I fired up the coals, turned on the radio and the honky tonk lights that are wrapped around the deck, and cranked up the thermocell to keep the skeeters at bay. I put hamburgers, hotdogs, a pork tenderloin, and a couple of steaks on to charr. As I sat back in my folding camp chair, sipping on a cool beverage, it felt good to watch the smoke billow out of the grill smokestack and float aimlessly out toward my garden.
Inside the kitchen, "BIG MOMMA" is fixing us a salad and some twice baked potatoes with bacon, cheese, and chopped green onions. The thought of how big my belly is going to be is scarry! Sissy Girl our calico cat has already smelled the food cooking and has jumped in my lap trying to mooch a free sample of something fresh off the grill.
The later it gets the better it smells. The darker it gets the prettier the honky tonk lights shine on the deck. Even though it's just us and no guests it sure looks festive around the old place. No matter how good it looks with the electric lights, it can't compare to the big full moon above and the crew of lightning bugs twinkling down in the bottom behind the garden. If I watch real close the show goes on for hours. You can't beat that with a stick!
After the foods cooked and the coals are dying in the grill, the smell still lingers on. It's nice to sneak back outside after the carnage to enjoy the afterglow. It costs nothing but it is priceless. To sit outside and hear your family inside your home, to smell the good food you just shared, and hope this is just one night of a thousand left to come of everyday simple joys that mean more than anything else in this world.
I hope you are so lucky as I am. Enjoy!!
Jim Cobb.
No comments:
Post a Comment