”A grasshopper jumps into it: the summer dusk.”
The morning is sunny and breezy. It will be hot, close to 80°. The humidity too will be high, not unusual for August. My dance card is full for today, a concert in the afternoon and a play tonight.
Dinner last night was wonderful. We talked and laughed and caught up with one another. We stayed on the deck until late despite the rain. The umbrella kept us dry. We could hear the rain above us hitting the umbrella and all around us hitting the leaves. A few birds flew in for their evening meals. The dogs finally settled and slept on the deck. The deck was the perfect place to be.
When I was a kid, fathers were the grill masters. On Saturday nights, my father pulled out the grill, filled it with briquettes and poured lighter fluid over all over the briquettes. He’d throw a match into the grill, and the fire always whooshed into the air. I remember once his shoes and the bottom of his pant leg caught on fire. He put the fire out with a tarp. Once the fire was ready, my father would sit outside with his cigarettes and a drink to mind the meat. He took barbecuing seriously.
The field below our house was special. It had a path to the swamp and off that path was another to the water tower at the top of a small hill. Beside the field on one side were trees in a small wood. On the other side was a road, the one which ran below my house. I can close my eyes and see and hear that field. In the spring the grass was green. As the summer got warmer, the grass grew tall and turned brown. The field was never quiet. It was filled with buzzing and a sort of clicking sound of the grasshoppers who lived in the field. If I ran through the field, the grasshoppers jumped over and over above the grass to stay out of my way. They were brown, katydids. I loved watching them leap into the air. I’d catch one in mid-air and hold it cupped in my hands then I’d let it go. I loved the joy of the hunt.
Explore posts in the same categories: Musings
keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
August 9, 2024 at 5:19 pm
Hi Kat,
This morning a cool front came through and we had a couple of thunderstorms roll through. We got a bit of rain and the high temperature is predicted to be only a chilly 92°.
My father was not just the gill master, but the chief smoker as well. He purchased a large smoker oven which looked like a grill with a hood and a folding door. It had a metal plate inside that would sit under the meat to prevent flareups when the meat’s fat would attempt to fall into the fire box tray. He would periodically adjust the vents to maintain a temperature of around 200° to 250° for several hours. A large brisket could require over 12 hours of slow cooking. He would place water soaked hickory or mesquite wood chips in with the charcoal. The aroma from the smoke would make your mouth water. 🙂
Glad to hear your dinner party was a success despite the rain.
August 9, 2024 at 9:46 pm
Hi Bob,
It was hot and humid today. Tonight it is still hot and humid at 76°. Tomorrow we are expecting scattered thunder storms. There could be as much as an inch or more of rain from hurricane Debby.
My brother-in-law is a great smoker artist. Your whole description of your father is familiar to my sister’s description of Rod, my brother-in-law. He smokes everything.
It was a fun night!