perfect playground picnic

lemon pocket pie at the playground picnic (with its nutrition facts captured indelibly... oh dear)

As classes were winding down for the semester, the sun managed to beckon Brad and I away from our studies for a little photo-picnic.

Chicken salad, the best Apricot iced tea in the world*, blackberries, and lemon pocket pies made the perfect picnic lunch. It was a beautiful day, sunny and breezy, and it was wonderful to escape our books for a short while.

But this wasn’t just a little picnic: it was a little photo-picnic.

blue and red swings at cleveland's martin luther king jr. blvd

You see, there are these swings.

They are tucked alongside the almost-highway that is Cleveland’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. We’ve driven by them a million times, and I just love the juxtaposition of the bright red and blue swings against the green grass next to the gray, noisy street. Such a peaceful spot next to such a busy commuter zone.

And I’ve always wanted to take pictures.

blue jungle gym sunburst at cleveland's martin luther king jr. blvd

So we climbed, and swinged, and I snapped away.

red swings at cleveland's martin luther king jr. blvd

The commuters crawled by, onlookers gaped at me and my camera… but it’s their loss. I was capturing colors; they were sitting in traffic.

daisies and the blue jungle gym at cleveland's martin luther king jr. blvd

Don’t forget to take breaks, even on the busiest days! It makes all the difference.

*seriously, this makes the best iced tea. after trying my first batch i returned to the store and bought the last four boxes they had. now that it’s available in bulk from amazon, you know what i’m doing next.