Just Shootin' The Breeze

Who's drinking coffee on the patio at Starbucks changes with the time of day. Later in the morning it fills up with students from the nearby universities interspersed from time to time with one of the baristas on break. They might be sitting there alone with a pile of books, either working on a paper or studying for an upcoming exam. They might be with a few friends talking about whatever, the girls often discussing really important things like make-up, hair styles, or fashions while sports seems to dominate the boys' conversation. All to be expected.

Early in the morning is when you see the older folks, mostly men, sitting around, either reading the New York times or solving the world's problems, Hillery vs. Obama, or maybe whatzisname, you know, that Republican feller. The quagmire in Iraq, the price of gasoline, the troubles in Kosovo, should Bush just be impeached or perhaps waterboarded first. Dense and clueless as he is he must know SOMETHING! Or maybe somebody will just shoot him first.

This picture is obviously a "solving the world's problems" photograph. The conversation, though, was about a big mystery. We keep reading about how there are so many more women than men in the over sixty crowd and how a lot of us good lookin' older dudes are dating younger women. Here in North Miami at least it's become almost fashionable to come out of the closet, so a goodly number of the guys are openly living with their partner. The female to available male ratio must be 3 to 1 or better. This gentleman should be a hot commodity. I must be a hot commodity too. So where are all the women? Big mystery.