I'll preface this story by saying: disasters and trouble, it seems, bring out the best in people. I must say that I believe people are fundamentally good. I also believe that good deeds received must be passed on.

With nothing better to do after the storm and having no coffee cream (and with no power we had no desire to open the refrigerator even if we had cream) we went into town again hoping that the coffee shop – a great place to hear and tell stories – might be open for business since we had heard that power in town had been restored Saturday morning. As it turned out, The Art of Coffee suffered a power surge Saturday which knocked their machines offline for part of the day but they were open for business today, Sunday. The only thing out of kilter now was that their signs were missing - they blew off the signpost in Friday's winds. Lucky for the owners, Holly and Terry, the signs were rescued from the street by Holly and a co-worker, both of whom narrowly escaped being run over by an eighteen-wheeler! Terry told us that all he needed to remount the signs was scaffolding - if only there was a place that rented it. Some friends of ours just happen to have some scaffolding - imagine that, what timing, how perfect! All it took was one phone call and a 20-minute wait and the scaffolding was there. Maybe 40-minutes later and the signs were back in place. The Art of Coffee was now visibly open-for-business.

If you are ever in Montross, stop by The Art of Coffee on Route 3 (Historyland Highway) and say "hey" to Terry and Holly. Then enjoy a fine cup of coffee, espresso, a latte, Chai tea, and a piece of pastry - I vote for the tasty cranberry scone! And take a look around at the art work: paintings done by Holly herself, and local artists (including my favorites, stained glass, AND my husband’s birdhouses!).