Troutbirder II

Troutbirder II
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Friday, August 29, 2014

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......

19 comments:

  1. It sounds as if "Life is good" indeed.

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  2. awww. good luck to the family after selling their cafe. sounds like a neat place.

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  3. How sweet that they decided to invite their customers for one final meal. Small town life really is the best!

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  4. How wonderful that the former owners did that!

    I'm guessing you don't have skeeters like we do? We can't get out in the evenings and sometimes during the day. ( I don't do bug spray)

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  5. Yes, life is good and we need to appreciate all the good minutes.

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  6. What a special community and generous people.

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  7. What neat owners and I am sure they will be missed.That was so special of them.

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  8. Such things make the summer fun and great to think about when the snow starts to fly again.

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  9. Look at all those white hairs in the last picture. I'd fit right in! Change is always hard but it sure helps when you have someone to share the change with you. :-)

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  10. This is one of the pleasures of rural living.

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  11. Sounds like a nice area to live in. Walmart used to give seniors free coffee in the mornings until they built Super Walmart here in our small town. Also there is an oil boom going on so it's getting not so small.

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  12. How wonderful and what a lovely way to enjoy music, food and company. The environment helps ... I couldn't imagine things like that happening where I live.

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  13. A nice way to enjoy the end of summer. Sad to see the café wither..

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  14. Yes, life is good! What fun for you all.

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  15. Love your description of your experience and a day in the the life...
    Happy Labor Day, Mr. and Mrs. T. Today we will have all our new neighbors over for a BBQ in our backyard. Life is good here, too.

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  16. I hope the cafe remains open under different management! We lost our little cafe about 10 years ago and we sure miss it and the people we used to see there...lots of news flying back and forth oh and rumors too!
    I am not a fan of Country Music but then I am weird. Looks like a beautiful gazebo! :)

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  17. Life is good and we are so blessed.
    Have a great week!!
    Carla

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