Rain Picnic

When I was a kid we used to have rain picnics. They started when my brother broke his leg the last days of the school year  - doesn't that suck? 6 weeks of the summer he was in a full leg cast and bored out of his tree - this was before VCRs and video games (well before we could afford them). One day, to ease the boredom, my mom had the idea of a picnic in the rain - in those days, we practically had the whole of Stanley Park to ourselves - and we all took turns hauling him around in a wagon with a garbage bag on his cast (oh those were the days!)

But that's not what happened this weekend. We had been planning a get together since June and the weather was fabulous almost the whole month of July, but then the date got bumped and wouldn't you know it - it rained on our new day! Everyone was a real good sport about it though and we decided to go ahead with it.Cynthia, Carol and I had planned to go to Minnekhada Park but upon arriving, we found the gates were locked and it was closed for a private function, so we had to look for another lunch location fast as my stomach was rumbling! We tried a couple other parks and ended up sitting under a big cedar tree at a nearby recreation centre and the rain sort of held off so we were able to enjoy an afternoon of terrific food, good conversation and laughter. Everyone brought yummy food - Cynthia made perfect pitas and Carol had an excellent selection of homemade cookies. I'm so lucky to have such talented friends. Because of the rain, I left my purse in the car, and so I didn't take a photo of our lovely spread.

We all had our birthdays in July so at the end of lunch we exchanged birthday presents - yay! Cynthia gave me one of her famous 'little houses' paintings (plus some other little goodies - thank you!) and Carol gave me a beautiful jar of jam - thank you too! Carol, I need more of that jam, as most of it was consumed that same night at dinner! See? It is very, very good