2004-05-17 - 6:56 a.m.

I sped through baron marshland this morning on the 6.37 to Hoboken and was awestruck by the thick acrid blanket of fog that totally obscured Manhattan and nothing else. As if it was wished there, New Jersey was pristeen and clear yet, across the Hudson, just a big old gray ball of fog. It was great.

After three constant days of my Delicious bending my ear to ensure I chose to Celebrate our cousins Communion instead of Sanding my stairs, putting in airconditioners, planting my HHHerbs (thats with a pronounced H) and numerous other essential round the house duties. I have to say that, spending that very day turning a pig on a spit while sucking down Coronas and delicately basting said pig, I was very glad she did. I would love to go into great and articulate detail in regards to the slow crisping of the skin, the sizzling of the juices as they are slowly heated out of the flesh, the wonderful aroma of those juices as they hit the charcoal and erupt into plumes of sweet smelling smoke that further improved the taste of the soft white meat. It is a waste though, when you can't experience the taste. My uncle, or Tia if you want to be specific, Got it from a farm only just the day before!

The funniest thing happened, when we arrived the pig was only just beggining to seal and little bits of insides hanging to the exposed rib cage could still be made out, a piece of liver here, a section of lung there, the unmistakeable tube of a vas deferens, probably, slowly seperating as the intense heat bombarded it and dropping off into the fire. I was turning slowly as my Delicious and her sister, both like-minded devout vegetarians having suffered numerous gross outs whatching various pet like farm animals become meals in her youth, Happened to notice a small amount of brain. As they squinted closer to get a quick view, the little bit of brain burst out of its casing, becoming a rather big piece of brain hanging from a ganglion or something equally brain like, for several turns of the spit. it was most joyous to view their reaction and sudden departure from the area. Cries of "EEEW THATS GROSS" prompted the rest of the male contingent to crowd around and clink beer glasses. A crowning bonding moment for the "men"

For lunch that day we had, roast beef, Paella, Rice, Garlic Prawns, Clams, Bahcalo, Penne Vodka (unnusually with Ham as my Delicious found out after eating a small amount of it - much to the amusement of my fellow cousins who decided to ease her vegetarian disgust, chanting "PIG, PIG, PIG" in the hopes she would eat some pig later as she had been cured of vegetarianism) Where was I, oh yeah, lunch, then we had a bit of a rest while the pig was cut up. then the pig, then cheesecakes, tira misu, chocolate cake, apple pie, apple strudel, more chocolate cake, another chocolate cake of a slightly different variety, Flan, strawberries, grapes, watermelon and macharoons.

Then after some rounds of bingo that escalated from $5 a round to a $20 round, they brought out Pizzas.

That's when I put my foot down. On the gas that is, we left. Not a square eighth of an inch in my stomach free.

Great day.

I got a tick too in the park that I managed to pursuade not to burrow its poisonous head into my skin with some cunning fingernail work.

phew.

great days.

p

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Wane - Wax