Picnic day!

My birthday was on Saturday, so instead of a last-minute dinner I seized the day and planned ahead and decided it was a good excuse for a day-trip to Bowral. This was one of the bigger organisational feats in my life so far. I had the idea in December last year, in fact. I wrote a rather extensive list on Thursday, things to do, buy, and make. This wasn't chip sandwiches in the park! It was a pretty proper picnic. 

First, I gathered picnic blankets. I bought one of those tartan ones, but then I also went to an op shop and got a bedspread and 2 lace tablecloths for a few dollars each. Throwing lace tablecloths over the blankets made everything look so much fancier.

Photos by Denise.

I took real cutlery and my cheap glass tumblers, because plastic cuttles are annoying and plastic cups have no stability and drinks get spilt. How nice it looks, sparkling glassware with Ribena on a white lace spread! I broke 2 glasses getting them home and washing them, but like I said, cheap. Completely worth the sacrifice.

Artful photo of the healthy part of the picnic.

I also made cloth napkins, by cutting squares of leftover linen from my last shirt-making and overlocking them (mum has just lent me her overlocker). 30 minutes on Thursday night.

And the final fancy thing was that I baked bread. It kind of meant that we left a bit later because it took ages to rise and bake on the cold day, but it was delicious and still warm when we got there and ate it. I made a basic white mix, split it in 3 and put LSA in one and lots of olives, garlic and herbs in another. SOOOOO YUMMMY, much better than my last olive bread.

So other than that bit of special effort, the picnic was cheap and basic and I only had to buy some deli and salad stuff, and others also chipped in with BBQ chicken, lollies, etc etc. We read some appropriate poetry, napped, whizzed through the main street to buy gumboots and fabric and coffees, and then plundered an antique shop in Mittagong of their second hand clothes. I bought some culottes! A skirt but secretly shorts. Speaking of shorts, the day was too short and we were home by 6pm (to head out to various Saturday night engagements).

Review: A splendid time was had by all. It was quite possibly my happiest birthday ever.