Birmingham, UK

birmingham,
a place of diversity, large public squares, clean streets, cheery people, and the lunar society of lunatics. We travel quite easily by bus for 1.50 pounds. And we are being spoiled by our hosts who cook meals for us every night and take us out on the town for music and a taste of cider. Tomorrow, they are feeding us Balti-, a curry dish. fattening us up for the farms!




Adam is about to eat some faggots from west bromwich: Ingredients
25g/1oz unsalted butter
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
175g/6oz minced pigs' liver
2 lamb or pigs' heart, trimmed and cut into chunks
450g/1lb belly of pork, trimmed and rind removed
½ tsp mace
4tbsp freshly chopped chives
1 tsp freshly chopped sage
1 egg, beaten
salt and freshly ground pepper
115g/4oz fresh white bread crumbs
25g/1oz beef dripping or 3 tbsp olive oil

Parked in the park

So we decide to get out of London and travel to Birmingham via train.  Full of delerium, we don't want to go back to the city so we hop off the train in Leamington Spa and pass out in the park.  Dinner from TESCO: Wheat bread with French goat cheese, Dutch tomatoes, Scottish smoked salmon, and a Belgian beer....all fairly locally made, and scrumptious.  On the way out of Leamington in the morning an Irishman told us what Baltimore means.  It's Celtic-speak...Balti is large and more is a town/city so it's Large city.  "If you don't know your history, you don't know shit."  Blessings...

london luncheon

jet lag...hiding behind dark shades and a glass of oj, coughing up the recycled air from the airplane.  Should we stay or should we go? My bank account is screaming, "get out of London!" The Londonites have alot of dough and lots of places to go, but they don't walk quite as fast as New Yorkers.  

alot going on.

New York City with no money....that's a challenge, but not really if we have a place to stay and we bring some food.  Today we woke up here on the 27th floor @ 31st and 6 Ave. in the comfort of our dear friends apartment. tomorrow we will explore brooklyn and make sure we get to the airport early for our flight to london. 7:45pm!!!! There is no turning back...

beginning the trip by reflecting in union square.

we are 27th floor...looking out over the new york city in the comfort of our friends fancy apartment. who knows what tomorrow will bring.

we were sent off with blessing from b-more. Thanks to all of our friends and family for your support.

The state of our home

The  homestead is almost patched up, ready for 6 months away, able to handle the watchful eyes of the Baltimore city housing inspectors.   Actually, the shack project in the back of the house is really coming together.   It may be the room we live in when we return to Baltimore.  Cutting the timbers and piecing them together is making me interested in learning the old world ways of carpentry where tightness of fits matter more than squareness.  I hope we find some places on our journey where the best methods for construction become clear.