I never thought I would say I WAS A BARISTA IN BERLIN, but more on that next. Funny thoughts roll around in my head, but I have been focusing on writing about Dietrich and on the Psalms – both worthy endeavors – but today I digress.
Volunteering in Berlin was memorable but one quirky aspect was making espresso drinks. Watching someone else make coffee is not quite training. What are the ingredients? proportions? how do you do the heart thing? I did learn how to clean the foam portion of the machine – of critical maintenance importance. I hope many people are enjoying good drinks at the library and I hope they enjoyed my efforts. Firstly, being in a city with so much counter-history, compared to growing up in the west, was thought provoking. Loving life in Berlin is not easy for some who were there during the Nazi regime. Making a happy espresso drink is an opposite activity but I wanted to do it. Today I am sitting in my home, on a snowy day, with the first espresso machine I have ever purchased. I love it and my foam is good. The plan is to save the funds directed to coffee for other things like heating bills. While in Prague (before and after the Berlin-librarian, communist museum experience) I would have an occasional flat-white espresso. I don’t know what that is (planning to learn) but the cups were tiny and I realized that my big coffee appetite was never satisfied. A month after returning from volunteering I am cold in Idaho. Also visited Texas to catch up with the other grandkids. I started craving heat and coffee. I had not suffered abroad but am measuring my current self-care and heat and coffee seems to do the trick. Still lots to do with Dietrich and the Psalms.
Prague friends
Death By Twinkie came to mind after my general practitioner cancelled a phone appointment because of snow. Did you read that and does it make sense to you? We were to discuss medical stuff and a med that mature people take that I have been refusing. I thought I could tweak the bloodwork with diet and exercise. Apparently not. Today I read this quote but did not write the author, “Modern medicines last-ditch effort in it’s war against death”. You are what you eat and what I am eating might have too much total sugar. So self-care is the topic again but I am remembering cousin Larry. He passed many years ago at a relatively young age. Because he lived in Colorado I don’t have many details. We were not in contact since he took a bus to my parents home in California. They did not know he was coming. When his mother died his dad remarried a nurse who was caring for him as he was an ill widow several years later. Larry had some diminished ability to have a normal life so was on some disability. His mother had always cared for him. He had a small place and a case person to check on him. He must not have had friends in this new city. When his body was found they found a huge pile of Twinkie wrappers. He may have been subsisting on Twinkies. Several things – I was married with children in Washington but am without excuse. He was a complicated member of my extended family. I had no knowledge of his situation but I knew Larry was not quite right. What a loss. I don’t know if he was happy or not. He talked much of God the last time I saw him. I also live alone now, have never binged Twinkies, but I am familiar with addictions – if only to sugar. There is no theology in this writing but just a nudge that people are hurting and sometimes we are the one who can help. If things don’t seem right, speak up. One quarter of our plate should have fruit, another veggies, another protein, and another carbs. Keep balance in your self-care. Don’t spend wildly. Talk to people. Show up to church. Go to that potluck or coffee. Thank God for people. Ask God to make us useful in and out of season. Volunteering or not, we are here today for the people God gives us.