The Grill a Great Aunt Made

I have never seen an outdoor cooking grill as awesome as the one my Uncle John's first wife built.

She knew exactly what she wanted, stone from rocks carried from their farm land, rock by rock, all the cousins frolicking and laughing, adults saying don't carry too many at once, and ouch, one fell on my toe. When will there ever be enough.

Every week when we visited, we got to carry more stones and rocks, and watch the pile grow higher and fatter until the day our Aunt said: "that's enough."

The next week, or was it the next summer, the thing was done. Huge, made of rock, grill over the hole in the middle, chimney and rack at the back. I don't think I have ever seen a bigger outdoor grill in anyone's yard.

Our Aunt was happy, smiling from ear to ear. Put the uncles to work cooking hot dogs for the kids, hamburgers for the grown ups. there were salads brought by the aunts and a blueberry pie made by Uncle John's first wife. Everyone crowded around the picnic table. The kids, that is; the aunts in their cotton day dresses and the uncles in their slacks and shirts took theirs to the sun porch. They could talk with each other, and we children could talk among ourselves.

The perfect cook out on the largest outside grill I had ever seen.