One of the good things about summer is that you can move some of the inside mess outside by chasing people out the door as soon as they have food in their hand.
This also has the happy side-effect of not needing to empty the compost bucket as often because any waste gets chucked off the deck when you’re not looking. Plus it gives you longer to put off the tedious job of clearing the dining table of the random clutter that ends up on any flat surface as soon as you turn your back.
This year we had a really good run of being able to eat outside without being overly bothered by flies or mosquitoes. I don’t know why; I imagine they were all flat on their backs somewhere gasping with heat exhaustion like all the rest of us and couldn’t be bothered. 
Amy and Cassia have the gift of being able to attract and get bitten by mosquitoes from up to twenty miles away and even in the depths of winter, so perhaps we have them to thank for keeping the rest of us pretty much unmolested.
Either way, often in the last few months heading outside to escape from the heat and the flies that love my cooking – and please don’t think I’m not grateful that at least someone does – has been the way to go.
There are other reasons for eating outside, of course. If you sleep in too long and by the time you want breakfast all the dining chairs have been used to make a castle/fortress/pirate ship, you don’t have much choice.
If, once again, you’ve ended up with 5,712 (approx) children hungry for morning tea, you use the ground which you have plenty of instead of the table and chairs which you don’t.
And sometimes… sometimes you just want to eat with a view.
