Gloucester Old Spot Pig

First of all, this is a painting by John Miles.

The story is this: I'm sitting at home, completely blipless. Last night, while sorting through photographs, I realised I'd visited the Gloucester folk museum in December, but not really done it justice: I just popped in for a quick mummers' play, in between viewing reindeer at the docks, and choristers at the Cathedral! Rain or snow permitting, I've decided to go back and possibly even buy a season ticket, as both the city's museums have a lot to offer.

Social history is something that interests me, and when I noticed that the museums also have portraits, that really excited me. I've been learning about 16th century portraits at an adult ed course. Clicking on the website link took me, to my surprise, to a portrait of a pig.

But not just any old pig. The Gloucester Old Spot pig is very large, and famously eaten as sausages. You won't find a foodie pub or butcher's in these parts that doesn't offer them. My niece once wrote a story about a Gloucester Old Spot pig that was so brief and to the point that it has become a family legend. It was part of an educational assessment, but she chose to spend most of the allotted time in drawing the pig! If her mother is reading this, perhaps she'd like to supply the text?

In other news, we had further snow flurries this afternoon. CleanSteve has parked the car outside our house again, in anticipation of a complete thaw, but several inches of tundra remain at the top of the road. It's been flipping cold again, and I cannot imagine we'll get to the balmy 6 degrees C promised tomorrow. No way. The bleak midwinter is still with us.

Our primary class learned about Sikhism in RE today, and made a sensory flag, sticking orange feathers, foam and flock onto an orange pennant. We also practised handwashing in preparation for entering a Sikh Temple/Gurdwara. Next week we will sample Sikh (vegetarian) food. I once went to a Vaisakhi ( Sikh New Year) celebration at Trafalgar Square, so I found this interesting. I don't usually get to stay with 'my' class except for PE, music and play time, so I enjoy seeing what they do in the other lessons.