starting small - day 7: espresso machine and stringed lights

June 3rd, 2017 - This is the seventh day of a 40 day blogging challenge: some pictures and words each day. Come back tomorrow to see more posts!

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The Thomas More cafe is lit with Christmas lights every Friday night of the school year. Bumping down the clumsy wooden steps on such a night, you'll probably hear some obscure electro swing tune ... and laughter. 

The espresso machine is on tonight. It whirs loudly as you enter the room. More laughter. It is cafe night after all, and half of the college will be here. Every Friday night around eight, students flock to the cafe for singing, dancing, or both. It is a perfect time to take a break after a long week of classes and before a long weekend of study.

Grab your favorite mug and make your way to the big white cooler on the far wall, the one with a dent on the top from years of consistent use as a bench. Students are lined up, waiting for their cappuccino. E's busy tonight, her floral apron flapping as she runs to the walk-in to grab some almond milk for a dairy-free latte.

What's with the Christmas lights? They're everywhere. Literally. Wrapped around the wooden beams lining both sides of the room (this used to be a barn you know...), the staircase, the walls, ceilings, even the lonely mason jar on top of the espresso machine. We don't like overhead lighting here at Thomas More. Plus, the stringed lights are the perfect atmosphere for dancing. 

There are only a few couples on the floor right now. The die hards. ... the *sweaty* die hards. Everyone else is in line for some coffee. It will be mostly swing dancing tonight. There might be a reel, and if you're lucky one or two waltzes. 

M and J are baking cookies in the kitchen. They put another warm pan out on the buffet style counter which separates the baking area from the eating area (which is now a dancing area.) The students around here who love to bake ... bake! For breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, graduation, birthdays, cafe nights... In fact, that's how it works with almost everything. Those who love to sing, sing! For Mass, for events, for fun. Those who like to dance, dance! Those who like to do woodworking, gardening, organizing, photography, do it! Another perk to being a small school, I guess. 

D just finished getting his third capachino for the night, and now its your turn in line. I suggest the mocha. 

Things are ramping down for the night. The music has ended, and E starts to carry the mugs to kitchen to wash. J plates her cookies and puts them on the snack bar on the other side of the room. There are midnight snackers around here and the cookies will be gone by morning. A starts to unstack the chairs and tables and put them back in place. R and the other musical fellows grab their smokes and guitars and head for the back porch. They'll sing for the next hour or two. The cafe is almost back to normal, and some of the Juniors wander to the back corner table to work frantically on yet another unexpected paper. 

The stringed lights come down at last. I roll them up and put them in their crate in the attic. The overhead lights flicker back on. E takes off her apron, and unplugs the last string of lights, wrapped around the espresso machine. And the mason jar, lit for one night like a jar of fireflies, flickers into darkness.