Coffee Talk
This post is not about coffee. But we’re going to start there.I was in my thirties before I thought coffee wasn’t flavored with burnt wet hay. I kept trying it, with plenty of sweetener and dairy. Then less and less add-ins, more and more just coffee.
italian roast has entered the chat
Over the decades my palate has decided that Italian Roast is sublime, peak coffee. The Sophia Loren and Stanley Tucci of coffee.
It’s different from other roasting choices because, while it reaches the same final temperature, it does it much more slowly. Deep, dark flavor with a bitter edge that doesn’t taste like char and burnt wet hay. It holds up to being iced, which is my favorite way to drink it.
There are lots of fancy ways to make coffee, but my go-to is a good ol’ Mr. Coffee. Measure the grounds into the paper filter (all of which is compostable). Bang in the potful of water. Remember to push the button. Watch dark brown goodness drip into pot. Because “Good coffee doesn’t have to be complicated.”
decaf has entered the chat
As a woman in my sixties, I need to reduce caffeine intake a bit. My solution is to blend my ground coffee beans with half decaf, half regular. Peet’s Italian Roast transports me to Europe with every sip, but they don’t do a decaf.
sandra boynton has entered the chat
Enter the champion of my kids’ toddler years, Sandra Boynton. (If you don’t know who she is, where have you been living?) Ms. Boynton, it seems, also likes coffee. And she likes her local Winchell Mountain Coffee Roasters in the Hudson Valley region of New York. Their tag line is “Good coffee doesn’t have to be complicated” – I quoted it above. Boynton created the artwork for their retail coffee bags, like the ones featured at the top and bottom of this post.
Winchell Mountain Coffee makes a decaf Italian Roast that is sublime, and it comes in a delightful bag with dinosaurs sipping from mugs. Old Friends Having Coffee is a beautiful thing.
sapphic reading has entered the chat
This post is actually about the Golden Crown Literary Society 2026 Conference in Orlando that starts this Wednesday! Where I will be hanging out with old friends and making new ones. And having coffee. And ice cream. And we’re all going to be talking about sapphic books. Lesbian and bi books, trans and pan books, romances and mysteries, and, well, everything sapphic stories.
Look, I’m not crazy about Orlando in August. No doubt we will all be able to drink the air. There’s also the way the government of Florida treats my trans siblings and the rest of us queers. The way they want to ban our books and remove all queers from view of the public. It make me not want to give them any tax revenue. I nearly didn’t go, which would have meant missing my first GCLS Conference ever, and I’ve been to them all so far.
queer family has entered the chat
A heartfelt plea changed my mind. It came from the queer peeps I know who live there under siege and desperately need to feel they’ve not been forgotten. I want to shun Florida, but I won’t shun my family to do it.
Besides, now that the event is nearly here, I know I would have regretted not going for my own selfish reasons: I need my hugs. I need my lesbian energy. I need to laugh and be with writers and readers who celebrate real, human sapphic creativity and fellowship. I need all that while living in much safer California, so I can imagine how my Florida family feels – and all I can say is that some of these hugs and elbow bumps will be fierce.
All feelings that genAI will never, ever understand. curse words removed
schedule has entered the chat
Something new this year: Author Kimberly J.M. Wilson created the idea of a “Connection” table that will have at least one GCLS regular attendee there throughout the conference to say hi to, answer questions, or simply chat. There could even be a jigsaw puzzle to make it easy to avoid conversation, because lots of us are awkward and Kimberly thought, well, why not be awkward together.
My entire schedule for the conference looks like this:
Of course I’ll be attending other sessions and hanging out here and there.
Saturday culminates in the Goldies when writers, cover designers, and narrators will be told “Woo Hoo! You’re Doing Great!” and “Your Work is Outstanding in the Field!” (And if any of you feel like crossing your fingers for Frosting on the Cake 3 to win a Goldie, I will happily accept your energy!)
boynton silliness remains in the chat
Sandra Boynton is a delightful national treasure, yes she is. For at least five years every day ended with a kid on my lap, a Boynton board book in our hands, and reading aloud pure fun. She has helped raise generations of young readers. Now, every time I have coffee, I remember all those magic moments.
