A Picnic Can Be A Walk In The Park
A Picnic Can Be A Walk In The Park was Originally Posted on July 4, 2013 by lavarock
The first Tuesday of each month, Konaweb hosts a picnic for both visitors and residents. Konaweb is s website set up by a couple after moving here and being barraged with questions such as “If we move there, how do we…” and “”Where is the best place to…”, etc. Normally Bob and his wife Shirley are the hosts, however when they are out of town they sometimes ask me to host the picnic.
As the saying goes “The story can now be told…”, Bob and Shirley were to be out of town for this picnic. Well, out of town is a misnomer, as would out of state. They were in Switzerland, allowing the Swiss to enjoy some Hawaiian slack key and hula.
I was given the banner (which needed a bit of repairing), the napkins, utensils, tablecloths and well, all the other things we set up for the picnic. Because we don’t reserve a pavilion at the old airport, I usually get there very early to ensure we get a covered area with two tables. This month I had 3 people kindly come down and help me get setup. The setup is fairly easy and can be pretty quick, however the hard part is looking busy for perhaps 2 hours. Since we are taking up a whole pavilion, it helps to make it look like there will be a large group coming right away, rather than hours from now. I have relinquished a table to a family who had no other place to eat, knowing that we may have more limited space later. Sometimes all pavilions are full and we eat at a few scattered picnic tables in the area, which is not the most conducive to a group picnic.
The old airport was the destination of visitors for decades, before the “new” airport was built up the road. The old airport was converted to a park and now has an inline skate area, some ball fields nearby, and walking area. It fronts a small beach and has 4 pavilions with tables and some tables scattered about. There are also a couple of rest rooms and showers.
In this case, I was happy for the company as I had people to chat with for a couple hours.
We usually take a photo before we eat and before sundown. With the current length of the day, the photo is taken well before sundown. This also can be a slight problem if someone comes a bit late. We end up taking an extra photo and photoshop-ing it in. I waited as long as stomachs could bear awaiting a family to arrive but ended up taking the photo and sending people to the table. The family I waited upon had just landed in the islands and is moving here. It looks as though our little family has grown a bit larger.
Bob and Shirley came back yesterday and have already posted the picnic photos I took on their website. A link is here http://www.konaweb.com/together/jul_13.jpg
I have some projects to attend to today but will miss the fireworks in town tonight. Like many responsible pet owners, I will stay home and comfort the dogs during the loud firecracker explosions in the area. I will be able to see fireworks all across the upper part of my view (mauka – towards the mountain) as I have a panoramic view that stretches for miles in either direction where many people will be shooting off aerials. More dogs run away on this day and New years than any other times of the year. It is not fair to let your animals get scared and not be there to comfort them. Also, making sure they cannot get out and run away is important.