Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Are You a Picnic Person?

My mother-in-law introduced me to 'The Picnic'.  Moth to a flame.  My mom let it be known putting peanut butter/jelly on bread for a small child at home was stupid, odious and a ridiculous waste of time.  A picnic?  Not happening.  So.  The concept of spending days hunting/gathering for a picnic, taking place at an exotic location, the more inconvenient the better, and finding the exact right recipe for vichyssoise soup as a picnic 1st course, which china to pack, the best wines to pair with the food, cloth napkins, and so much more.  Yes, yes, yes, I bought the farm, love a picnic.
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My last proper picnic was too long ago.  Went with 2 lady friends to the Kentucky Derby.  We packed an incredible picnic.  Enjoying ourselves immensely the oddest thing kept happening.  Passerby taking our picture, some even asked if it was ok to get our picture.
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Last year we had plans for a holiday lunch that fell through.  Beloved asked me, What do you want to do now?  I said let's go get some things, pack it up, and have a picnic by the pond, at the back of the property.
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Whoa.  That took the air out of him.  He got that look, Is she crazy !  We had no picnic.  In fact, that's all I remember about it, no picnic.  What we did instead, zero memory.
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Saw this pic, below, a few days ago, and all I could think was the picnic I didn't have at the pond vs. the many picnics taken with my mother-in-law through the decades.
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If you've read, To The Lighthouse, by Virginia Wolfe, know that I refuse to let a picnic by my pond become that trip to the lighthouse.  Too much fun to be had, inviting my local core of lady friends for a picnic by the pond this fall.


Having a picnic near the tulip bulb fields of Aalsmeer, the Netherlands, 1960, via Collectie SPAARNESTAD, Nationaal Archief Commons on flickr. The largest flower auction in the world is in Aalsmeer…:
Pic, above, here.
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Are you a picnic person?
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T

3 comments:

Penelope Bianchi said...

For sure! You will love it!

fairkaye said...

I am such a picnic person that we used to picnic at breakfast on the weekends. We lived near Stone Mountain Park so during good weather we packed up four kids, a portable grill, and my handmade denim tablecloth (still have it) and headed off to a secluded picnic table for grilled sausage and pancakes. Great memories, especially now that I live alone and my grandkids are in college!

Connie in Hartwood said...

Same story here. I picnic, he does not. I learned this when we were first married, and I have worked to chip away at his 'I don't like to eat outside' resolve ever since. It's about so much more than the meal.