USMB Coffee Shop IV

[Sbiker]

In Russia most of transport infrastructure were designed at Soviet times, and USSR was not a country of automobiles, but railroads. Now authorities try to develop automobile roads, but all large cities were previously designed for a bus/train systems and don't allow current number of autos. But common transport systems are usually excellent from Soviet times, so many people (and me) prefer it. It's because I don't live in suburban )

We have some good friends who lived in NYC for a time and they didn't own a car. My brother lived and worked in London for 8 years and he didn't own a car either. I love using mass transit when visiting a big city...and I love trains. A few years ago I took my mother up to DC to visit my youngest son - we traveled by train in a little 'roomette'. It was an overnight trip and the food served was very good. We had a great time.

We Americans really love our cars though! I gotta say, I hope you truly are Russian, lol, because I have long admired your beautiful country and it's people. The gifts given to the world by your artists, composers and authors are treasures. May be a misconception because I've never been there - but I think of you as hearty souls, and far closer to brothers and sisters than we have been allowed to be. Oh, and vodka, I forgot about the vodka - thank you!

I've lived in suburbs almost all of my life and still have never owned a car.

In this cast, how do you reach the civilization??? How do you visit malls to buy a cheap products?

 

[SeaGal]

Just visit the Moscow, while I'm here and you wouldn't remember anything about your last week except vodka, lol )))

I have a car (a two cars, but a second just a heap of scrap metal )), but prefer not to use it every day, only if I wish to visit seacost or something else )) As about "hearty souls" - why not? Ahh, see it - at a little bit more than just advertising



p.s. as for vodka - it's a drink of students or experienced workers )) I don't know, who I am - but I've got six shots this evening - not to be so drunk, but for good condition, lol ))))))))

I meant to type 'hardy' as in strong, rugged, adaptable - but the meatballs were starting to burn and I got distracted! Hearty works too though.

Sadly, I am neither hearty nor hardy when it comes to vodka. Unless it's in jello - then I can hold my own respectably.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Are you guys expecting a snowy winter where you are?

Checked the Farmers Almanac and there is not a whif of snow expected here...

 

[Montrovant]

In Russia most of transport infrastructure were designed at Soviet times, and USSR was not a country of automobiles, but railroads. Now authorities try to develop automobile roads, but all large cities were previously designed for a bus/train systems and don't allow current number of autos. But common transport systems are usually excellent from Soviet times, so many people (and me) prefer it. It's because I don't live in suburban )

We have some good friends who lived in NYC for a time and they didn't own a car. My brother lived and worked in London for 8 years and he didn't own a car either. I love using mass transit when visiting a big city...and I love trains. A few years ago I took my mother up to DC to visit my youngest son - we traveled by train in a little 'roomette'. It was an overnight trip and the food served was very good. We had a great time.

We Americans really love our cars though! I gotta say, I hope you truly are Russian, lol, because I have long admired your beautiful country and it's people. The gifts given to the world by your artists, composers and authors are treasures. May be a misconception because I've never been there - but I think of you as hearty souls, and far closer to brothers and sisters than we have been allowed to be. Oh, and vodka, I forgot about the vodka - thank you!

I've lived in suburbs almost all of my life and still have never owned a car.

In this cast, how do you reach the civilization??? How do you visit malls to buy a cheap products?

I don't even remember the last time I was at a mall. If I want to buy something, I buy it online and have it delivered.

The suburbs is enough civilization for me. I don't much like big cities. The public transportation would be nice, though.

 

[Foxfyre]

Are you guys expecting a snowy winter where you are?

Checked the Farmers Almanac and there is not a whif of snow expected here...

I would imagine not unless you lived on Mauna Kea or Mauna Loa.

Of course you could wear a parka on one of your white sand beaches and pretend.

Here we go to the White Sands National Monument. . .out where you can see nothing but the sand dunes you could believe you were in Antarctica or Greenland. And when they actually do get the relatively rare snow, you can't tell what is snow and what is sand.

