Sweet, Sweetwaters

The pull of coffee houses and book stores is so strong - as if embedded in my very soul. Some of my best times are spent sitting in a chair, sipping a good and bold cup of black (gave up cream years ago, sigh) coffee from a mug with a large smooth handle.

Today it is Sweetwaters in Ann Arbor where our car delivered us - and am drinking Midnight Blend in a white ceramic mug. The fireplace (currently not lit due to the beautiful weather today) is at my left and my husband has claimed seat, also to my left. Life is good and comfortable.

This community and coffee shop are vastly different from Howell's Uptown Coffee in that the room is larger with ducts, conduits, and pipes adorning the ceiling compared to Uptown's tall ceilings with gorgeous adornments. Ann Arbor is a college town and very evident through the discussions and activities around me. Conversations about medical school, classes, professors and life in Ann Arbor are sprinkled in the various corners of the room. The clatter of the coffee paraphernalia seeps through the air with an occasional whiff of delicious espresso in my nose. Comfortable chairs are scattered throughout, all with tables next to them and coffee tables in front for placing your "gear".

The artisans have set up their kiosks in the court area displaying an unique variety of home created wares. We wandered through earlier and had our creative sides anointed. My husband and I claimed "we can make that", knowing we really can't, but it is fun to be stretched in the artisan way.

I love it here. This is a refuge to our every day occasionally mundane lives - this, for us, is a place of refreshment and renewal.

Doesn't this look inviting? This is in a bookstore in the old Traverse City State Hospital (previously the Insane Asylum), now called The Village at Grand Traverse Commons. Such a cozy place to curl up with a coffee mug and a book.