My Blog 2

Be Fully Mindful and Present with Your Loved Ones While You Have the Chance “Before someone’s tomorrow has been taken away, cherish those you love, appreciate them today.” ~Michelle C. Ustaszeski One day after being on a spiritual path for many years, I stood in my art studio, happy to be creating a new painting. Content in my life, I was married to a great guy and raising two young boys that brought me so much joy. My life was perfect. Well, not exactly, but I definitely had moments of thinking it was, and this happened to be one of those moments. I had come a long way. Gone were the constant “what if’s” and the fear that I was going to get that phone call that someone got hurt, or worse. I could now put things into a larger framework. I was no longer stuck in my own jail with my fear and self-limiting thoughts. I had risen above all of that. Dusk no longer brought me down, even Sunday nights were fine. I used to get melancholy every Sunday evening. I had figured out that I w...

If it's been a while since you tried Cape Verdean coffee, you may want to try it again. The industry was dying and its being revived, by the likes of Starbucks with its most prestigious reserve coffee brand. Changes in coffee production and an attempt to keep up with the growing market for coffee and gourmet coffee has caused some changes in the coffee coming out of this region. The growing trend of small coffee mills also gives coffees from this region an even larger variety of flavors and qualities, so it might be time to revisit this coffee. Plus the islands have a perfect climate for growing coffee. The Cape Verdean islanders have a 300 year tradition of growing coffee. If you already love Cape Verdean coffee, as us Cape Verdeans do, no doubt it's for the extremely mild, some say perfect, coffee flavor. Needless to say we enjoy coffee that tastes like coffee. For some we add Chicory as a kind of spice to the coffee as tradition. Chicory can be had on its own, it's th...

Starbucks Reserve® Cape Verde (CV) Fogo Island is a coffee that’s as extraordinary as the place where it’s grown. For 300 years, coffee has survived on the island of Fogo, part of the isolated Cape Verde archipelago off Africa’s western coast. Coffee in CV Cape Verde has a rich 300 year old history of growing coffee. However, the coffee industry was on its way out. With perfect conditions for growing specialty coffee, there is potential. Acting on our instincts, we set up project proposals and through that have been able to work with the growers to bring it back to life, and its former glory, once again. It’s extremely rewarding to see the impact this project has on the people living in Fogo, for example. Going from an industry which was slowly dying or just growing coffee that was being grown for personal use or the use of the family and surrounding community only, to seeing the growers take pride in their product again as it goes international. Implementing techniques Part of...

Colleneumbers I've always been a numbers guy. I'm a computer programmer by trade For example. I was born at 3:07 in the afternoon. Threes and sevens have always been my lucky numbers. My apartment in New York was 39 M/N. My apartment in LA CA was 133 M/N. A lot of threes in there. Thirteen. x2, to be exact. My house is 103. My house in FL is 1337. This past year, 2017, add up the two and the one you get three, and there's a seven, too. Mom's address is 3730. And on and on. By Brother's address in 3037. My Ex wife's is 375. Got a story for you. You know by now that my sister, Karen, is my wife JoAn's best friend, so is Collene her adopted sister. Years ago Karen had a new apartment, address 303. I was in town and went to see her apartment for the first time and Collene was down the hall 707. She knew of my fascination with threes and sevens and told JoAn. and Collene to watch, I'd say something. Legend has it when I arrived and Karen opened the door I...

Kyle's College Graduation Chicago is home to the Northwestern University, actually near by Evanston, IL It was like her HS Boone Graduation Orlando FL. The Wildcats. It's also home to my favorite Wildcat, my daughter Kyle, who was set to graduate. Say what? Parents will get this...it seems like yesterday she was a toddler. Okay, the day before yesterday. We've gone through diapers, braces, volleyball, high school musicals, high school graduation. And then before you know it you pack up the car and buying books, dorm rooms, and all nighters, here we come. There were many miles to go to get there so there I was at my gate at the Orlando airport at six in the morning, bag checked, ticket in hand, for my seven o'clock flight. I'm not alone in saying this but flying used to be fun and an adventure. Oh it's still an adventure but a different kind of one. Crowded planes, crowded airports and make sure you get there two hours early. Just saying. Off I flew. West. Firs...