 

[Foxfyre]

In Russia most of transport infrastructure were designed at Soviet times, and USSR was not a country of automobiles, but railroads. Now authorities try to develop automobile roads, but all large cities were previously designed for a bus/train systems and don't allow current number of autos. But common transport systems are usually excellent from Soviet times, so many people (and me) prefer it. It's because I don't live in suburban )

We have some good friends who lived in NYC for a time and they didn't own a car. My brother lived and worked in London for 8 years and he didn't own a car either. I love using mass transit when visiting a big city...and I love trains. A few years ago I took my mother up to DC to visit my youngest son - we traveled by train in a little 'roomette'. It was an overnight trip and the food served was very good. We had a great time.

We Americans really love our cars though! I gotta say, I hope you truly are Russian, lol, because I have long admired your beautiful country and it's people. The gifts given to the world by your artists, composers and authors are treasures. May be a misconception because I've never been there - but I think of you as hearty souls, and far closer to brothers and sisters than we have been allowed to be. Oh, and vodka, I forgot about the vodka - thank you!

I've lived in suburbs almost all of my life and still have never owned a car.

In this cast, how do you reach the civilization??? How do you visit malls to buy a cheap products?

I don't even remember the last time I was at a mall. If I want to buy something, I buy it online and have it delivered.

The suburbs is enough civilization for me. I don't much like big cities. The public transportation would be nice, though.

I don't think I've been in a mall in a couple of years and I do drive. . a LOT. We too have been utilizing on-line buying when we are absolutely certain what we want.

 

[Sbiker]

Just visit the Moscow, while I'm here and you wouldn't remember anything about your last week except vodka, lol )))

I have a car (a two cars, but a second just a heap of scrap metal )), but prefer not to use it every day, only if I wish to visit seacost or something else )) As about "hearty souls" - why not? Ahh, see it - at a little bit more than just advertising



p.s. as for vodka - it's a drink of students or experienced workers )) I don't know, who I am - but I've got six shots this evening - not to be so drunk, but for good condition, lol ))))))))

I meant to type 'hardy' as in strong, rugged, adaptable - but the meatballs were starting to burn and I got distracted! Hearty works too though.

Sadly, I am neither hearty nor hardy when it comes to vodka. Unless it's in jello - then I can hold my own respectably.

It's a "typo by Freud" - you wrote what you really wanted ) Jello is a tasty food, but I've imagined gloomy, cloudy November evening turning to easy frost, you're returning from job, cold and tired... And your fellow with a wide smile is saying to you - "Hello, how are you? Let's eat a pair of jellos, to make this evening not so cold and sad!"

 

[Sbiker]

In Russia most of transport infrastructure were designed at Soviet times, and USSR was not a country of automobiles, but railroads. Now authorities try to develop automobile roads, but all large cities were previously designed for a bus/train systems and don't allow current number of autos. But common transport systems are usually excellent from Soviet times, so many people (and me) prefer it. It's because I don't live in suburban )

We have some good friends who lived in NYC for a time and they didn't own a car. My brother lived and worked in London for 8 years and he didn't own a car either. I love using mass transit when visiting a big city...and I love trains. A few years ago I took my mother up to DC to visit my youngest son - we traveled by train in a little 'roomette'. It was an overnight trip and the food served was very good. We had a great time.

We Americans really love our cars though! I gotta say, I hope you truly are Russian, lol, because I have long admired your beautiful country and it's people. The gifts given to the world by your artists, composers and authors are treasures. May be a misconception because I've never been there - but I think of you as hearty souls, and far closer to brothers and sisters than we have been allowed to be. Oh, and vodka, I forgot about the vodka - thank you!

I've lived in suburbs almost all of my life and still have never owned a car.

In this cast, how do you reach the civilization??? How do you visit malls to buy a cheap products?

