Elbow raising

Choosing the least bad photo from the evening's efforts was a challenge. I didn't even intend to take this one, I was just checking exposure. Later I gave the camera to A, and he took a load of blurry, noisy photos after dark, the main feature of which was a bottle-laden table (extra).

It was our 20th independence day party, celebrating the day we moved here, so we thought we should push the boat out this time. For a start we actually held it on the 4th of July -- quite often it's August before we get round to it. Then we invited so many people that I lost count and could only come up with potential attendance of between 16 and 26. This was a motivation to keep things simple, and for once we actually succeeded in this aim: pork and beef kebabs, escalivade, green salad, home-made bread, cheese, cake. Plus several other items brought by guests. Of whom I think there were 22, but I'm not entirely sure.

The weather was very kind; the wind of the last few days had dropped, and the day was boiling hot, meaning that by the time we got to the garden at 7:30, it was pleasantly warm and stayed that way till midnight. It was the perfect celebration; being in our secret garden on a balmy evening with food and a glass of rosé always reinforces our belief that we made the right choice by Brexiting 20 years ago today. Vive l'indépendance !