Weekend Vacations

Yesterday was such a lovely day. (June 16th).  It shall go down in the annals of my memory for a long time. We rather decided at the last minute to have a picnic for Fathers Day and Lexie picked the venue.  We decided to add our carbon dioxide to Edworthy Park. So I roasted one of my Hutterite chickens and whipped up some potato salad. Lexie had made magic cookie bars the night before (A decadent combination of graham cracker crumbs, condensed milk, coconut, pecans and chocolate chips) and I dug out some butter tarts from the freezer.  We made a couple of jugs of ice tea and grabbed the leftover watermelon and stuffed it in the picnic basket.  We thought some deviled eggs and ceasar salad would be a perfect way to round out the menu.

The car loaded down with picnic basket (a Nelson family antique) , loads of beach towels and lawn chairs and one of Lexie’s special bouquets of designer flowers, and we hit the road.  Picked up grandma (mom) on the way and we were off for the afternoon.  Turns out we weren’t so original with this idea.  But it was lovely.  The park was lovely.  The four trains that passed by were lovely.  The trains pleased mom to no end as she spent her childhood living close to train tracks.  Since we never leave the house without our Bluetooth speakers we had any music our hearts desired to listen to.  We set up camp under the shade of a large evergreen and facing the railway tracks.  We began to indulge in our picnic food just after we took a wee walk to the water to check out this huge park.  The afternoon was spent eating, reading, hiking, and playing bocce ball.  Some naps were intended but never acted upon.

It felt like a wonderful vacation, just sitting there letting the wind blow through our toes and feeling the velvety side of the beach towels underfoot.  For a few hours, we forgot our cares and just lived in the moment.  It was as if we were in another time and place.  The park included many well worn paths lined with trees, some totally covered in by branches and it was easy to forget we were in the middle of a bustling metropolis.  The river ran fast before us.  Anyone in canoes or dingys were just floating past in a whirr, no paddles needed.  We spotted a quaint ice cream shop on the other side of the river with a walking bridge available to access it and made a plan to finish our day with a walk over to get ice cream.

My heart leapt within as I listened to the laughter of Lexie and Mike playing bocce ball together.   We had included some patio chair cushions so Andrew could have a nap after we ate.  He’d had to be at work at 5:30 that morning and that is very early for him.  Grandma was just loving the potato salad, the music and the trains and was tickled that we were using her old picnic basket. It is the kind that has hard sides with thin wood strips all woven together.  The hard top can be used as a table with a double flap opening.  Attached to the inside of both sides of the lid is a strip of elastic for storing utensils.  It’s double handled and is very durable as can be ascertained by the fact that we are still using it.

We did not want to leave, but the wind was picking up and hour was getting late and some of us had obligations to fill, so we packed up our afternoon vacation and between the five us were able to get it to the car in one trip. Note to self:  Buy one of those folding wagons.  We leisurely made our way over to the ice cream shop.   With maple walnut and waffle cones in hand we meandered back over the walking bridge and towards the car.  Spent, satiated and content.  Ready to take on the new week.

Dr. Caroline Leaf says ‘Don’t forget to treat your weekend like a vacation and don’t feel guilty about it! This is vital to giving your brain a much-needed rest and will prevent burnout!’  She knows what she is talking about.