I don't even remember the last time I was at a mall. If I want to buy something, I buy it online and have it delivered.

The suburbs is enough civilization for me. I don't much like big cities. The public transportation would be nice, though.

I considered the same, while the period, I'd living some months in a center of city. When you could reach a lot of needed objects by foots - it's very comfortable, it's real another style of life, instead of living somewhere at city edge...
In other case, living somewhere with clean air and low level of noise is comfortable too, offcourse.. Especially with a good Internet

 

[Foxfyre]

Good night darlinks, I really do love you guys.

And we continue to pray and/or send good vibes and/or positive thoughts and/or keep vigil for

Harper (Save's granddaughter),
Pogo’s friend Pat and special comfort for Pogo,
Nosmo's mom,
Rod, GW's partner,
Kat's sister,
Boedicca, her dad, brother, and family,
Sherry's Mom for treatment to be successful,
The Ringels in difficult transition
Dana, Foxfyre's friend recovering from heart transplant
Mr. and Mrs. Gracie in difficult transition
Ringel's injured shoulder and general wellness
Saveliberty for positive resolution for difficult transition,
Mr. and Mrs. Peach174 for full recovery from setback,
Strength and stamina for gallantwarrior in his relocation project,
Saveliberty's brother-in-law,
And for our students, job hunters, others in transition.

And the light is left on for Noomi, Freedombecki, AgainSheila, Esthermoon, Dalia, SFC Ollie, and all others we hope are okay and will return to us.

Autumn in Hawaii photo

 

[SeaGal]

Just visit the Moscow, while I'm here and you wouldn't remember anything about your last week except vodka, lol )))

I have a car (a two cars, but a second just a heap of scrap metal )), but prefer not to use it every day, only if I wish to visit seacost or something else )) As about "hearty souls" - why not? Ahh, see it - at a little bit more than just advertising



p.s. as for vodka - it's a drink of students or experienced workers )) I don't know, who I am - but I've got six shots this evening - not to be so drunk, but for good condition, lol ))))))))

I meant to type 'hardy' as in strong, rugged, adaptable - but the meatballs were starting to burn and I got distracted! Hearty works too though.

Sadly, I am neither hearty nor hardy when it comes to vodka. Unless it's in jello - then I can hold my own respectably.

It's a "typo by Freud" - you wrote what you really wanted ) Jello is a tasty food, but I've imagined gloomy, cloudy November evening turning to easy frost, you're returning from job, cold and tired... And your fellow with a wide smile is saying to you - "Hello, how are you? Let's eat a pair of jellos, to make this evening not so cold and sad!"

Ok, ok - you've got a point.
But jello shots made with vodka instead of water have a warming tendency - if you consume enough of them. Surely we wouldn't be expected to drink that stuff straight!?!

 

[Foxfyre]

Just visit the Moscow, while I'm here and you wouldn't remember anything about your last week except vodka, lol )))

I have a car (a two cars, but a second just a heap of scrap metal )), but prefer not to use it every day, only if I wish to visit seacost or something else )) As about "hearty souls" - why not? Ahh, see it - at a little bit more than just advertising



p.s. as for vodka - it's a drink of students or experienced workers )) I don't know, who I am - but I've got six shots this evening - not to be so drunk, but for good condition, lol ))))))))

I meant to type 'hardy' as in strong, rugged, adaptable - but the meatballs were starting to burn and I got distracted! Hearty works too though.

Sadly, I am neither hearty nor hardy when it comes to vodka. Unless it's in jello - then I can hold my own respectably.

It's a "typo by Freud" - you wrote what you really wanted ) Jello is a tasty food, but I've imagined gloomy, cloudy November evening turning to easy frost, you're returning from job, cold and tired... And your fellow with a wide smile is saying to you - "Hello, how are you? Let's eat a pair of jellos, to make this evening not so cold and sad!"

