picknic

flapjacks...

Croxteth Hall / Open Day / Liverpool

Silly us, we forgot to photograph the mansion from the outside.

Here is Jason in the basement pointing along with signs.

And the picture below is upstairs in the long hall.. In the only

moment where the hall wasn't filled with streams of sightseeing

people.

It was nice to get out for a few hours, there are huge parks

around the mansion and we went for a little stroll once we

had seen most of the building. To be honest I am not sure

we are overwhelmingly excited about looking at other people's

faded wealth, and a wealth that was based much on warfare,

loyalties paid to the right people (in this case loyalty to a king

in the 11th century started the family fortunes..) and of course

not to forget colonialism and the slave trade, without which

this house would probably not stand here.

Anyhow... It was nice to be out and smell mothballs and even

better that we snuck in on the one day a year where entrance is

free. The parks are huge, and we only covered a small portion of

the estate, had to get home for some an afternoon nap, some food

and some work.

(J = ideas and dishes, B = dissertation, but actually sidetracking and uploading photos instead)

Jason's theory was that he was like a snake in the tree,

invisible and branch like..... Did that work?

oh and we came across another park on the way home and

just popped out of the car to take a VERY quick look and

pose with the ball. Too much hunger to linger longer.

no news

we just haven't updated the blog much because while we are kind of busy, we haven't really done much out of the ordinary that we could photograph or write much about. Birgit is shackled to the desk and laptop most hours: working on her dissertation; and Jason is carrying on being happy, inspiring, yogaing, meditating, climbing and sharing the household love for good food. We eat a lot of lentils and have become experts at cooking them.

That is about as exciting as life gets at the moment...

Yoga in the park with Jason

Natarajasana (Lord of the Dance Pose)

Yoga in the park with Birgit and Jason

actually there's no Birgit on the video, just Jason, but she was

definitely on her mat, doing much the same as Jason. The whole

practice takes us about 90 minutes to 2 hours. It doesn't feel that

long when you're doing it. Very relaxing and refreshing.

Sunshine and Sand

visiting the pretty beach with Jason a few weeks ago.

We sat in the beach forest on our yoga mats for some

time, breathing, doing a total of 108 'om' (54 each) and

climbed over some dunes to reach the sea. (we found

lots of crab shells this time)

It's a good life!

Jason's Sunday breakfast

It is Sunday lunch time, Jason has just finished his yoga practice

(while Birgit looked blankly at material for her dissertation which

is progressing at the rate of the global economy recover... i.e. barely)

And here is Jason's breakfast:

I have a feeling that this is the WRONG video!

Another attempt and I hope this is now the right file:

playing with glass

and cooking (making Gulab Jamun, which is an indian dessert dish incredibly sweet):

visiting the Hale village and the lighthouse

Just a very short drive (perhaps 25 minutes) from Birgit's house in Liverpool is Hale Village. A quaint small suburb which is part of Liverpool but feels quite like countryside. We forgot to take photos of the village itself but took many at the river by the lighthouse.

moments after stepping out of the car and we stood among fields.

Jason found apples floating in the river and opened one up to smell it.

small succulent type plants growing on the river beach, we

found out shortly after that you can eat these like vegetables.

We'll come and try sometime.

climbing, of course.

Spending time with a holy cow

Jason discovered a wall to practice his spiderman moves on...

fresh from the Yoga Mat

(all that stuff behind Jason is waiting for an outing to the fleamarket..)

and maybe Jason will soon show us this

and here a link to ALL the Yoga videos that you will ever need

Jason eats - regularly

some time a few weeks ago we found this pub with a world beer

selection: pictured here a beer from Cologne/Germany

potato and leek and onion bake ..

Jason checking out the nightlife and it was all a bit crazy except for

Lennon who was pretty relaxed.

...at the end of Yoga in savassana (resting pose)

There was an African Music Festival in the park right by Birgit's place

last saturday. Lots of music and many stalls, among others this German

Sausage Food Stall. The people working there weren't Germans but

imposters, Birgit did not approve. But Jason liked the sausage (hot dog).

Sunday we took the train to Freshfield/Formby a suburb of Liverpool

to the beach forest and beach, only a few stops from Birgit's place.

Here is our travel snack (post-snacking)

YOGA

Yoga: headstand

headstand variation

resting pose / child's pose

We found this large xylophone on the walk through the forest

on our way to the beach after yoga practice.

On Formby beach next to a stranded jellyfish

Jason chatting with Cressida (Birgit's friend) on Google chat

Jason made fresh apple and carrot juice

Quinoa grain, mediterranean stir fry with smoked paprika spice and

more of that lentil salad and Jason's home made olive tapenade on toast..

preparing dinner... peeling garlic

getting the stones out of the olives to make olive tapenade

post dinner nap

with a book about Bark for Jason's glass ideas

new beans fresh from the pod!

serving dinner

having Sarah come over for dinner : couscous and mediterranean

stir fry, cilantro, lentil salad with balsamic vinegar and olive oil..

all over delicious.

an unusual view of the living room / kitchen

(normally all surfaces are covered in stuff)

Green Thai noodle soup, with roasted peanuts and fresh lime