Coffee with Eleanor

By Kieran

 Coffee with Eleanor



Original artwork inspired by a Facebook post by Cool Stories concerning a friendship over books and coffee with senior citizen Eleanor sparked by Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I'm a romantic at heart so it was easy to imagine the setting for their coffee chats


I quote from Cool Stories:
I volunteer at the library. I was sorting returns when a small envelope fell out of a copy of Pride and Prejudice. It wasn't a bookmark. It was sealed. On the front, in shaky handwriting: To the next person who reads this. I opened it. Inside was a $20 bill and a note: Today is my 80th birthday. I spent it alone. I love this book. It has been my friend when I didn't have any. Buy yourself a coffee and a pastry. Read somewhere beautiful. You are loved. - Eleanor. I didn't keep the money. I bought a coffee and a pastry, and I found Eleanor in our system. I delivered them to her house. She opened the door, confused. "I read your note," I said. "And I thought you might want to discuss Mr. Darcy over coffee." We sat on her porch for three hours. She isn't alone anymore. I visit every Tuesday. Books connect us, but love keeps us reading.
End quote


Source: https://www.facebook.com/CoolStoriess/posts/pfbid0RXHRKMZeTbKfQaftEtuuj39HJvaaAv8eFFiLQN7t33xYQ15Bdi8obPbNyFXncQTGl 

Comments

Anonymous said…
Beautiful painting. F Williams in the photograph on the wall seems to be a decorated war officer. Proper tea room....clock proves it (WhatsApp comment from a dear childhood school friend)
January 7, 2026 at 8:57 PM
Kieran said…
Ha ha. Yes, I had fun creating the proper English tea room. The table cloth, leather bound books etc
The wall photos are portraits of Fritz Williams Darcy (proud noble blood) and Elizabeth Bennet (ordinary stock but feisty and prejudiced) - the two main protagonists of the classic “Pride and Prejudice”
The clock says anytime is Tea time 🫖 ☕️
January 7, 2026 at 8:57 PM
Kieran said…
Sometimes, FaceBook provides nice human stories… this one inspired me to paint a propah English T room 😊 - Kieran
January 7, 2026 at 8:59 PM
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