yes i'm writing about a freakin' blanket.

okay.  so.  i'm having a hard time trying to write ANYTHING lately.  even my texting has become simple and lacking.  today, i was reading sarah dessen's blog and she mentioned laurie halse anderson's july challenge to write for 15 minutes every day during the month.  since LHA's book, speak, changed my life (another day, another blog) and i want to grow up to be sarah dessen, i decided that maybe i should follow their lead.  i'm starting a day late.  i'll double up somewhere soon, but the writing below stems from LHA's prompt (for people like me who are stuck) about a picnic.  before you read further, let me just say that i followed the advice i give my students who can't think of anything to write and just WROTE.  there was a little bit of editing, but i didn't plan anything out, which is painfully obvious rereading it.  so i guess, bear with me?  i'm hoping this simple exercise will get my mind working and i'll start being creative sometime soon . . . 

PICNICKIN' 

i hope the 'rents can forgive me for posting a picture of them in all their 1981 glory, but when i was trying to think of how to respond to the "picnic" prompt, i immediately thought of this picture that has been gracing my myspace and facebook pages for a while.  i think we picnicked a lot when ica and i were kiddos, although my 30-year-old brain is getting a little foggy on specifics.  i know for a fact that any time we went on a road trip - when one set of grandparents lives nine hours away and the other lives eleven, you road trip quite a bit - that we very rarely stopped at fast food places.  instead, john and karen would pack up a grocery bag (as seen here in this photo) or later, the red cooler that still makes an appearance every once in a while.  i do remember a lot of time on concrete picnic benches with a shasta soda and a cheese sandwich and pringles.  

but when i look at that picture above, one item stands out to me.  no it isn't mom's smart kerchief or ica's sort-of mullet - it's that harvest gold blanket.  it would be an interesting project to go through all of the photographs from the last 30 years and see how often that blanket pops up.  i'm betting it's in at least 48% of them.  we used it FOR EVERYTHING. picnics, forts, dog bed, car seat cover, etc.  hmmm.  maybe i'll do some anthropologic research on the gold blanket and see if i can learn more about it, like where it came from and where it's been recently . . . maybe we need to plan a family picnic, soon . . .