A day in the country

It was a blissful spring day as our family headed out on the school bus, loaded down with families from the church, heading towards some private acreage with a pond of farm-raised trout. We arrived and our group was surprised with a flock of gorgeous peacocks, most with the feathers in full-fan! Everyone oohed and ahhed, and laughed at their loud, outrageous calls. Thus, began our picture-perfect Saturday.
I was also amazed at just how lovely the setting at the pond was...it completely exceeded my expectations and I wanted to just sit and soak it all in. But we had some serious fishin' to do...well, Tony and I trying to help the girls bait their hooks and cast a line, was more of a comical affair than anything remotely serious, but our friends graciously took pity on us, and kept helping out. Thank you, Villa family! :)
Later on, we all enjoyed a picnic lunch of hot dogs, ice cream, chips and soda...we had the option of barbequing our fish then and there, and I was one of the few to do so...it was SO yummy! You can't get much fresher than your own fish caught just an hour ago. (Again, thanks to my friend, Missy, for her fish-cleaning skills...and to think she doesn't even like to eat it!)
Our time there ended with a ride on a paddle boat...Tony and I paddled away while the girls sat in back and enjoyed the scenery. The water was so so shimmery and clear, reflecting the green of the trees everywhere...we wished we could have stayed until sunset but it was time to return to our bus and head back. As our bus began to move, we all took one last look at the many fancy peacocks. Their noisy bellows sounded a lot like "Help! Help!" but we knew they were far from needing any rescue...they seemed to have got it made here on this beautiful piece of farmland.
I leaned my head back against the school bus seat (something I hadn't done in decades) feeling exhausted but content. The day had been such a good time of fellowship with others from the church that we didn't know well or hadn't yet met...and it had been a tremendous chance to relax a bit and enjoy God's beauty as a family. We'll definately be back. But more than that, we'll be looking just a bit more carefully for many more opportunities like it. Chances for finding these little getaways with each other and for forming the stuff memories are made of.