A Favorite Haunt

For decades my husband and I have enjoyed stealing away to our favorite funky, old-wood smelling restaurant just a few minutes from home. The food is good. The ambiance most welcoming. The view fantastic.

Nestled under the trees and next to the Willamette River, nature puts on a different show every time we go.

Outdoor seating with fire pits and umbrellas invite during better weather. Inside, the high ceiling, dark timbers, tiki statues, large overheard bamboo fan lights, living trees and plants create a solarium feeling, each booth and table intimate and friendly, while the two walls of glass bring the outside in, for a glorious roomy effect.

I have taken many friends to this favorite haunt over the years, family as well.

Just last week our daughter and two of our granddaughters joined us for a spontaneous Thursday adventure in the corner where walls of glass revealed a mostly sunny cold February day with daffodils and pink blossom-bearing trees dancing in the breeze outside. Our already upbeat moods were lifted higher still.

The little ones, ages almost 1 1/2, and almost 3 1/2 - those halves are very important, you know - enjoyed the food and Shirley Temples, just for fun. Our darling daughter, on solo-mom duty as her husband was away for a weeklong work-related school, enjoyed everything, especially not having to cook coupled with adult conversation.

Pleasureful meal-time get-aways remind us that life is more than duty and jobs, more than chores and bills, more than politics and cultural upheaval. Life is still good. Family and friends remain our utmost causes of joy and meaning.

And a good view frames the memory, making it last.

What fun!