Search just our sites by using our customised search engine

Unique Cottages | Electric Scotland's Classified Directory

Click here to get a Printer Friendly PageSmiley

Days of Happy Talk
Brownstore and Gourmet Coffee


    White snowflakes drifting slowly downward were as soft as a bunny's fur. The warmth of the ground where they chose to rest quickly melted them and puddles of water remained. No wind, a gray day making everything seem to be closely related in color and little traffic made this a wonderful trip up to my book signing at Arkansas City, Kansas. The thirty-five miles or so was measured in short distances from one familiar landmark to the next. The prairie grass was a soft caramel color and an artist would have mixed little pools of yellow ochre, white, burnt sienna, small bits of red and green for a pallette.
    Brownstore where I was invited to sign my books from ten to two was in itself a feast for the eyes. Everywhere were things saved from the past. The furniture looked to be some treasure filched from Gramma's attic. It was not freshly painted and had rough peeling places of some person of another time's attempt at covering the surface with a color that was now vague in its presentation. Maybe the piece had been blue? These,  old,  well-worn and loved furnishings were the props for the displays of what the store had for sale, which was everything from soup to nuts, literally. Gourmet coffees were the main attraction and wafting through the very large spaces were the nostalgic smell of strong cowboy coffee even though it was made ahead and placed in push button vacuum bottles so the customer could easily reach for the early morning treat going from Irish coffee, hazelnut,  and on and on the list went from rare to recognizable blends.
    Old worn wood floors were hand painted with little sayings to delight the heart. “The greatest of these is love,” was lettered in a quick way on the floor beside where I was placing my books on a wrought iron ice cream table saved from a time past and maybe from days when folks still enjoyed the corner drug store. In fact, the top of it had been painted with coffee cups and the name of the store, “Brownstore.”  My position was exactly beside the front door where I could see the comings and goings of the Christmas shoppers as they hurried from one place to another. Soft country music catering to the shoppers of the season rendered my heart nostalgic with  remembered ways of another time and place like this, close to my family's ranch home,  out of Foraker and Grainola, Oklahoma.
    These short days at the ending of the year rendered these folks countenances to be filled with lovely expressions. They were focused and looking forward to something joyful it seemed. The lines on their faces were now softened with their happiness as they must have been thinking of a loved one for whom they shopped. If only the season could be extended to forever, what a beautiful world it would be.
    Only a couple books were sold but the benefits received were so much greater than monetary sometimes, it is unbelievable these lovely moments in my short life  have been given me. Who would have ever guessed a lonely, mostly,  grief-ridden, housewife would have a brief moment in the sun as a published author?

http://www.thebrownstore.com/contact.htm


Return to Days of Happy Talk Index Page


 


This comment system requires you to be logged in through either a Disqus account or an account you already have with Google, Twitter, Facebook or Yahoo. In the event you don't have an account with any of these companies then you can create an account with Disqus. All comments are moderated so they won't display until the moderator has approved your comment.

comments powered by Disqus

Quantcast