Author: Kennedy Farr

Saturday Morning Rewind

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free-imagesBoots here with some fabulous Saturday morning music for you to enjoy with your coffee.  This music is nothing short of fantastic.  Brilliant.  Energetic.  Super fun!   Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, and Marvin Gaye.  This is the sort of line-up that puts a smile on your face and gets your toes tapping.

And this lively music combined with my morning Joe?  Well, nothing’s going to stop me today from putting my best left foot forward and dancing like I mean it.   After all, is there anything more fun than some lively dancing?  Be it on a crowded dance floor or in your laundry room . . . while walking down the driveway or mucking out the stalls.  Dancing is one of those primary elements that makes the world go round.  It’s true.  It really is.

So this weekend, get out there and shake your thang.  Have a good time.  Appreciate the beat of the tunes and  the beat of your heart.

Sam & Dave – Soul Man (1967)

Otis Redding “Try A Little Tenderness” Live 1967

Otis Redding, “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long”, from MIPF 1967

Marvin Gaye- Got to Give It Up (Long version). TV Performance 1977

Joie Women’s Chap Boot

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Ollio Women’s Shoe Platform Open Toe High Heel Ribbon Accent Multi Color Pump

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Our Home State of Happiness

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coffee-france

cabindoorcoffee.com

Boots here, your Badass Coffee Babe, hoping that life is treating you in a kindly manner on this very lively Friday morning.

You know how it is with travel.  There’s something about any kind of travel that makes coffee even better.  It looks better, smells better, tastes better when I am away from home — be that out on the trail and listening to some early-morning loon song echoing out over the lake or sitting at some busy sidewalk cafe in France or simply parking it at my favorite coffee bar in my adopted hometown.  It’s all good.

Location is irrelevant.  What is relevant is how travel makes my senses take a second look at something.  And then another.  Do some comparisons.  Scribble down some notes in my Pay Attention Book.  Take the time to just think about what is happening all around me.  All while sipping my favorite beverage.

I sometimes think I don’t take this Better Sense of Newness into account when occupying my Home State.  You know the place . . . we all have a Home State.  It might be your front porch,  your desk that looks out at the bird bath, your office with the funky view of the brick wall of Nash Hall.  It’s your over-sized yellow kitchen table that is tucked into the too-tiny breakfast nook or your kind of messy desk in the loft or your easel with the broken leg that is balancing on an upside down apple crate.  It’s that deck chair that wobbles funny while you are parking your back side.  It’s the long bus ride to work or school.

The places that we call Home State are the comfort food for our senses.  We go to them each day without a lot of thought.  We sit and we think, write, paint, eat, take in the passing view from the car, train, or bus.

One thing all of these Home States have in common?  Our morning Joe.  That Cup of Reverence that gets us up and moving and feeling inspired.

Travel.  I sometimes think that I don’t travel enough.  I explore and I wander, but I don’t go a lot farther than my two feet can take me on any given day on the trail.   I think I have too strong of a predilection for grabbing a mug of Joe and putting my feet up on the porch rail and taking in the view of the dogs sleeping in the sunshine and the cat prowling the woodshed.  I guess I’m not the most sophisticated person in the world.  But I sure do know how to enjoy a moment for what it is.  I pour my second Cup of Reverence and think that life is pretty good in my happy Home State.

Here is some of my Home State reading while imbibing my Cup of Reverence.  These books are inspiring and motivating.

 My FAVORITE!
The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work Hardcover
by Shawn Achor

http://amzn.to/2chV0V6

And another FAVORITE!
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business Paperback
by Charles Duhigg

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And another . . .
The Happiness Project (Revised Edition)
by Gretchen Rubin

http://amzn.to/2c2p7PQ

The Cutest Rain Boots Ever for Dresses, Jeans, & Fall Puddles

/ Kennedy Farr / 1 Comment

free-imagesBoots here . . . and it has been waaaaaay too long since we have talked boots!  It’s time to take a break from coffee and make today all about boots!  I can sure tell that the weather is changing, and it’s time to pull my boots out from the back of the barn.

You must check out these puddle jumpers for the upcoming puddle season.  If you live in the desert, go ahead and look anyway.  They are so cute that they will make you smile, even while knowing that you will never be able to wear them in your arid climate.  That’s the thing about boots — they need not offer any practicality while making us happy.

