After moving slowly to a new apartment down the street,for the last month, we have finally gotten to the point where we can enjoy days off work. The only thing two city dwellers, with no car can do, is to go to a park. Well we could go to a restaurant, a concert or a movie but we have little interest in those things. I watch movies at home, I don't like crowds and I work in a restaurant. I know what goes on behind the scenes.
We went for a simple picnic in the afternoon at a city park, to get some of that thing they call "sun". I don't really experience this for most of the year. I feel like a vampire sometimes without the need for blood.
One thing I try to do each summer, since I was in my thirties is to see if I can still stand on my head. I figured by the time I was 40 I probably wouldn't be able to do it anymore. Then 50 hit and I could still do it. Then 57 hit and I could still do it. Then the apocalypse hit and I didn't try for a couple of years, until the other day. I am now going on 60 and thought this will probably be the end of my head stands.
Lo and behold I can still do it!
I forgot to bring nuts for my little friends so I would have to settle with the next best thing from our picnic items. Strawberries. Like the week before when all I could offer was grapes, these furry ones were not impressed. They were still going to have it. It was better than nothing. They were really shy compared to some squirrels that I've met that attacked our bags helping themselves to whatever.
I was not able to convince these guys to grab the strawberry. I tried a different approach.
I thought if I would lie down, I would be less threatening. If they were afraid of me grabbing them, they should know that I couldn't do it in this position. It seemed to work as it got closer.
Then success as the little beast grabbed the strawberry and quickly ran to safety up the tree.
It always blows my mind that they can move their jaws so fast while they chew. The berry was almost the size of it's head and it was gone in a short time.
Now it was time for us to eat. I had quickly made a bean salad and brought some greens along.
The dressing on the bean salad was enough to coat the lettuce.
The dressing was a quick blend of soaked cashews, fresh garlic, fresh basil, a tomato salt, pepper, Italian seasonings, a squeeze of fresh lemon and a splash of olive oil.
I also had a baguette and a spread that I had made the week before and was leftover. It was a savoury guava paste blended with soaked cashews garlic and lime juice.
As soon as the food was gone and the sun was setting, we headed back to our new apartment to relax some more. Usually I feel guilty for not working at home doing chores, but I didn't this time. We had worked enough moving most of the contents of our apartment on foot including the bed. It was just the two of us. The movers didn't get the memo from the building manager. We were asked to not renew our lease since the building was sold. Paid movers were part of the deal. We had to beg the guys to move our sofa which we couldn't do. They had another booking but did it anyway. It was quick and we gave them a big tip.
The final pose is one of a proud head stander. My partner Marc can't do it and he's 15 years younger then I am. Don't mind if this old thing pats herself on the back for that.