James' Coffee Blog ☕

• Blooming

  Published on September 16, 2023 under the Moments of Joy (Series) category.

  The rose outside my house has been growing for the last week. Two new buds started to bloom, with colours of pink sneaking through their green exterior. On Thursday morning, I looked at the plant and thought a particular bud was about to bloom. Hours later, the bud and its leaves had started to open. A plant that months ago I thought was a weed has continued to grow beyond my wildest expectations. From fear the plant was a weed to three beautiful pink blossoms. With each development -- seeing the starting signs of a bud, the bud opening, blooming -- I have felt joy. Next summer, I think I am going to grow more roses.

• The Glint

  Published on September 13, 2023 under the Moments of Joy category.

  I took the bus back to the Edinburgh City Centre from the airport today, after my flight from Berlin. The tram had just departed and I thought the bus would be quicker. I carried my suitcase onto the bus, lifted my suitcase onto the luggage rack, then sat down. A few moments later, two young women boarded. I would guess they were around my age. They sat down and started conversing in German. I gazed out the window and watched people walk past.

• Continental Breakfast

  Published on September 13, 2023 under the Life category.

  I am in Berlin for the Beyond Tellerrand conference. The hotel at which I am staying offers continental breakfasts.

• Growth

  Published on September 09, 2023 under the Moments of Joy category.

  There is a plant outside my house that has been growing over the summer. A friend suggested the plant may be a rose, an assumption under which I have been working since I learned that roses have thorny branches. This is one of these facts that, in hindsight, is something you "should have known." When I learned the characteristics of a rose, I was one of the lucky 10,000 that day.

• The Smiley Face

  Published on September 09, 2023 under the Moments of Joy category.

  This is a blog post in which I had to double check the spelling of a word in the title before starting to write. For some reason I needed assurance that I had spelled "smiley" correctly. "smiley" is an interesting word! An "ey" suffix!

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