A day in the life.

The idea for this thread stemmed from love for travel, learning about different cultures and in my general interest in other individuals definition of life. I see this thread is a place for people to write about an afternoon or days adventures as a story to share with others in the community. I believe it gives everyone a chance to share things that they love and others to live vicariously through or explore themselves. You don't have to be famous for people to be interested in your adventures and perhaps, one day, when things start opening up again we can visit some of the various spots included in these stories. I don't have a whole day written out for you guys as it often goes with a little one but I did visit one of my favorite spots this morning so I thought I'd share. Here it goes:



For today's morning coffee I had the pleasure of going to ThreeBirds Coffee House in downtown Easton, PA. One of my favorite spots of late for a number of reasons but mostly for its vintage charm and, of course, the coffee.


Credit: @threebirdscoffe IG.

Originally built in 1862, what started out as a luxurious home has been repurposed numerous times including a funeral home, a movie set, a piano concert hall and - in its most recent incarnation - a coffee house. The Victorian architecture is still discerned and the building has continued to maintain its original charm complete with parquet floors and cast metal fixtures (many of which have survived in excellent condition.)




Cast bronze flush bolt on the front door made by Russel & Irwin in 1885. Credit: https://threebirdscoffee.com/building-1
Hunter Penrose Intaglio press


What separates this coffee house experience from many others I have frequented to date is its unique layout. The Victorian style residential architecture, with dedicated rooms thoughtfully decorated amidst cozy furniture, creates the sense of an invited guest to a nodding acquaintances home for an afternoon coffee - rather than a customer purchasing a drink from a store.


Credit: @threebirdscoffe IG.






While the atmosphere is extremely welcoming, the menu on the other hand is all business. There are no sizes. No offerings of artificially flavored syrups to go along with whipped cream toppings or any other extraneous ingredients. Just plain old fashioned espresso and steamed milk concoctions and that's the way I like it (oh and they offer pour overs to but I haven't ventured that far yet).


Credit: @threebirdscoffe IG.


As far as the beans are concerned they are sourced from El Salvador. The specific blend utilized in today's drinks is called Montecarlos. The description notes hints of red grape and clementine but for me the robust base of bitter cocoa was present throughout. Just delish! I went with the cortado and the Mrs got a latte.




Given today's location I felt it was appropriate to opt for a vintage timepiece over contemporary. Here is the obligatory wrist shot.


If any coffee lover is ever in town I would highly recommend giving it a try. Heck give me a call!

I look forward to reading the next edition of "A day in the life"

That apeals. Hope the owners do well with an innovative way to enjoy a coffee.

Would love to!

Cool thread, cool spot!
Your watch choice is on point...if it were mine, with that dial I'd be tempted to call it my "latte...", just delicious!

Hahaha maybe i'll go with that for its nickname. Not the most expensive watch in the collection but definitely the most important. Represents many memories and achievements throughout my years. Purchased by my then fiance now wife as a present for finishing grad school. I've always loved gold (I know I know fits right in with the greek stereotype) but we were broke at the time hence the gold capped. I know the heavy patina is everyones cup of tea, *ahem* coffee, but I love it.

Love a great coffee and I've been to Easton, PA but to the Crayola Experience; so thanks for pointing this place out. Definitely bucket list for the next Crayola visit, and would love to catch up with any watch head around!

I will hold you to that ! Hope you dress as sharp as that case ^^^.

When a watch is tied to so many important achievements, memories, people, etc, its value comes intrinsically from those points in one's life AFAIK. It's actual market value is secondary...ok well, it's a bonus when it's a nice watch like yours! I personally like this dial -- things like this can be subjective I suppose and it looks like it fit right in where you were.

Haha -- yes, the stereotype. You had the gold (check), the coffee (check), all you needed to complete the trifecta was a cigarette, maybe even a newspaper or komboloi (I also have a Greek physique and can attest to the authenticity of these qualifications 😉).

For the second installment of "A day in the life" I bring you KOUROUNIA.

*I apologize I am not a good writer but I still hope you all find it to be an enjoyable read and entertaining overall*


We here at OF love watches that are seemingly frozen in time. Original, crisp chamfered lugs, a pristine unmolested dial, an original band and buckle. A collectors dreamy. Its what we get gidddy about.

But what about a place, on earth, seemingly frozen in time.



Kourounia is a small, little village on the island of Chios, Greece. It is the village where my Dad was born and raised. At one point in time there were so many kids in the village that the villagers decided to build its own school - now just 5 or so people live there year round. As you can see from the picture above this particular village is organized into two clusters if you will. "Pano Horio" or up village and "Kato Horio" or down village. Almost all the villages were built on the side of a mountain facing away from the water so that they were hidden from pirates. Pirate attacks must have either been very prevalent or at least a big concern because there are also castles built around the island. My father told me that he remembers hearing stories when he was a kid that they were built as a place of retreat for the villagers if the village was invaded. They would grab what they could and rush out. I wanted to share what a typical day living in this village would be, at least for me, while God blessed us enough to go on vacation this summer.


