Virtual Coffee Date | August 2026

Did you realize we missed our Coffee Date last month? Well, good thing we are meeting up today. For your Coffee Date in August you are invited to my big terrace. We meet in the mornings when the temperature is still on the cooler side and my place is shaded. We decide to have an iced coffee today and good thing I have frozen some coffee block which we topp off with some fridge cold milk. And because our Coffee Date August is a treat we add in a spoon of caramel ice cream. When we have our fancy drinks ready to go we sit down. A fraction of a breeze hits our sun-kissed skin and we enjoy the sounds of early summer morning before we chat aways.

If you and I had coffee…
…I want to hear where you have spend your summer. what have you been doing and where did you travel. It is lovely hearing these things from friends and seeing the world through their eyes. Everyone picks up different things when traveling and I am always curious what others would explore in a place.

If you and I had coffee…
…I share that the husband is finally healed up and we can pick up our golf journey again. We are starting a test membership tomorrow. And I secretly hope it will last for 12 month. It’s a membership before a full membership becomes available as the club is currently full. But financially the test membership is so much more aligned with what we are looking for. We’ll see. For now we get to play and I am excited. It is just nice to be outside for hours and in such a quiet environment. And I like being on the course at dusk when all the animals wake up.

If you and I had coffee…
…I admit that I missed the solar eclipse. I know… How stupid can you be. First off we realized it too late. So late that we didn’t get any of the glasses and even Amazon was sold out. Then I figured I can easily build one of those little pinhole cameras. The husband left the office before 6pm – which didn’t happen in ages to be home in time. Only I was caught in a church meeting which I left at 8pm – the peak of the eclipse. While biking home I shortly looked up and could see that the sun wasn’t round anymore. When being home I realized the sun was so low on the horizon that we actually couldn’t see it from our terrace. So we ended up watching it on the tv.

But it wasn’t that momentous. I was lucky enough to have been hunting down the solar eclipse in 1999 – days before flying off to the US – with four friends. It was a spontaneous trip in the tiniest car which we also slept in. It was a fund a crazy road trip. We ended up lying somewhere on a meadow in Bavaria trying to see the eclipse but there were clouds so it was an interrupted experience. But being outside under the sun was more emotional than sitting infant of a tv. in retrospective I am a bit mad I didn’t prioritize it more.

So of course I asked google when the next eclipse will take place. In 55 years. I will be 99. I think I have a goal. Did you see that old Spanish man who enjoyed the eclipse. I want to be that in 55 years. There are eclipses earlier than that in South Africa nd Southern Australia and New Zealand. Maybe that would be an option. Maybe that could be a goal on one of my future bucket lists.

© H.G. – photo courtesy of my sister’s partner who made it a priority to go out and see the eclipse.

If you and I had coffee…
…I tell you that next weekend we are doing a Dominican Dinner with friends. We want to share so many foods and we are just four people. I don’t know when to prepare it all and then how we would eat it all. Dominican food takes so so much time to make. We want to have Bollitos de Yuca, Empanadas with beef filling and Quipes. And this would just be the appetizers. The main dish would be Chimmichurri Dominicano – the Dominican burger. And of course the fries version of Platanos Maduro’s Fritos. I think we don’t need dessert afterwards. I personally struggle with so much fried meaty food and would like to add a salad. The husband says it’s not Dominican only a few slices of avocado. I did buy those already hoping they will ripen in the next week.

If you and I had coffee…
…I gosh over tiny little niece and how much fun she is. Well, I see it on images because when I meet my sister alone the tiny niece is constantly sleeping. So I haven’t spent much quality time yet with her. But the updates we receive in photos and videos are fun. And she is so mobile already with 3 months. Pushing herself on a blanket around. I am anticipating she will be a whirlwind once she learns how to crawl. And when she is walking I am sure she will be a cardio exercise. Don’t give her a bike. Ha. But it is fun to watch.

If you and I had coffee…
…I share that just the other day I received a postcard from Stephany. It made me all happy in all the election papers and campaigning from candidates it was a happy pop of color. I have been a bit lazy lately writing myself. well, I did write my niece and god child. I hope I get some postcard from her. But did you know that Denmark stopped postal service? You can no longer send mail in and from Denmark. You have to do everything digitally. I find it fascinating and at the same time I think it is so so sad. That means I won’t get mail from my niece’s vacation.

If you and I had coffee…
…I give you an update on my plan on joining the advent markets. well, I haven’t officially signed up. Honestly I am not sure where. I am waiting for the next Email of the neighborhood where they mention it so I can reply. But I have been making tiny stars. I have folded 170 so far. And I also looked into other materials to make more colors and slightly bigger ones. And then I came up with an idea to make huge ones. I love them but I can only do the big ones right before the market. I have no idea where to store them and they are very fragile. This might be an issue.

I am wondering if I should sprinkle the big ones with gold or silver to make them look more festive. Of if I should add some thin gold washi tape to the edges to enhance them but also give them some stability. I thought I could sell them for 8€. I would need to sell at least 5 to get the material cost back. But I could make many more.

After chatting we just sit. Listen to the boats on the river. The leaves rustling in the wind. It is warm and the birds hide in the shade. A plane overhead lets us dream of other places but for now we are content and enjoy that summer in Germany can be nice. We are heat lazy and ponder to make another coffee or if that is too hard. We defiantly jug down some water. And so we just hang around a bit longer enjoying ourself.

Tell me about your summer. Would you like to join my Dominican Night? What is the last membership you signed up for? What fancy drink at home have you made lately? Have you ever seen a solar eclipse?