Mother's Day Picnic

Before we even had children I started a tradition of taking Mr. W on a picnic for Mother's Day weekend. It sort of began as an extension of me making up for lost time while I was living in New York and missing out on Portland. My first year back in the PNdub I went to as many festivals and parks as I could squeeze in, one of which was the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden. Since all the rhodys and azaleas would be in bloom in May I decided Mother's Day weekend would be a good time to visit and a perfect setting for a picnic.
The next year I decided upon Rocky Butte which I had never visited. This began my trend of alternating between parks with gardens and parks with views. These are our parks so far:
2002 Crystal Springs (gardens)
2003 Rocky Butte (view)
2004 Peninsula Park (gardens)
2005 Council Crest (view)
2006 Ladd's Circle (gardens)2007 Washington Park's International Rose Test Garden (both views and gardens)2008 Our parlor floor2009 WestMoreland (garden)2010 Mt. Tabor (view)2011 Duniway Lilac Garden (garden)
Since it was a garden year and we are having a late spring, I thought this lilac garden would be perfect timing. Lilacs are my favorite flower; they are both purple and wonderfully fragrant. I usually scout out the parks prior to picnic day to find the best spot to set up as well as the proximity of good parking spots. We don't pack light for our picnics!
The problem this year was the weather didn't cooperate. Or I am just too ambitious. Or Mr. W doesn't tell me no when he thinks I have a bad idea. We knew before we left the house that it was rainy so we were searching for alternate locations. Unfortunately the PP&R site doesn't list whether the parks have covered picnic areas or not. Something you might think would be relevant and important for Portland park goers...I'm just saying. We had two other options as we drove put, but as we crossed the Willamette the sky opened up and the clouds seemed to disappear. All that sun shine made me irrational. We could still go to the lilac garden after all! So after we parked in the sunshine and loaded up our stroller in the sunshine and walked into the park in the sunshine, it began to sprinkle. On we tread, and the sprinkle turned to drizzle. We decided to abandon our plan to sit at a picnic table out in the open and headed toward a bench under a giant Douglas Fir which was even further away from the car. As I began to convert that sad, vandalized bench into our picnic table the precipitation could only be described as rain. When we sat down to eat it was officially pouring.
I think it is safe to say that I am the only mom forcing her family to have a picnic in the rain on Mother's Day. Mr. W found it much less funny than I did. Oopsie. We all got soaked, our food was wet, even Our Little Helper decided that the novelty of being out in the rain had worn off. Baby Boy was the only one who was dry being safely strapped in the stroller, but he was screaming his head off. Mr. W had had enough and went to retrieve the car as I loaded the stroller up with every rain drenched thing we had and pushed it through the mud toward the street.
Lesson learned. Always find a covered picnic spot if there is any rain forecast. Next year will be better.

Feast of St. Francis

My friend Mrs. P-M recently had a baby and one of her friends organized a group of us to rotate making dinners for the new parents through a website. I think this is such a clever idea, and a perfect idea for second or more children in lieu of another shower. The organizer had included in the set up that the new parents may or may not be up for guests joining them for dinner, and to be mindful of how long you linger after the meal. I thought it was a great tip to include so that the parents aren't in a possition of having to say, "We're too sleepless; it's time for you to leave!"
The first opening I was able to find happened to also be the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. Since my friend is just as Catholic, if not more so than me, I knew she'd appreciate a little nod to the saint.
Since it was October and full fall weather I knew I'd want to make a soup and decided a vegetarian one would be most appropriate in honoring the patron saint of animals. One of my favorites is a carrot soup with orange and ginger from my Williams-Sonoma Soup cookbook. It is tasty and a good autumn color.
I also brought my little St. Francis statue to use as a centerpiece for the table and some nice crusty bread with an herbed goat cheese. My friends had recently moved into a new house so it was my first time there and after dinner I really enjoyed snuggling with a 6 week old baby. My son was not too upset that I was holding a baby instead of playing on the floor with him, so I hope that is a good sign for when his baby brother arrives.
After we returned home I read to him from the book St. Francis of Assisi by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Several years ago St. Philip Neri parish, which hosts an annual Muddy Boot Festival had Kennedy as the keynote speaker. I bought tickets for myself and my parents. He is an impressive speaker and very motivational to get into action to make changes in our world through his work with the Riverkeepers. Certainly encouraging us to watch more real news and less celebrity news. After he spoke he was signing his autographs on his children's book on St. Francis since he and his father were named for him. The book is a little too long for a 3 year old to sit through, but I enjoyed reading all of it.
So a very low key feast this year, I'm sure our future will include me dragging the family pets to school for a special blessing of the animals. That was just not something I had the energy for while pregnant.