Mal and Lauren

August 20, 2021

We walked across the border and into Maryland, ending up in Bethesda, the suburb where Mal spent a number of his childhood years. It takes its name from Jerusalem’s Pool of Bethesda where Jesus miraculously healed a paralyzed man, according to the Gospel of John. Lauren remembers its downtown area from her teenage years as consisting mainly of small buildings containing shops, restaurants and dive bars. Things have certainly changed. Although there are still some of the original storefronts.

The area is becoming more and more dominated by modern high rise buildings.

One Bethesda institution that has remained is the Farm Woman’s Market which was established in 1932 and still has a thriving market on weekends.

The market appeared to be closed as we passed by so we headed across the street to the newly opened Tatte for a lemonade, a coffee and some cooling air conditioning.

We then walked up Wisconsin Avenue toward the older part of Bethesda, passing the old post office, which in a sign of the times had become a fitness center at one stage. We don’t know if the center has survived Covid but there didn’t seem to be anything going on inside.

Next to the Post Office building is what appeared to be a random memorial for downtown Bethesda, until we did some post-walk googling. The Memorial to the Pioneer Mothers of the Covered Wagon Days is a recurring piece of public statuary that stands in twelve locations from Maryland to California, tracing a historic travel route from covered wagon days. The statue is of the Madonna of the Trail, clutching a rifle with one hand, and infant with the other, with another child grasping at her skirt. The statues were erected in 1928-29 and are strung along the National Old Trails Road (now mostly US 40). The sites were chosen with the help of the president of the National Old Trails Road Association, a then-little-known Missouri Justice of the Peace named Harry S. Truman. The Bethesda statue is the first in the line with the others strung westward through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

Walking through the older section of Bethesda we noticed a number of restaurants had closed their doors, including one of Lauren’s grandfather’s favorites, Positano. We were sad to see it go, having eaten many enjoyable dinners there with Oscar. Particularly memorable was the time when Ben, who was about four at the time, pulled the fire alarm, much to the dismay of the restaurant’s staff and patrons.

One dining establishment that continues to go strong is the Tastee Diner which has been serving breakfast 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, since 1935.

We then walked over to the Bethesda Row development. It is an excellent example of a new development that actually works, creating a a mixed-use walkable district. Even on a hot weekday afternoon, the area was bustling, far different than the virtually empty old part of town where we had just walked.

August 19, 2021

About fifteen miles outside Washington DC in Potomac, Maryland is the Glenstone art museum. With a collection of around 1,300 works from post-World War II artists, it is the largest private contemporary art museum in the United States. On a muggy late afternoon we strolled the extensive grounds with our friends Kelly and Kevin. Unfortunately, the new museum complex, called the Pavilions, was not open, so we could enter what looked to be an incredible architectural space.

However, we did manage to escape the heat for a while inside the Gallery, the museum’s first building. Designed by Charles Gwathmey and opened in 2006, it is constructed of zinc, granite, and stainless steel and has beautiful teak doors and windows.

Inside, we saw an amazing retrospective of the works of African-American artist, Faith Ringgold. Unfortunately, photography was prohibited of the exhibit so we can’t show you any of Ringgold’s stunning works here, but we encourage you to check out her art online. Or better still, if you live nearby, visit the exhibit. But be quick, we think that it ends some time in October. Outside the gallery were two beautiful water filled marble sculptures by Felix Gonzalez-Torres.

We went for a walk through the museum’s extensive wooded grounds.

Along the way we saw some incredible sculpture, including a couple of Richard Serra sculptures, easily identifiable in his trademark rust red iron.

And three stone cottages built by Andy Goldsworthy that had surprising clay interiors.

We also liked this sculpture by Charles Ray

And looked down into this installation by Michael Heizer, called Compression Line, supposedly because the weight of the soil surrounding the trench compresses it into a narrow gash.

We passed a large piece by Tony Smith that was shining black in the rain that had started to fall.

Last, but definitely not least we passed by this large whimsical statue by Jeff Koons. It’s made of living flowers that are changed regularly.

With the rain getting heavier, we headed back to the car.

As we headed back we caught a last glimpse of the Pavilions, and made a note to return when they are open.

August 8-11, 2021

We just spent four days visiting Lauren’s sister, Marion, and brother-in-law, Jeff, at their beach home on the Jersey Shore. This isn’t the shore of Guidos and Guidettes made famous in the MTV reality series. In fact, Ocean City, put us more in mind of the pristine seaside town of the 1988 movie, The Truman Show, starring Jim Carrey. We have never seen such immaculate houses and gardens. Here are a few examples.

Ocean City is famous for its boardwalk which extends for two and a half miles along the beach. On a hot afternoon we walked its complete length there and back. The southern end of the boardwalk is lined with impressively large ornate beach homes.

After half a mile or so we passed by one of the only high rise buildings in the town and started walking by scores of fast food joints, tourist shops and entertainment arcades.

