If you’re anything like me, it can be difficult to get going in the morning without that cup of coffee to help wake me up. For many of us, it’s an acquired taste. I remember that first cup… the need for sugar and cream to chase away the bitterness. Now, I take it black—the only way I drink it—and a bold roast.

These days, specialty coffee shops are taking the roasting process to a whole new level—read all about it in this issue. It’s an art… it’s a science… it’s a craft. I do appreciate the pride and care that roasters like Ty Paluska, James Cross and their cohorts at thirty-thirty and Leaves N’ Beans take with each roast, and with every cup, freshly brewed just for you. They say good things take time, and so it is with craft roasting...

Speaking of patience, that was one point I took from the article about bonsai trees. While I confess to owning far more silk and artificial plants than real, live ones, I can see the appeal in this exquisite art form: nurturing them and watching them grow, the peaceful mindset and connection with nature, the value of patience. We’re told to “embrace the simplicity”—which would seem a good takeaway for any person in any walk of life, no matter how green (or not) one’s thumb may be.

Elsewhere, Channy Lyons, director of the Illinois Women Artists Project and last year’s ArtsPartner of the Year, returns with a teaser of an exhibition that recently opened at the Peoria Riverfront Museum (PRM). This one focuses on Illinois women artists from 1940 to 1960. A number of other exhibitions, running concurrently, will focus on women artists as well.

Also on display at the PRM is the Gypsy Coeds Ride the Silver Streak exhibition, and what a remarkable story! I smiled as I read of these ladies and their adventures in the Ford Model T, which took them through 44 states, Canada and Mexico from 1934 to 1942. I’m not quite that adventurous, but I have traveled through several states in the company of girlfriends, and can attest to the bond that comes with that shared experience.

And that’s a wrap on this, our final issue of 2015! It’s hard to believe the holiday season is just around the corner once again. Stay warm this winter, and we’ll see you again next year! a&s