I don’t think that there has ever been a pair of boots that I didn’t like, but these boots below are especially cute.  Have fun shopping!  Here is just a sample of the cute colors that these boots come in.  Click on the image or the link and when you see the selection, scroll over the colors.  You are sure to get enjoyment from just window shopping!

And the best part?  They are reasonably priced!

Nomad Women’s Puddles Rain Boot

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The Geography of the Coffee Bean: The 3 Main Coffee-Growing Regions

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the geography of coffee

Cabin Door Coffee

Coffee. It’s not just a simple plant in any old garden . . . coffee = landscape + climate + elevation.

Attention all Map-of-the-World Lovers!  Boots here, as promised, to talk more about the Geography of Coffee.   And to keep it interesting, I am going to keep it brief.  As our friend Bill Shakespeare said, “Brevity is the soul of wit.”  Now I don’t know that my end goal today is Coffee Wit, but I am going to do my best to stir your interest in the geography of coffee.

Coffee is Geography . . . Geography is Coffee  

The 3 main coffee regions of the world:

  1. Latin America: well-balanced; crisp and bright acidity; more consistent quality
  2. Africa/Arabia: exotic; berry, citrusy/grapefruity, and spicy flavors; more unpredictable
  3. Asia/Pacific: full-bodied; spicy, herbally; depth; pairs well with savory
  4. These regions each have unique and distinct, geographically-inspired taste profiles.

All of this base-camp info will ultimately lead to me walking you through a coffee tasting at the end of all this fascinating Geography stuff.   Next?  We will look at how to “taste” coffee and identify the characteristics that help you to identify region.  But in the meantime, I am feeling some camp stories percolating to the surface.  I might have to explore some of those before looking at coffee tasting.

And if you are interested in this kind of stuff — I am! –then you will be surprised that you can not only taste but actually smell the geography of the bean before you even slurp.

So have some fun today just enjoying the flavor of your coffee.  Appreciate how very far those little beans in their burlap sacks had to travel to give you so much pleasure.

Who doesn’t want a map of the world on the wall? And it’s so inexpensive! I have two maps posted in my cabin: one in the kitchen and one in the little house with the crescent moon cut out of the door.

Rand McNally Signature Map of the World

http://amzn.to/2cu3Ih2

This paperback looks so awesome!  Who doesn’t want to know the secrets to happiness?  I am thinking: I must order this.

Happy: Secrets to Happiness from the Cultures of the World

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Have you heard this music?  It is simply the best in collaboration, talent, creativity, and musicality . . . all from around the world.  

 Songs Around The World (CD + DVD)

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5 Lively Factoids on The Geography of the Coffee Bean

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the geography of coffee

Cabin Door Coffee

Coffee . . . it’s not just an attitudinal thing . . . it’s a latitudinal thing.

Attention all Geography Cognoscenti . . . aka Map Lovers!  Boots here, as promised, to talk about the Geography of Coffee.  For all of you who haven’t had their coffee yet or for those of you whose eyes glaze over when they anticipate a pedantic and unsolicited lesson on coffee  . . . well, have no fear.  The thing you don’t know about Boots, the Badass Coffee Babe, is that she wants nothing better than to get back to splitting some kindling for tomorrow’s fire, filling the kerosene lamps while there’s still light in the day, and maybe taking a skinny dip in the lake to feel refreshed after all of the chores.

So, here it is . . . delivered in bullet points so that you can isolate the facts from the minutiae.  This is all good stuff that you can toss out to that cute barista while you’re waiting for your beverage.  S/he will think you are a geographical wonder.  Try it.  You’ll see how attractive knowledge is.

Coffee is Geography . . . Geography is Coffee

  1. Coffee beans carry their own unique geography with them.
  2. Geography IS a coffee profile . . . a flavor.
  3. Coffee is more than an attitudinal thing . . . it’s also a latitudinal thing.  It’s grown in the equatorial band between the two tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.
  4. There are three primary coffee regions in the world. (We’ll get into these soon.  Promise!)
  5. These regions each have unique and distinct geographical profiles. You can train your tongue to identify them . . . which is why when you first smell and then take a sip of black coffee, your palate can tell immediately where those beans were grown.

All of this will ultimately lead to me walking you through a coffee tasting at the end of all this fascinating Geography stuff.  If you are interested in this kind of stuff — I am! –then you will be surprised that you can actually smell the geography of the bean before you even slurp.

