Avenue of the Giants Redwood Cafes

The scenery and ambience of this historic Redwood highway is both breathtaking and awe- inspiring. For coffee lovers, the trip is even more memorable because of the quaint coffee shops and coffee booths along this twenty-five mile stretch of magnificence. To truly enjoy the drive, take your time and stop at all the little towns and historic sites along the way. Take in the view, enjoy the natural settings and pause a few minutes at each of the coffee shops to experience the flavor the Avenue of the Giants has to offer.

In my Travels I’ve visited lots of Coffee Shops

I am a bonafide Starbucks fan! No contest. Give me a choice in coffee shops, I’ll choose it over another any time. When I select coffee in a grocery store or specialty health shop, I always look for Starbucks brand first. If there is a good organic brand available, I give it strong consideration…unless there is a Starbucks Italian roast available. In my travels with my husband Cephas, we have visiited dozens of coffee shops and cafes but I have not shared many of those adventures with my readers. It’s time to start sharing.

Cephas Drinking in the View of Mount Shasta and a cup of Starbucks

Last spring we took a tour from the coast of California into the Redwoods then over to Mount Shasta. Our trip took us through some scenic high mountains then up through Oregon into the National Forest of the Ochocos. From there, we drove up to the Dalles and followed I-84 along the Hood River. This leg of our journey was awesome filled with mountains, rivers and waterfalls. The one thing that stayed with us to all these sites was good coffee. The photo below is one taken of Cephas standing with Mount Shasta for his backdrop.

Does the view improve the taste? Of course it does! Even if it’s Starbucks. Cephas had fun posing for this photo. He likes the TV show NCIS so this is his impersonation of Gibbs drinking all the coffee on the show.

Visit the Blog Onederlnd and Read the Random Banters of Randy Christenhusz

I have to tell you that this review is a true pleasure because I was impressed with Randy's blog onederlnd DOT com. First of all, the captioned header title caught my attention and intrigued me. It's a spin on the word "Wonderland" in my mind which spelled captivation to me. I knew that I was clicking onto a creative writer's blog. Do you know how many blog titles are just run of the mill and outright boring?

Hats off to you Randy for your creative flair. Just so you know, the title of the blog is The Blog of Randy Christenhusz - Thoughts on Everything while the header subtitle reads Random Banters of .....Stuff.

Great thinking again Randy. You played on those variable keywords to increase the reader's intrigue with your subject matter even further.

I have a confession to make. When the page opened up I was expecting another blog that I would have to politely critique in an effort to find the good qualities to write about in order to help encourage the author to make the proper changes....without offending or discouraging. It is tough to be a good critic. On ONDERLND, I did not have to make any effort. The receptive eye pleasing layout of the blog was an immediate pleasure. As I started reading, I was even more gratified to be reviewing a quality blog.

Randy is making some changes to his theme about which he notifies the reader immediately in a nice little pop up that appeared when the blog opened, where he apologizes for any mess. I did not find any thing out of place. This layout is clean and neat with a good order to the posts. Titles are clearly displayed. Ads in the sidebar are neat and properly limited. At the top right side bar you will immediately find the rss feed button, twitter and email prompts to help you follow Randy's Random Banters and his blog.

Font size was perfect for the eyes and the colors blended easily with one another. The true pleasure for me lay in the writing style - above all else. Randy writes on variable topics which shows he is a versatile writer with a broad view of the world. His content holds that personal touch with a professional prose that is refreshing. I found all the sentences to make sense with complete thoughts and actually find the content interesting enough to read down the page onto various blog posts.

Randy, you have a winning blog and it will be a pleasure to follow you on your freelance writing/blogging journey. I love your outlook on life and hope you continue to share it with the world.

The Midnight Writer

An Important Role as a Writer Means Being a Good Critic

As a freelance writer, one of the most important yet most difficult tasks I find myself faced with is learning to be a good critic. I review lots of written material in my personal and professional life. I love to read! Blogs are part of my reading list because they are an innovative part of the modern world. Today, I am reading a new blog called Critics - Today.

To be fair, I need to critique this blog honestly to help the writer grow in the freelance writing world. This blog is about being a critic, so my review serves the same role that this blog serves as its function. Writing about ads, music, jewelry, advertising companies, web hosting and a wide range of topics, the writer Vishwakarma (read his full profile to learn more about him)- exercises his talent in being a critic on a daily basis.

