Anniversary
Last year for our anniversary, Doug took me on a picnic to Woodlawn Manor, where our wedding had taken place the year before. This year, the plan had been for all three of us to go for a picnic on the same site, and we had planned it for the early evening of our actual anniversary, Monday the 30th.
Saturday, we had to take a second look at the plan. First, our sunny evening looked to be transforming into an evening of thunderstotms (very appropriate as far as anniversaries go, given that it rained on our wedding day too, but not so appropriate for a picnic). Second, we had not fully thought through the baby logistics, and an early evening picnic after work would be smack in the middle of the bedtime routine, and prime meltdown territory. An afternoon picnic would have been best, but Doug had firm plans for Sunday, so we were out of afternoons.
After some discussion, we decided to move the picnic up to Sunday night, and to have it in the backyard. This turned out to be ideal - not only did it mean that we could have it earlier, and that we could feed Joy immediately beforehand and have her in her best evening mood while we ate, it also meant that Squirrel could come too! We wished we could have gotten a picture of him climbing into the picnic basket to inspect the contents.
Joy's present to us was having an ultra-cooperative day while Doug was away, so I could assemble the food. I prepped as much as possible on Saturday night, and on Sunday assembled the following picnic menu:
All this was accompanied by a chilled chardonnay, served in orange plastic martini glasses since we had no plastic wine glasses. For accent we had a vase of fresh tulips from the garden.
Doug was charmed, and Joy let us get all the way through dinner, though we had to save dessert for the next day. Squirrel took up a stealth post under a neighbor's low-slung azalea and stood guard.
All in all, for me it was the ideal anniversary picnic. Doug says it's his turn again next year (and that, for our 25th anniversary, he'll take me on a picnic to Switzerland!) We'll try for Woodlawn Manor next year; by then, Joy will be old enough to enjoy looking at the horses there....
Saturday, we had to take a second look at the plan. First, our sunny evening looked to be transforming into an evening of thunderstotms (very appropriate as far as anniversaries go, given that it rained on our wedding day too, but not so appropriate for a picnic). Second, we had not fully thought through the baby logistics, and an early evening picnic after work would be smack in the middle of the bedtime routine, and prime meltdown territory. An afternoon picnic would have been best, but Doug had firm plans for Sunday, so we were out of afternoons.
After some discussion, we decided to move the picnic up to Sunday night, and to have it in the backyard. This turned out to be ideal - not only did it mean that we could have it earlier, and that we could feed Joy immediately beforehand and have her in her best evening mood while we ate, it also meant that Squirrel could come too! We wished we could have gotten a picture of him climbing into the picnic basket to inspect the contents.
Joy's present to us was having an ultra-cooperative day while Doug was away, so I could assemble the food. I prepped as much as possible on Saturday night, and on Sunday assembled the following picnic menu:
- a raspberry cheese ball and fancy crackers for appetizer, accompanied by some fresh apple slices with a little lemon juice
- romaine lettuce topped with red pepper, grated carrots, and sunflower seeds, with balsamic vinegar and lemon olive oil dressing, for salad course
- a plate of little tea sandwiches: crustless slices of wheat bread, cut in fancy shapes and buttered, then filled with
- tarragon chicken salad with celery and dried cranberries
- ginger-carrot spread with cream cheese and mayonnaise
- parsley-walnut cream cheese spread
- raspberry crumble cake, cooked earlier that day in the solar oven
All this was accompanied by a chilled chardonnay, served in orange plastic martini glasses since we had no plastic wine glasses. For accent we had a vase of fresh tulips from the garden.
Doug was charmed, and Joy let us get all the way through dinner, though we had to save dessert for the next day. Squirrel took up a stealth post under a neighbor's low-slung azalea and stood guard.
All in all, for me it was the ideal anniversary picnic. Doug says it's his turn again next year (and that, for our 25th anniversary, he'll take me on a picnic to Switzerland!) We'll try for Woodlawn Manor next year; by then, Joy will be old enough to enjoy looking at the horses there....