So have some fun today just enjoying the flavor of your coffee.  Appreciate how very far those little beans in their burlap sacks had to travel to give you so much pleasure.

Who doesn’t want a map of the world on the wall? And it’s so inexpensive! I have two maps posted in my cabin: one in the kitchen and one in the little house with the crescent moon cut out of the door.

Rand McNally Signature Map of the World

http://amzn.to/2cu3Ih2

This paperback looks so awesome!  Who doesn’t want to know the secrets to happiness?  I am thinking that I must order this.

Happy: Secrets to Happiness from the Cultures of the World

http://amzn.to/2cu1UVw

These mugs might not represent the coffee-growing latitudes . . . but you are going to look super smart when you bring up your newly-learned factoids when someone comments on your mug of the world.

3D Rose mug: Vintage European map of Western Europe Britain UK France Spain Italy etc retro geography travel Ceramic Mug, 15 oz, White

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3dRose mug_112942_4 Vintage map of the North Pole polar cap Russia Northern America Greenland geography travel theme Two Tone Black Mug, 11 oz, Black/White

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Sunday morning. Nothing better.

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Sunday morning

Cabin Door Coffee

Boots here.  There is something that is just so satisfying about going through your Sunday morning ritual.  Make coffee. Get paper.  Find crossword puzzle.  Relax.  Proceed with the day’s mind challenge.  Exercise your brain muscles.  It all sounds like so much fun, doesn’t it?

coffee-beans-759024_960_720Are you, too, a Sunday morning crossword person?  The sort of person who subscribes to the local rag just so that you can get your daily (or weekly — depending on the circulation of your paper) dose of crosswording?  And if it’s not crosswording, maybe your Sunday morning is devoted to writing or reading or listening to NPR or watching the dogs sleep or writing in your journal or talking on the phone with family.  Maybe it’s time to pay bills or to sort through the stack of paperwork that has grown throughout the past week.  The one thing all of this Sunday morning fun has in common is coffee.  Good ol’ plain and simple Joe.

Today, enjoy your coffee experience.  Drink it straight up black.  Dress it up with sugar and sprinkles.  Vanilla syrup, lavender syrup, almond syrup.  Nutmeg, cinnamon, or cocoa powder.  Ristretto or long or perfectly-timed shots.  Non-fat, whole, or breve.  No matter how you take your coffee, take some time today to just enjoy the world.  Think about the traveling that your coffee beans had to do to find its way to your kitchen.

Coffee grows all over the world.  Appreciate the geography that has gone into you enjoying your favorite morning drink.  When I think about drinking a beverage made from beans from Sumatra, I simply marvel at the splendor of it all.   This week we are going to be talking about the different parts of the world that grows coffee.

I don’t know about you but I feel pretty lucky that we have the opportunity to partake in such a satisfying morning ritual.  Don’t you agree?  Have a great Sunday!

The New York Times Supersized Book of Sunday Crosswords: 500 Puzzles (New York Times Crossword Puzzles)

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#1 Amazon Best Seller: The New York Times Light and Easy Crossword Puzzles: 130 Fun, Easy Puzzles

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This book on coffee looks fantastic!

Coffee: A Comprehensive Guide to the Bean, the Beverage, and the Industry

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Day Parts – Sunday Morning Coffee Music

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It comes from within.

/ Kennedy Farr / Leave a comment
IMG_3097. tranquility

Cabin Door Coffee

Boots here, thinking about the moment.  It seems as if there isn’t a lot of time in any given today to just sit and think.  There have been times in my life when this was not the case and I had plenty of wilderness time to drink in the view and take in the moment.  Life, in its fancy ways, has a way of shaking things up so that we can appreciate what we have when we have it.  There is no real spin on good, better, best . . . it is more a state of mind that says All is good.

I know that Coffee is Queen in this neck of the woods, but so is a good measure of tranquility, quiet, and kindness.  Today . . . tonight . . . tomorrow . . . enjoy your room with a view.  Whatever that view may be, find something to appreciate in the tranquility of this very moment.  You might be surprised what you find, see, and hear when you take a moment to appreciate what you have that is right in front of you.

There’s something about Saturday morning.

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oh how i love thee saturday am

Cabin Door Coffee

Greetings, good people.  Boots, your friendly Badass Coffee Babe here.  I am happy to say that there has been a shift in the weather in the high country, and I am just starting to get settled into my late summer routine.  As you, too, have noticed: the days are growing shorter here in the northern hemisphere.  I am beginning to think that it’s time to start some serious wood splitting for the rainy days that are soon to arrive.

