Coffee is this week's theme for the Toys on 365. I don't drink coffee. For many years neither Frank nor I drank it. Over the past year, he started having a cup of an instant coffee in the morning during the winter. He quit for the summertime.
I wanted the dinosaurs to learn something about fair trade coffee so the Apatosaurus, Trachodon, and Neanderthal Man volunteered to come with me to the People's Grocery -- our local food coop. I showed them the sacks of coffee that had already been ground and the coffee beans of various types in bulk in the bins.
I told them a little about the coffee industry and how the workers and small producers often don't get a fair shake from the big companies and buyers. One way to change that is to buy fair trade certified coffee. There are disagreements about standards and practices within the fair trade movement. Here is a link to a page on the web site of the Equal Exchange fair trade products supplier the coop buys from (shown in the one photo). http://equalexchange.coop/fair-trade I am ashamed to say that I didn't tell the dinosaurs that chocolate is another product like coffee with the same kind of problems with inequalities among large scale and small scale growers, workers etc. I eat chocolate fairly indiscriminately. Note to self -- be more aware of what I'm buying.
Anyway, the Apatosaurus wanted to get a closer look at the beans so I helped him up onto the grinder where he was nose to nose with the beans (hmmm...that's definitely the wrong expression to use. Coffee beans don't have noses.) But anyway, his nose was twitching like a puppy's as he sniffed the rich aroma. I've always liked the smell of coffee. I just detest the taste.
So....what we bought instead was Rose Lemonade. If you've never tried it, you ought to. It's a mighty, mighty fine drink. I'll give the dinosaurs and Neanderthal Man a sip each and then split the rest with Frank.
To all the coffee drinkers out there, Happy Coffee Week or Day, or whatever the designated event may be.
Mary, I am Kathy, your get pushed partner this week. I have looked through your great photos and see that you like color and action. You also like to enter challenges like I do. I am going to give you two choices for your challenge. You can either give me an interesting portrait of Peanut or another cat, or do a colorful abstract of any subject. I love cats and am always looking for neat cat pictures so that would be my first choice but it's up to you. Accept?
@kathyboyles Hey, Kathy! Thanks for the challenge(s). Strangely enough, I was just noting to myself and Frank that I hadn't seen Peanut in a long while. I hope she's OK. She had been hanging out constantly in our back yard. Maybe our friend's little girl who visited at the beginning of August loved her up so much that she decided to lay low and hang out somewhere else. Ha ha...I'll check with our neighbors. Too bad our son is not visiting with his cat.There is another cat that lives across the street. I may try to catch a photo of her. But if not, you'll get a colorful abstract.