Reviewing other people's work and being objective about it is a difficult task because most writer's who are new at this side of the work want to be sympathetic. Let's face it, writing is a skill or a talent, for some, that can be a challenge to utilize in the freelance writing market. Vishwakarma writes with an optimism that I find refreshing. His site is clean as far as layout and does not contain too many window dressings and flashy ads so I am able to view the titles and blog articles easily. The background and layout are also basic, being black lettering on white background, is very easy on the eyes.

As I stated above, I want to be a good critic so I might need to point out any flaws in this blog that I found. This is not to be critical for the sake of negatively impacting the writer's emotions in a negative way. On the contrary, I want to learn how to encourage new writers to grow and blossom so their confidence and talents will increase to help them become a success in the freelance writing industry. This is a competitive market, probably the most competitive industry today. Vishwakarma does a great job by selecting a variety of topics that are well written for a person that is not a native of America.

Here is one bit of advice I would give this author to improve blog ranking in order to compete in a good way on the American literary market. The writer's English is good enough to be acceptable. Thoughts are clear and concise, but sometimes come across a little choppy because the sentences are too short. Carry over in thought patterns using English requires a good command of the English language. Study the composition side of English written blogs, books, and listen to audio recordings to gain a better understanding of English syntax and our ever common slang terms. New ones pop up everyday.

I recommend that since you write for Smorty Vishnakarma, review blogs written by native born Americans, like mine, so you can continue to practice being the good critic you already are and you can improve your English writing skills by reading lots of English composition. Keep up the great work. I like your reviews on products and really enjoyed reading your optimistic viewpoints. I know that Critics - Today will be a successful blog in the blogging market if you keep writing as you are. And please, take my criticism from my heart to help you increase your chances of obtaining more blogging assignments under the tight constrictions placed by many advertisers who seek English speaking writers.

This blog is one to follow on culture in India. I really enjoyed the reads about the temple so take a look at Energy Entrained in Music. The photo is captivating. I've never been to this country but would love to visit sometime. Thanks for sharing with such passion.

The only other piece of advice is to write more often so your rank will increase. I would suggest a minimum of two posts per week. Most companies who hire writers for reviews require this minimum post number per week.

Readers, please visit and encourage my new friend to share more culture, reviews and music with us in the critics corner. I'll be visiting again soon.

The Midnight Writer

Let Forever Be

Image by _Massimo_ via Flickr

Isn't this a fascinating photo? It's titled "Let Forever Be". That's a powerful and empowering sentiment that invokes thoughts of surrender to me. Maybe I should consider an art and prose/poetry/literary blog. I can relate to the creative profundity of such a forum.

I borrowed the photo title for this post particularly because that is what Cephas and I discovered as we spent a month stranded on a high mountain in New Mexico.

Pure surrender.

To the will of God, to all Creation...to destiny and the only moment in which we exist...the metaphorical NOW....the present instant that is so fleeting a butterfly net cannot capture it. A breath...and your total moment is gone forever into the vapors of eternity. That is what we are and how we exist in this mortal realm...flittering breaths of spirit...more elusive than a butterfly.

These thoughts remind me of a song that I often find myself humming..."In my hour of darkness, Mother Mary came to me..and whispered words of wisdom...Let It Be."

A most profound realization of truth.

The Midnight Writer

Memorial Fund for Gabriel

It is with a heavy heart that I write this today because I miss a little boy named Gabriel. Watching his brother Raven and his father Woodstock, a/k/a Loren David O'Connor, suffer through the pain of their loss while trying to make arrangements for his burial, memorial and wake is really hard. Gabriel Jaden Coates was with us for a short 3 years, 2 months and 2 days, yet he has made a profound impression on the hearts of people that will last forever. He left this earth to enter the spirit world on Sunday, May 24, 2009 at about 11 am. Gabriel fell into the water of the Antelope Creek, which was fast moving and deep. His body was recovered by very compassionate rescue workers about two hours later.

Woodstock, Raven, his friends and family are sort of moving in a state of unreal shock. Things need to get done. So we are helping in whatever way we can. Funds are urgently needed to buy the casket and to buy a plot where he will be laid to rest. Please spread the word and help in whatever way you can.

