From The Shadows Inside The Frothy Cup

It's Monday,
In the,
Forenoon,
On,
The third day,
After,
The demise,
Of Christmas,
Day,
Here on Miner Street,
In the good,
Old,
Mining,
Town of,
Idaho Springs,
Colorado.

Where,

I sit,
Alone,
Like a,
Drone,
Hovering,
Noiselessly,
In the shadows,
Tattered,
Hatted,
As usual,
Spectacles,
Dangling on my,
Nose,
Writing,
At my,
Round,
Table,
Within,
The,
Warmth,
Of the Frothy Cup,
Coffee Shop,
On Miner Street,

Gazing,
South,
Through,
Windows,
Bordered,
Round,
About by,
Frost,
Observing,
The kinds of,
Man.

I see,
Slices,
Of tribes,
Clans,
Peoples,
Kindreds of
Mine,
And yours.

Known,
By the
anthropologist
As tourists.

Tall, thin,
Short,
Corpulent,
Rounded,
Ones,

Some,

Running,
Hobbling,
Sauntering,
Slumped,
Shouldered,

Others,

With,
Backs,
Ramrod,
Straight,
Walking with purpose,

A few,

Limping,
Supported by,
Canes,
Others,
Negotiating,
The old,
Sidewalks,
Corners and,
Curves in,
Motorized,
Carts.

Some,

Bespectacled,
With,
Cigarette,
Lit,
Long,
Ash,
Hanging,
Precariously.

Others,

Wearing,
Turquoise gloves,
North Face coats,
Burdened with
Bulging, backpacks,

Non-coated
Ones too,
With pale skin,
In colored T-shirts,

White people,
With green eyes,
And yellow
People,
With topaz eyes,
Black people,

Too.

Lovely
brown people,
Arm in arm,
Sometimes,
Three abreast,
Crowding,
The narrow,
Bricked,
sidewalks.

Life,
Is all about,
With,
Lighted candles,
And,
Christmas lights,
Burning still.

Dignified old men,
Sitting on benches,
Smoking pipes,
Watching happy,
Children playing,
In the snow,

And,

Scruffy,
Unshaven,
Torn coats,
Carrying old bags,
Men,
With no,
Homes,
No families,
No love,
The shoppers,
Skirting around,
Quickly averting,
Their glances,
Embarrassed,
Fearful,
Disgusted,
At dirty,
Men warming up,
Inside,
Doorways,
And back alleys,
Feral,
Human beings,
Really,
Not sure,
Where to go,
Where they will sleep,
Tonight,
After the fine people,
Have gone home,
To be warmed,
By the fire,
Stoked on the hearth.

With,

Cute,
Blondies,
Struggling,
Laden with,
Silvery white
Shopping bags,

Over there,
Corner of 17th,
And,
Miner,
An elderly,
Woman,
With,
Homemade,
Red hair,
Waddles,
Down,
The sidewalk,
The smell,
Of lavender,
Must,
Trail her,
Out,
Of the,
Soap Shop,
Just,
Down the street,
From my view,
At the Frothy Cup

Families,
With the old,
The young,
Babies in strollers,
Some walking their doggies,
But,
None with cats!

Single people,
On dates,
Laughing,
Zigging,
Zogging,
And,
Zagging,

Down,

The sidewalk,
After drinking,
Bigfoot Ale,
At Tommyknockers,
Just down,
From my post,
On,
Miner Street.

Some,
Smiling large,
Lost in thought,

Some escaping,
From their troubles,
But finding,
Alas,
They cannot,
Escape from,
Themselves.

Trudging slowly,
Zombie-like,
Gazing
Thoughtlessly,
At,
Shop windows,

The cold air
Electrified,
Sharp,
Cuts through,
All,
Meandering,
Down Miner Street.

The crystalized sky,
With Sun Dogs,
Barking high,
Aloft,
Over,
Mt Evans,
Covered over,
With velvety,
Snow,

With,

The sun
Trying mightly,
To arrive,
Peeking out,
Sheepishly,
To see the rush,
Of people out today,
On Miner Street,

I remain,
Unnoticed,
By,
These,
Automatons,
Going to and fro,
As I watch,
From the lingering,
Shadows,
Inside the,
Frothy,
Cup,
The soul of,
Idaho Springs,
Colorado,
The gem of the Rockies.

BR Schoenbein
December 28, 2015-Monday

Arrived back home to Idaho Springs this morning after spending Christmas and ensuing days at the Watsons home on the Plains of Denver.

I cooked up a huge pot of chicken soup with generous amounts of taters, celery, onion both pearl and red. Boiled a large 4 pound organic, barn raised hen to use as a base. The succulent white meat just fell off the bone and into the soup.

The Watsons thought it so tasty they want me to cook up more at the Frothy Cup Coffee Shop for their hungry lunch crowd. With uncharacteristic humility I accepted this remunerative assignment.

Another income stream for me. Thanks Randy and Glenda.

Stayed most of the day at the Frothy writing. Checked out some DVDs from the library including one of my faves, Dr Strangelove. 

Streets and shops very busy today the Monday after Christmas. Tourists are off work until New Years, I guess. Good for the coffee business. Lots of hot chocolate sold today.

Ran into "Bobby" again at the Frothy Cup. He and I met a couple of weeks ago here at the shop. He saw my Bible on the table and started up a conversation. He's a former professional boxer. And, he's a firm Christian believer. He wants to get together here on Wednesday. Agreed to do so.

Staying at the Boarding House on Riverside this week. Really going to hit the book writing this week. Also, going to do some planning for my hike west hopefully to Seattle starting in May.

Originally wanted to walk to San Francisco but I would have to walk through the Mojave in the summer time so I'm thinking a far northerly route through Montana and Idaho. More doable. Don't you think?

Thinking about taking a train or a bus from Seattle back to Illinois. Then after a few weeks there catching up with family and friends it's back on the road to Cincinnati to visit my lovely sister, Marty Zimmerman and her husband, Marten.

Then Lord willing on to the Atlantic coast. Then I will have walked across the great expanse of America.