On this morning in particular we were awoken by a gentleman on a megaphone yelling "Fish! Fresh fish! Cod! Red Mullet! Come and get it!" It was a gentleman passing through the village on his pick up truck to sell fish he caught that morning. This is a common experience. At least a couple of times a week someone will pass by there on there truck to either sell different kinds of meat, fish or bread. This is because there is no supermarket in this village and the closes store to sell foods, save for limited stuff sold in the cafe, is at least a 35 minute drive away. Same goes for any semblance of a hospital too.


You could call this guy the Original Seamaster. 😀


We bought some fresh fish to have for dinner the next night and - since we were up - decided we might as well walk to the town square where the cafe is located to have our morning coffee.






In the summertime, many family, friends and descendants of the villagers will visit during their vacation to the island. In the wintertime I am sure you can appreciate that this would appear very different but the theme is still the same. The form of entertainment in this village and all over Greece (perhaps Europe entirely) is story telling. There use to be no TVs (there are some now) and no one really stays in there house outside of when they are eating or bathing (that use to be outdoors too 😀 ) so most of the freetime is spent immersed in social interaction. I remember vacationing at the village when I was little. Many, many hours were spent sitting at one of those tables surrounded amongst a bunch of elders and listening to them tell stories. I feel like there is an art to story telling and some of them had cultivated the craft so well that you could just sit there for hours and be completely engaged and entertained. I have a huge interest in learning about how life use to be and how things were done many years ago. IDK maybe I am weird.

For the day I opted for vintage. It only seemed appropriate given the destination.





After coffee, we decided to walk back to our house to get ready to go to the beach that day. The walk is literally one minute away but could be much further depending on where your house is located within the village. Here is the view on the way back:






The particular beach we went to that day is only accessed through our village. Initially it starts off as paved road. Here is a rather common sight along the way:




A gentlemen riding a donkey probably heading off to work the fields.




The road continues and you eventually veer off at which point it becomes a very windy, dirt road, littered by boulders of various sizes.




On the way down you'll pass different houses built by villages and their gardens.




Once you get all the way down, about a 30 minute drive, you'll be greeted by a little church and a house that was built by the villages in order to store some tables, chairs and other various supplies. It has an outdoor shower, a stone oven, a stone grill, and a boat for common use. Some people will even sleep there on occasion as there is also a bed.




Here is the beach - be warned this is a very rough, natural beach. Not what you would picture in your head when you think of beaches in Greece and most of the other ones on the island don't look like this however, its extremely private. You wont find anyone there that isn't from our village or accompanied by one of them. There have been many occasions where I have gone down and it was literally just me and my wife, with the little house and the entire beach to ourselves. I also included pictures of the beach during a sunset which were taken on a different day which is just an absolutely breath taking view.







We swam, grilled some food, drank some beer and had lunch.




We spent a couple of hours there. It was amazing. So peaceful. No club music, no tourists, no waiters coming to take your order. You pack what you need and bring it with you. You forgot something? Go out and find it. On this occasion we had forgotten to bring some lemons to season the meat. Luckly, close by is a garden that was originally planted by my Grandfather. He passed away in 2015 and ever since then there is another villager, a distant cousin of ours, who has been tending to the garden. We walked over and picked some lemons. I dont have a clear picture of it but I was amazed at the stone work that I saw. Entire walls built by hands to mark off land, enclose gardens etc. Some of these walls probably hundreds of years old. Standing the test of time. I believe they were built in part as some sort of old irrigation system as well.




After lunch we drove back. The Mrs unloaded the car and got ready for the evening while I took the little one for an adventure. It was a great experience taking her to places I use to explore as a child myself. That day we decided to walk from the Up village to the down village by foot. Here is the journey:






It wasn't long before we ran into some adventure






After the Mrs was finished getting ready we switched. .She got the little one ready while I showered off and we headed off to the town square for dinner and evening entertainment. Similar to that morning, it was spent talking, laughing, eating, telling stories and generally enjoying the company of others.








We ended off the night with a walk while the baby slept in the stroller. What is so magical about the walk itself is that as soon as you get out of the village there is no light pollution. ZERO. No street lights nothing. The nearest village is about a 2km walk so its completely pitch black. In my experience, if you walk for at least 15-20 minutes or so you are guaranteed to see a shooting star. Still to this date I have yet to see a better view of the stars at night. Unfortunately no pictures of it but now that night sight settings have come out in smart phones maybe I'll be able to get you guys an idea of what I am talking about. We did see this little guy on our way back.



I hope you guys enjoyed!