Saturday morning...

posted by Patty James @ 6:20am, Saturday 10 April 2010.

I really do like small towns. I’m here again with all my new friends at The Art of Coffee, in Montross, Virginia.  It’s 8:30 here and as usual, the bigger round table is filled with men who generally stay and chat all morning.  They are very friendly and a bit ago the cream for my tea was out and one of the men came over and took the pitcher to the kitchen to fill it up for me. Very sweet.  Leah is off today, but another young woman, just as friendly, says hi to people by name and asks things like, how’s the puppy? And …the usual, Sam?  I feel at home here and they have all been so kind to me. No waiting to go through school board here to interview the high school kids. They think Shine The Light is wonderful and welcomed me in. I wish it were always this easy! I will be sad to leave here tomorrow, but will always remember my new friends. It seems I say goodbye to a lot of people lately. Hello, great to know you and goodbye. Not sure I’m cut out for that part of the journey! I care pretty deeply, pretty quickly.  I will be thankful for the time that these folks were in my life and all they have done for me while I was in their very sweet community.

 

My friend Bill Telepan from New York emailed me today and asked me to call him on Monday. He owns a restaurant, aptly named Telepan’s, in New York City and last fall we met and chatted quite a bit the three times I was at his restaurant (in two days-that good!) He is an excellent chef and his restaurant is just exactly my cup of tea. The food is excellent and the atmosphere is understated and elegant. Loved it. He and I chatted about Shine The Light and decided we would work on a book together based on what the kids across the country said they liked to eat. I really did expect some regional differences, but such as not been the case. They all pretty much like the same foods. I have a lot of ideas about this book based on what I have discovered so far and I look forward to chatting with Bill on Monday. 

 

After I get caught up on work here, I will head to the Laundromat, where a nice older woman greets you as you walk in the door-with an apron on.  If they have Wi-Fi it will be perfect, although I won’t hold my breath.

 

I am working diligently on setting up kids’ interviews up the east coast and as always, look forward to any help you can offer.

 

T.V., radio and newspaper interviews begin this week. First Richmond, Virginia then an ABC affiliate in Washington, D.C. and on and on. Erin from Smith Publicity has been working hard getting Shine The Light lots of media attention.  I am hoping it computes to lots of donations so I can keep this project moving forward. I truly do have a concern that my savings won’t last the year. I know that after the data comes in, grants are available to fund the curriculum development, but in order to gather the data this part of the trip is necessary. Any help any of you can give is appreciated. Just helping to spread the word is helpful and I thank you. I really do enjoy reading your emails and receiving your phone calls, but if you could write on the web site, that’s fun to see as well, for everyone. It just takes a second to log in and write a comment. Thanks!

 

Well, back to setting up kid’s interviews and figuring out my routes and where I am staying!

The Art Of Coffee....