Floral arrangements and knitting picnics

Last week I hit the road with some friends for an out-of-town picnic, and brought knitting.  It was fabulous, all of it.

I took pictures for the happiness project in Niagara-on-the-Lake, which is a very pretty town in southern Ontario you should really visit some time if you haven't already.

This is one of the less breathtaking floral arrangements that run along the streets there - the Niagara region in general allocates some serious budget to some seriously amazing landscapers.

This one is private though - it's alongside the door of Greaves, purveyors of suuuuch delicious jam.  I love that stuff so much.  And you can find anything jammy in there.  A couple of years ago I got obsessed with finding lime marmalade (only ever having known the orange variety) and had a terrible time.  Turns out Greaves makes it, and lemon marmalade too.

In Niagara-on-the-Lake there are many very expensive shops, a very good theatre, pantloads of lovely accommodations, and tremendous parks (one of which runs alongside Lake Ontario.)

Also: fudge.  The fact that the fudge gets its own paragraph tells you how fabulous it is.  In fact I have ordered this fudge from out of town for similarly out of town Christmas present deliveries, it is so good.

I did not have fudge on this trip because I'm getting a little paranoid about sugar consumption, but I do want to tell you about the picnic part (which was in not-particularly-nearby Port Colborne) because I'm not sure I've shared this tip here.

See that pretty cloth on the park's picnic table?  It's a twin-sized fitted sheet I bought at a charity shop for less than a dollar, and I always carry it with me for dining out like this.  You just pop it over the table and not only can you overlook any burn marks or annotations of teen romance, you can rest easy in the knowledge it wont' blow away.  Because it's fitted, see? and the elastic at the corners holds it in place.  On the right there you can see how the sheet is billowing up a bit, but that's as bad as it gets. 

Sadly I am not going on any sort of outing today: instead, it's basement-land again.  Hope you're not stuck with anything so mundane or that if you are, the flower pictures cheer you up too.

See you tomorrow!