The River

Tomorrow we're going down to the river to visit our friends Tom and Judy. It's been quite a while since we've been down there. There was a time we saw them almost every weekend. We'd go out on their pontoon boat and drift lazily down the river and talk for hours. I always had my camera and took boxes of pictures.
They used to do pig roasts. Tom did a lot of research to determine the perfect way to cook a pig in the ground. The first year a bunch of us gathered on Friday night and dug the pit. We put in dried hickory and started the fire and placed the pig on a piece of tin and lowered it into the pit. We drank beer for a while and played some music on the bank and then after the proper length of time, we buried the pig to allow it to cook all night so that it would be ready for the main crowd the following afternoon.
Everyone started arriving just after lunch on Saturday and it was a carnival atmosphere. When Jilda saw the pit she immediately announced that she would not be eating pig but the nice hot dogs she brought.
We dug that pig up and hauled it out of the hole for inspection. There was a guy there who was the local vet and he moved in to check the meat. He cut it open with a sharp knife and promptly announced to the crowd that if the pig had a shot of penicillin, it just might live. A short time later we threw the pig in the river and we all ate hot dogs.
There were times we went there with just our small circle of friends and took boat rides up and down the river.
One time Jilda took paper and small sets of water colors like you buy at Foodworld. We found a quite slew and we all painted multicolored landscapes with cheap brushes. Afterwards we read poetry and watched a big blue heron catch his supper.
Thoughts of the river always put a smile on my face. It will be good to go there tomorrow. It would not surprise me if Tom is didn't try another pig in a pit.