No Picnic?

(listed on ebay)

It is no picnic being sick! No, I'm not too bad off, just some things needing attention. Around the New Year, I began having palpitations of my heart. No pain, just palpitations, almost constantly. Skipping beats all over the place, and the slightest amount of activity making my heart pound and carry on, thudding in my ears. I get a little short of breath, and in general get tired. I've been checked out and checked out and everything checks out okay! Okay, not everything. My cholesterol has followed the pattern of many in my family, and become dangerously high. My blood sugar levels have been flirting with diabetes. And so, I am now taking Lipitor and a daily low-dose aspirin. I can exercise safely, and need to do so to bring down my weight, maintain cardiovascular health, and fend off diabetes. (Club Soda with Lime and Lemon and a packet of Equal. No sugar or caffeine and yummy.)

See what I mean? No picnic.

Or is it? Picnics are a bit of work, packing up food, packing up the car, carrying overflowing hampers and blankets and folding chairs. Breezes blow away paper plates and lift the tablecloth off the table. Sun gets in your eyes, and if you're cooking out and the wind shifts, smoke gets in your eyes. I sunburn and it takes very little, so I'm constantly applying sunblock (which sometimes gives me a rash). Soon it will be "black fly season", followed by a bumper crop of mosquitoes and ticks. And there will always be the ubiquitous Picnic Ants.

BUT, have you ever had a picnic that wasn't worth it? Even with sudden rainshowers, I've never regretted the effort to go on a picnic, have you?

Oh, the memories I have. A watermelon and glass-bottled root beer cooling in a chilly mountain river. Taking the canoes or kayak out for a little paddle. Potato salad and potato chips. Grammie often brought a pot of beans. If you live in Maine, you know. And you know about Moxie and shockingly red hot dogs in slightly tough casings. Passing a baseball back and forth and speculating about the Red Sox season. Relaxing....

I've been obsessing on picnics lately, must be getting time get outside for a little one, even if we are still wearing hoodies, and drinking coffee out of a red plaid Thermos.

I think it started when we had supper at Famous Dave's on Mardi Gras in Scarborough, and I couldn't help but wander around a little to enjoy the vintage stuff decorating the interior, much of which was a tribute to an outdoorsy, active life. And a whole lot of Kitcheny kitsch.

Now I am constantly checking out "vintage picnic" and simply "gingham" on ebay and lamenting my lack of a red-checkered tablecloth.

See my "gingham inspiration" collection on Pinterest http://pinterest.com/wendybee3/gingham-inspiration/here.

Barbie knew what to wear on a picnic.

Here's what I'd wear if I had it in my size.