My mom saved a letter that my grandma Norma wrote to me when I was about 4, and in the letter, I remember my grandma said that she hoped I got to "have lots of picnics" that week. I think of that sometimes when I'm trying to find something to do that Flannery and I will both enjoy. It seems like good advice, to "have lots of picnics," because every time a meal is a picnic, it becomes special. Today, Flannery had a teacher's work day, so I took the day off to be with her. We had such a calm and peaceful day. We stayed in our pajamas until probably 11 or so, playing with her train set, painting, and snuggling together watching some cartoons. Then, we walked down the street to the Methodist children's home and had a picnic.
The Children's Home is great--there is a park, there are gardens, there are ball fields, and there's even a duck pond on the campus. There's also an old chapel there that is just gorgeous. And today, one of the master gardeners happened to be working in the garden while we were there for our picnic, and she let us inside the chapel! I'd been wanting to see the stained glass windows from inside, and they did not disappoint! The gardener told us that the chapel had been built in 1907 and that it had been the church she had attended as a child. The Candler family gave the money to have it built, and it's been preserved beautifully. Flannery loved the organ inside, and the tiny flowers outside that grow between the rocks in the garden. And I loved the dark wood of the pews and the ceiling--and the interesting window dedicated to Asa Candler.
It was like finding a little treasure to get to see all those beautiful sights today--and none of it would've happened if we hadn't decided to have a picnic.
How can you work a picnic into your schedule? My coworker, Kristen, and I used to take our lunch outside on nice days back in Chapel Hill, and it was such a mini vacation to be outside in the sunlight now and then.
