A friend who used to have a restaurant recommended that I go and check out another place.
So, when I woke up, I decided that this was the day I was going to visit.
I entered the town, and turned the corner where this cafe was located, and was presented with a large, blue house with the sign outside welcoming people in for a cup of Joe and perhaps breakfast.
I entered the front door and the "parlor" was full of welcoming couches, chairs, and festooned with art of all kinds. Pottery, painting, sculptures, masks, homemade works out of wood, stone, cloth, photos. A sign pointed to the kitchen area and I followed.
The art never left. With each turn I was presented again with these works on the shelves, wall, everywhere. In the dining room were reclaimed wood tables, a bar with inlaid glass and pebbles and dark wood inlays. All of it recycled wood.
Their menu is anything from Organic to mainstream. A little bit of everything for everyone. I ordered the coffee (which smelled heavenly) and the Sunrise plate. This was turkey with a touch of bacon with melted provolone and spinach sandwiched between two pita breads with an orange slice. It was delicious.
I was surrounded by art, and surrounded by fans (the kind that blow air). It was like being in a constant gentle breeze while I enjoyed my breakfast (which was so good I ordered the same thing again and ate it).
The owner Gracy grew up there and moved away, but came back and wanted to bring the feel of some of the organic, eco-friendly restaurants back her town. She talked out how much she had put into advertising and drawing customers. They have live music on the weekends, and everything they use they recycle.
I talked with the cook, her partner Marti. You could tell he loved to cook. He loved to talk. He told story after story about creating the benches and stage outside with recycled wood. How he built the bar, the tables, the trim on the walls. Very proud of his work. He spoke of his family and his wife that he lost to cancer.
He also talked about his miraculous encounters with God. His daughter was bipolar and had to be hospitalized repeatedly for her own safely. Yet, his stories about her were inspiring. At what seemed last the last moment, the last nickle that he couldn't afford to pay, the last bill that came due, something happened.
In one story, the hospital lost the bill and never charged him and never brought it up. That was after his time with God asking how he could afford yet another bill for his daughter.
Another story was his encounters with 3. In the course of a day he woke up at 3:33am but thought nothing of it. He then was at his daughter's house picking up clothes for her as she was to be released and he touched a rose that she was drying out upside down, and 3 petals fell. He got to the hospital and looked down and saw 3 quarters (which he has kept to this day), and this was the day that again, when he went to Billing asking what this would cost, the hospital said they would cover all the costs and he shouldn't worry.
A new couple came in then, and the first thing the woman did was go up to Marti and gave him a huge hug, saying, "I told you I'd be back" and presented her boyfriend to him (as if Marti were her father and she were presenting him to Marti for approval.) Then he had to get back to the kitchen.
A bicycling couple, in their skin tight wind suits, and obligatory white water bottles, were coming in just as I was leaving. They stopped and talked about the place and how they loved the recycling and conservation that Gracy and Marti did. They just love the place.
I left, charged up, inspired, and fed, and not just with food.
It was a great start to a day.
