Our family decided that a great way to celebrate the end of the school year would be to go to the drive in move theatre. The Highway 5 Drive-in is close to home, and Thursdays are $15 for a carload. To top things off, Cars 2 was showing. The kids were thrilled at the prospect of staying up late, too. We collected everyone from their evening activities, added a few friends, put the lawn chairs in the car and headed off.

We were no where near the drive in when we realized that just about everyone for a hundred miles had the same idea. The lineup was down the road and around the corner from the entrance–in both directions! Nevertheless, we joined the line and crept along as the sun set behind us.

We were about halfway there when the movie previews started. We were almost there when we saw the sign: sold out. Drat. Seven disappointed kids in the back seat and I had no idea what to do. What kind of a celebration ends with everybody going home early and feeling totally bummed out?

I didn’t need to worry: my sabbatical garden and my new clothesline came to the rescue! We all went home and found some extension cords, a laptop, a digital projector and a set of speakers. We hung a white sheet from the new clothesline and spread blankets out on the grass, just in front of the great masses of flowering thyme. I added a DVD, a few bags of chips, some cans of pop and a big bucket of gummies. Voila–a garden drive-in!

We sat out under the stars together watching our movie (Men In Black) and everybody was happy. I can’t exactly say that I was glad we didn’t get into the theatre. I can say, however, that our first evening of backyard cinema won’t be our last. It was great fun and really cheap. It’s a whole new way of using my garden!