Cup & Camel

 I’m drinking my black coffee out of an 8-ounce cup— this set with orange tulips on black was made in the Soviet Union in the 1970s. Only one got donated to the thrift store, with a matching little milk pitcher—I can imagine it’s all that’s left of a set someone brought from Russia. And now it’s with me. And a felt camel that was in Christmas donations – – I googled it and it is a tourist trinket made in, I think Uzbekistan? 

Here’s what about coffee: I just couldn’t figure out what milk to drink anymore, since dairy is hard on my kidneys (and makes me sad for the cows); almond sucks water out of the biosphere; and oat is mostly carbs… So I decided to try no milk. No Milk, TM (trademark)! 

At first it tasted unbearably bitter. Smart cookie me, I tried brewing it weaker… and, ta da! It’s good! I like bitter tastes, just not revoltingly strong.

I was always mystified how people in the past drank out of 8 ounce cups – – but I think they were sipping, eh, not sucking down 20-ounce Venti Starbucks lattes.

We get beautiful little cups in the store, and they almost never sell. If they do, buyers tell me they plant succulents in them or use them for crafty things. Once in a while someone will say they’re having a tea party – –say, as a wedding event, or a fundraiser.

Writing this, I had a memory of my mother’s lipstick on a cup rim—an orangey-red lipstick, which I never thought looked good with her pale coloring, but she loved and never changed it. Come to think of it, it was almost like the orange of the tulip on this Soviet cup.

Small cups must’ve gone the way of what used to be a normal muffin size around the time of the introduction of the 32-oz. Big Gulp in 1976. Remember, muffins used to be something you could curl your fingers around, instead of palm-sized pastries?

I’m thinking about all this as I sit with no-sugar, observing the threads connecting it to my life… A lot of it coincides, not coincidentally, with the coming of the Big Gulp era– – my mother left the family in 1974, the year Nixon resigned; the year I turned thirteen and became a freshman at a high school where I didn’t know anyone; and the year I started to watch Star Trek after school, which was a good thing, except that I ate entire boxes of Honey Crisp cereal (Sugar Bear!) in front of the TV. 

History is lived by individuals.

Anyway – – also I am wanting to make those little velveteen birds in the picture up top into earrings. I just love this vintage Xmas stuff so much, I want to find a way to show it off. I don’t have any jewelry making supplies – – but I could use the one pair of dangling earrings I have…

I’m gonna try that now and see if I can get something to wear to work today. Stand by…