Should you search through this site, you'll find that many - not all, but many - State Fair weeks I would take some combination of the kids on a Grasshopper Picnic; so named because we would usually share a Little Caesar's pizza in Whitnall Park, and finish by catching a jar or two of grasshoppers that we released in our yard.
Alas, this year, three considerations have affected this outing;
1. I maintain a glorious array of bird feeders, and bringing the grasshoppers home would be ensuring their quick demise at the hands, er, beaks, of my pretties.
2. I'm planning on going to the Fair tomorrow, and the kids work.
and
3. When I drove by a field this week and suggested it as a location, LuLu called it "more like a tick picnic."
Hrmph.
So, improvisation. Today all the kids who live at home were working, but Junie and Smiley had a few hours free around noon. Alas, Smiley made plans for coffee with a friend, so Junie and I went to a small, local Italian grocery store that has a hot food counter, and bought some vittles.
A cup of chili and a dark rye roll for me, chicken tenders and potato wedges for her. Oh, and she bought me an oatmeal raisin cookie and apple juice.
We ate in the car and talked about the Aubreys (band of the great Finn Wolfhard) and the upcoming school year, and the siblings. What I remember best is her shock when I told her I sometimes stopped at that store for lunch when I had a morning class at Marquette. The idea of me having a life independent of their memories remains largely theoretical for all of them, I think.
Afterwards we bought some school supplies and visited YaYa for a bit.
Anyway, *maybe* we'll pull off a catch-and-release genu-wine Grasshopper Picnic. But if not, this was mighty nice too.