Ok, ok - you've got a point.
But jello shots made with vodka instead of water have a warming tendency - if you consume enough of them. Surely we wouldn't be expected to drink that stuff straight!?!

Back when I was still drinking, a vodka collins or vodka stinger was the only way to have vodka just as margaritas or a tequila sunrise was the only way to have tequila. My favorite drink though was rum and coke or a chi chi (pina colada made with rum) though rum often gave me a frightful headache. Never did jello shots though.

(I know, I know. I was a wuss )

 

[Sbiker]

Just visit the Moscow, while I'm here and you wouldn't remember anything about your last week except vodka, lol )))

I have a car (a two cars, but a second just a heap of scrap metal )), but prefer not to use it every day, only if I wish to visit seacost or something else )) As about "hearty souls" - why not? Ahh, see it - at a little bit more than just advertising



p.s. as for vodka - it's a drink of students or experienced workers )) I don't know, who I am - but I've got six shots this evening - not to be so drunk, but for good condition, lol ))))))))

I meant to type 'hardy' as in strong, rugged, adaptable - but the meatballs were starting to burn and I got distracted! Hearty works too though.

Sadly, I am neither hearty nor hardy when it comes to vodka. Unless it's in jello - then I can hold my own respectably.

It's a "typo by Freud" - you wrote what you really wanted ) Jello is a tasty food, but I've imagined gloomy, cloudy November evening turning to easy frost, you're returning from job, cold and tired... And your fellow with a wide smile is saying to you - "Hello, how are you? Let's eat a pair of jellos, to make this evening not so cold and sad!"

Ok, ok - you've got a point.
But jello shots made with vodka instead of water have a warming tendency - if you consume enough of them. Surely we wouldn't be expected to drink that stuff straight!?!

Why not? It's only 40% of alcohol... Offcourse, we'll snack vodka by lard or salted mushrooms

Or could make cocktails with tomato (Bloody Mary) or orange (Screwdriver) juice...

Or to make cocktail "Youth" ))

 

[Montrovant]

I finished season 2 of Stranger Things yesterday. It wasn't quite as good as season 1, but still very enjoyable. It's a great show for people who grew up in, or fondly remember, the 80s.

 

[Foxfyre]

I finished season 2 of Stranger Things yesterday. It wasn't quite as good as season 1, but still very enjoyable. It's a great show for people who grew up in, or fondly remember, the 80s.

The 80's included some good times but some of it wasn't all that great for us. We lost loved ones, went through our difficult transition, dealt with a divorce of one of our kids, became grandparents, significantly changed our lifestyle. Good and bad but not a decade I would want to relive.

 

[Montrovant]

I finished season 2 of Stranger Things yesterday. It wasn't quite as good as season 1, but still very enjoyable. It's a great show for people who grew up in, or fondly remember, the 80s.

The 80's included some good times but some of it wasn't all that great for us. We lost loved ones, went through our difficult transition, dealt with a divorce of one of our kids, became grandparents, significantly changed our lifestyle. Good and bad but not a decade I would want to relive.

I think it's more about the shows and movies of the 80s, but if that isn't a pleasant time period in your memory, it might not be a good show to watch.

 

[OldLady]

Where's Ernie S. ? I need a drink; the natives are quite restless.

Hello, all.

 

[saveliberty]

Where's Ernie S. ? I need a drink; the natives are quite restless.

Hello, all.

 

[Foxfyre]

Good evening everybody. The CS has been pretty quiet the last couple of days and I figure that means everybody is really busy--I only hope happily so.

I'm missing Ernie S too and hope he checks in soon.

Beautiful weather here in New Mexico for the next few days--plenty of sunshine, light winds, temps in the low 70's. But next Tuesday we start getting much more late fall cool weather so we'll enjoy it while it lasts.

 

[Michelle420]

I have a severe headache that won't go away.

