Memorial Day Picnic Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 18 x 24" 45 x 60cm
Path to Ludovico's with chickens Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 12 x 19.5" 30 x 50cm
Sun on the Grapevines out back Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 12 x 16" 30 x 40cm
This is really a magical place we live, as though there are
rocks beneath the house, like diamonds, sending sparkling good luck our
way. And luck to anyone else who comes
by to enjoy. But I shall be careful not to look a gift
horse in the mouth – I leave the most of the rocks
there to do their magic as they do.
It was a wonderful day on Sunday with a picnic outdoors on
the new table. The new table was part of
the fun: we found a large slab of stone,
about 6 x 2 feet, in our basement.
Blair had noticed two large urns which weren’t being used as planters
which would make perfect bases – we brought those up, not too difficult. We filled them with rocks and sand. But
the tabletop weighed a terrific amount – at least 120 pounds (50 kilos). We borrowed a dolly with pneumatic tires from
a neighbor and were able to “bounce” the huge stone up the necessary eight
stairs.
A friend, staying with us for the moment, and Blair, used
best architectural practices (not) to position the urns. We pulled out the grass, anyway. The three of us swung the table onto the
bases, and voila! Instant outdoor
dining.
Then I realized we needed an umbrella against the sun, and I
brought a length of string and all the umbrellas we had (8). This procedure involved a demijohn full of
water, a broom handle, and rope.
Momentarily, it appeared to work, but eventually all the umbrellas found
the lowest spot on the rope and hung together.
The umbrellas did work as parasols, however, and diners could use them
to shield the rays.
The diners, our guests, were a wonderful lot, and we covered
topics from the weather to pronunciation, ancient texts to modern books, dogs
and cats. We were 10 humans, 3 dogs, in
all. We ate burgers and rillettes,
potato salad and lemon cupcakes, gin and tonics and wine, ending with coffee
and a whole watermelon…
It was one of those days when the sun arched over a
cloudless sky, casting rays through the green leaves and bouncing off the
grass. Ludovico, the gardener, came
through in the clutch and mowed the small lawn around the house just fifteen
minutes before the guests arrived. We
had to shoo him away in favor of parking cars.
We can now get around without twisting an ankle.
Everyone left as the sun slipped behind the trees and we
brought our watermelon inside.
