The Gateway Inn Redux etc.

It's a small town cafe. On Saturday morning the breakfast crowd is mostly divided. The men sit at tables pushed together on the north end. The talk is of the weather, farming and the Twins and Vikings. The women are by the window on the west end. I'm not sure what they talk about but their is much laughting. The Troutbirders and their friends, John and Joanne sit together at a middle table. This passes for "gender integration"  in a small town in the Upper Midwest. The conversation is pleasant and often boisterous. The service is friendly. Sometimes, due to the rush, people jump up, get their own coffee and fill the cups of others at nearby tables. Life goes on....
But things change too.
The decades long owners sell their business and invite their regular  customers to a "thank you picnic" at their dairy farm.  There the farm wife, who with her sisters and nieces ran the inn,  served a buffet dinner with steak sandwiches and all the trimmings to a crowd of hundreds.  A country western band played in the background. We meet old friends and neighbors we haven't seen for a while.

 

The next night it's a summer concert in the park along Spring Valley Creek.  There is a new gazebo to be checked out and a couple whose name I didn't catch filled the air with more "country."  We're comfortable in our lawn chairs and Mrs. T. shares
her bag of candy and some pop from the cooler. It's a very pleasant evening.  Life is good......