 

[Nosmo King]

We have been besieged by drizzly days and dark foggy nights lately. Except tonight. The clouds broke and a beautiful full moon hung low over the eastern sky at twilight. Soon we will see our breath in the chill. Big wet snowflakes will fall while the air is still relatively warm, the colder it gets, the smaller the snowflakes. I still remember with fear the night I drove home along the Pennsylvania Turnpike at night in a snowstorm. As I rose in elevation in the Alleghenies and approached the tunnels, the snowflakes looked about the size of toilet seats. They drifted around in the swirling air backlit by the headlights of the oncoming traffic. I called the phenomenon 'hypnosnow'.

It is coming up on five years since the untimely death of my friend in Brooklyn's daughter. She was only 31 and succumbed to sepsis, a blood poisoning. I drove to New York on hearing of her death. There I had experiences in the city no mere tourist could ever have.

She lives in the Bath Beach section of Brooklyn. Wedged between Coney Island and Bensonhurst in southwest Brooklyn, Bath Beach is a working class neighborhood of two story duplexes lining one way streets. The houses are facing the street with a common courtyard garden behind. I volunteered to do a few loads of laundry while the family was out making arrangements.

My friend has a clothes line stretching out to a pole in the courtyard. It is fitted out with a pulley to hang and retrieve the wash. As I clipped towels and sheets to the line and hoisted them out to the center of the courtyard, the D train pulled into the 26th Street station a few blocks away. So, there I found myself tugging on a clothesline listening to the subway train. That's something I doubt few of my fellow East Liverpudians ever experienced first hand.

Another thing that struck me about that particular visit was the funeral itself. Here in the Crotch of the Tri-State area our funeral homes are large, stately homes repurposed as a funeral home. Home being the operative word. There is a comfort about the decor and ambience of our local funeral homes. Comfortable furniture, local art and a grandfather clock chiming out the quarter, half and full hour. Baskets of flowers, mums, gladiolas and carnatione flank the casket.

But in Brooklyn I found myself in a purpose built funeral chapel. It was as pleasant as such a facility could be with polished marble tiled floors and four large rooms radiating from a gracious sitting area featuring a gas fireplace and high ceiling.

Inside the rooms were the viewing areas. The one I was in had gold drapes apart from the area in front of the casket. There hung deep red velvet draperies and a crucifix about two feet high rendered in polished brass. The casket itself had a half lid and the lower half was closed, something I had never seen in person.

The flower arrangements were unusual to my provincial eye. They were large arrangements shaped like crosses or broken hearts. My friend had a monarch butterfly with a four foot wingspan rendered in mums stuck into a styrofoam form. They stood 3,4,5 feet high suspended on lumber supports covered with palm fronds. They loomed overhead giving them the effect of Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade balloons.

I sent flowers after asking a relative to recommend a good local florist. When I send flowers to a local funeral home, I call Riverview florists or Bob and Robin's Flower shop (whichever has done business with the family print shop). I just say I'd like to send a basket of flowers, they suggest price points ranging from $35 to $60, what I want to say on the card and which funeral home they should be delivered to.

When I called the Brooklyn florist they asked me what I wanted to spend. "Okay, bud. How about $150.00?"

"Ahh. What have you got for $50?"

"Our prices begin at $75."

And another experience in New York that cost me more than I was comfortable with. I think they charge more in New York just because they can.

My humble basket of flowers were duly delivered and placed among the towering displays like a shelter dog at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show.

The wake was one night only. Our funeral traditions dictate the first evening as Family Night. Friends and acquaintances are received on the second night and the internment follows on the third day. It's a dignified and laid back tradition comforting the family and friends alike.

The one day wake seems exhausting. Our visiting hours at a funeral home usually go from 6:00pm to around 8:30. A one day wake's hours run from 3:30 in the afternoon to 9:30 in the evening. Six hours of receiving guests and grieving family seems too much, but it is not my tradition, but theirs.

It's the little things; hanging out the wash, buying a basket of flowers and paying homage to our departed that makes us so different, yet so much the same.