Not surprisingly, during such a hot day, the boardwalk was pretty quiet with most people preferring to enjoy the adjacent beach, as evidenced by the hundreds of umbrellas that we could see in the distance.

After a long hot walk, it was nice to enjoy a cool drink and the view from Marion and Jeff’s deck.

In the evening, the boardwalk is a much more crowded and much more magical place.

Adding to the excitement was a parade by a Mummers club marching band. These clubs are a Philadelphia institution, competing for glory in the Mummers Parade held each year on New Year’s Day. The clubs make their own elaborate costumes and perform routines while playing music guaranteed to make you smile and tap your feet. The parade traces back to the mid-17th century and blends elements of European and African heritages. The first official parade was held on January 1, 1901.

On the next day, we decided to join the beach crowd.

This gentleman found himself a quiet spot to watch the surfing.

Speaking of surfing, this is the first time that we’ve seen a police vehicle carrying a surfboard.

July 3, 2021

On an absolutely perfect evening we walked out from our house and across the nearby border into Chevy Chase, Maryland. It is an idyllic neighborhood with large stately houses on quiet tree lined streets. It being the day before Independence Day, there were also more than the normal amount of American flags on display.

June 12, 2021

On a glorious sunny Saturday, we joined the crowds heading to the beach, edging along in bumper to bumper traffic most of the way. We made our way to Long Beach and Seal Beach, just south of Los Angeles. Guiding us were our son Jake, his girlfriend Kylie and Kylie’s daughters, Sophie and Emma. We ate in Belmont Shore, a pleasant Long Beach neighborhood by the beach. We liked the residential streets of small Spanish villas.

After lunch we drove a little further down the Pacific coast to the pretty little beachside town of Seal Beach.

Like many of the Southern California beaches we have visited, Seal beach had a pier stretching a long way out into the Pacific.

While we basked in the sun, Sophie and Emma burnt off some of their endless energy.

June 10, 2021

After spending the last five months hiding out from the world and its problems down in New Zealand, we have finally returned to Washington DC. On the way, we visited our sons, Jake and Ben, who live in LA. Flying in, it was easy to see why LA is so well known for its freeways. Driving around the city, they are almost impossible to avoid. In most highway systems that we have come across, entrances and exits are a distance apart and well marked. But in LA, there are numerous small entrances and exits that often on small reside streets and hardly noticeable. Residents of the city had a welcome respite from the endless traffic jams during the Covid crisis, but with life getting back to normal the heavy traffic has returned.

We rented a house in the Los Feliz hills, not far from Sunset Boulevard and the hipster haven of Silver Lake. As befitting its name, most of the houses in the neighborhood are distinctly Spanish. Here are a few.

There were some houses in other styles, including this majestic deco house.

It wouldn’t be a Los Angeles neighborhood without a resident film or television studio. For many years, The Prospect Studios was the headquarters of one of America’s major television networks, ABC, and many well know shows were filmed there, including American Bandstand. ABC is now owned by the Walt Disney Company and ABC’s main headquarters are now at the Walt Disney Studios. However, the studios are still busy. Among the shows currently being shot there are the medical dramas General Hospital and Grey’s Anatomy.

We walked along iconic Sunset Boulevard. Stretching all the way from the coast to downtown, a distance of about twenty two miles (35 kms), it is lined with numerous landmarks. Here it bisects Silver Lake and is lined with trendy cafes, restaurants, bars and shops.

Cannabis is legal in California and it’s not uncommon to pass stores selling a wide variety of cannabis products. This store was prominently advertising our sons’ company, dompen, and its collaboration with homeless artists.

June 3, 2021

On our way back from Cambridge to Auckland we stopped in Hamilton to visit the very impressive Hamilton Gardens. On the banks of the Waikato River, the gardens cover 54 hectares (133 acres) and includes many different types of garden. It is the Waikato region’s most popular attraction, attracting over a million people a year pre-Covid. Picture it as sort of a Disneyland for gardens, depicting an amazing variety of themed gardens. Here are some examples.

Indian Char Bagh Garden

Italian Renaissance Garden

Japanese Garden

Maori Garden

Tropical Garden

Surrealist Garden

Tudor Garden

There is even a garden created to depict the early 20th century New Zealand lawn party featured in Katherine Mansfield’s short story The Garden Party.

Here are some more of the beautiful scenes we saw during our visit.

This blog is in honor of Mal’s Mum who was born in Hamilton in 1925 and died yesterday at 95 years old after a long and eventful life. She travelled the world and was an avid gardener and talented artist. She also had an eye for beauty and style. We think she would have particularly loved this blog entry.

June 3, 2021

From the age of eight to thirteen years, Mal lived in the small country town of Cambridge, about two hours drive south of Auckland. At the time it had about five thousand residents but it has grown dramatically since then to over 20,000. It is a lovely town with a decidedly English feel. In fact, in 2019, it won New Zealand’s Most Beautiful Large town. So Mal dragged Lauren and our niece Debbie on a nostalgic tour of the town. We started out walking around Lake Te Kouto. Although it sits at the center of the town it is not easily visible and is sometimes called Hidden Lake.

