PICNIC

Maybe the kettle takes longer to boil, and the ground isn't as soft as a chair. Maybe the butter runs soft in the sun, and the cake seems to wilt in the air.

Maybe a wasp drowns himself in the jam, and the leaves float on top of the tea; and maybe you get a bit cramped in your foot, when you balance your plate on your knee.

But you eat from a table the whole long year round, politely, from January to December, while a meal in the open air loosens your laugh and is always a joy to remember.

Kathleen Partridge, Bits & Pieces, May 26, 1994, p. 7.