You can't see the bluebonnets in the picnic photo, but they were not far from the blanket where my mom, sister and I picnicked. We had stopped for lunch on our drive from Houston, heading to Austin for a giggly girl's weekend.  We decorated the car with silly streamers and oddball knickknacks and beads. (The display went unnoticed when I was stopped for speeding later)  And we brought along a sad looking, sand-filled droopy doll my mom used as a quirky motivational prop. Miss Copeless, as she was called, was our trip mascot and she attended our picnic as we.  As we lunched, we laughed about the Texan habit of posing babies and pets in bluebonnets, so we made sure to pose Miss Copeless in a lovely patch across the road before we left.  So wish I could picnic with Mom today.  It is her birthday.

Don and I were pleased to find a picnic table beside a dirt road with a view of the bridge and river.  But I was even more pleased when we decided to walk across the bridge after lunch.  Before crossing, I glanced towards a tree nearby and spotted a red wooden swing hanging from one of the branches.  I was so tickled by the discovery that I had to stop and swing a bit. On the seat of the swing I found a website address, that made me even more intrigued with my little red swing! www.redswingproject.org

My mother, grandmother, daughter and I had many a picnic in Queeny Park.  (I wish we'd had a camera timer so Mom could be in the photo) We would bring the little blue hook-on chair for Heidi and park close to a table so Daw didn't have far to walk with her cane.  I love the way Heidi and Daw are side by side, sipping away!    Heidi's eyes look droopy and I'm sure moments later she reached for Bobby (the bunny dangling near her leg) and put a thumb in her mouth. 

This is one of my favorite spots in Lake Tahoe.  It doesn't have the stunning views that you get from higher elevations, but you can walk on the beach AND there's a picnic table!  Don and I had quite a feast with sandwiches from "Yellow Sub" in South Lake Tahoe.  And a huge flock of geese entertained us in the water, just a few feet away.  Water, mountains and sand.  You can't beat that!