"What's That Whine This Early In The Morning?"

Serenading Starbucks clients...

After running some early morning errands, I stopped at a local Starbucks that is situated in an open air shopping mall. I prefer this Starbucks because it isn't as crowded as most and there is no smoking anywhere inside or outside of the coffee shop. I 've met some pretty interesting people here. I always bring my sketchbook because you never know what interesting things will turn up to draw.

I find myself a shady spot to park and turn off the ignition, but I hear this slight whine coming from somewhere in the car. Thinking it wasn't the engine, I turned my ear to the radio and turn it up to hear the high pitched whine, but there was no whine to be heard on the sports talk radio show, so I turned the radio completely off and still heard that sound. I attempt to perform a "walk around" to see where the sound was emanating from and when I opened the door, I see this man standing on the lawn, directly in front of me, with his cup of coffee placed neatly at his feet, playing a bagpipe.

Now, I'm not a big proponent of the windy Celtic instrument, but I have to admit that it was really cool to have someone serenade so early in the morning. I waved my cellphone at him indicating that I wanted permission to take his picture. He nodded in the affirmative, as he continued to play some unrecognizable tune. I took this picture, smiled, gave him a thumbs up and started to walk away. I did not want him to stop and interrupt his groove.

He nodded again though I don't know if he heard me say as I sauntered away,"Great way to start the day, man... Laissez les bon temp roulet!"

I said it knowing, full well, that the bagpipe isn't a French instrument. His first cup early morning spirit overtook my better judgement!

Copyright 2013/Ben Bensen III