Window to the Woods with Rhon Bell: Fall hiking and wine tasting in coastal Camden | Maine Today
What do a quintessential Maine hike with near-peak-foliage views, a quiet yet bustling coastal town and an amazing wine-tasting experience all have in common? They are all a quick drive up Rt. 1 in Camden. This streets of this picturesque coastal town are simply a stone’s throw away from all that Maine has to offer, and today that’s an amazing hike. Today’s plan is a packed one. My advice: Get an early start on the day and try to hit everything.
Lakes, Islands, Mountains, Moosehead | Maine magazine
The ancient mountains and cliffs above Moosehead are tempting us. How do we get closer? For starters, we’ll need a motorboat and a floatplane.
Nearly 70 years old, the old bird just doesn’t want to start when it’s this hot outside.Pilot John Willard explains the situation while we sit behind him in the narrow cockpit of his 1947 Piper floatplane.
The engine isn’t turning after two, three, and four tries. Hot is a relative term—it’s mid-70s at most on this early summer evening—but this is northern Maine. Earlier, on the drive up Route 15, we’d stopped for a cone of maple-nut ice cream at a take-out, and I heard another customer complaining of the day’s “oppressive” temperatures. Willard admits he’s no fan of steamy weather himself. (Much of the year, this is snowmobile territory, and sleds fly across the frozen-solid lake.)
Read more of this nice travel piece on Moosehead…
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University of the Pacific: A college with an East Coast feel, but California weather
I was hired a year and a half ago as the media relations coordinator at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, with campuses in Sacramento and San Francisco. It was founded in 1851 and is the oldest chartered university in California. Read more about University of the Pacific at www.pacific.edu.
The university is known for – among other things – the beautiful campus in Stockton, where it moved in 1924. Lots of brick buildings that give it a definite East Coast/Ivy League look and feel. It also reminds me of the Gorham campus of University of Southern Maine where I attended college before moving to California. Take a look at Pacific’s campus:
A popular photo spot is on the east side of campus near Pacific Avneue. That’s Smith Gate – I believe it is named so because mountain man Jedediah Smith once camped along the Calaveras River that…
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Whether Decaf Or Regular, Coffee Seems To Be Good For Your Liver | HuffPost Healthy Living
See, coffee is health food!
Drinking decaffeinated coffee is just as helpful as drinking regular coffee is for maintaining a healthy liver, a new study finds.
Regardless of whether they drank decaf or regular, people in the study who drank large quantities of coffee on a daily basis had lower levels of abnormal liver enzymes, the researchers found. This suggests that a chemical in coffee other than caffeine may help the liver, the researchers said.
Other studies have found that drinking coffee is associated with lower risks of developing diabetes, cardiovascular disease, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, cirrhosis and liver cancer.
“Prior research found that drinking coffee may have a possible protective effect on the liver,” lead researcher Dr. Qian Xiao, of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, said in a statement. “However, the evidence is not clear if that benefit may extend to decaffeinated coffee.”
Read more of this story by Laura Geggel on HuffPost Healthy Living.
Don’t throw out those grounds!
This is what happened when I Googled “used coffee grounds” last night:
12 New Ways To Use Coffee Grounds
15 Surprising Things You Can Do With Coffee Grounds
15 Creative Uses for Coffee Grounds
14 Genius Ways To Recycle Used Coffee Grounds
The Starbucks coffee compost test: Those free grounds really are good for your soil
There were more than 2 million results. You can find the one that works for you.
National Coffee Day! Here’s a list of freebies | USA Today
Happy National Coffee Day! I knew there was a reason I took the day off from work!
Coffeehouse Observation No. 360 – Well, aren’t you Mr. Highsocks
You missed it! Guy just walked into a Starbucks in north Stockton wearing T-shirt, shorts, running shoes … and knee-high black socks. It was a fashion statement, I think. … Too quick for a photo, I’m afraid. … But there are some things that you simply cannot un-see.
Starbucks to provide free college education to thousands of workers | New York Times
My preference for coffee intake is to patronize small, mom-and-pop coffeehouses, although a coffee-lover can’t help but walk into a Starbucks from time to time. So, good on Starbucks for paying college tuition for their workers. That’s a step up for everyone.
Trouble is brewing for the coffee industry | treehugger.com
Oh nooooo!
Leaf rust is devastating Central American farmers, affecting 50 percent of crops, and ruining millions of bags of coffee.
If you made yourself a nice cup of coffee this morning, you likely didn’t stop to wonder about how secure the coffee supply chain is. It’s easy to take coffee for granted, as it’s so readily available. The reality, however, is that the coffee industry in Central America is in turmoil. Coffee growers are experiencing the worst epidemic of coffee leaf rust, or ‘roya,’ that they’ve seen since this disease was first discovered in 1976.
Leaf rust is a fungal pathogen that infects coffee plants and causes them to shed their leaves. This inhibits photosynthesis and the plants die. It also prevents the current season’s berries from ripening and lowers carbohydrate accumulation in roots and shoots, which is where the next season’s berries are supposed to grow. Eventually, rust can kill the entire tree, setting a farmer back by 2 to 6 years, which is how long it takes for a replacement tree to grow harvestable fruit.
Coffee IV – STAT!
Spotted this in the local Trader Joe’s. I immediately wonder: 1) can a person run a line, invert the bottle and have an IV coffee drip?; and 2) what would it be like to crack open one of these bad boys and tip one back? Either way, might be worth a try!
‘Wake and bake’ drink out in July in Washington state
Well, this is something different. “I’m a little bit coffee, you’re a little bit weed.”
Your morning joe just got a little more Mary Jane.
Marijuana coffee is coming to the state of Washington, and the product is promising consumers a caffeinated buzz. The cold-brewed cannibis-infused coffee, called Legal, is expected to hit the market in early July, product developer Adam Stites told The Huffington Post on Monday.
“It’s an alert, creative high,” he said. Here’s more.
Here’s another story about the new drink:
“Seattle Summer Just Got Infinitely More Chill With ‘Legal’ Brand Pot Infused Cold Brew & Soda” | Seattle Weekly
The Art of Giving Gala
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Coffeehouse observation No. 359 – Nothing like a smile
A smile and a “Hi” from a beautiful woman at the coffeehouse can make a guy’s day. Just sayin’.
Coffeehouse observation No. 358 – Howdy pard’
This doesn’t happen often. Well, I’m not sure that it has ever happened. But a guy just walked in wearing spurs. … And, yes, he was wearing boots, jeans and a shirt, too, not just spurs. It was the spurs that were different for the coffeehouse. And, of course, he left in a pickup with country music blaring and a window sticker reading “Life is short. Ride hard.”
Coffeehouse Observer 