My three sisters and the two spouses came to visit Sylvia and me last Thursday. That might not seem like something to get excited about, but to us it was. Barbara retired at the end of last year. We had planned to get together to celebrate this wonderful milestone in her life, but Michigan weather and health issues prevented the gathering of the siblings. Her family (8 kids + uncounted grands and great-grands — okay she knows, but I don’t) gave her a great celebration. We missed it.

A couple of weeks ago, Clara and I were on the phone alternately commiserating and boasting of our recent blogging experiences. I don’t remember how it came up, but the next thing we were talking about a family gathering.

Clara asked, “What shall we eat?” I said (not really jesting) lets grill some steaks. She knew just the place to get “the very best steaks.” And she did! Clara and Rick brought the steaks. I had to share the cost with them.

And so on Thursday, Sylvia and I looked on as Clara prepared the fire. Sylvia had prepared foil packages with potato, carrot, onion and corn-on-the-cob cut in thirds. She added a bit of butter for flavor and seasoned it lightly with adobo. (Adobo is a Puerto Rican favorite blend with garlic, oregano, salt, pepper and a little tumeric. You’ll find it with the Goya products in your supermarket.) When the fire was ready, they put the packets on the fire for twenty minutes, turning them at 10 minutes. Sylvia put the veggies in the oven to keep them warm while Clara grilled our steaks to order. She gets an A++ in my book!

Isn’t that like me? Here I go on about food and I haven’t introduced our sisters. There is Barbara and Gary. They are both recently retired and have purchased a place in Florida. They’ll spend their winters there.

Our sister, Maggie, lives close to Clara and she came with her and Rick.

When the food went on the grill, everyone came out with cameras in hand. It was a windy here, which tousled the girls hair. Maggie and I didn’t have a problem with that. I saw Maggie taking a picture of Barbara. I picked up my camera and stepped to where I could get both of them in a shot. Barbara saw this and picked up her camera to get a shot of me taking a picture of Maggie taking a picture of her.

This activity did not go unobserved. Clara took a step back from the grill and raised her camera to get a shot of — well you know the rest. Barbara took the above shot to show how goofy we can get. Okay sorry gals. But you’ll have to admit it was fun and we all had a good laugh.

After that we went into the house and had a wonderful meal and lots more interesting conversation mostly about family. It was a wonderful day.

Now go visit Clara and read her side of the story.