Overheard at Chipperfields's ... part two ...

Bonnie's husband Ross (she owns the place) was sitting on the couch the other day when one of the regulars came in.

"Nice day eh?" he asked as he sat down across from Ross, with a cup of Chipperfield's own roast.

"Yeah, it is." answered Ross, seeming kind of distracted.

"So, how are things going?" asked the regular, trying again to strike up a conversation.

"Great," answered Ross, "business here is really great. It seems that we've captured a niche market in the Minnedosa area that has been underserved by the other restaurants and cafes in town. I think it's a case of providing the customer with a good quality product, and a place where they can come and gather with their friends and just enjoy the environment and the setting. In fact, just this morning I was discussing with someone the possibility of the Coffee Shop becoming the next manifestation of what one researcher identified as the centrality of the Canadian Kitchen. It seems that when the first houses were built in rural Canada, throughout southern Ontario, the kitchen was the central feature of the home. Many old farm houses have huge kitchens that had tables and chairs and even a couch, where company gathered over coffee and food to visit, and socialize. As the settlement pattern moved west, they brought that phenomea with them. This reasearcher claims that no other nation has such large central kitchens in their homes as Canadians. For Canadians like us, the kitchen is more then the place where we prepare and consume our food. The kitchen is central to ebb and flow of life in the household. The kitchen is the veritable heart of the home, build around the hearth. And now with the rural depopulation, and the increasingly busy lives that many of us live with dural careers and children and grandchildren to consider, we need something to fill the vacuum left in our day to day existence. So, it would see that we have turned to the coffee shop. The rise of the coffee shop culture in the rural areas like this doesn't mean we are becoming more urbanized or cosmopolitan, it means that we have begun to reclaim the important places and symbols for our community. The coffee shop has become a place of solace, an oasis of sorts where we can sit down, and relax for a moment. We can socialize. We can reconnect with the community that we would have previously invited into our kitchen and sat with basking in the warmth of the wood stove. Where we once gathered around the kitchen table and share community with the tea pot and the plate of cookies, we now are able to gather around these table, and build community one cup of joe at a time ..."

"Um, Ross ..." the regular quietly interupted ...

"Yeah?" Ross replied.

"If I were you, I'd start drinking the decaf ..."

"Yeah," answered Ross, "that's what Bonnie says too ..."

See ya at Chipperfield's the coffee's hot and the conversation is seldom dull ...