This could become a photoletter ritual: shots of coffee (like what I did there?)
As I frequently find myself in cafes and taking photos within them I should be able to share some on a monthly or so basis.
Char & Stave is a recent addition to the bustling uppity Philly neighborhood of Chestnut Hill, proffering coffee by day and whiskey by night.
Being a corner spot along the Avenue allows for large open windows, permitting illumination for easy reading and adequate spots for passersby gazing.
Eavesdropping, too, is an inevitable part of planting oneself in a cafe (an historically important part of coffeeshops, as detailed below in the “What I am Reading” mention).
Not that it is intentional … it’s just inevitable.
For example …
You have a gentleman donning an aloha shirt and a local map open to touristic sites, and a residential woman passes by and invites her unsolicited self over to act as knowledgeable local guide.
She is welcomed by a tolerant foreign accent - aotearoan (New Zealand) if I remember - accepting her words of encouragement to visit this place or that.
Upon finding he is a lover of birds and is traveling through the U.S. to view species unfamiliar to his homeland, she exposes that she also happens to be an aficionado of ornithology (what are the chances…).
They have a polite interchange until she, seemingly fulfilled in her obligation as a regional know-it-all, continues on her way out the door and on with the remainder of her daily routine.
No … no … I think it was nice ... I appreciate the momentary interactions such as the one described above.
His shirt did scream (in living color) “I’m not from around here” and his interloper did provide sage advice on where to go to observe the subject for which he had journeyed an ocean and a continent over.
It made the stop for a cup of a joe all the more memorable.