Saturday Morning at the Lake

This morning my son and I decided to have brunch at Chartroom Charlie's, a local restaurant where the Root River empties into the waters of Lake Michigan. It was one of those cold, rainy and dreary mornings where the heart feels cold. We were seated down by windows that overlooked the river. What a great view I thought. My son said to me, "Racine is sure ugly." I didn't think so. I just see it in a different light.

As we were looking out the rain splattered windows, we were watching fishermen in their small boats drifting by. "These fishermen are a die hard breed" ,I thought. Wondering if they caught anything. Salmon, trout or walleye? I'll never know. We watched Mallard ducks bobbing in the river. Canadian geese and seagulls were flying by. It reminded me of the time that we saw a muskrat swimming in the river.

As I was sipping a warm cup of coffee, my mind drifted off to the places I've been to. Like the cottage on the lake Up North. It was the warm feeling I had before-sipping coffee and looking out of window. I remembered the smell of bacon and fresh cinnamon rolls while my mom was cooking breakfast. The fishermen were out there trying to catch their sunfish and bluegills. The indigo buntings, goldfinches, nuthatches, blue jays and downy woodpeckers were getting their morning fill at the bird feeder. The loons were diving deep in the water to catch their morning fish, only to reappear elsewhere. I remembered the bald eagles and the osprey diving for fish and scaring the heck out of the loons.

My mind drifted off to more recent days of visiting the warm and sunny Dana Point, California. It was a whole new world for me. The smell the salt in the air and the warm breezes off of ocean are still in my memory. The palm trees, tall and majestic against the glow of the sun, were just glorious in my eyes. The yellow rocky bluffs behind me looked forbidding, yet grand. I wondered why people would build houses on the edge of the cliffs. The wildlife was different there too. We saw pelicans, cattle egrets and white herons out there looking for a catch of fish. There was this sea lion swimming in the harbor, catching the attention of tourists. Those were some of the happier days in my life.

My point being of this blog, is every where you go, there is beauty to be seen and observed. Just got to look for it. The lunch was delicious and the service was great. As I walked out the restaurant, the rain had stopped and the sun started to shine...