Please visit the dedication site for Gabriel at http://www.angelsforgabriel.org. News and information about his memorial, burial and wake will be posted on this blog. Lots of pictures will be loaded soon that I took of the gathering site where little Gabriel drowned. We took photos of the creek and the campsite where he laughed, played and enjoyed. There is a very spiritual picture on the site now that shows what we believe is Gabriel's spirit that appeared while Woodstock and I were standing by the stream talking about Gabriel, about what happened, about his life, about what to do now. It is then that we both felt his presence and a butterfly landed on Woodstock after that moment. I took a photo in the direction of where they found Gabriel's body in the water and that is where the column of light appeared. It was an intense, sad, happy, etherical time.

We will be assisting Woodstock with transferring of funds to the Funeral home when it is placed on the paypal in the amount we need. The general manager Chris Girdner at the Girdner Funeral Chapel is giving us until Tuesday at closing time to come up with the total for the casket. This is urgent. Other arrangements are being made and other funds are needed very much. Please email angelsforgabriel@gmail.com if you have questions or if you want to help in some way.

The Forest Service, the fire department, the Siskiyou county Sheriff's department, the Fish and Game dept. personnel, and the townspeople volunteers from Tennant were very gentle, kind, compassionate during the entire ordeal. We are all grateful to them for the way they handled this situation.

I have many things to write and memorial signs and brochures to make, and a website to update, so please help us facilitate this link being spread far and wide to get the funds together. Gabriel deserves a decent casket, memorial, burial and wake. Help us give him that much, please. Woodstock should not have to concern himself with money at a time like this. Right now we are all camping in our rigs while this is all taking place, so family please plug into this compassionate service.

Much love and blessings.
Summer Breeze on behalf of Woodstock, Raven, Gabriel & Raven and
Jazzy all his friends and family.

There are Coffee Shops and Booths Springing up Everywhere

As Cephas and I traveled through Oregon into California, we noticed a lot of new coffee shops and coffee booths springing up in places where we couldn’t find good coffee before. From Burns, Oregon to Sisters, Oregon we counted several new shops on the way. In Sisters, we stopped to buy a good cup of coffee from a little coffee booth hidden off Highway 20 behind the gas station just as you get ready to drive west down the mountain. It was good to give them our business. Yes, they have a little shingle out along the road.

In Burns, Oregon we discovered a new coffee booth just across the parking lot from the new booth that we noticed six months ago when we traveled through their town. The new one sits on the inside corner of the lot towards the back across from a major family restaurant along highway 20. The other newer booth sits in the lot of the gas station adjacent the other coffee booth and gas station. One fuel center is an automated one while the second one is a newly remodeled convenience store with the newly built coffee booth. Business must be good for the coffee industry to see this much growth in a recessive economy!

I should’ve taken pictures of all the shops we passed in our travels. I would have a dozen or more shops to feature on this blog. You know what they say, though, hind sight is 20/20. The lesson was learned and we started to photograph and document the specialty coffee shops, cafes, and coffee booths that we encounter. You’ll  be seeing dozens of them featured here in the coming months.

Our first feature will be a little coffee shop, cafe that is a little more than a booth with a patio for seating and outdoor cafe. It’s called Joe Monkey. I won’t say any more about it yet. You have to wait for the special feature coming soon. We took photos of the shop and its owners and gathered some contact information for the owners. Cephas and I are excited to be writing coffee features. We feel like espresso reporters!

Out of Newspapers so Pull up this Blog on Web Hosting

I am always in search of quality web hosting so I read through one site after another in my quest. This is one person's offer for inexpensive web hosting that I want to share with you.

A Personal Blog Review for your Sipping Enjoyment

I'm sharing some personal blog reviews for your sipping enjoyment as you visit the cafe and lounge with your coffee or tea. Alone in Home is a personal blog so pull up a comfortable chair and enjoy some reading about family and life in general.

The first thing that I noticed was the title and how it had a personal at home feel to it. The subtitle sends a message that welcomes you into the journal to read more about this person's family, I thought. "I'm alone. Accompany me." I felt a personal connection with the author from the beginning and that feeling continued as I read the first post titled "I Got a New Uncle Named Pak Tam". This post is all about a wedding at their grandparents home complete with a photo of the family attending the ceremony. It takes place in Labu Besar, Kulim, Kedah.

