Category Archives: Uncategorized

July 8, 2023 Our good friend Michele and her daughter Marian guided us around their favorite walking spot, Brookside Gardens. Opened to the public in 1969, the gardens are extensive, with 54 acres of lawns, woods, ponds, sculptures and flowers. The garden grounds were originally part of a landscaping and garden center on a smallContinue reading “Brookside Gardens, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA”

May 29, 2023 A must see in Memphis is the National Civil Rights Museum. It is a particularly poignant place, as it is attached to the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Make sure you give yourself plenty of time because there is a lot to see. The endless tales of courageContinue reading “Memphis, Tennessee, USA”

May 28, 2023 Arriving in Memphis in the early afternoon, having driven up from Clarksdale, we booked into our hotel and walked a few blocks down to Beale Street in search of a late lunch. Officially recognized as “The Home of the Blues” by an Act of Congress, Beale Street includes a two block stretchContinue reading “Memphis, Tennessee, USA”

May 27, 2023 We spent the morning walking around Clarksdale, where we were once again struck by how many great murals there are throughout the town. One of the town’s main draws is the Ground Zero Blues Club that is co-owned by Morgan Freeman, the famous actor. It gets its name from the fact thatContinue reading “Clarksdale, Mississippi, USA”

May 26, 2023 None of us had ever been to Arkansas, so we decided to take a drive across the Mississippi to nearby Helena. We thought that we would find it hard to find a town more down on its luck than Clarksdale, but we were wrong. Many of Helena’s buildings were shuttered and dilapidated.Continue reading “Helena, Arkansas, USA”

May 25, 2023 Clarksdale is a small town in the heart of the Mississippi delta. We were there to celebrate the wedding of Joe, a dear friend of our family. The town has been in decline for much of the twentieth and twenty first centuries. Particularly devastating was the invention in the 1940s of automatedContinue reading “Clarksdale, Mississippi, USA”

April 23, 2023 Today, we walked around the Auckland suburb of Remuera, where we lived for three years during the eighties. When it was developed, the neighborhood consisted of large homes on quarter and half acre sections. The size of the sections allowed owners later on to subdivide their lots, building second and sometimes thirdContinue reading “Remuera, Auckland, New Zealand”

April 4, 2023 We decided to start our last day on the island like we had started the rest, with a hike. Once again, some uphill climbing was required and once again the view made it all worthwhile. With some time to spare before our flight back to the mainland, we headed to Medlands beachContinue reading “Great Barrier Island, New Zealand”

April 3, 2023 We started the day with a walk up Windy Canyon, which lived up to its name and required hands on hats. Fortunately, we had been in training going up and down the steps to Annette and Neil’s bach, so were ready for the seemingly endless steps that had been built along theContinue reading “Great Barrier Island, New Zealand”

April 2, 2023 On a misty day, we walked through some beautiful wetlands and up through the bush before coming to the Kaitoke hot springs. Thermal activity heats the water running down a small stream and creates small hot pools along its path. The pool we bathed in was almost too hot to get into.Continue reading “Great Barrier Island, New Zealand”