Soooo, it’s been a minute since we’ve had one of these little chats, so let me remind you what Coffee Talk is all about…

Coffee Talk  {Living Outside the Stacks}Hi, and welcome to Coffee Talk. In case you’re new here, this is where I share some of the great and not~so~great stuff that I find on the web. Topics range from news stories that leave me scratchin’ my head to DIYs that I think are absolutely clever. And, who knows, there may even be a recipe thrown in here or there just for fun.

So grab a cup of coffee {or tea or whatever floats your boat} and let’s talk…

1. When I was about 11 years old, my stepfather decided to teach my sisters and me how to play chess. These were the pre~cell~phone~text~your~family~or~leave~them~a~message~on~Facebook~if~you~want~to~know~how~they’re~doing days. We were, by no stretch of the imagination, chess prodigies but we enjoyed the game.

As a parting gift, our church gave my parents a marble chess set, complete with carved wooden chairs and a matching table. I fell in love with this chess set and I told my parents that I’d be taking it with me when I moved out. Much to my surprise delight, my parents agreed.

I’ve had this chess set with me for almost 20 years now. It’s survived several moves, curious little fingers, and one determined termite.

Anyway, I said all of that to say this: What the what? A chess set made from taxidermy mice? Yikes!

2. I love a good selfie. Goodness knows, I do. But a memorial service/funeral is not the appropriate time nor place, Mr. President. For the record, I don’t believe FLOTUS was peeved about the pic as news outlets would suggest. I think it was a case of a photographer catching her during a solemn moment and people {mis}interpreting her expression.

3. I know I’ve talked about this before but people are not paying attention. You cannot go over to a foreign country, especially, one in the Middle East and expect that you will have the same freedoms there that you enjoy in the United States of America. The U.S. Constitution does not extend to foreign soil unless you are on a military installation or at an embassy.

Another American has landed in jail for posting a parody video in Abu Dhabi. deep sigh Think, people, when we have visitors to our country, we expect them to follow the norms of our nation, the same is expected of you. Unless the norms involve something weird like performing a line dance to a Miley Cyrus song with your tongue hanging out.

What had you scratchin’ your head this week?
Daenel T