Thinking about Drinking

Today I'm thinking about coffee. Not surprising, of course, since most days I think about coffee. I have a serious coffee addiction. But the issue for today is less on the actual drink and more on the atmosphere that it is imbibed in. I am a coffeehouse person. I love the feeling and setting of a good coffeehouse. I feel at home there. I can trace each stage of my life to the different coffeehouses I have been in. I fell in love with a city ones based entirely on its coffeehouses. My older sister is a bar person. And this distinction interests me.

A couple years ago I read Tom Standage's excellent book "The History of the World in Six Glasses". This fascinating book told the entire history of the world through beverages. It includes most of history of the human race starting with the brewing of beer by the Mesopotamians, wine in Greek and Roman time, spirits that brought about a new world, the proliferation of coffeehouses, the tea trade, all the way down to the creation of soda. But it was the section on coffee that fascinated me the most. Standage says that the history of coffee can be linked to some of the greatest innovations and scientific advances of our lives. The rise of the coffeehouse was linked with the exchange of ideas, philosophies, and advances.

One of the things that Standage says is that the coffeehouses were so popular because of their differentiation from the bars. And I have to say that bar people and coffeehouse people are very different types of people. I can see that in my own life. It's New Years Eve and there is no way you'll catch me out at the bars. It is just not my place. I go to bars occasionally but I am never at home there. I just never really feel comfortable. The bars are too social, too loud, and too unpredictable for me. They are places for extroverts and pleasure seekers. They are retreats of night owls where no work will ever get done. Coffeehouses on the other hand are all about industry. Alcohol is a depressant. Coffee is a stimulant. Coffeehouses are all about work and ideas and caffeine-induced writing. :-) They are about productivity and introversion.

I am a morning person, an introvert, and in some instances, a workaholic. People will tell you that I am boring, and it is probably true in their eyes. I am happier reading a book or writing a story, then drinking and playing pool. My older sister had a big influence on me when I was growing up. For a long time I wanted to be her. She was all about going out to the bars and meeting tons of people. She always seems to have way more friends than I do and have more fun than I do. I always thought that was what I wanted. That I was supposed to be like that. It is only in the last couple years that I have realized that I don't want to be her. Not that she doesn't have a great life...but that I'm not like her. She is a bar person...I am a coffeehouse person.

So tonight I am going out to dinner with my husband and a friend. Then we will go back to my house to open a bottle of wine and knit. I'll make some coffee and we'll sit and chat. And that sounds like a great New Years Eve for me. I won't be out at the bars. Call it boring but for the first time in my life, I know where I want to be.

The Conch Republic

In the olden days Key West was the home of writers, pirates, divers, and artists. Strangely enough little has changed. Key West is an interesting mix of beautiful and tacky. When we stepped off Enchantment of the Seas we wandered into a sanitized tourist area selling ice cream, t-shirts, and cheap magnets. We skipped this area quickly. I would learn that those are standard areas wherever the boats dock. The first thing you see as you leave the dock area is this building. Once used as a customs house, this beautiful building is now used as an art museum. 

Yes the sculpture in front is several naked women dancing around a clothed young man laying on the ground. Jeff described it as every young boys fantasy. 

The main street on the island is Duval Street. The street is lined with houses, beautiful restaurants, tacky bars, ritzy art shops, and shops selling crude t-shirts. Duval is the party street of Key West with a couple beautiful spots mixed in. This bar called Willie T's was on Duval Street. Patrons leave dollar bills on the walls, ceiling, and even trees. 

One of the things I was not prepared for in Key West was the chickens. There are chickens everywhere and they walk around completely free. Here is a very large rooster wandering around the main streets of Key West. This is actually one of the parts I really enjoyed about Key West. 

One of the things that every tourist has to do in Key West is to take pictures at the Southernmost point. This marks the southernmost point in the continental U.S.. We were no exception. It is surrounded by three homes which claim to be the southernmost house. 

I didn't get any picture of Hemingway's house, which is a major tourist destination. Or any of the famous light house in Key West. But I did get these two last pictures. The first is some fun graffiti I found on a street corner. 

And the last is my favorite sign. Danger Falling Coconuts.