This morning, I agreed to meet a Takoma Park buyer at a house we have under contract. She wanted her handy man to take a look at the place, and we agreed to meet at nine o'clock this morning .
OK, so I overslept. I woke up at 8:30, the house is 20 minutes from mine, so there was not time to make a proper cup of coffee before I left.
Now I am a pretty tightly-wound type-A. I need coffee in the morning. I usually start my day with a strong French roast that I drink black with no sugar.
But no problemo! I'd let her into the house and run to the Takoma Park Coop a couple of blocks away to pick up a jolt of caffine, then head back to the house.
Well, Takoma Park is full of old hippies who eschew stimulants like caffine. Kathy, my buyer, cautioned me that the coffee scene in this little town was pretty bleak. It was all organic, certified free trade, and mostly the kind that is "naturally low in caffine."
So what's the point if there's little or no caffine? Of course, I could always compensate by getting a huge cup.
I got to the Coop, parked my gas guzzling Lexus amid the Priuses in their parking lot and, sure enough, Kathy was right! There was hot water for tea (all of the selections were herbal), a big pot of decaf, and a smaller pot of organic, certified free-trade and naturally low in caffine. And they only sold it in small cups.
Takoma Park is known as being a Nuclear-Free Zone. Today, I learned that it is well on the way to being a Caffine-Free Zone. And my guess it that it's pretty much of a Tightly-Wound-Type-A-Free Zone as well! People like me need to head for the District to find a Type-A friendly neighborhood - and there are plenty of them!
Pat Kennedy - author of "The Irreverent Guide to Real Estate" - has been selling homes in the Washington, DC area for over 24 years. She's helped people buy & sell homes in DC, Maryland & Virginia
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Yep that's Takoma Park in a nutshell. If my daughter was still running the grocery part of the co-op she might have been able to clue you in a secret stash. Next time stop by the fire station. No doubt there is a pot brewing there :-)
Patricia - I feel your pain. I love Takoma Park. I have enjoyed the town and everything it has to offer. Alas, I also enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning. I am a bit more coffee centric. I drink coffee shipped in from Cafe Dumond in New Orleans.
My true consternation comes when I try to understand how I could have so much in common with a community and somehow missed the organic, free trade bend on life. I try to justify the confusion with my place in time during the benchmarks. I was a beatnik, hippies were late comers to the art and offbeat scene. I have always been amused by the amount of attention given to the second tier of baby boomers and little attention given to those of us that paved the way for "free love, turn on, tune in, drop out" group.
Pete Seeger did arrive on the scene before Dylan and Woody Guthrie was a quiet voice before his son offered up Alice's restaurant. A nice hot cup of coffee was found in the French Quarter long before Starbucks was even a vision.
Tea???????Isn't that the reason we bolted from the Brits in the first place?
That sounds almost as bad as moving into your new house and finding out that you have to drive to the next county to buy wine. It ain't right and there should be mandated disclosures of this type of thing.
LOL, John MacArthur but that's nothing new! Thanks for paving the way...
Patricia--I couldn't leave the house without caffeine but I don't do coffee, Diet Pepsi instead. What an amazing place Takoma Park must be...No RedBulls either I would guess. Don't all people under 35 live on energy drinks?
I :HEART: John MacArthur!
Pat, with all those hippie-types you might be able to find other organic materials for sale there... not my kind of place though... I love great (strong) coffee... love Cafe Dumond, also.
Patricia- I don't do the caffeine thing, just pure adrenalin for energy. I have had coffee, once or twice in my life and that was that frozen stuff, I don't even know what they call it really. I love the smell of it but that is as far as I go. I would get along with that coop you stopped in at except for my conservatism! A capitalist vegetarian and don't drink alcohol and an organic proponent, anti Big Pharma but all about free agency, working for your paycheck, religious and go to church every Sunday, no free rides, lower taxes and herbal and natural medicines and alternative treatments for cancer, etc. I must be some strange bird! Katerina
Hi Patricia, You are like me...I have to start my day off with caffeine. I don't drink coffee (wow you like yours very strong) but I drink Dr Pepper...it gets me started. So I know how you felt.
Pat -- hilarious, I can picture you pulling up to the store and walking in -- moral of the story --don't oversleep!
Patricia - Run!! People like us don't need to be in a place like that. I need an IV of coffee set up every morning! I've never been to Takoma Park and if there's no caffeine there, there's no Linda there.
Enjoy Takoma Park as much as I do, yet another reason I could never live there. Pat, I overslept this morning and woke up at 8:30 also! How weird!
You mean there's no Caribou Coffee in Takoma Park???
Patricia, I feel for you. I don't do coffee except in ice cream form ( it makes me sick).... But I know when you got to have it you got to have it!
When are you leaving for NYC?
Patricia, That's pretty amazing. I hate it when my wife tries to "decaf" me without me knowing it. She's sneaky about that.
Patricia - well, if I ever was to move to DC (they would have to officially ban freezing weather and snow first), this would definitely be the place I would look for a home in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to see it this Spring on my trip up to see my son and the Cherry Festival!!!!
No coffee? Wow - I always liked Takoma Park as well - but no Starbucks? My goodness - I could never survive!
Hey Pat,
I know what you mean by the coffee situation in Takoma Park. I would have headed down to the 7 Eleven by the Takoma Metro Station. YUM - 7 Eleven Coffee is GOOD When you are in a hard core coffee addict pinch!
My wife works nights - and when she is driving home late and needs a "jolt" - I bought her some of those "shake and warm" cans of coffee - apparently you shake it and drink it. Maybe those should become part of our Realtor kits......