Mal and Lauren

June 7, 2022

Joe and Dale led us on a tour of the Yale University campus in New Haven. We started out at the Yale Center for British Art. The museum houses the largest collection of British Art outside the UK. It is in a building designed by Louis Kahn, the famous American architect, who taught at Yale in the forties and fifties.

There were a number of paintings by Marc Quinn on display. Apart from the paint splattered across it, it was almost impossible to tell that the following is, in fact, a realist painting and not a photograph. The original photograph, taken by Jonathan Bachman of Reuters, is called Taking a Stand in Baton Rouge. It is of Ieshia Evans being arrested during protests in 2016, following the shooting by police of Alton Sterling.

There was also a large exhibit of paintings by Bridget Riley. Many of the paintings were hard to look at without feeling somewhat dizzy. We got the sense that if we sat and looked at them long enough we were in danger of becoming hypnotized.

From the museum we set out on a stroll through the campus, guided by Joe, who had worked on a number of buildings at Yale. The original buildings on the campus were Georgian style. The brick building below called Connecticut Hall was built in 1750 and is the oldest building on campus. Standing outside the hall is a statue of Nathan Hale. Hale was a soldier and spy for the Americans during the Revolutionary War. He famously said “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country”. Hale studied at Yale and, in fact, had a room is Connecticut Hall.

Now, most of the buildings on campus are Gothic Revival, and it is easy to imagine that you are in Cambridge or Oxford in England. Just as in those universities, Yale is divided into different colleges with their own residences built around private courtyards.

There were also a number of less traditional buildings, including this Brutalist gem. Designed by Paul Rudolph and completed in 1963, it houses the School of Architecture.

Our favorite was the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Designed by Gordon Bunschaft, its facade is constructed of translucent veined marble and granite. The marble is milled to a thickness of 1.25 inches, so that on a sunny day the marble transmits filtered daylight into the interior. The building surrounds an interior glass structure that protects the rare books and manuscripts.

The most famous book in the collection is one of the 49 surviving copies of the Gutenberg Bible, the earliest major book printed using mass-produced metal type. Although one has not been sold since 1978, the bibles are thought to be among the world’s most valuable books.

School had let out for the Summer, so there weren’t many students around. However, there were some out enjoying the sunny day.

Later that day we flew back into Washington DC, and were treated to some great views of the city.

June 5-6, 2022

We spent a wonderful couple of nights staying with our dear friends Dale and Joe in the idyllic village of Stony Creek. Here they are outside their beautiful new home, designed by Joe.

The village sits on Long Island Sound and just off shore are a number of small islands. Appropriately called the Thimble Islands, they are in fact an archipelago of small islands, many of which are just large enough to support one or two homes.

On the day we arrived, Joe and Dale took as on a stroll. Here are some of the beautiful scenes that we saw along the way.

On the next morning, we continued exploring the village on our own.

In the afternoon we drove over with Dale to the nearby town of Guilford with its beautiful town green.

Then to cap off a wonderful day, we went for a sunset cruise on the Mystic river in a classic wooden speedboat. Some of you may know Mystic from the classic eighties romcom, Mystic Pizza, starring Julia Roberts in her first major movie role.

June 4, 2022

After spending a couple of days checking out one of Boston’s newest districts, we made our way over to Back Bay, a much more traditional neighborhood.

First stop was the Saturday market that surrounds Copley Square.

Sitting at the edge of the square is Trinity Church. Designed by Henry Hobson Richardson and built in the 1870s, it is the building that established Richardson’s reputation and is the birthplace and archetype of the Richardson Romanesque style.

Overlooking the church is another iconic Boston building. At 62 stories, The John Hancock Tower is the tallest building in New England. It was designed by Henry B. Cobb of the firm I.M. Pei & Partners and was completed in 1976.

The square is named for John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) who is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential painters in colonial America.

From Copley Square it was just a short walk to Newbury Street, which in our view is one of the world’s great shopping streets. It is named for the victory of the Puritans in the 1643 Battle of Newbury in the English Civil War. Not sure that the Puritans would approve of the high end retail stores, restaurants and bars that now line the street. It is lined with beautiful brownstone buildings that were originally homes before being converted into retail spaces.

Here is the crew midway through their day’s shopping spree.

June 2-3, 2022

The Seaport District is a redeveloped stretch of the South Boston waterfront, lined with modern buildings, restaurants, bars and hotels.

The area appears to cater mainly to the young professional crowd, with trendy pop-up stores, garden bars, outdoor yoga (complete with DJ) and a large supply of Rose wines in the neighborhood market.

Anchoring the district is the striking Institute of Contemporary Art.

While we were there, they were preparing for the Red Bull cliff diving competition, where absolutely crazy people jump from gang planks extending from the roof of the gallery and drop 90 feet to the harbor below, while twisting and turning. Google cliff diving and Boston, to get an idea of just how insane it is. You can see the diving platforms in the photos below.