Then I realized I don't know the blog author's name at this point, so I went searching to find out who was writing about their family life. As I looked for the writer's name I found a related post below the photos of the family wedding. It moved me very much and gave me insight into a life that I can only imagine and not really understand. This post is called "Save Gaza - Save our Brothers & Sisters". Upon reading this entry I felt much compassion and I realized that the name was not so important because I felt the touch of another soul and I feel like I know this person who is writing the journal. I saw a glimpse into another world and some strangers lives who now are close to my heart and are not strangers any more.

The blogger is not alone in home any more because I am there, too. Thanks for the wonderful stories about your life and family. I will be visiting again soon and often. I feel like I've made a friend. By the way, the author's name is Nas or just Alone.

The Cafe's First Poetry Round Robin

Image by . SantiMB . via Flickr

It is my pleasure to introduce The Midnight Writer's Cafes First Poetry Round Robin. I will begin the poem with the first two lines which I will base on inspiration taken from the picture above.

The rules for this round robin are simple. Ponder the photo above and read the two lines of the poem that I wrote. Add two lines in the comment below along with a link to your site and any comments or suggestions about the round robin or the cafe blog or the photo or the poem. All of this information will be taken into consideration in future round robins.

What are you waiting for? Sprinkle your creative magic dust to the two lines below.

(1) Arching above the confines of my mind run pillars of artfully crafted wood

(2) Whose designs compliment the geometric symmetry below me

Please number your lines in sequence with the ones before your comment, such as (1)(2)(3)(4) and so forth....

This round robin will run until it reaches a sensible completion of the poem. If that is doubtful in my mind, I will put a vote out to the readers to let them decide. There will be prizes and other rules made up as this goes on and you will help contribute to all the action.

Have fun and show us your talent.....

The Midnight Writer

The Cafe Blog Made the Smorty Hall of Fame

Great news everyone! Mark your calendar so you'll remember what date we will celebrate this momentous anniversary in The Midnight Writer's network blogging history. On May 4, 2009 I received the long awaited email from Smorty. It relayed the great news that this blog, The Midnight Writer's Cafe, has been accepted into the Smorty blog program.

It was well worth the effort and the wait. I signed up last year for Smorty and entered blog after blog into their program, reaping one failure after another. Scratching my head, I asked "what am I doing wrong?" I was more determined than ever to qualify a blog for Smorty. So I set out to read and understand their rules.

Apparently, I had found a challenge and I was up for it. I was unaware in the beginning how different Smorty is from other companies and programs that I had joined. You have to live it to understand it. Now this blogging for the notable Smorty became a quest. Success has come!

So how did I figure out what to do to qualify? Pure inspiration! You want to hear about how I figured it out?

The Midnight Writer

Round Robin Let's Keep the Herbal Tea Going

There are a few subjects that I would like to cover today starting with the continuity of a "round robin". First of all, I should ask you if you know what a round robin is? I'll explain it for you just in case.

The term "round robin" is French in origin and has its roots based in France where many people signed a petition to the Crown in protest of authority and the signing was done in a circular or ribbon fashion to disguise the order in which it was signed. This way no one could be dubbed the ring leader.

My hope for this blog is to introduce the platform of a round robin whereby modern practice creates letters or contests or sports events with multiple people participating. One example would be many people signing a petition or many people sending a Christmas letter by passing it around. We will define the rules for our "round robin" together as we explore its use and define how these sessions will take place at The Midnight Writers Cafe.

I found a round robin generator that I want to try out here.

The first round robin event that I would like to promote is a poety writing. We'll start with two lines to a poem which I will write here. People will add to it by posting comments until two lines that act as the perfect closure for my first two lines are written. Then I will write the ending or solution to the poetry or prose and publish the final version with all the authors being given credit. I will provide a link back to your site if you have not already placed it in the comment section.

This should add a little creative fun to this site while we slam espressos, or tote tea or sip a smoothie. Come back often because there are more ideas brewing. Watch for the beginning of the round robin in my next post.

The Midnight Writer