Cafe Towns

Coffee Towns

Life is like making coffee. Good coffee is the desired end point of a very long process from picking cherries all the way to pouring the cup.

And a critical factor in the process is pressure - in, for example, stripping the cherries, heating and grinding the beans, and extracting the coffee. It's the pressure that brings out the best in coffee.

This is a nice illustration, I think. Elijah may one day say, 'My Daddy always told me, "Life's like making coffee: Pressure's a critical part of the process."'

But all this waffle is really just an excuse to use these excellent photos.

(Photos by Amy Imms - including 3 new pics in sidebar)

Spring 2008

The pictures tell it all! We love Spring. And this one has been a beauty. In Winter we were plastering up after knocking down a wall. Now, we're outside expanding our veggie patches in all directions. We've even put in raspberries, which along with the chickens have been a childhood dream for both of us. Blackmans Bay is great for all that, but the gutters fill up with leaf litter pretty quickly. It's handy having fathers who love to pitch in. Cath's father has been the one up the ladders inside with the putty. My father's been the one climbing trees outside with his chainsaw. I can do some things. I make the coffee and clean up afterwards! Cath is very gracious. She helps keep the kids out of the way when either Grandad has his head down and is going at it like a bull at a gate.

Escape to Melbourne: August 2008

We've had our first time away with no kiddies in 3 years (thanks to Granny and Grandad baby sitting back home, and Nanny and Grandad hosting us in their unit at South Bank): 2 days of not much but coffee and shopping. Of course, Cath did all the shopping and I did all the coffee. This shot was taken of us in Degraves Street. As you can see from the hat, I've also come away a confirmed Carlton supporter, although still nominal. Cath spent most of the time missing our two little darlings, so it's a good thing it was short and sweet.