"gloria.p" > wrote in message
...
> On 8/1/2011 12:27 PM, Ranée at Arabian Knits wrote:
>> In >,
>> > wrote:
>>
>>> A picnic should be a relaxing getaway for EVERYONE, including Mother,
>>> not a morning spent working in the kitchen to prepare elegant food
>>> so everyone else can enjoy themselves. I think of vacations in the same
>>> way. I prepare food in my house every day. Packing a lovely lunch up in
>>> an attractive, healthy manner doesn't add to the enjoyment of the day
>>> for me although it did in my younger days. Bread, cheese, fruit is OK.
>>> Multi-courses, salads, and things that take hours to prep and cook,
>>> not so much.
>>
>> I disagree with the idea that somehow play
>> time/vacations/celebrations that require some work are no longer fun for
>> the person or people working.
>
> Tell us that in another 30 years, or even now if you are the only person
> doing the work. You evidently lead a charmed life.
>
>> Rich helps, the children help, but usually
>> by fetching and carrying or cleaning. This idea that any leisure that
>> requires effort isn't really leisure seems a pernicious message to me.
>
> Pernicious? No, it's an honest opinion from someone from a generation
> where Mother literally does all the work, shopping, prep, cooking,
> cleaning, and cleanup while the family and guests celebrate.
>
> When my daughter or son and their family are here now, they are a
> tremendous help. Husband not so much, ditto their spouses.

Oh boy can I relate to that! In this house I do pretty much all of the
work. When my daughter wasn't injured she would help with some things but
frankly with her schedule she isn't normally home much. Now this summer she
is home pretty much all the time but is unable to do much with her back in a
corset.

Then there are the holidays. Soooo much work! My daughter will start out
helping with some things, like the giant surprise ball. But she will
quickly get bored and it is all left up to me. She does do most of the
Christmas tree once I get it all set up. The kind we have can be a pain to
set up and get all the lights on. I am to the point where I don't even care
if there is a tree or not. I don't want to put it up and I don't want to
take it down. I do have a little wall tree that I can leave decorated year
after year. It is all we used for a number of years but I know children
love trees. And she likes to decorate it. But it is up to me to do all the
shopping and wrapping and shipping. And that's a lot of work! I have
already gotten started on the shopping because I can't afford to buy
everything all at once.

I do remember going on frequent picnics when I was very young. I don't
remember what we ate. I think they were more of a necessity then because my
parents (or at least my dad who did the driving) loved to take road trips
and we didn't have much money in those days. I think it is just cheaper and
perhaps easier to eat outdoors when you have little kids.

When we got older our picnics were usually stops on road trips. My mom
planned the meal by making meatloaf on Friday night and we'd have cold
meatloaf sandwiches the next day. It was always the same meal. My dad
didn't take any part in making the meal but he would go out and get ice for
the cooler. I can remember her getting upset when there would be some sort
of accident with the food. In those days we didn't have any plastic bags or
even containers to pack the sandwiches in. So they went in open topped
waxed paper bags placed straight on the ice. Once in a while a bag would
come open and someone would have a soggy sandwich.

We did sometimes eat in our back yard. Mostly we did that when the
neighbors came over. And we did that because we had a big picnic table.
Plus a small table for the kids to sit at. Our table in the house wasn't
big enough. Once in a while my dad would BBQ but mostly it was just KFC
which was within walking distance of our house.