Reunion Picnic

Slept in the van parked at the back of Mike's block of flats, waking to another fine sunny morning

We trundle down to Confederation Park and get a big welcome-back from the parkrun community. I try and run slowly and steadily to try and protect my knee, but still finish in my normal 22 minutes. My barcode is in a suitcase in Mike's flat, so no official result. Thankfully that didn't happen for my hundredth.

Breakfast of leftover pizza and wings at a park picnic table, then back to Mike's to drop off the last few things in the van. A final drive to Beamsville to return the RV, the hand-back goes very smoothly due to the repaired fly screen - thank you again, Curtis

The afternoon is given over to the much delayed and reorganised Vesich family reunion picnic, held in Gina and Ian's backyard. The word backyard really does not do justice to their garden, with its pool, luxuriously soft lawn, summerhouse and firepit area.

The unheated pool is surprisingly warm and is very popular 

Vera passes round her old photos, which everyone loves. Pictures are so good at provoking memories of past events, people and places. A printed photo seems to have much more meaning than the large number of digital pictures that we all store nowadays. It will have been selected for keeping many years ago, and its survival over the years attests to the value placed upon it. I half-joke that I will bring these pictures along to a reunion in 20 years time

The party carries on into the evening. We sit in a large circle, chat, and play music

The party carries on into the night. Ian has what I now recognise as a provincial park firepit, apparently liberated from an unused camp ground. It works so much better with dry seasoned wood. Provincial park logs are a byword for wet fuel.

Previous

Next