Siggy's Blurbs: Siggy's Edge of Country …

I do not claim to be a perfectionist. I know what the perfect cup of coffee tastes like. I make it at home. I use a certain brand of coffee and make it exactly the same way every time.

But when I go away I have trouble finding a good cup of coffee. Hotels are the worst. I do not know why I can’t duplicate it there. They provide coffee but it is never the same.

I will look for a local diner when I seek a good cup of coffee. They usually have it down right. And I do not like Starbuck’s despite the millions who go there.

I will be gone for about two weeks. And will not get home soon enough to, again, make that perfect cup of coffee. What is a morning without a good cup of coffee to start it off? I do not go like going anywhere without it.

Tags: cup of coffee, good cup of coffee, local diner, morning coffee, perfect cup of coffee
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A snow storm was coming.  The waitress said, “I don’t care, I don’t work tomorrow, let it snow.”

I overheard another say, that later the snow will be heavy–a few inches an hour.

The person I was sitting next to said, ‘Lancaster will get it worse.’

There were all kind of rumors floating about the oncoming storm.

I heard an fragment of a conversation regarding the policy of gays in the military, “If it is not broke don’t fix it.”  And then, ‘If someone comes out, they will be killed.’

All this while I was enjoying my bottomless cup of coffee.

On the way home I briefly stopped at the shore of the Susquehanna River, as I often do after I stop at the diner, quickly glanced at the River’s surface, which seemed pretty calm.  There was no indication a storm was set to arrive in a few hours.

I saw someone must have  launched a boat in the River.  A truck was parked there.  It must have been a die hard fisherman.  It was bitterly cold and the middle of winter.  I shrugged my shoulders.  I finally went home.

Tags: cold weather, cup of coffee, fisherman, fishing, fishing boat, gays in military, Lancaster, local diner, snowstorm, Susquehanna River, truck, waitress, winter
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Our Postmaster, Sonya, lends an ear to everyone in our small town of less than a thousand.  Everyone has to get their mail or buy stamps.

She hears every body’s stories.  She knows who is ill, most people by their first name and even where they live.

She is the local “psychiatrist” although she does not dispense too much advice or any pills.  When someone is dying, she hears about it from the nearby relative.

Sonya lives nearby and given enough time she meets just about every resident unless you are a hermit and never leave your house.  Every person need stamps or eventually has to weigh a package.

The post office is the focal point of this town.  There is the local diner where all the old fogies congregate every morning and share the latest gossip.  The diner (and our supermarket) are only a distant second place to meet locals.

Sonya has the pulse of our small town.  There is very little she does not know about its residents.  She is usually very discreet about the gossip she hears every day.

The postmaster of our small town knows almost everything about almost every body.  She just has to know when to shut up.  Sometimes that is hard for her to do but most of the time she does a good job.  Everyone knows Sonya.

Tags: buy stamps, hermit, latest gossip, lend an ear, local diner, local psychiatrist, mail, old fogies, post office, postmaster, small town, stamps, weigh a package
Posted in balance, death, health, knowledge&learning, life, local, politics, relationships, time | 2 Comments »

I stood at the River’s banks.  Usually after I had coffee and sometimes breakfast at the local diner on the way home I would stop at the bank of the River and gaze out at the surface of the water and the mountains.  I never spent a long time there.

It has been several months since I was at this spot.  The wind was blowing on the surface of water stirring it up.  It was not too cold and not too warm.  Rain clouds were in the distance.

Fall had come.  There was a slight chill in the air although I really wasn’t cold yet.  Coming here is always like entering another world.  Sure I often pass the River from a distance but peering out from its shore is always a different experience.

Too much time had passed from my last visit.  Now I no longer wanted to be here.  It was a little uncomfortable although it still was a mild sixty-two degrees.  I knew I would now only view the River from a distance until it got warmer again.

There was some regret:  too much time had passed since my last visit.  I had missed too much.  Its face is always different:  The lighting is always different on the sky, water and mountains and trees.  Every visit.  I now will await the warmer weather.

Tags: autumn, bank of the River, breakfast, chill in the air, coffee, Fall, light on the water, like another world, local diner, mountains, rain clouds, regret, river bank, shore of the river, sky, Susquehanna River, too much time had passed, trees, warm weather, water, wind stirring the water surface
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Sharon, the waitress, at the local diner is more than a waitress.  I found out she has worked there more than twenty years.  It is her calling.  She has on-going relationships with her customers.

She knows I often take my toast and give it to my dogs.  Today she told me, “I do not give my dogs extra food for they get fat enough on just the dog food I feed them.”  Not her exact words but a good paraphrase.

She is there (in the diner) for the long haul.  She loves her job and lives nearby.  I found out today her squash is not doing well in her garden.  Their buds keep falling out prematurely.  Maybe there was too much rain the last four weeks.

