The Queen of Coffee

This weekend is Mother's Day Weekend and Trader Joe's offers ways to be nice to Mother. An American tradition is "breakfast in bed," where the family brings Mom a lavish breakfast while she lies in her bed in queenly repose. Now I don't know how this tradition evolved but I think it's a bad idea. You have to get out of bed to pee and brush your teeth, after all, and then get back into bed while sticky crumby food is placed right on your sleeping area. You're bound to spill that precious Hawaiian coffee since everything is placed on unstable cushions and a tray board over your legs. However this doesn't mean that on Mother's Day you should not treat your Mom like a queen. You should because she deserves it for bringing you up, if she really did that. The rare Kona coffee, Danish pastries, fresh squeezed orange juice, and tiny roses should be served on a beautifully arranged, stable surface at which the Queen Mother should sit in courtly splendor. 

I don't often do outright cartoons but this ad for Trader Joe's is one of them. Slightly frowzy Mom looks like many of the ladies who shop at my workplace. I also did an ad for TJ's fancy Hawaiian Kona coffee on the other side of the ad placard, which goes in the pastry and coffee section, naturally. Kona is rare and prized; it's the only coffee commercially grown in the United States, and the price reflects that. But your Mother is worth it.

I will be going up to my home place near Boston for Mother's Day. But it is a somber situation because my father is dying, and may expire during my visit. He is 93, and basically succumbing to old age after suffering with many long-term health problems. He has been declining in the last few years and things really started to deteriorate after he took ill with pneumonia in late November. You may remember that I was not able to post here for three weeks while I was stuck at my parents' house during that crisis.

Now it is just a matter of time and I will be there for my mother as long as I can. I probably won't be blogging here, at least on a regular basis, for a week or two. Before you send me messages of condolence, please note that my relationship with my father was difficult and that I have mixed feelings about his demise. More than that I don't want to say in any public place. But thanks for your good thoughts.

Trader Joe's cartoon ads are markers on cardstock, first one about 9" x 7", second one about 7" x 7", May 7, 2013.