Picnic. In Stick Season.

Boisvert’s has moved, but still open.

The interminable wait for election results happens to be coinciding with the most beautiful weather ever seen in early November. The weather (not sure about the election) is supposed to hold for the next handful of days. It’s a rare opportunity to take yourself, alone or with someone you love, on a picnic.

At area restaurants, the summer’s outside seating options are mostly gone, tents dismantled and streets reclaimed. Boisvert’s Curbside Kitchen has recently moved from Lebanon’s Colburn Park, where throughout the summer a socially-distanced line would form and customers would clutch their awaited orders and fan out among the park’s picnic tables.

All is not lost. Boisvert’s has relocated to a new spot at 263 Dartmouth College Highway, just 2 miles from its old venue, still serving up its signature lobster rolls, seafood, and burgers with fries. If you happen upon them when their homemade clam chowder is a daily special, grab some. Boisvert’s was the first stop on this afternoon’s picnic-making journey.

It’s a 5 minute drive from Boisvert’s to the Packard Hill Covered Bridge and a tiny pocket park in which my husband and I had sworn to picnic someday. Someday turned out to be today. The sun was too hot for my fleece jacket. One of the two stone walls was the perfect height to serve as both bench and table. The bridge, so often besieged by leaf peepers in season, was mostly ours alone.

A picnic. In November. A small and much-needed miracle. Pick your favorite spot, and go, but hurry. The window is about to close.

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Susan B. Apel retired from a lifelong career as a law professor to continue an interest in writing. Her freelance business, The Next Word, includes literary and feature writing; her work has appeared in a variety of lit mags and other publications including Art New England, The Woven Tale Press, The Arts Fuse, and Persimmon Tree. She connects with her neighbors through Artful, her blog about arts and culture in the Upper Valley. She’s in love with the written word.