Picnics Are For All Seasons and Reasons

You may not think that eating on your patio is a picnic, but anytime you eat outside, by definition, you are picnicking. If you decide to eat the lunch you brought to work in the park on a nice day, you are having a picnic lunch.

Some picnics can take quite a bit of planning, such as an out door wedding reception, while others might be as simple as feeding the kids lunch as they sit on a picnic blanket in their back yard.

When I was a kid my grandma used to pack a picnic basket and we would go to Lake Michigan during the summer. Grandma would not take off her sensible black shoes as we walked across the sand. After spreading the blanket she would sit and watch me splash in the water and make sand castles. There always seemed to be other kids around when we had our picnic lunch and Grandma always had enough sandwiches for everybody.

If it rained my grandma would still pack a basket and we would eat on our covered front porch and play cards. If my friend from across the street came over she would share our lunch and play cards with us. The great thing about picnics is that they are flexible and adaptable to any type of weather throughout the year.

Most Sunday afternoons in the summer our family would go swimming or to a wayside area where there was enough room for my father and brothers to hit a baseball without worrying about breaking our neighbors windows. In the fall we liked to hike though one of the state parks in the splendor of red and gold leaves.

Wherever we went, Mother never packed food we would not have eaten had we been home. It just tasted better and it was more fun to play, eat when we were hungry, and play or explore some more.

My mother emptied the ice trays to pack ice around the food in her open wicker picnic basket so it would not spoil on hot summer days. Keeping food cool is not a problem today with insulated picnic baskets, backpacks and totes.

While Memorial Day is the traditional kick off to the summer outdoor grilling season and Labor Day the end, the picnic season actually goes on all year long and not just in warmer climates.

There are as many tailgating picnics in the northern states during football season, college and pro, as in the warmer southern states. Delicious smells and billowing smoke rise above the parking lots where fans are grilling their favorite foods and enjoying the camaraderie.

In the winter it has to be cold enough before people can stake out their place on a frozen lake, cut a hole in the ice and fish. A lot of the fun comes from sharing picnic food and beverages with friends while waiting for the fish to bite.

Picnic are for all seasons and all occasions from simple to elegant, impromptu to planned. There is always another picnic to look forward to anytime of the year.