Picnicing in Prospect Park, Brooklyn

I attend Trinity Grace Church, which has 4 locations in Manhattan and 1 location in Brooklyn. Today was a church-wide picnic at Prospect Park in Brooklyn. As iconic, intricate, and beautiful as Central Park is, Prospect Park, in some ways, is better.

Prospect Park has never-ending fields of grass, making it the perfect location for a picnic. In fact, everyone else in NYC agrees me. The park was filled with people picnicing with family and friends, but there was still more than enough to invite thousands of more picnicers to join us.

The majority of TGC’s picnic was spent playing flag football. I was on the UWS Marrieds team (Team Name: High Flyin’ Kites...another blog for another day), and my primary offensive role was to hike the ball while my primary defensive role was to rush the quarter back. I thought for sure I’d hate it. Not so. I loved it. (Team Pic to follow)

Anyway, on our way home, walking through the park, we were able to see what others were doing on their day off work, on their day to picnic. The diverse nature of the City was made very clear.

One group had been transported to the 21st century from the medieval era. On their patch of grass, they were challenging each other to duels and fighting “to the death.” They wore medieval garb and fought with medieval weapons (made of foam so as not to hurt anyone, of course).

Another group was barbecuing and steaming foods in giant pots that resembled the trashcan that Oscar the Grouch lived in. What were they steaming? You’d never guess it...crabs and lobster tails. Even more intriguing, it was a reunion, recalling old times when they were in...nope, not college or high school...jr. high. I’ve never known anyone to have a jr. high school reunion, but they sure did seem to be having fun.

When our group went to look in the "trash can," they offered
us crabs. We took 4, and Philip and our friend Andy ate some.
Apparently, it was yummy.

There were, of course, the standard birthday parties, barbecues, tanners, and families just spending time together. No park in the City would be complete without the people and groups that seem typical and the people and groups that defy expectations. If one is missing, you’re surely not in NYC.

Married Couples Only

Waiting to release the kite at the perfect time

What does a kite, frisbee, and football have in common? They’re all things that can get stuck in a tree.

As we enter into the heart of summer, our married couples home fellowship is choosing a different activity for our Wednesday night time slot. This week, we packed up our dinners, blankets, and picnic toys and headed to Central Park.

One of the most prominent things I’ve noticed about get-togethers in NYC is that people don’t really potluck. It’s every man for himself. If we had been in Arizona, we probably would have been responsible for bringing drinks or a side dish. Here, we were responsible for bringing our own dinner. It’s interesting how much a culture can change after only a 6-hour flight.

Frisbee stuck in the tree

Anyhow, it was a beautiful evening spent in the park with some new friends. Our husbands aren’t particularly skilled at keeping their toys out of the trees. With little to wind tonight, it was hard to get a kite up in the air, but as soon as it started flying, it was tangled up in some tree branches. The frisbee fared better, although it also got stuck in a tree a couple of times...only to get knocked down by a football the guys kept throwing into the tree.

The wives did what they do best: chit chat. We just enjoyed each other, laughed, and had fun.

Wives laughing at husbands trying to
get their frisbee out of the tree

Every town and every city should have its own Central Park, a beautiful grassy park with trees for shade and open areas for such games as bochee ball (the guys spent half the evening playing). And every church should have a married couples home fellowship. I’ve never known so many married couples my age who I could relate to and fellowship with. It’s fun having married friends.