Dear Diary - May 9, 2014 - Fiction

Dear Diary, 

Ellie here. 

I didn't want to think today. With everything that I learned this week, I needed a break.The girls had been begging me to do a picnic in the woods when it gets nice. They have been going to the bookmobile now that school is over with for the year and the nice librarian, Ellen, who comes along with the bookmobile has introduced my girls to this series with a little girl who goes on all kinds of adventures. Trudy is her name and Ellen thought the girls might be interested in reading of her adventures. Well, Ellen was correct and Trudy has opened up the girl's eyes to so many things. One adventure Trudy had was when she went on a picnic in the woods and the animals started to talk to her. 

Anna reads the Trudy stories to her two sisters in the evenings at bedtime and the three of them daydream of having similar adventures as Trudy does. So after the breakfast dishes were finished this morning I told the girls that since their dad and Simon were going to be helping Mose Miller with some of his farm work today we would go on a picnic if we got all of our cleaning and the laundry done before lunch time. 

All three girls were squealing and jumping up and down to the point that I had to bring them back to reality and calm them down. After they settled down I made a list for each of us to look on and see what else needs to be done. I let the girls work on the housework detail and I got busy downstairs with the laundry. The laundry always seems endless and while the loads are washing I busied myself with sweeping down the porches and washing a few windows in the basement. I could hear the girls upstairs moving chairs around and scampering from one room to the next dusting the furniture, sweeping the floors, and cleaning the bathroom and kitchen. 

In record time things were cleaned and after I was finished with the laundry I created a new list and this one was for the picnic. 

Going on a picnic list: 

Find the prettiest quilt in the cedar chest. 

4 small vases

4 cloth napkins from the middle drawer in the china closet

4 each of plates, glasses and silverware

4 tablets

The colored pencil set

4 pencils

sunscreen

When the girls saw their list there was more squealing and jumping around and asking questions, like, "you mean ANY quilt, mom?" I told them they could choose any quilt because I knew that my Oxy Clean could get out any grass stain we might get on the quilt and I wanted this to be a special day for my girls. 

I busied myself in the kitchen. Since I had been planning this picnic last night already I had made some finger jello in reds, oranges and purples, the girl's favorite jellos, and now I quickly cut them in flower shapes with cookie cutters and placed them in a small Tupperware container. Fresh cookies had been baked yesterday afternoon, this time I had made Whoopie Pies and now dessert was spoken for. The main course was going to be chicken salad sandwiches. I am using my neighbor, Karen's chicken salad recipe, it calls for halved grapes and walnuts and the sandwiches are so delicate and delicious. I had baked bread on Wednesday and so I cut a loaf into very thin slices and quickly assembled my sandwiches. Along with the decadent chicken sandwiches I had vegetables and French Onion dip and potato chips. I placed everything in Tupperware containers and gently placed each container into the ice chest. Already packed in the ice chest were cans of Dad's Root Bear and Orange Crush to drink at the picnic. 

We were finished with our chores at just the same time and so we got out our Radio Flyer wagon and packed the ice chest and all the goodies the girls had on their list on to the wagon and we headed down the past the barn and trekked back to the woods until we got to our creek. There is a beautiful spot back there that John always says he hopes to make into a camp site for our family one day. He would like to add a fire pit and some permanent seating and clean it up just a bit more. I hope he does because being back there makes one believe that maybe animals can talk just like in Trudy's adventures in my girls' book they have been reading. 

When we arrived at our little wooded nook beside the babbling brook I asked the girls to spread out the quilt. I was pleased to see they had picked out the pretty lavender and green one that my grandmother had pieced together. It was made with love for such a time as this. I believe if my grandmother were alive she would approve of us using it today for our picnic. 

After the quilt was spread on the ground we all set about to set the table. Arie and Amy arranged the plates and napkins, Anna and I set out the food in the middle of the quilt and poured out the root bear and orange crush. On the way to our picnic area we had found dainty little lavender flowers and a few bright yellow dandelions and so we picked all the flowers we could hold and Anna quickly arranged those flowers into the four vases we had brought from home, running them down to the creek and filling them with water before placing a small vase at each place setting on the quilt. 

When we were finished setting everything up the four of us stood there and looked at our beautiful picnic but then our hunger overtook us and we quickly sat down Indian style and dug into our scrumptious meal. The girls laughed and reminisced about how in Trudy's picnic adventure the animals had come out and talked to her. Just then we all saw a squirrel scampering down a nearby tree and the little girls giggled harder than ever because Trudy had talked to a squirrel in her adventure. They wondered if the squirrel might stop to talk with us and just thinking about it made Arie and Amy giggle until they were both rolling around in the grass. 

We lingered over our nice little picnic lunch. I sat there and let them talk. Usually at the dinner table John and I are so often busy discussing the incidents of the day that we tend to push the children aside and so today I let them talk and talk they did. After we were finished with our picnic luncheon I reached into my bag and pulled out the book of Trudy's Adventures. I had found it at Kohl's the last time I went shopping on our neighborhood grocery day. It had all ten Trudy stories compiled into one thick hardcover book. When I pulled out the heavy book and the girls realized what it was they all started to squeal and get excited because now they had Trudy all to themselves to read whenever they had the urge to. I'm so glad to have a trusty librarian such as Ellen to guide my children toward good reading material. 

The girls plopped on their bellies, Anna in the middle, Arie and Amy on either side of her and they began to read their new book. I quietly cleaned up the dishes and packed the leftovers into the ice chest and then I settled back on the quilt, flat on my back, hands under my head, my covering tipped up so not to wrinkle it and I closed my eyes and I rested and tried not to think. As I drifted off to sleep I started to dream about a man who was looking for his daughter. It was a strange dream and when I woke up I wasn't sure what to make of it. I had never seen the man in my dream before and I don't have a name for him, all I know is he was walking all day, every day, looking for his daughter. 

I felt unsettled after waking up. 

When I woke up I noticed the girls were not reading their book any longer and I heard splashing and more giggling and so I went to check and sure enough, there they were in the creek laughing and splashing in the water. They were soaked from head to toe, but I knew as warm as the day was today they would be dry by the time we walked back to the house. 

I called to the girls and after some reluctance they finally came and we packed everything back up and went back to the house to finish our day. The girls kept telling me how fun this had been and wondered if we can do it more often. I wanted to say yes to them but I also know how hard it is to keep such a promise when we are so busy. 

Diary, it has been a good day today. John and Simon brought back a good report of all that had gone on at Mose Miller's farm, the girls and I had a good time cleaning and doing the household chores and then spending the afternoon on a relaxing picnic. I didn't think much about the letter sister Ina shared with me earlier this week. I'm still so confused and not sure what we should do with what we know. I won't stress out about it tonight though. Tomorrow holds a new day and maybe an answer to what should be done, or not done. 

Either way, dear diary, goodnight, 

Ellie