I did think of you, darlings, but possibly not hard enough, because I took two quick snaps as the pig was taken off the fire and carried to be carved up.  This evening was the Cyder Fest and Hog Roast and we’ve had a jolly good time.  Even the cider was a bit more drinkable than some years, when its acute acidity sizzles paint straight off and one hardly dares think what it’s doing to the lining of one’s stomach.  I drank two glasses of it, undiluted with lemonade, which isn’t something that often happens.

I went to the village hall in the Next Lovely Village in the morning to help chop vegetables and discovered after half an hour of cutting up courgettes that I had a green thumb.  I thought it was the skin, permanently marked, but when I got home I discovered that a good rub with a nylon scourer shifted it.

We used to be very much part of NLV’s social life and this has slipped in the past few years, hard to say why.  But it was such a pleasure to see so many old friends, and their children too, all around Ro’s age – it’s such a popular event that they try to make it back home for the party.  None of ours were able to be there this time, though they enjoy it too.  I can’t remember why we couldn’t make it last year, though we normally go.

I helped cook the veggie paella in the huge paella pan, at least 2 foot 6 in diameter, that came from a village ironmonger’s in France at a ludicrously cheap price a few years ago, but I didn’t take any pictures of that.  The pig is not that visible either, but you can get a feel for the occasion and imagine how totally delicious it was.

In addition, a random picture of the lily that came into flower today, despite the heavy overnight rain.  Or maybe because of it, who can say?