Sept. 03, 2007 - 21:54 MDT

LAST PICNIC OF THE YEAR

Labor Day weekend was the time for our last picnic of the year. Guess it was because our picnics were in the mountains or nearby foothills and weather could change in a minute. Labor Day weekend is a time that Denver folks felt safe being in the hills and having relaxing fun and grub.

And those picnics were hummers, they were.

Watermelon, cantaloupe, soda pop cooling in the stream, and tables and tables of good food. Several different kinds of potato salad, hardboiled eggs dyed in beet juice, chicken and pork were plentiful as well as beef. And there the go-with things, chow-chow, pickalilly, pickles of various kinds, dills, sweets and bread and butter pickles, then the celery stuffed with Bluhill Pimento Cheese. Hamburgers, hot dogs for us kids seemed to be on tap from the minute we got there.

Another thing that was plentiful was salad stuff, several kinds of Cole Slaw - seasoned differently and maybe of a slightly different cut too. Iceberg lettuce salads, with and without whatever, onion freaks had a salad, and onion haters had their choice too. I loved the big jar of ripe olives someone would bring, but managed to destroy green olives stuffed with pimentos. Cheeses to fit anyones pleases, breads of many different kinds.

Those were the days of real most anything, butter and other things. That was before everybody aged and began to diet.

I was like many of the other kids, we played our hearts out before the dinner bell rang. By the time we ate, we were so stuffed it was hard to stand up to do much of anything. Bellies sloshing with all the pop we could drink as well.

It was hard to restrain oneself and save room for dessert � we sort of halfway managed. Didn�t quite eat enough to founder an army and managed to sample each cake, pie and other dessert set out for our greedy eyes.

Being everlasting optomists, the grown folks did manage to put oilcloths and newspapers in their cars in case of rain, which did happen fairly often in the afternoon. Usually a fast moving light shower, enough to wet things down a bit. Sun coming out thereafter and drying things a little.

We didn�t quit eating BIG after that, but the BIG feasts were indoors for the rest of the year, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts.

We held in our memories summer picnicking with fondness and memories ot the LAST PICNIC OF THE YEAR . . . . . . . . . .

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