And there’s nothing like Saturday morning for getting some pre-fall chores done.  Saturday.  Even if it is a day of some heavy-duty chores, there is always the sense that the previous week has been cleared and it is time to take a deep breath.  Today, think about the joys that that first (and second!) cup of Joe brings to your morning.  Rejoice in the invigorating luxury that this “bean juice” brings to your daily routine.

A tiny coffee fact for you: Did you know that the coffee “bean” is actually the seed inside the coffee cherry?  Yes!  What we call the coffee bean is actually the seed — or the pit– inside what can be thought of as a stone fruit — the coffee cherry.   The reason that people call this seed a “bean” is simply because the seed looks so much like a bean.

Isn’t it weird how language can create a whole culture around what isn’t exactly so?  In other words, why don’t we go to that cute little coffee shop on the corner and order one pound of coffee seeds, please?   Or one pound of coffee cherry pits ground for an espresso machine, please?  This just sounds wrong.  We have developed and established a culture of bean-ology.

I hope that you all have a fantastic weekend.  I am guessing that we all could use the time to relax and count a few blessings.  Bon weekend!  A little Hoops and Yoyo for you . . .

I love the bean juice!

Click on the images and links below for some #1 Best Seller coffee cherry seeds!

Death Wish Ground Coffee, The World’s Strongest Coffee, Fair Trade and USDA Certified Organic, 16 Ounce

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Lavazza Super Crema Espresso – Whole Bean Coffee, 2.2-Pound Bag

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Give a shout out for someone today. Be the difference.

/ Kennedy Farr / Leave a comment

golden lab. time to make a difference. Monday

Boots here and it’s time to grab that second cup of coffee, put your feet up for a while, and pontificate on how the rest of the day might be made better by you.

It never ceases to amaze me how the little things in life make a big difference.  A ginormous difference, actually.  Today?  What’s going on with you?   And what can you do to help out a workmate, a family member, a friend, your sweetheart, a stranger?  Love life and make a difference.  Like this little pup here, give a shout out to those who could use some encouragement today!

Life, like coffee, is best when it is brewed just right and enjoyed with a friend.  Add some Kick Ass Coffee to any of these cups and make today a good one!

Kicking Horse Coffee, Kick Ass, Whole Bean Coffee, 2.2 Pound
from Kicking Horse Coffee

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Coffee Mug – Camera Lens Travel Thermos – Stainless Steel Insulated Cup with Easy Clean Lid – 13.5oz – Black – Go with Premium Stainless Steel Spoon Bonus_uHome

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Sea Turtle Coffee Mug, Love the Little Things in Life

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Quotable Life Begins Quotable Mug – Quotes Kitchen Home MUG-G226-QUOTE

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Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

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simplicity. sophistication. foam art

Boots here . . . and loving this foam art.  Do you remember the first time that someone handed you a latte with beautiful foam art?  I can remember the very coffee shop and how pretty it was.  I had ordered a lavender white mocha and it was served in a white cup and saucer very much like the one in this picture.  

I was having kind of a weird day . . . hence the reason I was in the shop giving myself a little extra treat with which to start the day.  When I received my drink, it felt like someone handed me an extra gift along with my daily caffeine fix.  The barista created some kind of rabbit with big floppy ears, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever.  I could tell that this guy really loved what he did . . . and he enjoyed making others in the coffee shop happy as well by surprising them with such unique art.  

Life is always fun when we celebrate it with some surprising art.  Today, enjoy your beverage, be it ornamented with a pretty flower or a lop-sided bunny rabbit.  Share the wealth and smile at the next person you see.  There are few things more beautiful and creative than your smile.  

Here is some cool stuff for making some sophisticated foam art at home!

Easy Latte Electric Handheld Milk Frother for Creamiest Coffee Foam with Double Spring/Stand AND Pinch 12 Oz Stainless Steel Frothing Pitcher Silver

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Ipow 20 Oz Measurements On Both Sides 18/8 Gauge Stainless Steel Steaming Frothing Pitcher for Espresso Machines, Milk Frothers & Latte Art

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Sealike 2015 New Coffee Stencils Latte Art Template Cappuccino Art Stencils Pack of 16 with Stylus

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And here is a TED talk on this subject for all of you TED lovers!