It’s May. Spring has sprung and summer is coming. The days are becoming warmer and it is definitely getting greener outside. May is National Barbecue Month, which is fitting, as Memorial Day is on the 29th and many of us will host cookouts.
I don’t have to remind you that planning an outdoor event for a group can go either way with Maine’s spring weather. When my girls were little, one of their big moments was marching in our town’s Memorial Day parade every year. One daughter was in the marching band and the other was a cheerleader. We would always plan an outdoor barbecue after the parade with friends and family.
More often than not, their father and I sat in our webbed lawn chairs on the side of the road with umbrellas in hand. I would get myself in a knot over the rain and our cookout because I knew the kids would be disappointed that the picnic we had planned was going to be indoors. That was many years ago now, but how I remember those days.
I think of families who may be in those same soggy shoes now and have made wonderful plans for a Mother’s Day brunch or a Memorial Day picnic only to have it fall apart because of bad weather. No worries. I am here to tell you to go ahead and make those plans. Rain or shine, I have the best solution for a barbecue or brunch that does not involve the grill.