blue chairs, blue bar stools

blue chairs, blue bar stools,

blue and white tile floors, blue jeans,

bluebird cups, blue mirror 

Saturday, my friend and I drive an hour to Iowa City for a little shopping -- Cosco (organic dried apricots, fresh asparagus and green beans, hemp seeds, fresh salmon), Comic store (gift for Sallie's grandson), Dick Blick's (bow compass and handmade paper for me), Second Act consignment store (a bunch of clothes I never wear anymore), The Haunted Bookstore (browsing). We decide to try a new place for lunch, Bluebird Diner, a 1950s venue that serves breakfast all day long. The place is totally packed, so we sit at the bar.

The 1950s style diner is located near the university campus, very popular, very crowded on a Saturday afternoon with a ball game later that day.

Blue and white tiled floor, overhead fans, round tables, blue padded chairs and lots of mirrors on the wall, including one with blue glass.

We're sitting where we can watch the waiters key in orders on a computer screen, pick up orders and impale the order slip on an old-fashioned spindle. The waiters all wear blue jeans.

A plate of giant cinnamon rolls sits temptingly to my right. The back counter houses the noisy coffee grinder and espresso machine. On the wall, the word BIRD, in blue of course.

I order the special, "Cheesy Crab Penne," which comes with pasta drowning in melted cheese, a few green peas and, well, the flavor of crab, though I'd have to use a magnifying glass to see the meat. 

Sallie orders a hamburger, medium rare, with fries, but the burger is so rare she can't eat the raw middle. Our waiter offers to "throw it back on the grill," but she declines. My bluebird cup of hot water with lemon is cracked, and our waiter hastily replaces it. Well, I'm sorry to say that I'm not impressed with the food!

When we arrive, the parking lot next to the diner is full, but right behind the diner in an old stone building is The Haunted Bookshop, in an old stone building, with a tiny four-vehicle parking space. So we park there and go in to browse and buy something to justify parking there. In addition to two floors of used books, they also have shelves full of puzzles and hand puppets, all new, plus plenty of chairs for sitting and reading. Lots of small shops nearby, so we vow to come back and spend more time exploring this area of Iowa City.