As a child I was always thrilled at the mere hint of the possibility of a picnic. I would be extra good all week in hopes the picnic wouldn't be forgotten due to my antics. Picnics opened up avenues of adventure for me and lots of time spent around the water ~ my favorite thing in the whole world!!!
Grandma Nan would always fry two chickens for supper the night before a picnic. One chicken would be our meal and the other would be wrapped in waxed paper the next day and put into the large hamper along with potato chips, fresh fruit and homemade cookies. There would also be little bottles of Coke in a bucket with ice and a jug of lemonade. Once in a while there would be watermelon as a special treat.
Most of our picnics took place on a gravel bar in the Current River. Grandpa Bob would hoist me atop his shoulders with admonitions to hang on tight so he could hold Grandma Nan's hand as they waded in the swift river water to the gravel bar. After a near accident on one occasion he decided taking us separately was a better idea! Once there I was free to run all over our little island and hunt for butterflies and pretty rocks for Grandma's collection. Grandpa Bob taught me how to skip rocks across the surface of the water. After a day of excitement at the river, Grandpa would carry me sound asleep in his arms across the water and back home.
In recent years most of my picnics have been with my girlfriends at the city park in Houston. We have traded sitting on the ground for folding chairs and our meals are eaten at the picnic table rather than on the quilt on the ground, but still with our quilt as a tablecloth! The food is just as good as ever but very seldom do we have fried chicken like Grandma used to make!!
Is there a picnic in your future ~ or family reunion? Food always tastes so much better eaten outdoors!
Wishing you a day filled with Peace & Plenty!
We often pack a picnic lunch,fill a flask and set off for the beach. Longniddy has seberal areas which stretch along the coast called the bents, we go to the No 3 car park and park as close to the sea as we can then sit and read or watch the ships moving in and out of the Forth on their way to drop off their cargo.
ReplyDeleteOnce the tide is starting to go out a walk along the edge, jumping to avoid over large waves is on the cards, picking out the various bird that flit and drift about. The beaches stretch from Portabello on the mouth of the Forth right down the coast past Dunbar. Some are on private estates other in the public domain, I never cease to wonder at the vast expance of golden sand south of Mussleburgh and disappearing round the rocks to Aberlady Bay further south.