escaped teachers

the problem with teaching small children is the limited intellectual and social interaction. don't get me wrong--marvelous things can happen. there are those aha moments. but still. my sis had a working supper for summer school staff. as i was putting away the dishes and food after supper i noticed that even though it was supposed to be a meeting and meetings usually have an agenda and a leader--every one of the 6 teachers were talking at once. that would never happen in their classroom. and they stayed after them meeting to talk more. i think it was because they were not under the restraints of a formal at school meeting and the absence of small ears to hear. it is just nice to talk on an adult level after a day of ' small talk.' (even though the small talk is very important to small people)

old men and uppity coffee shops

when you read books written about small towns, there is always a cafe where the old men gather to drink coffee and gather gossip. Only they would deny the gossip part. In Shelton, where I lived for four years, all the cafes had closed, so the old men were forced to have their coffee in one of the two mom and pop gas stations. the stations had a little corner with 3 or 4 tables and the usual pour it yourself coffee stations you usually see in gas stations, only several years older than the coffee stations you see in interstate gas stations.

moving to belle brought better coffee shops. there were two stand alone drive through coffee places and two coffee shops. plus, they actually had several cafes....truck stop variety...where those old geezers gathered for their coffee while the ladies and not old geezers used the nice coffee shops. my personal favorite is the Tin Cup which is in an old house. they have great coffee...20 oz for a buck...and little decorative items, purses, and jewelry for sale. that is probably enough to scare the geezers off. well, by the grape vine i heard they raised the price of coffee at one of the truck stop cafes, don't know about the other, but the other day when i stopped in for my coffee there were 4 old geezers drinking coffee and gossiping about whatever. i think they were just trying to get back at the cafe which also went non-smoking the same time they raised the coffee prices.

i must say it was quite a shock to see old men in boots and jeans in a boutique coffee shop.

just didn't quite fit.

the shop always offers a limited menu lunch of 5 dollars which includes soup and half sandwich.


ps. there are quite a few gas stations on the way through belle. i went from living in a place that had 100+ trains going by (about a block from my bedroom) in a 24 hour period to a town with over 600 trucks going through town on any given day (semi's). thankfully, i live at least 14 blocks from the highway. there is a train track that carries bentonite about a mile from my bedroom, but since i am partially deaf, i don't hear it often.