Near to the lake is the one of the two houses where Mal lived. It didn’t look all that different from when he lived there. There are two things that stick out in his memory about the house. The first, is that it is, without doubt, the coldest house that he has ever lived in. It sits down near the river and in the winter the damp fog would not lift until noon. Often there was thick frost on the ground. Like most New Zealand houses, it had not been built for the cold. There was no central heating, insulation or double glazed windows. On the plus side, it had incredible gardens and orchards. He remembers grapes, raspberries, strawberries, passionfruit, kiwi fruit, apples, peaches, mandarins and grapefruit. There were also beans, carrots and assorted other vegetables.

From there, we crossed Victoria Bridge high over the Waikato river on our way to visit the other house where Mal lived in the suburb of Leamington.

The house in Leamington was much warmer, sitting in the sun and on the edge of a hill up above fog. Unfortunately, we only rented that house and the owners were not interested in selling.

As a sign of the growth, the view from the house used to be of idyllic farmland. Now it’s of houses and streets.

It is citrus time in New Zealand and many of the houses had trees in their yards laden with lemons, oranges, mandarins, limes and grapefruit.

Adding to the English feel of the suburb was this bandstand which Mal remembers as a favorite hangout spot for the local kids.

Then it was back across the river to Cambridge to explore the cafes and shops of the main town. Here are some of the local buildings.

We walked up the main Street.

And passed by the town’s iconic clock tower.

Across from the clock tower is the National Hotel. Mal’s best friend’s father was the proprietor of what was then a bustling pub. He can remember staying over in his friend’s room which was right above the public bar and going to sleep to the sound of clinking glasses and drunken singing. In a sign of the times, the hotel is now the home of a fancy restaurant.

This is the church where Mal’s brother, Russ, and sister-in-law, Di, got married. In another sign of the times, it is now an upmarket restaurant and bar.

On our way back to Auckland, we dropped in at St. Peter’s School just outside Cambridge, where Mal spent three unhappy years. It was a private boy’s school that appeared to base itself on schools in Dickens time. Lots of caning, bullying, sitting in Chapel and studying of Latin. When he finally transferred to local Cambridge High School, it was as if a deep gloom had lifted. St. Peter’s is now a co-ed school and based on the look of students we saw, a much happier place.

This is the school chapel where Mal spent many bored hours. More happily, Mal’s sister, Christine, and brother-in-law, Bill, were married there

May 29, 2021

Our good friends, Louise and Jack, live at the end of the Whangaparoa peninsula (in Maori whanga means bay and paroa means whale), just north of Auckland. Their house sits on a hillside with incredible views over Okoromai Bay toward Rangitoto.

After a scrumptious lunch, we went for a walk on a windy and cool day.

We started off walking along the bay

And then crossed the wetlands to Army Bay on the other side of the peninsula.

At the end of the peninsula is the Shakespear Regional Park bird sanctuary and we passed by the fence that crosses the peninsula, protecting the birds from predators.

Army Bay gets its name from the fact that the New Zealand Defence Forces use the area adjoining the bay for various purposes, including testing their weapons. Recently, the area was used to quarantine New Zealanders and Pacific Islanders evacuated from Wuhan during the Covid pandemic in February 2020.

Walking back across the peninsula, we passed through a small manuka forest.

Manuka honey has become popular worldwide because of its medicinal quantities. Here is the small flower responsible.

We also passed by some other beautiful native plants and trees.

Finally, we came full circle, arriving back where we started at Okoromai Bay.

May 27, 2021

Today’s walk was a rather nostalgic one for Mal. First, we visited K.S. Thompson Ltd., the picture framing business owned by Mal’s sister, Christine, and brother-in-law, Bill. Along with a number of our friends, we both worked there on a number of occasions when we were at university. So if you are in Auckland and need some framing done. Go no further.

Then we walked by Bill and Christine’s first house in Auckland where Mal lived for a few months when he was starting high school. Bill said it cost him just over thirty thousand dollars when they bought it in the seventies. Recently, it sold for over two million.

We also passed the small apartment where Mal’s grandparents lived when he was small.

Mal spent one summer while he was at university, working at the Laura Ferguson Trust Rehabilitation Center. The center offered accommodation to the severely physically disabled. With a couple of friends, Mal painted and wallpapered the residents’ units. He still remembers its as one of his most satisfying jobs. Unfortunately, the Center closed controversially recently, supposedly due to lack of funding. A petition has started to re-open the facility. We hope it succeeds.

We also managed to summit yet another of Auckland’s volcanos. Mount Saint John (Te Kopuke) is smaller than the other volcanoes that we have climbed but it is one of the most beautiful. There are trees around the top and in the crater and plenty of spots to sit and enjoy the view.