July 4 Picnic

 It's become a tradition here at Pinehaven to have a picnic of sorts on Independence Day. This year was no different, other than owing to the hot and humid conditions (91°) we had the main part of the meal indoors. Later in the day we went outside to the picnic table to enjoy our watermelon.

 And we had our picnic on July 5 as the holiday itself produced rain.

 I made Quorn veggie burgers in the microwave and melted half a slice of American cheese atop each. Tom picked fresh lettuce and chopped an onion for garnish. I slathered mayonnaise on both buns and added ketchup and  mustard to Tom's.

 Tom picked up four ears of Georgia corn from Aldi's on the way here and we each had a single ear. Tom loves real butter (unsalted) but I added both salt and pepper to mine. Delicious! I can't wait until we have locally-grown corn.

 Tom also picked up a watermelon from Aldi's and cut it with his special cutter. It produces "petals" of watermelon which are just the right size to handle. We shared the middle "core" which often turns out to be seedless. By the way, Tom prefers the taste of melons with seeds (to me it just adds to the work).
 Last year's round melon offered us ample seeds to plant and we have plants just now beginning to develop melons at the edge of the meadow in our new garden space. Maybe they'll be ready for Labor Day?

 Here's a side view of the slicer. We sliced half the melon at a time.

 Dessert? Tom brought a cheesecake sampler and we topped our slices with fresh cherries from Oregon.