Stalking Wonder: The Picnic

Isn't that photo glorious? I should have saved it for the end of the post but I couldn't resist. It's too happy, and happy shouldn't be put off. You've got to grab happy whenever and wherever you can.

For me these days, happy is a picnic. The weather has sorted itself out, the gardens are thriving, the days are long and warm, and I can think of few things finer than eating outdoors with friends and family. It's picnic time all right.

I recently had the extreme pleasure of being included in a picnic that was wonderful in every way. A beautiful garden, where we ate under a cherry tree already festoon with tiny green fruit, next to a lilac bush still hanging onto the last of her blooms. We were surrounded by daisies and lavender and all manner of beautiful plants and flowers. It's a magical spot.



And then there was the food. Gorgeous lettuces plucked from a garden (by a wonderful new gardener) and dressed in homemade ranch dressing with buttermilk from a local farm. A potato salad with asparagus and morels and a basil dressing (wow), chicken and ribs right off the grill, cookies and wine and the most amazing dessert. It truly was a feast.



But more than the food—which was outstanding—were the people. Friends old and new, some met that very day. A conversation that dipped and wove its way through stories and laughter and strong opinions. The sharing of thoughts and hopes and experience, and even outrage sometimes, as the sun arched across an impossibly blue sky and headed for the horizon.

It reminded me of a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson that I've always loved:

"I wish that life should not be cheap, but sacred. I wish the days to be as centuries, loaded, fragrant."

That day was.



And I did what I love to do. I nestled my glass is a hollow in the lawn and lay on my stomach with my toes in the grass and I listened to a conversation that contained whole worlds in it. Wisdom and experience and humor shared—and I was reminded that we humans are tribal creatures, not meant to live alone. We survive best when encircled by bonds and relationships and connections. Some people get this through their family, some people create a family of friends, drawing people close and forging the ties that will sustain them. That day we felt like a little tribe, out in the garden, sharing our lives and our loves and our food together under a generous sun.

It was the very best sort of day.

And in the end we had flan with rhubarb compote—the most amazing flan made by an amazing woman, topped with dulce de leche she had carried back from a trip to Argentina. It was so delicious that we all fell silent as we ate it.



But for me that day was not about the food—as wonderful as it was. It was about the people, the connection, the time spent together in a glorious garden. The feeling of community, of communion, of good things beginning to grow.

Don't you think you should try having a picnic soon?


Photo of yours truly, in her favorite habitat, by the lovely Bonne Vivant

Don't think I'd leave you high and dry without recipes:

Danny's potato salad with morels and asparagus and basil vinaigrette
(I loved this dish)
Viv's incredible flan de queso (your life may never be the same)
Shauna's buttermilk ranch dressing (inspired by Cookiecrumb)
Rhubarb compote

Happy weekend, friends. I hope you get a picnic in soon!