Marti's Place

Last evening. we went to the river to eat. In our parts, everyone knows that to mean we went to Marti's Place which is set on the bank of the Kankakee River. When I was a kid it was known as Ramsey's Landing, in fact, I went to high school with a daughter of the owner at that time. Then is was more a bar and masculine place to go after fishing or hunting. My parents never went to the river to eat during those years. It wasn't considered the acceptable place to go. We went to places like Tiebels. It was far more acceptable in my parent's thinking. I actually recall that we didn't go to any restaurant that had a bar in it lest we kids be inclined to think drinking was acceptable. If we were in a fix and needed nourishment and nothing else was around, well maybe then, but there better be a table far from the obvious din of iniquity. I say that with a smile on my face but I'm not too far from that myself today. While I'm not a prude about alcohol, I prefer the conservative side of things. I have seen people suffer far too much pain over the effects of the consumption of alcohol. There isn't a drink in the world that is worth the pain of an alcoholic husband or wife, or the tendency of a high schooler to be out each weekend getting plastered. I've made it a practice for forty six years not to have any alcohol in our home beyond a few bottles of wine. I'm not ashamed of that nor am I proud of it but I'm grateful we haven't felt the NEED.

Marti's Place has gained a good reputation in food these days. They give a fifteen dollar coupon for one's birthday which comes in the mail a few days before one's big day. Now that would raise any establishment's favor. Last evening as we walked to the car having finished our dinner, two ladies were walking before us, a bit slower than we would have walked. One of those ladies turned around and apologized for holding us up. We put her mind at ease and then she told us she was ninety one years old yesterday and had just enjoyed her birthday dinner. Ken quipped,"So how many more free dinners do you expect to get?" She thought it was a hilarious question and said as many as she could get. She looked wonderful and I would not have quessed her to be more than eighty.

There are no birthdays for us right now but we do know how to get on the computer and print off a coupon they offer which is buy one get one free. Last evening we each had small portions of white fish, my favorite, and our total bill was less than ten dollars. Cheaper than Mc Donalds.