Yesterday's Coffee: 'Joe' in the morning

'Coffee from Hell' and a little bit of Easter egg fun

 By Susan G Parcheta

April 12, 2012 at TheLivingstonPost 

“Morning Joe” commercial caught my eye this morning, causing me to flee to the computer keys.

I’d flicked on the MSNBC TV show, which I rarely have time to watch, to catch a few news notes.  Seeing the coffee cup logo, with the creamy coffee spilling, I remembered I didn’t have a new blog up for The Livingston Post.  So, I grabbed my mug o’ Joe and got to plunking out some notes of my own.

My blog, of course, is Yesterday’s Coffee.  As time goes by, that title seems to fit my lifestyle. It seems comfortable and homey.  I like to think that my writing is that way. I like to imagine it having that effect on the folks who happen upon it.

I picture them around the table with me (a big, round old-fashioned oak table) sharing a great cup of Joe and a good story. Truth is, I’m much better with words written. Around the table, I’m apt to listen more than speak. It takes a lot of coffee to get me into a chatterbox mode.  But, on paper, or online, my stories can grow into “Suenamis” -- with the potential to inundate and overwhelm.

Interestingly, one of my favorite coffee mugs involves the sea. It depicts a quiet scene with two lounge chairs and table between. It’s a garden seaside setting -- with flowers and butterflies in the foreground, a seagull, a sailboat, and a lighthouse on an island in the distance.

I love that mug because it reminds me of a workshop on reviving our creative spirit that I attended four years ago. I’d picked up that mug at a seaside marina gift shop in Maryland, while visiting our daughter afterwards.

For some reason, I’m attracted to mugs and fridge magnets as souvenirs of my travels.  The mugs, I guess, are pretty, but practical and usable; they also call up memories of places visited. You could say they bring back memories of “yesterday’s coffee” times, too.

My sister, when visiting recently, picked out that mug, I noticed. There’s something about it that makes you want to kick back and relax with your coffee. When I have it in hand, I do believe I feel the serenity and the beauty of the artist’s work. Perhaps, then, that transfers to how I feel about what I’m working on.

Who knows? It could make an interesting experiment – observing how you feel with different coffee mugs or teacups. Do we feel different when drinking from a solid mug or a delicate porcelain teacup? I think we do.

Well, I do know that my sister and I were definitely having fun with coffee mugs as souvenirs.  She’d never been to our county hotspot, Hell, Michigan. We were driving nearby one day on her visit, and took a little detour through Hell.

The community, while small, is nestled in a beautiful setting of rolling woodland – the road to it winding around wonderful lakes and creeks, making the area a favorite for motorcyclists, kayakers, hikers and cyclists. The day was warm for April and the sunshine was brilliant.  We posed for pictures, naturally, faces smiling in the hilarious signs behind Screams  souvenir  shop.

I told owner John Colone that I felt like a tourist that day, even though I’ve been there many times. But it was fun pretending that I hadn’t; it was fun, too, combing through the souvenirs with my sister, and all the other tourists enjoying the novelty of the place.

Then, I spotted the perfect mug. A mug just for fun, or for days when I’m feeling a bit prickly, perhaps, and things aren’t going so serenely.

Aha!  A coffee mug from Hell. A mug that says “Coffee from Hell” – I love it. This mug is in stark contrast to my seaside serenity mug. This mug is simply heavy and black with red lettering. Now, I’m wondering if I might be writing with an attitude when it’s alongside, filled with yesterday’s coffee…from Hell, no less.

We’ll see what transpires, as I think I could be on to something.

“Which mug shall I choose today?”  Could have implications, like, “What color would be best to wear today?”

Or, “Should I have tea?” “What kind of day do I want this to be?”

Think about it.  The choices we make. Yesterday’s coffee… and the stories that came with it … becomes tomorrow’s news.   What to choose… each day is different. It’s up to me, I think, to discover its muse.