Luncheon at Audubon's

This is Suzanne. She came out to see me when I picked Bob up for lunch. You can tell from her happy look that she is enjoying retirement. You know, teachers give their all for their profession. Suzanne gave her all and then some to be one of the greatest teachers the Ames Schools had. She was dedicated, innovative and her children loved her. I can't count the number of her former students who said that Mrs. Kelly was the best teacher they ever had.

Now that she is retired you can tell that she is enjoying having time to do things for herself (as both Bob and I do). She came out to the car to thank me for taking Bob off from her hands for a little while.


And this is Bob (of Bob's Photos). I have been putting up his photos on here for quite awhile and I love doing it. Bob is also a retired teacher who enjoys having time for himself and his photos are one of the results of his creative work. He took me to lunch today. Said I was his "Publisher" I have been telling him for years that he needs to publish a book of his eagle pictures. He has hundreds of them. Suzanne and he could collaborate on it. But perhaps they have other things to do.






We went to Audubon's at the Gateway Center. They have really done nice things with the entrance.



















These flowers were a lot prettier than they became in the harsher light of noon.






The ambiance of the restaurant is very nice. This is the ceiling over the dining room. the reflections were very interesting and I thought worth a picture.

















I have always liked this restaurant and the food was very good today.








First an appetizer. Tasty, but a tad bit salty.












Bob had the Bacon Burger. Homemade chips make it a little extra nice.














My chicken quesadilla was very tasty (a little to spicy a sauce for me so I didn't eat that part.)












We both opted for the pineapple upside down cake for dessert. Again very nice but I thought the berries on top overshadowed the pineapple. We both remembered our (different) mother's pineapple upside down cake made with pineapple rings and maraschino cherries in the center. Mom used an iron skillet to cook hers in and it was wonderful.


The most satisfying thing about the lunch was the food. The service left a lot to be desired. We were the only ones in the restaurant and there were long paused between the times the waitress took our orders and finally brought us our food. When it came time for the check we had to ask for the desert menu and then only one was brought to the table and we had to share it. Then when they finally did bring us the check she let us sit there while she had a confab with one of her buddies and Bob finally had to wave her down to come and get it. It seemed to us that with only the two of us in the place the service could have been a bit more attentive. I described her attitude as perfunctory. Not a good impression.

Thanks for stopping by, Hugs, j