LOL, Elmer: Or maybe we're becoming a Beauty Parlor Quartet.

Yes, they have book discussion groups at some of the Borders bookstores on the East Coast. Admittedly, the conversations are mostly focused on a particular book (I imagine, not actually having been in one, or overheard one for any period of time.)

McDonald's is one of the gathering places for Seniors around here. My wife and I often go for a morning walk on a Riverwalk they constructed recently here in Derby. There's a McDonald's about 100 yards from the start (and end) of the Riverwalk, and even though neither of us can stomach the lunch and dinner menus at McDonalds, we like the sausage bisquit Egg McMuffin's and we often stop in for one after our walk. There is a cast of about eight or ten "regulars" who are always there, up until 10 a.m., when they stop serving breakfast. The men usually sit in one area, and the women in the other with the men outnumbering the women three to one. I suspect that some of the men go there to get away from their wives.. :-)

In my home town in Wisconsin, it was a Hardee's where everyone gathered... again the men and women in different sections. I gathered that most of them were widowed (and apparently in no rush to get re-hitched.)

Both places were a good spot to gather, as you could sit there for a couple of hours just nursing a cup of coffee. McDonald's coffee is more in need of a Doctor, than a nurse. I don't think I've ever seen anyone actually eating anything.

Jerry