July 4th cookouts

It's Independence Day and cookouts are a tradition.

Until I was about 12 we never had cookouts. We had picnics near the stream on my dad's family's farm--and we'd play in the stream. But no cookouts. Then one summer my dad bought a round, red, charcoal grill and a new family tradition was born.

We used the grill 7 or 8 times a summer, including 2 or 3 full-blown family cookouts. They were a lot of work, but always fun. There were several "feats of strength" I hurried to do myself before someone else got the idea to do them--like getting the picnic table out of the basement by myself or getting the "purple" table from the backporch to the carport (it weighed a ton). Being a dumb 12 year-old, it never occurred to me that my brothers had no interest in helping. By the time I wised-up, it was too late--those were part of my cookout-related chores.

At one cookout an uncle bellowed for me to get him a drink from the cooler. Before I gave it to him I shook it up r-e-a-l good. He chased me for 10 minuntes, but he was laughing. At another I finally met the aunt who took care of me during my first 6 months on the planet. She was waaay overprotective of her daughter. My dad kept the aunt busy while I took my cousin swimming to have some fun. There was badminton, swings, horseshoes, tennis, baseball and motorcycle rides. One of my sisters and a cousin almost drove the motorcycle into our very thorny rose hedge. They were saved when the clothesline knocked them both off the bike just before they hit the hedge. It was hysterical (they weren't hurt).

Then there was the clean-up. Everyone pitched in and it went quickly, but there was one special job reserved for me the following day. My dad used little pieces of cork to insulate the grill from the heat of the charcoal--after 10 years that grill almost looked brand new. The Monday after a cookout, I would take the grill into our veggie garden and use a big square of screen to sift the charcoal dust out of the cork. Like the tinsel I removed annually from our Xmas tree, the cork went back into its bag to be used again next time. The cork cost 50 cents, so I think my dad must haved believed if he watched his pennies, the dollars would take care of themselves. He was probably right.

Summer cookouts, good times. Whether you cookout or not, I hope your summer is filled with good times with good people. It's summertime and the living is supposed to be easy.

Any summer memories you'd like to share????

Ps - If you're in the southern hemisphere, remember this in six-months! =)