie Aaron Kepler
Written in Amarillo, Texas
March 14, 2023

I see headlights of white
And red taillights, too
Suddenly brake lights glow bright
Avoiding running into you

And I say to my Lord
“Thank you for another day of life
And for the guardian angels, too.”

The skies are black
The clouds steely grey
And the cold, snowy night
Has two hours before day

And I say to my Lord
“Thank you for another day of life
And for winter departing for spring.”

The hot, steaming brew
Calls my name
And I shuffle to the coffee house
People pay too much without shame

And I say to my Lord
“Thank you for another day of life
And for the service workers, too.”

The baristas endlessly work
Robotic, with a smile on their faces
And they never complain
They’ve found their special places

Yes, I say to my Lord
“Thank you for another day of life.”
And through the windows,
I watch the sun finally rise.


Photo by Zeeshaan Shabbir: https://www.pexels.com/photo/unrecognizable-person-crossing-snowy-road-with-cars-on-dark-street-6872932/


Disclosure: I am an Amazon affiliate. If you purchase using the links in the article I receive a small commission.

Books: Click on BOOKS to see some of the books I’ve written or where I’ve been a contributor. 

Quest for the Perfect Place to Write

Dr. Jim Kepler at The University of Texas at Dallas Starbucks.

Morning Writing

Hello to my awesome friends and acquaintances. It’s Friday morning. The Starbucks on the northside of  The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD)campus is where you’ll find me this cloudy morning. The coffeeshop is located at 800 Synergy Boulevard. I’ve been looking for  a less crowded location for morning writing.

Epiphany

I had an epiphany when I saw the parking lot full and cars snakes around the drive through at my usual Starbucks. No, I didn’t see a diety but I did have a sudden insight. College students don’t like to get up early. Maybe the Starbucks on the UTD would be less crowded. 

The miles drive to this location was worth the drive. As five of the nine indoor table are empty. There’s a group of four ladies who look like they’re in their forties in on corner of the store visiting and having coffee. All in all, yea for me; I think this location may work. 

A Study Carrel

The recent ice storm and cold weather found me very unproductive in my writing. For decades I’ve written my first drafts and did my creative work while sipping coffee or tea at a coffee shop. My creative hours and highest productivity is between 6:00 AM and 11:00 AM. These are the hours I write a first draft, write something new. During afternoons I have no problem editing, creating memes, or researching. Even decades ago when in university and seminary, I wrote my papers and did my homework in a study carrel I booked (or had assigned in graduate school) in the school’s library. 

My table at the coffeehouse serves the same function. The distractions of being at home don’t exist. I focused get my writing or research completed with a laser focus.

So, it’s time to get to writing.

Trimmed My Beard

Today’s selfie shows my trimmed beard. An inch of whiskers were cut off. I also am using a new beard soap and using beard oil on it daily. The whiskers were about as soft as steel wool. The oil makes them softer, shinier, and maybe causes the to look a little darker, at least in photos.

Photo Source: All photos and videos were taken by the author unless noted in the photo caption.
Disclosure: I am an Amazon affiliate. If you purchase using the links in the article I receive a small commission.

Comments on the Coffeehouse Culture

Are you part of the coffee house culture? I confess I am.

What Is The Coffeehouse Culture?

The coffeehouse culture describes a friendly environment of associated common practices that depend upon coffee. Coffee is used as a social lubricant much as alcohol is in a bar or pub setting.

Coffeehouse culture also relates to the dispersion and choosing of coffee as a broadly consumed stimulant by society. In the late 20th and early 21st century, particularly in the Western world and urbanized cities around the globe. Espresso has become a more favored form.

Formation of Culture Around a Coffeehouse

I am a historian and religious educator by university and seminary education with a bachelor of arts, master of religious education, master of arts, and doctor of education degrees. With my classical liberal arts education, I developed an inquisitive mind. My curiosity had me research coffeehouses. I found the formation of the culture around coffee and coffeehouses dates back to 14th century Turkey. Coffeehouses in Western Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean were traditionally social hubs, as well as artistic and intellectual centers.

Examples of famous coffee houses include Les Deux Magots in Paris. Now a popular tourist attraction, it was once associated with the intellectuals Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. In the late 17th and 18th centuries, coffeehouses in London became favorite meeting places for artists, writers, and socialites. They were also the center for much political and commercial activity.

In the United States, the New Orleans French Market tourist destination Café du Monde which is as famous for its powdered-sugar-coated beignets as it is for its chickory-flavored coffee., according to the popular social check-in app Foursquare, is the most popular coffeehouse in the Americas.

Coffeehouses Today

Elements of today’s coffee houses, the slower-paced gourmet service, tastefully decorated environments, or social outlets such as open microphone nights, have their origins in early coffee houses and continue to form part of the concept of coffee house culture.

In the United States, the term is often used to designate the everywhere presence of hundreds of espresso stands and coffee shops in the Seattle metropolitan area and the spread of franchises of businesses such as Starbucks and their clones across the United States.

Other aspects of the coffeehouse culture include the presence of free wireless Internet access for customers, many of these patrons do business in these locations for hours on a regular basis. The patrons of the coffeehouse usually do one of three things. They either are on Wi-Fi surfing the Internet with their smartphone or computer, are meeting with a business client or friends, or are reading. The location is popular for meeting someone for the first time, especially when dating is being considered.

Some countries, like Australia, have a strong existing cafe-style coffee culture. The strong cafe-style coffee culture explains the poor performance of Starbucks there.

Yes, I am part of the coffeehouse culture? Are you?

I would love you to leave in the comments section the name of and info about your favorite coffeehouse.

The picture is of the Starbucks at 1356 Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica, California, USA. I frequently visited this location during the summer of 2012 while working in Southern California. I was employed about 8 miles away just across the street from Howard Hughes Center, Center Dr. W, Los Angeles, California.


Source: Some material adapted from Wikipedia

Photo: Starbucks,  1356 Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica, California, USA

My Coffeehouse Writing Habit

Where I Write

I’m doing my morning writing at one of my favorite Starbucks. I like the location on Preston Road just north of Lorimar in Plano, Texas. I write here most mornings.

The photo is of my writing-table. I usually sit at the same table each morning. From left to right in the picture, you see my laptop bar, my personal porcelain Starbucks coffee cup. Using the cup not only helps the environment by decreasing the number of paper cups in landfills but it saves me 10 cents a purchase.

My Writing Tools

You can see the MacBook Air I use for writing. It has a 1TB solid-state hard drive as well as 16GB of RAM. It never crashes and is a high-speed computer. I have an external, wireless Bluetooth mouse that I use.

I use some writing specific software like Scrivener and Vellum as well as Microsoft Word for Macintosh.

When I Write

I’m usually at my Starbuck table between 6 to 6:30 AM. The Muse knows where to meet me. Working for years as a US Army officer and later for decades in the information technology field, I learned the power of habit and repeatable processes.
In the Army, we had standard operations procedures. It allowed us to work faster, safer, and more efficiently — and to save lives. In the IT field, we had repeatable procedures. They did the same thing.
Writing at the same place and the same time is kind of the same thing. My brain knows it is time to put fingers to the keyboard and input words into the computer. I also usually listen to the same instrumental music. When it starts, my brain says, “Time to be creative.”
Note: I am not saying you have to follow my routine. You need to find what works for you, to develop your own habit.

Photo Source: The picture was taken by the Author