Straight from The Horse’s Mouth

There's a book at THM that has a lot of phrases I cannot understand. Here are a few that I can manage: "Grande posto, bellezza!" and "Bonjour de France passant par Buffalo!" "Un qué lugar agradable a parar a lo largo del camino." The Italian: "Great place, beautiful!" the French: "Hello from France as we pass through Buffalo!" and the Spanish: "What a nice stop along the road." THM is catching drive-bys from all over the world. To date we have had visitors from an astounding 17 foreign countries, 24 US states and territories, and well over 100 Texas cities. Certainly this is not a complete list; these are just the folks who have been happy to sign our guest book.

Sometimes we are able to find personal connections with the international travelers through mine and Glenn's adventure travels. It is surprising for these foreigners to find pictures of their country on our computer. The conversations are always heartwarming. We see the glimmer of recognition when they realize we know where they are from, that little Buffalo has people who have been to their country and care about them. That has been an unexpected blessing.

Many of the visitors from Texas have become repeaters. We have several families who use THM as the meeting place. Kids are handed off to grandparents and vice-versa. Mothers and daughters have found us to be the spot in the middle distance between home and college. One such pair spent the entire day in Buffalo, going between recommended restaurants and shops and playing games over coffee for hours, right on our couches. By the end of the day we felt like family.

Interesting people walk in and diverse stories are told every day. The gentlemen from Buffalo (New York, that is) were entertained with the story of our city becoming Blue Star, Texas during the Superbowl between the Steelers and the Cowboys. The guy from Cuba was quite exuberant and felt right at home behind the counter teaching us how to make Cuban style coffee. And the musicians! Every now and then we are graced with talent from a far away place. We've enjoyed impromptu performances, have been given music CDs and have promises of their return to play a proper concert. Every day is a welcomed surprise!

And let’s not forget the local color and character of our regulars and friends, and the fine folks who are just now finding they have a second living room in Buffalo. We are entertained, enriched, and feel the love and friendship that all of our customers bring.

Here's looking forward to more of everything and coming up: Scrabble on the 14th at 6:00, WITWIGO? on the 15th, Artists on the 17th also at 6:00, and the Buffalo Stampede on the 18th and 19th with our HUGE booksale happening all day, both days. Hasta luego y muchas gracias. Merci. Grazie. Thanks, y'all and see ya later.