I am not extravagant with my tips but I tip accordingly; I give her a decent tip depending on my order.  I want to let her know I appreciate her excellent service.

She is a one woman show, usually she is the only waitress on and there is one cook.  In the early morning sometimes the waitress does every thing including cooking.

I eavesdrop on the conversations at the nearby tables.  It is amazing sometimes what I overhear.  Sometimes I do not talk at all.  I always sit at the counter.  Once in awhile I get into a brief conversation if someone sits nearby.

I keep returning to the diner for the coffee is good, the price of the food is inexpensive and the hash browns are always tasty and I enjoy the brief contact with the waitresses.  My order is usually very simple.  Eggs up.  Once in awhile I order a glass of orange juice.

Of course I go to the trouble of learning all the different waitresses’ names.  There is nothing like a local diner to make you feel wanted and erase some of the loneliness of the morning.  My wife is never up at that hour.

Tags: coffee, conversation, cook, customers, dog food, dogs, early morning, eavesdrop, eggs, excellent service, feel wanted, garden, give my toast to my dogs, hash browns, her calling, local diner, morning loneliness, my wife, orange juice, pets, sit at the counter, squash, tips, waitress
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I only spend a short time there:  After a quick cup or two of coffee at the local diner, I drive to the nearby Susquehanna River.  I view the ever-changing water and mountains lit by the upcoming dawn.  It is such a short time I spend here but it may be the most important part of my day.

The seconds here (and they are not more than that) remind me there is a world, universe just below my sight that I have no idea of.  I am transported to another world.  The time here reminds me I have to be aware what is just beneath my eyes may be a world I know nothing of.

This tantalizes me.  It also prompts me to be more alert of every step I take.  The familiar may have become too familiar.  Habits sometimes imprison you and somehow you need to free yourself of them and see what truly is there for the first time.

My short visit to The River is a reminder that I often have blinders on and must take them off.  There is world after world just below the worlds we are familiar with.

Even your own backyards which you view every day can become too familiar to you and if you can change your focus another universe will open up to you.  Universe after universe is right under your eyes.  There are no lack of universes to explore.  All you have to do is remove the veil under your eyes.  My visit to the shore of the River is a daily reminder of this.

Tags: dawn, God, habits, local diner, morning coffee, mountains, other worlds, see what truly is there, Susquehanna River, take off blinders, the familiar may become too familiar, thirty seconds of my day, universe after universe
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I love my local diner.  For the first five and a half years I did not even set foot in it.  It is a mere three miles from my house.  Finally I started going there.  I was waking up early and frankly was lonely.  My wife was not up yet.

At first, I would just get a cup of coffee there.  I was learning about the lives of the waitresses (I do not like the word server) in dribs and drabs.  I learned that Sharon had almost worked there for thirty years.  She loved what she did.  And there was Jane and others whose lives I slowly entered.

They were making a living from serving me (and others) but it was more than that.  They had running relationships with most of their customers.  The local diner’s rules were pretty relaxed:  I saw customers going in back of the counters and serving themselves coffee because the waitress was just too busy at the moment.

I would sit at the counter taking in all the conversations around me.  You might say I was eavesdropping without being too obvious about it.  I heard some big tales especially about hunting.  This county shuts down when hunting season for deer starts the Monday after Thanksgiving.  In fact, this state ranks two in the nation for bear hunting.  Some of the tidbits and snatches of conversation I heard were fascinating.

I would not talk to too many people.  I could tell some customers, particularly the men, were curious who I was.  I would take my time, let them take me in.  One waitress asked me if I had just moved here.  It was only last summer when my town had their 200 year anniversary.  I realized I had to do things a little differently if I wanted to meet people in this town.

I started watering the plants in the post office and gradually grew to know the postmaster and the other clerk:  we became friends after a period of months.  I would water the plants six days a week.  And not only that, I would run into other people.

I started going to a local church where I felt very comfortable and met people in my community there.  Going to the local diner was just another step in my involvement into the community.

Going to the diner had other ramifications:  I would occasionally go to the the Susquehanna River which was less than an hundred yards away.  I went there today and mist was rising in swirls from the surface of the water.  It took my breath away.  I have spent more time visiting the River in my town since I started going to the diner the last four weeks than in the first five and half years I have lived here.  All because I am occasionally getting my morning coffee at my local diner.

It is an absolutely magnificent River.  It is another world.  You never know what you are going to see there.  It could be a bald eagle or a great egret or some other exotic bird or creature.  Usually when you least expect it.  I missed having being able to walk to it which had been a five minute walk from my house in Duncannon.  Now I am back.  There are so many reasons visiting the diner has changed my life.  Visiting The River is only one reason.

Tags: 200 year anniversary, bald eagle, bear, birds, church, coffee, community, conversations, customer, deer, Duncannon, great egret, hunting, local diner, meet people in town, morning, my wife, plants, post office, postmaster, Susquehanna River, thanksgiving, waitress
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