Welcome. Come in and have a drink with me. Coffee, tea – herbal or normal, hot water or cold, I have them all. Come and sit on our back porch and soak up the sun and we’ll have a chat. It is superb weather considering it is winter. We normally have most of our rainfall in summer so it is not unusual that it is fine but it is a little strange how warm we are during the day. I hope it holds as my brother arrives with his boys from Switzerland tomorrow and they hate missing summer by coming here in winter.

If we were having coffee I’d tell you that I feel much better than I did when we last had coffee. This is even though my week has been on the whole dreadful.

For the last three and a half years (since the day they opened) we have finished our dog walk at Jaspers bakery for coffee. We had become friendly with the owners, staff and the other regulars and it was in a strange way our Jasper’s family.  Jeff, the owner, if he had time, would often have coffee with us and we became friends. Tuesday of the previous week Jeff had gone windsurfing but did not get out of the car. By the time it was realised something was wrong, although CPR was then performed successfully, Jeff did not wake up. On Tuesday they turned his ventilator off and he passed peacefully into the next world.  RIP Jeff. You will be missed and be remembered as a friend, a hard worker, a welcoming patron who knew the name of almost every body that passed through the doors, a loving husband and son. Oscar will miss growing up with you. It sure was a drastic way out of toilet training duties.

© Melissa Wells

I am in awe of those that work at Jaspers. They closed the shop for two days and regrouped. Jeff’s wife obviously stayed by his side. The girls reopened at first just for coffee and cake and sandwiches but now they are baking bread. Jeff would be so proud of them and their love of him is evident in their desire not to let all Jeff’s hard work go to waste. It also shows what a good teacher and role model Jeff was. They are an inspiration to us all.

If Tuesday wasn’t bad enough our beautiful new floor that took us so long to lay and we were so proud of was partially ruined. Our house guest decided to do some washing. When Roger came downstairs the kitchen and part of the lounge room floor was flooded. Our visitor was still in the laundry putting clothes in the machine totally oblivious to the fact that he was standing ankle deep in water. He had turned on the hot tap at the wall but unfortunately we have never bothered to connect the hot tap to the washing machine as we only use cold water. This has sunk Roger into a depression (that he was just coming out of) as he knows that he will not be happy until the floor is again perfect and it is not going to be easy to do without pulling up all the kitchen, removing trims and skirting boards and again removing built in cabinets in the lounge. It is a huge job. Hopefully though I have persuaded him to leave it until after my brother and his kids have had their holiday with us.

If we were having coffee I’d tell you that on Monday night at the final toastmasters meeting for the year I was awarded quirk master of the year. Probably not in the same league as being Toastmaster of the Year but at least I left people smiling at the strange array of speeches I presented.

If we were having coffee I’d tell you that I have been working hard on my final edit and rewriting the letters that I had thought I could put in verbatim as they were in the public record having been part of a court case. My spurt has come at a good time as I have also been asked to speak at Probus so everything is fresh in my head. Unfortunately the book will not be published by the time I speak which is a shame as of course there would be the possibility that I could then sell a few. Oh well. It is all good practice.

If we were having coffee I’d tell you that I had a fantastic night at dancing last night. Finally there are a number of men without constant partners that are good dancers and I seem at the moment to be dancing every dance. Dancing relaxes me and helps me unwind and I imagine it releases endorphins as I feel so good.

I have nothing else to tell you. I have read little due to having our house guests and doing my edits. I haven’t been to the pictures.

Now it is your turn. How was your week? Has your weather been warmer/colder, wetter/drier. Have you read any good books or seen any good films?  Thank you for dropping in for coffee and thank you to Nerd in the Brain for hosting our weekend coffee. Other places to drop in for coffee can be found here. Hope to see you next week.