An Autumn Picnic

This was the view we had at the river.

From the kitchen window I could see a sky awash with pink clouds early that morning. I had my fingers crossed that we would have beautiful weather for this day. We were rapidly running out of nice autumn days to enjoy a picnic at the river. It needed to be warm enough that we wouldn't shiver during our lunch on the grass. As it turned out, the gentle warmth from the sunshine melted our cares away.

This small park along the river in the vintage district is virtually unknown to the average shopper and peruser. It never ceases to amaze me that we can have the entire park practically to ourselves. Meanwhile, just up the trail from where we picnic is a cafe with outdoor seating, with exactly the same view that we enjoy at no cost. The wait time for a table on this cafe's patio looked to be at least 30 minutes, with eager diners standing in the doorway as we passed by to the trail which would take us to the river front.

The previous afternoon I'd made a batch of hummus and a batch of pesto to go with dinner. I'd deliberately made enough for leftovers to take to the river the next day. In the morning, we made hummus-pesto-fresh tomato sandwiches on whole wheat bread. We cut up apples, packed some apple-raisin bar cookies and some cubes of cheddar, and made a large thermos of apple-spice tea. The tea was a 50/50 blend of apple cider and black tea plus a pinch of cloves and dash of cinnamon, all heated together. Our al fresco repast was as enjoyable to us as any diner meal would be.

After our lunch we peeked into the various vintage stores then stopped by the pie shop to each select a slice to bring home. Perhaps that doesn't make sense -- we saved by bringing our own lunch, but then spent on pie to take home. Having the assorted slices of pie after dinner was our way of extending the pleasures of the day into the evening. 

Just as the weather forecasters predicted, our lovely warm autumn days washed away with the rainfall Monday morning. 

I don't know why I felt we needed a picnic to mark this autumn. This isn't something we've done in the past. Perhaps this year, with several difficulties, I just felt we needed to celebrate something, anything, celebrate that we are well and here together, celebrate that seasons are cyclical, and we will always return to summer. Maybe we don't need something to celebrate, but we can just enjoy being. Anyway, this was our autumn picnic.