I'm at my Starbucks this morning. The usual transient coffee patrons are here, some rushing in for a cup of coffee on their way to work, some are stopping to have a pastry or sandwich. Then there are those who are lingering a bit to read the paper and sip their drink slowly. But then there are those who seem to always be here and are quite the sight to behold.
One in particular has been named "CJ." She's a woman of undetermined age who usually wears a yarmulke, she's got sparkly clips in her hair and often wears big beaded jewelry. Today she is here and dressed for safari. White knit cotton Pith Helmet, hair is in a braid, green tie-dyed shirt, ill-fitting jeans and ballet flats. She sits in here for hours at a time, monopolizing a table with her stuff. She's got a mini-laptop computer. The display on it is upside down - COMPLETELY upside down (I watched her boot it up the other day and even the brand logo came up upside down!). Most of the time she taps away with great force, then she sits back and grins at her work.
Apparently one day she was doing crafts. She had rubber stamps with her. My dear friend Steve who witnessed this said that she was having quite a time with the stamp pad and had ink all over her hands. Unphased, she continued with her stamping frenzy.
Today she's wearing headphones. Whatever she's listening to makes her happy. She's singing along (quietly!). She's uing her little computer and she's basically tapping the same 6 keys. Oh wait, she has stopped to apply lipstick. time for a beauty break!
One afternoon I ccame in here and she was drumming. Oh, she's quite the show.
The other semi-regular I see in here is the old woman with long white hair, who wears a lemon yellow organza bow on the top of her head. Today she is in a long shiny black duster with a pink blouse underneath, black pants and orange canvas sneakers. she has lots of bags and wears sunglasses. When I arrived here this morning, she was in my chair. I like the chair in the corner so that if I want to look at dirty pictures, I can without offending anybody. Anyway, yellow bow lady doesn't do much although I have seen her sitting and watching something on a portable DVD player.
these are the people in my neighborhood. Won't you be my neighbor?
Showing posts with label neighbors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label neighbors. Show all posts
Friday, July 17, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Neighborly
File Under: In the Neighborhood
I like my neighborhood. I like most of my neighbors. I like to think that I'm pretty neighborly, most of the time.
Saturday afternoon, I was driving home from the gym. I had a couple hours to kill before I had to be at a birthday party, so I decided I would stroll to Starbucks, get a cool drink and relax. A couple blocks from home, I glanced down a street and there was, what appeared to be an attractive guy doing yard work on one of the newer homes. I decided to have a closer look, to see if this was the new owner or just the help. I parked my car at home and decided to walk over there. I was going on a walk anyway. I was wearing a pair of leather flip flops. I haven't worn them since last year, figured I would break them out since it was sunny and 82 degrees. I got about a block from home and realized why I don't wear them, they hurt my feet. They rub in different spots on the top of my feet. But, I was on a mission so I soldiered on.
I got to the street, and he was still there. I envisioned him being relieved to find a friendly neighbor, he would invite me in, I'd tell him that my shoes were bothering me and he would bring me adhesive bandages and a cool drink. Okay, no...not so much. He turned his leaf blower (which he was using to blow tree branches from his sidewalk, in an effort to clean up from the severe storms we had 24-hours prior) away so that he wouldn't blow debris on me, I said "Hi" and "thanks." He barely grunted and went about his business. Oh well, he wasn't very attractive anyway. Onward I limped. I took my shoe off to see what was happening to my foot and it wasn't pretty. I managed to hobble home, but at that point the damage was done, my foot was a mess and I was a sweaty pig. I cleaned up my foot, bandaged it, put on different shoes and went to Starbucks.
So much for getting to know the neighbors.
I like my neighborhood. I like most of my neighbors. I like to think that I'm pretty neighborly, most of the time.
Saturday afternoon, I was driving home from the gym. I had a couple hours to kill before I had to be at a birthday party, so I decided I would stroll to Starbucks, get a cool drink and relax. A couple blocks from home, I glanced down a street and there was, what appeared to be an attractive guy doing yard work on one of the newer homes. I decided to have a closer look, to see if this was the new owner or just the help. I parked my car at home and decided to walk over there. I was going on a walk anyway. I was wearing a pair of leather flip flops. I haven't worn them since last year, figured I would break them out since it was sunny and 82 degrees. I got about a block from home and realized why I don't wear them, they hurt my feet. They rub in different spots on the top of my feet. But, I was on a mission so I soldiered on.
I got to the street, and he was still there. I envisioned him being relieved to find a friendly neighbor, he would invite me in, I'd tell him that my shoes were bothering me and he would bring me adhesive bandages and a cool drink. Okay, no...not so much. He turned his leaf blower (which he was using to blow tree branches from his sidewalk, in an effort to clean up from the severe storms we had 24-hours prior) away so that he wouldn't blow debris on me, I said "Hi" and "thanks." He barely grunted and went about his business. Oh well, he wasn't very attractive anyway. Onward I limped. I took my shoe off to see what was happening to my foot and it wasn't pretty. I managed to hobble home, but at that point the damage was done, my foot was a mess and I was a sweaty pig. I cleaned up my foot, bandaged it, put on different shoes and went to Starbucks.
So much for getting to know the neighbors.
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