by Guest Blogger, Peggy DePersia

Hey, we’re driving up the road to Bellingham. Do you have a recommendation for a good place to have lunch?

I figured a young clerk at the funky bookstore in Fairhaven, Washington would know a good place to have lunch in a college town like Bellingham. Indeed, she did and it was 11:45 a.m. so, time to scoot!

Well, she said, if you can get in, “The Little Cheerful” is the place to go. I would go based on the name alone yet she guaranteed very good food and great service, always a good combination in my book.

“The Little Cheerful” was not a disappointment; how could it be.

It was a blustery day with winds blasting up street corridors from Bellingham Bay like shot from a cannon. It was a perfect day to have a fun, cozy place to enjoy the kind of food some of us like to order on vacation (I won’t give it away, you can use your imagination) and marvel at the “unrelentingly positive” vibe with the waitstaff who, to a person, appeared to love what they were doing. A friend recently used the above included quote and I couldn’t resist using it in this context.

What did the staff love? Our waitress described her job as the “best” part- time job ever. She loved the scale of the restaurant (small), the rest of the staff (positive and collaborative), the aromas pervading the atmosphere (excellent coffee), but most of all she enjoyed the interesting mix of people she served from “regulars” to one time “out of towners” like ourselves.

As is often the case, the energy in this little local eatery was charged with animated conversation and apparent good cheer. It all seemed just right for a cool and windy October lunch hour in this quaint and hopping college town. 

I almost forgot to mention the ‘art’ and artifacts…..zany and pure whimsy, along with Charlie Chaplin staring out as us from one of the windows of the cafe`……hmmmm.

Peggy is a retired art instructor who loves to explore the connections between art and life, particularly with her camera toting sidekick, her husband.