Where I Come From.

  Over the summer I took a break from blogging because I didn't travel much. I think it's good to take time and appreciate where you are from. My town is small and the entertainment is smaller. There used to be this sweet shop that was owned by a lady who I'm pretty sure was alive when George Washington was president. When I was a kid we would go sit on the spinny stools are get gilled cheese and Italian sodas. When you walked in you felt like were back in the sixties and before we left we would always buy some of her homemade rock candy. A few years ago the owner became too old to run the shop anymore so she sold it. Since then it has gone down hill and is now the same place plus raised prices and minus the kindness and authenticity.
  I don't really go there anymore because it makes me sad.
  The bright side is, two new places have opened in my little Michigan town: Gustavan's(picture below was taken here) and Union Coffee House.
  Gustavan's is a pizza and coffee place that opened late this spring, the man who owns it invented a special pizza oven. In order to advertise this magical oven he opened a little eating place for you to come and taste it at work. He also has a nice little pour-over coffee set up. The pizza is phenomenally thin crusted and it's all vegetarian. At the beginning of the summer I didn't like the coffee but by the end I think he worked the kinks out, using pour-over can be tricky after all. The atmosphere is rustic-modern and as I whole I'd say is a very good place.
  I spent a lot of time at Union Coffee House this summer because it's a quit place that sells fair trade coffee and hippie food. I love just about everything about it. I find the coffee soothing and the environment conducive to productivity and epiphanies.
  During my many hours at Union I realized that you can tell a lot about a place by its water. If a person can't put effort into giving their costumers good water it really annoys me. Above all, water should be a thing we can count on. When people have good water and put creativity into the ways they serve it... Major brownie points in my book(or blog, rather). In Charleston, SC at the Glass Onion they had mint flavoring next to the water so you put it in if you so desired, I liked that. Union always puts things in their water, wether it's sprouts or cucumbers or mint leaves or assorted fruits, I like that two. Also, At Union you drink their water out of mason jars... that's the kind of water I can count on.
  So now I'm back out traveling again, starting in southern MO, and I'm thinking about how poetic my little town is and thinking about how things can really only be as inspiring as you let them be. You have search for them and let them search you.
  Sometimes I look at all the things I've done and all the things I wish I've done and all the things I want to do and it gets me down. How long will it take me to finish my novel? Will I ever my own a coffee house? Will I ever get to New Zealand?
  When you want things you never get they call you a dreamer, when you get the things you want they call you a visionary.
  When I get so caught up in this thinking I remember that coffee inspires me and I love it because is constant and it is firm. When I drink coffee things don't seem as impossible. So I'm going off in search of poetry and coffee houses and books and sunsets and flavorings and paints and trees and oceans and adventures and coffee.
  I hope you will come along with me.