A Special Picnic

from Susan Wittig Albert's book, The Tale of Castle Cottage

"But today is Parsley's birthday, and the hardworking badgers have laid 

aside their tasks and are taking a half-holiday to celebrate with a picnic.

Hyacinth made cucumber, egg, mayonnaise, and cress sandwiches

and deviled two dozen cuckoo eggs (removed from the robin nests

where clever cuckoos put them, to be hatched and fed by the mother robins).

 Primrose baked her famous carrot cake, and the rabbits fashioned party hats

out of paper doilies decorated with crayon and bits of colored ribbon.

Hyacinth invited Rascal, the little fawn-colored Jack Russell terrier from

the village.  He had brought a basket of snapdragons, daisies, and marigold

for Paisley, who put them in the middle of the picnic cloth for all the enjoy."

And so the picnic began.  "By the time the picnic was over, every sandwich,

every egg, and all the birthday cake had disappeared.  Not a crumb was left."

I hope you enjoyed the picnic today.

When the sunshine comes out my heart begins dreaming of picnics.

And for sure, it must include hot or cold tea.