Sunday, May 13, 2012

Spiffnicking

What is it with teeth?
No, rephrase that, what is it with hanging off teeth that just cling on by a thread?
No, rephrase that even; what is it with hanging off teeth that just cling on by a thread, owned by a seven years old who loves to push it forward with her tongue?
Eugh!
Childbirth I can do, watching suturing I can do, blood I can do, teeth...I cannot!

I do think though that some of the eugh factor comes from the fact that LMB actually enjoys making me squirm! That one is for the stage if ever I saw it.

This afternoon we had lost Master Beehive the younger to cub camp and we headed off to a Jazz afternoon in the park with a picnic. We went with a full mouth of teeth but came back one less after she insisted on pulling it out so she could eat cucumber!

Of course we were stoically British, eating our picnics under a grey, cloudy sky with smidgens of sunshine every half hour, and a bitterly cold wind. We Brits will not let anything destroy our desire for cucumber sandwiches, sausage rolls, hard boiled eggs and warm lemonade in plastic cups.

When it is really cold, even two people can get in a poncho!

That said, the bar set for British picnic food has seriously gone up in the world these days!
A cucumber sandwich eaten with a flask of luke warm tea on a plaid picnic blanket will no longer pass for a decent fare when having a picnic - oh no sireee! Today the spread around us (not ours I hasten to add) consisted of quiches, salads (in bowls with servers!), olives, pinwheel wraps, sushi (!!!), individual cheesecakes, bottles of wine, bottles of beer. There were barely any picnic blankets - we were obviously the lower class of picnic goer, instead people brought tables - fair enough - and chairs - fair enough again, although I'm not sure there was quite the necessity for Cath Kidstonesque matching picnic chairs with wine holders (but perhaps I just don't understand the need yet?) - tablecloths, (which blow away unless...being a seasoned picnicker you will have brought your table clips), condiments, and vases of flowers!!!!!!!! Really? Perhaps we need a new name for this sport, after all, posh camping is known as glamping, perhaps the new trend we are setting ourselves is Spiffnicking?
Maybe, in my desire to be cynical, there is actually an in-born hardiness to all these Spiffnickers that us lesser picknickers don't appreciate? By tempting yourself outside to sit in the bitter cold with sunglasses and a woolly hat, there is some need for exotic goodies to entice oneself. Maybe the draw with the cucumber sani just isn't there otherwise?

I also wanted to show you the quilt I made yesterday on the course I went on. I'm chuffed to bits with it - a really useful quilt....lovely and warm... just big enough to wrap around yourself....when going on a picnic...if you remember to take it *sigh*!







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