Impressionist Picnic

Yesterday was our Impressionist picnic held out at one of our new favorite places for events.  The Rancho Camulos, is just outside of Six Flags theme park, tucked into a valley surrounded by orchards and growers fields.

The place is so beautiful and peaceful and made the perfect setting for our little gathering. We spread ourselves out on the back lawn in the shade of two huge old trees, next to the large fountain. The day was warm but was kept from being too hot by a strong breeze from the coast.

Everyone brought food to share and the buffet table was loaded down under numerous tasty treats and sumptuous desserts. Michael and I shared a small lunch of roasted lamb shanks and cold asparagus with a lemon tarte for dessert.

 

The afternoon was whiled away with conversation and general fun. There was a silly game of nine pins (okay i made it silly with my horrible aim and constant giggling), and plenty of opportunities for lovely photos in the roses and among the old building.

I got to meet a friend and fellow blogger for the first time which was a lovely surprise! Loren from The Costumers Closet: http://costumerscloset.blogspot.com/, was so much fun to spend time talking to and she wore the most striking black and white polka dot dress. In fact everyone looked really splendid, from the men in their linen jackets and plaid trousers to the women all in their light colored finery.

  

I finally wore my crazy pink and white bustle dress! One friend said I looked like an old soda fountain or ice cream parlor and  i couldn't agree more :) The dress was fun to wear and actually quite comfortable, there was no finicky trimming or overly long train to get caught up in, something that normally happened to me. For all the bows and big stripes the dress is rather simply trimmed.

As always it was a wonderful day spent with great friends doing what we love!