Ghost of Picnics Past

This one obviously had a history. The plates are worn, but not too worn, every piece is there, the flasks have provided for many cups of tea or coffee. There is even a little compact 2-in-1 salt & pepper set.

I wonder if it saw the beach or the mountains? Whether it travelled far, went fishing or on summer holidays? Or was this a weekend-picnicker? A family, on a picnic blanket or a table. With a dog, or maybe not. Packed up in the back of a station wagon, or was it a caravan? Salads or sandwiches. Cakes or biscuits. Sausages on a barbecue, cold meat in an esky. Orange cordial, fruitcake, pie. Mosquitoes & flies. Can't you just see the memories? I can just smell picnic.

It started with the lion

It started with the lion. Well, her collecting didn't. Her opshop bargains, garage sale pounces, market gems, gifts and occasional lavish offerings by friends and strangers have been going on for years.

She was sure that surely someone else would appreciate her magnificent lion plate, the one that she loved so much she almost choked / cried when she saw it, and that it just needed to be appreciated and beloved. Alas it only found one other admirer, in a sister (me, to be exact). Well, the kind of rapturous delight it called for, anyway.

So, this is a blog-by-proxy, for my internet-deprived and non-internet-savvy sibling. Who also wishes to sort of remain anonymous and wants her collection of prize finds to be adored by an appreciative general public, but to remain her secret special collection all the same :)

Or in any case that the lion might find at least one other admirer to appreciate his loveliness.

(Does the lion not bring to your mind the song 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' (except he's a good lion, this one), or a childhood story I loved called 'The Lion in the Meadow'. You should really get a hold of that one:) )