Annual Fall Picnic

Now that I've finally caught up on my Paris trip posting (of my trip that I got home from in September!), I can finally blog about our annual fall picnic that Shawn & I have been doing for the past few years. We usually do it on or very close to Thanksgiving Day, and this tradition comes from my family, as my parents would bring my sister & I every year around this time to 'see the leaves'. Our favourite part of the day of course was making piles of colored leaves on the ground and jumping into them and burying each other in the leaves for fun, posing for pictures.

The day evolved into a picnic when we got a little older, where we'd stop at various roadside stands and buy freshly baked bread, Oka cheese, apples and apple jelly. My parents would pack wine for them (complete with glass wine glasses) and we'd proudly sip juice from the same glasses. My dad used to just stop somewhere on the side of the road (where it looked like there were the most red leaves (my favourite color!)) and we'd walk around then set up camp for our lunch. We ended up getting spooked one year when we saw hunters moving about with guns and realized that it was pretty dangerous and that could end up getting accidentally shot! So, we took the safe route and started going to Oka park (where you have to pay to get in to admire nature - how insulting!), so this is where Shawn & I go for our picnic. Bonus is it is only about a 10-15 minute drive from our home! I introduced him to the idea after we had been together for a few years, and this year was our third (or fourth?) picnic. My cousin & his wife gave us a picnic backpack complete with an insulated picnic blanket, utensils, plates, cups and a tiny cutting board as a late bridal shower gift at our wedding last year, so this was our second time using it this year. I usually carry it so Shawn has less incumberances while taking photographs.

We were definately not impressed with the weather on Thanksgiving Monday, and regretted not going on the Saturday, which had been really sunny, but we had spent it shopping instead. Nothing was going to deter me from going this year, short of a blustering rain storm, so we dressed warm and set out in the early afternoon. The day was slightly dark and dreary and we did get some periodic drizzle (specifically while we were eating!) but in general, we stayed dry (me with my hood!) and enjoyed the day.

We took a path we had not taken before and discovered a tall tower that serves as an excellent vantage point to see the whole park and gives you a nice view of the water. We also walked down a wooden bridge to the water, where we saw clumps of blue foamy stuff, which we wondered were the blue algae that has been all over the news this year.

We were extremely disappointed that we did not get to see much wildlife this year, except for this blue herron in the distance.

Last year Shawn had such a good time experimenting with our new camera, photographing chipmunks, squirrels and a small grass snake that we were able to get really close to - check out this amazing shot - the tongue looks plastic!

We reminisced about the great weather we had on our picnic last year, it was so sunny and we had not even needed jackets! We had gotten off to such a late start though, that we didn't get to enjoy much of the day, as we had to rush off to Thanksgiving Dinner at my parents that night. This year, we had much more time as we left earlier and we had already had our turkey dinner earlier in the weekend. But sadly, the cold weather and the lack of action at the park caused us to want to end the day early. We had walked a really long time and I was very anxious to enjoy our snack, so by the time we chose a bench to sit down on, I was really hungry! Preparing and eating everything on a bench was not as comfortable as using a picnic table, but since we couldn't find one, the bench had to do! As we started eating, it began to spit rain, so the sight of us with tiny plastic plates and wine glasses on our laps in the rain made the few people who did walk by us smile (they must have either thought we looked cute or silly!). Our slices of fresh apple, rosemary bread with Oka cheese (light, of course!) and apple jelly and apple cider were delicious & really hit the spot, despite the damp, chilly weather!

When we got home, I got ambitious and finished putting together and painting the bench I had been redoing over the late summer, and ended the day with a sense of accomplishment (although wet & cold!).