With the days of the maple latte winding down to their ultimate, expected-yet-still-distressing end, there's no doubt where one will find Beth and myself supplementing our caffeine addictions.

During this precious time, the other coffeeshops will serve as no succedaneum(1) - we will turn to them for solace soon enough. At that point, without the luxury of maple-drizzled decadence, we'll find ourselves feeling pococurante(2) toward precisely what concoctions we consume.

In our latte world, right now, there's maple, nothing else. No caramel yet. Vanilla? Maybe soon.

The cambist(3) manning the counter this morning, whom we greet by name each day, commented on how we're sticking it out until the maple end. We laughed about the empty void that will appear in our lives. We've been given the euonym(4) of The Maple Girls, those who nod and grin when asked if we'd like The Usual, who get our names and smiley faces written on the cups containing brunneous(5) java goodness.

I'm going to miss the eudaemonic(6) routine the maple latte has provided. Meet up, place an order without really placing it, sit around at a tiny table, laugh at the beginning of our days. It is a brief respite from the elucubrating(7) necessary for the rest of the day.

And it works our minds - as we sat today, pouring through a box of cards that had been left on the table. We laughed as we realized how few of the words we, two pretty intelligent, well-educated women, happened to know. And the lack of short-term memory demonstrated when we had to relook at cards to recall their definitions?

Well, that just made us feel antediluvian(8).

1 - Succedaneum: a substitute
2 - Pococurante: indifferent, apathetic
3 - Cambist: one who's skilled in currency exchange
4 - Euonym: a well suited name
5 - Brunneous: having a dark brown color
6 - Eudaemonic: producing happiness
7 - Elucubrate: to produce by working long and diligently
8 - Antediluvian: extremely old and antiquated
(Thanks, Starbucks!)