Looking for coffee*

*In our very French-ified neighborhood, this place is a good place to find what you’re looking for.

In conversation with our doorman, Mike, I was reminded to start my next coffee search with a trip to 7-11. There are a couple near by where I find the chicken wings hard to resist, but I hadn’t been getting my coffee there. As I recall, I always loved it.

It’s a fraction of the other chains’ price too. Not where you’ll go for a latte, macchiato or cappucino, but the simple clean mild or strong cup is here. The Brazillian was a favorite of mine but choose or sample the roasts for your best morning java.

My expertise on peaches 🍑 was tested this morning at the display. A shopper was feeling frustrated by the choices and asked me how long til they would be ripe. She noted they were hard. I lectured her a bit. Hard, yes, I said but if they had any give they would be firm and juicy. I gave her the brown paper bag option if she wanted them softer but reiterated my opinion that they were just great. On sale for $3.99 with a D’Ag card right now.

Let me alert you that peach 🍑 season is coming to its inevitable close. We can enjoy them while they last and then hope luscious ones cycle through again next summer.

Didn’t know that

A public place for reflection awaits you in the midst of Broadway traffic.

The Constitution of these United States has an amendment guaranteeing our freedoms should all the other amendments fail us. Who knew? Thank James Madison for this little safeguard.

Specifically, #Madison’sNinth ensures that we, the people, are granted rights not enumerated in the Bill of Rights.

There are things I should know about human history, but honestly it is such a long history. The archeologists among us demarc that history in ages identifying, for example, the materials used. So we get a bronze age or a stone age to describe our ancestry. My failing in this regard is not having a clue which came when. I am fortunate in that my science newsletter (from CNN) specifies dates of service for each of the peoples that came before us.

Another fact that escaped me all my school years is that we are the evolutionary relatives of a broad range of hominids. I have come to find out that different members of our extended family roamed the earth at the same time, perhaps finding themselves in adjacent caves… Well perhaps not, but it’s not a clear timeline from one “brand” of humankind to the next.

Not knowing should lead us directly to knowledge as soon as we know all we don’t know.

Convoluted enough? Simply put, I have the opportunity to endeavor to learn more.

Peachy

Peaches, as I know I have mentioned before, are my best summer treat. A good peach washes away a lot of troubles.

The best fruits of this summer have come from an unlikely source. I have gotten the peaches with the perfect texture, firmest flesh and excellent juice-to-bite ratio at my local D’Agastino.

Unlikely? Yes, because I malign this market every chance I get. And this time I did not get the chance. Isn’t that fabulous.

The pandemic dining scene has yielded so many creative solutions to the outdoor eatery huts. I have been very impressed.

One of my local restaurants has instead seen fit to offer this sad picnic spot. Their one concession to aesthetics has been to paint the area over. It started as a yellow area. Today it’s red. Festive? No, but it echoes a day in the park. You’re lucky you were able to snag that last table.

Frankly

East 86th Street

It’s been a fixture on this corner for lo so many years. There is another iconic site on the Westside as well. That one on 72nd and Broadway has even starred in some films.

Since Papaya King on 3rd Avenue has announced its impending closure there have been lines waiting for service. One is gathering here at 10:15 in the morning. Franks and juice drinks are flying off the griddle and out the spout these days. It wasn’t this busy before the landlord made plans to demolish.

The river

Riverboats roil the waters
Oh, not the riverboats you
Are envisioning, just the
Ordinary summer Sunday 
Traffic that a river in the
American northeast sees.
Our riverboats are the ones
With sails furled while a 
Motor runs them up or
Down or they are ferrying
Sightseers and citizens
Alike or on patrol passing
Slow-moving transport
Ships or just slightly gaudy
Fishing boats not trawling
For fish but amusing a crew
Of revellers in a holiday spirit.
After all, it is Sunday and we 
Have our day off and it is the
Last days of summer we want
To enjoy and celebrate here 
On a Sunday on the river


Soft footfalls

It's a continent, 
Those groups
Of clouds, at
Rest in a gray
Sky. Hunched
Together as if
To form a map.
Directions to 
Climbing this
Mountain run,
This Everest, 
This widest of
Rivers, forded
And travelled,
These trails,
These byways,
These prairies,
Are purely in 
The imagination 
Of this traveller.
A continent un-
Folded, drawn
And redrawn in
A demarcation 
That has no firm
Boundaries, as 
It floats across
A clear pale sky.
If I were to climb
Or wander the 
Pillowing mounds
Or if I could row
Over the billows 
Would my feet 
Fall softly or find
Their footing lost?

Feelin’ groovy

What is the difference between being in a rut and finding your groove?

The latter by definition a place of comfort and acceptance; the former a greatly less desirable spot.

It’s a matter of perspective whether you are caught in a trough, treading the daily grind or enjoying a congenial and leisurely spin of your wheels.

After all, it’s perspective that can make us see the glass half full.

Portable foods

Some outdoorsy eats may require an utensil

Once upon a time, two boys from Brooklyn chose the egg roll as their traveling feast. They picked them up on King’s Highway, Avenue M or Avenue J and strolled home eating.

Foods that are easy to carry are a part of many cuisines. Some would argue that these are the best of any bill of fare.

You can’t walk chomping on a salad but wrap it in a pita and it’s easily portable. Israelis throw in some falafel to round out the meal.

In fact, the sandwich was designed as a finger food.

What with Dagwood’s innovations, it has become less manageable as street ests but pare it down to its basics and you can eat it on your way home, too.

Just ducky

It’s both refreshing and unexpected to do a search in which the engine isn’t reading my mind.

To be sure, having it surmise the answers to my quest gave us a kind of short-hand familiarity that was almost intimate.

On the other hand, I felt the intrusion deeply when the search engine posted ads related to a recent forage as if it were unwilling to let go of what we had going.

So I have found DuckDuckGo which never finishes my sentences and sometimes gives me options far from my narrowest exploration.

Watch that duck go.

I am obliged to hunt through the links they provide to bring me closer to my objective. Too often there’s a Reddit thread as part of their answer to my query.

As their ads promise, however, they won’t be “watching me.”

They also will not be building algorithms based on what I asked for yesterday.

Finally, a browser that doesn’t stare at me or stalk!

Commenting, a friend wrote: Good to know about the DuckDuckGo. My response: It’s not as helpful as Google cause it doesn’t track who I am.