No Ordinary People

“There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit… Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.” 

– from The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis

Over the last several weeks I’ve been spending time each day with my Dad, who is recovering from kidney failure and is in a rehab to build his strength back up. Many rehabs are located in skilled nursing facilities, and that is true for the one my father is in. This means that short-term patients share the facility with some folks who are there for the long-term. At first I wasn’t sure how I as going to handle spending so much time there…

but I’m finding that while it can be exhausting and challenging at times, there are so many patients (short and long term) who I have become very fond of, and I’m seeing that, in-deed, there are no ordinary people. I have met some of the most wonderful and fascinating people, and I'm learning that each life has an extraordinary story to tell. I just need to take the time to listen!

Brunch

So this past Sunday after church at The Free Church of St. John (in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia) we stopped at the Memphis Taproom for brunch. And what a treat it was!

We had driven by the Memphis Taproom many times on our way home from St. Johns, and often commented that “we need to stop there sometime.” Our curiosity for the place grew after we had seen it featured in a segment of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Sooooooo, finally after driving past it for a few years we stopped in to give it a try.

The boys ordered burgers, and I had the VEGAN ROOSTER (Tofu scramble with vegan blood sausage, smoked coconut, roasted new potatoes and toast). The boys each looked at me like I had lost my mind… but this vegan delight was amazing. The smoked coconut was delicious and tasted a lot like bacon, the vegan blood sausage was made from lentils and was very tasty, and the tofu scramble more than satisfied my need for eggs. The boys said their burgers were very good. We are already looking forward to our next visit to the Memphis Taproom.

VEGAN ROOSTER Plate

After brunch we meandered on down East Cumberland Street to GreensGrow, a favorite garden spot. There we indulged ourselves and bought the makings for a small outdoors water fountain (no, I have not assembled it yet – the recent heat-wave discouraged me from any outdoor activity), a pound of Blue Water Coffee – Havana Blend (a local coffee roaster, they roast in small batches, and support/participant in the SMBC "Bird Friendly" shade grown coffee program - shade tree coffees help maintain the delicate ecosystem balance that supports diverse wild life, and they also support Fair Trade growers). 
And lastly we picked-up two pounds of rhubarb for a friend who has found some pretty intriguing uses for rhubarb… how does Rhubarb Vodka sound???