The gallery had an installation, Love is Calling, by the world’s most instagrammable artist, Yayoi Kusama. The immersive, vividly colored infinity mirror room consisted of tentacle-like inflatable sculptures covered with the artist’s signature polka dots.

Adding to the eeriness was a recording of Kusama reciting a love poem in Japanese. Here is an English translation of the poem.

May 6, 2022

We spent a rainy day exploring Fauquier and Rappahannock counties, about an hour’s drive outside of Washington, DC. Fauquier is named for Francis Fauquier who was Lieutenant Governor of Virginia at the time the county was established in 1759. Legend has it that he won the land in a poker game. Rappahannock is named for the river that separates it from neighboring Fauquier. It comes from the Algonquian word meaning “river of quick, rising water” or “where the tide ebbs and flows.”

We started the day by picking up our close friend Charlet at her farm near the small town of Marshall.

From there, we drove toward nearby Washington, Virginia, the county seat of Rappahannock. On the way we stopped for a country breakfast at the Orlean market. It is a classic American country store.

Complete with all the classic American food staples.

The countryside was particularly beautiful in the soft mist.

The horses were snacking on the fields of yellow buttercups.

We bought some fresh produce at Chancellor’s Rock Farm.

Finally, we arrived at Washington which centers around its famous inn. The Inn at Little Washington was established in 1978 and was the first inn to receive a Mobil Travel Guide 5-star award. In 2018, it received a coveted three-star rating from the Michelin Guide. Here are some photos of the inn and its surrounding gardens.

There are a number of beautiful old homes in the town, ranging from large mansions to tiny cottages.

From Washington we headed over to nearby Sperryville. With the rain coming down we headed into the massive antique market.

We also stopped by the charming little apothecary

But, unfortunately, didn’t have time to sample the wares at the Copper Fox distillery.

April 3, 2022

On a coolish Sunday, our friends Sally and Liz suggested an outing to the National Gallery of Art and we happily agreed. The newer East Wing was closed for renovations but there was plenty to see in the massive neo-classical West Wing. Designed by architect John Russell Pope, at the time of its opening in 1941, it was the largest marble structure in the world. An interesting piece of trivia, the museum stands on the former site of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station where American President, James Garfield, was shot on July 2, 1881. He died 79 days later on September 19, 1881.

After the last couple of years, it was nice to see the building filled with throngs of people and nary a mask in sight. It almost seemed like old times.

Always popular are the impressionists and post-impressionists.

Perhaps, the rarest paintings in the Gallery’s collection are the three (possibly four) small paintings by Johannes Vermeer, the 17th century Dutch painter.

Speaking of beautiful portraits by artists with Dutch names of people in places with Dutch names, we also enjoyed the temporary exhibit of James Van Der Zee’s Harlem portraits. Van Der Zee was an American black photographer who lived from 1886 to 1983. Born in Lenox, Massachusetts he moved to Harlem when he was twenty. In 1916 he opened a studio in Harlem and for over fifty years, he took thousands of photos of the community’s largely middle-class black clientele, including many of the most prominent Black intellectuals and activists of the era. Here are some of his beautiful portraits.

March 27, 2022

We are back in Washington DC and with temperatures, currently, in the thirties we are already missing the sunny and balmy southern California days. Here are some photos taken during a walk around Venice on our last day in Los Angeles.

March 26, 2022

When Mal first visited Disneyland it was the 1960s and he was a small boy. At that stage, the amusement park had only been opened for only ten years or so. Now, over fifty years later, much has changed but much has remained the same.

It was a surprise first visit for Sofie and Emma and they had the same excited wonder that Mal had all those years ago.

The first ride we went on was the classic jungle cruise which has not changed at all over the years.

From Adventureland, we moved on to the recently opened Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge attraction.

From Star Wars we headed to another galaxy and another time and visited New Orleans

Where the girls acquired their first tiaras.

Unfortunately, the line was too long to take a ride on the legendary Matterhorn roller coaster.

So we headed to the much more sedate but no less iconic Small World attraction.

We spotted this young maori boy and two kiwis, representing New Zealand (Aotearoa).

But it wasn’t all sedate rides. Jake, Kylie and the girls went for a ride on the log flume.

And Mal joined Jake and Kylie on Space Mountain.

With night and temperature falling, Mal, Lauren and Ben headed to the exits, leaving Jake, Kylie and the girls to enjoy the fireworks over the magic castle.

March 25, 2022

Today we wandered through the westside suburb of Venice. Famous for its vibrant beach, it is an interesting suburb of multimillion dollar homes and small beach shacks. Running through the middle of Venice is Abbott Kinney boulevard, home of some of LA’s most fashionable stores and restaurants.

March 20, 2022

Just outside Palm Springs, Palm Canyon is absolutely stunning. The canyon runs for about fifteen miles and is lined with huge California Fan Palms. On a hot day, it was very pleasant to walk a mile or so along the shaded valley, admiring the majestic palms, surrounding mountains and slopes full of yellow wild flowers.