Why would anyone want to go on a picnic?

So I was wondering......back in the days of long ago, before central heating, when fires were the source of heat and the means of cooking....

Did everybody smell like smoke all the time?

I remember once, a long long long time ago, I went camping (yes I know, it's hard to believe, but it's true). Not actually lying on the ground camping, but staying in a log cabin type deal camping. Which of course, might just as well as been lying on the ground camping to me. I don't really consider myself the outdoorsy-type. This picture is the actual cabin that was camped within.

Those of you that know me know what a MASSIVE understatement it is for me to say I'm not outdoorsy. I'm not saying I'm a Morlock or anything, but, if the sun's out, I'll get burned, if there's a bug, it and all its friends and neighbors and 3rd cousins from out of town will bite me, and if there are angry plants that like to give people rashes, I'll somehow manage to rub them on my face. I don't understand people's fascination with picnics. What, so my hot food can get cold and my cold food can get warm, and there's no bathroom, and there's bugs crawling on the blanket, and a rock in my back and my shoes get all grassy and ruined and there's no ice for my gin and tonic. I'm reminded of a really great line by that lady who played the perpetually drunk socialite on Will & Grace, who in one scene looked around, and said, "Am I... outside?" I still use that all the time, it makes me laugh, and that's all that counts.

So anyway, we stayed in this cabin in the woods, just like in every single horror movie that's ever been made, and we had this fire burning and tra la la, it was a great time for everyone and we went home.

And every single item that I brought with me on the trip REEKED of smoke. REEKED REEKED REEKED.

Did people walk around smelling like that all the time? Did they love windy days because it cleared everything out? Did they just stop noticing after awhile until the black lung killed everybody off? Okay, that last bit is a little over-dramatic, but you see my point right?

One day, when the time machine that's invented let's me visit past eras, I'll let you know what I find out. And I bet I come back reeking of smoke.