The National Mall, Washington DC

America! America!

The National Mall on Boxing Day was briskly cold but stunning - with the State Capital at our backs, we stood beneath the Washington Memorial, gazed across at the White House as the sun set and marvelled at the galleries - from the outside!

We rode on an old-school carousel and warmed our hands on super-sweet hot chocolate.

The best tourist destination so far and we're kind of local, if you ignore the appalling traffic and the endless Route 95.

Hirschorn Sculpture Garden, Washington

Much smaller than it's original design and fantastic for it - this almost domestic garden, albeit one with strong concrete edges, ramps and levels, sits in the National Mall. It was designed in the early 1970s by Gordon Bunshaft - who is responsible for the cylindrical Hirshorn itself. 


It has everything from an unfussy but considered setting to great art from Rodin to Miro and on through to the magical Susan Philipsz' 'Sunset Song', last heard under a bridge in Muenster with 'The Lost Reflection' (2007). A reflective and curvy Dan Graham sits at its centre, not unlike it's big brother - the Waterloo Sunset pavilion at the Hayward Gallery (2002-3). 


Finally, if you get a quick (and illegal) turn on a fellow kid-tourist's scooter, it is the ultimate playground, until the guards get you!

Tacky Light Tour, West End, Richmond

A drive-through front garden of festive lights welcoming all with 'Happy Birthday Jesus' and 'Christmas Rocks' signage and a chuffing train, nodding pink deer and plenty more delights... then onto a lakeside home whose lights reflected in the still water, with the odd duck bedazzled below.

We thought these couldn't be topped but then we reached Ashbury Court and had to step out of the car to savour the full-on insanity that is No. 9604 and 9606. A Santa's toy workshop in the florida room aka conservatory, multiple nativities, aglow pink pigs and a giant tree gleaming with fairy lights up in to the night sky and hordes of folk strolling amongst the flower beds admiring the penguin who popped out of the post box, amongst the cast-off festive lights donated to the family, who for 37 years have embraced this electric love-in to festive cheer.

Have yet to see the location that won the, 'most likely to be seen from space award'!

Tacky Light Tour

Richmond Nativity Pageant, Dogwood Dell

Down in the woods we found thousands of folk gazing upwards... towards the Dogwood Dell war memorial. On which 200 local church goers of every age, re-enacted the nativity for an 80th year. A gentle spectacle with the most fantastic heavenly host who popped up in the 'Gloria' strumming golden harps - camp and glorious, however some distress for M as the baby Jesus lay below the parapet and out of sight. Finally carols in the still, open air and sung with real panache.

Richmond Nativity Pageant

Japanese Garden, Maymont Park

A still and sunny winter's day - the magnolia was out, the birds were calling, plus a little boy tortoise was on the loose. The girls fed the rather over-sized goldfish from a pagoda, eventually resorting to organic popcorn. We escaped their insatiable appetites and found a summer house above the dry waterfall and finished off the popcorn ourselves, before a dose of tree climbing. M spotted a fairy arch, but even J's head couldn't fit through.

Monticello, Charlottesville

The closest we've got to the National Trust out here in the hills of Charlottesville. Thomas Jefferson's home was chilly but bright in the winter sunshine, with idyllic views towards the Appalachians and our piedmont region, as well as over an amazing vegetable garden. We wandered down past his grave and savoured the new, wood-clad visitor centre with its cafe and children's discovery centre - classy content and aesthetics - we will return in the Spring.

Monticello

Build-a-Bear, Short Pump Town Center

... when your mum's not in charge and you've got your favourite neighbour by your side you can sometimes get to make your dreams come true. So on Tuesday 13th December Ameigh, the Smurf and Rosie the pink bear were born. They were handpicked, stuffed with fluff and given their own, specially selected giggles and finally a heart, before being fluffed under a dry shower. Birth certificates now on display.

Build-a-Bear

M's official 6th Birthday - All Fired Up, Carytown

                                                                                                       So the official 6th Birthday has arrived and it was to All Fired Up we headed for a bit of wet clay creation with a fabulous assortment of new friends - the country neighbours, the town neighbours, the park pick-up, the potential school buddies and the most recent arrivals from the UK. It was fantastic moment of feeling at-home and the monkeys and other animals that emerged were Picasso-esque joys. 

And the lake has alligators, Colablablab, Sponge HQ, Anderson Gallery

The Sponge HQ semester is over and the cross-over biology/art students have emerged... We got to savour hearty art soup, add our mood colours to the collective and rearrange the library installation (not intentionally part of the participative offer).

Jars of deep colour dyes etched with their plant source and botanical drawings morphed into sexual organs added a dark twist to proceedings, though the bees in their raised shelter still held their place at the heart of it all.

Sadly the promised cocktails project had not been authorised in time.

VCU Arts
Hope Ginsberg

Lincoln - The Movie, Capitol Area, Downtown Richmond

Just before Spielberg's epic about the last four months of Abe Lincoln's life finally moves on, we went on location on Capitol Hill in downtown Richmond. Amidst tent encampments, fake snow and a polystyrene White House portico we roamed... James Spader, Daniel Day-Lewis and Sally Field were not in residence, as a big night shoot was scheduled, but we got to chat to production staff and reorganise wood piles and marvel at ammunition boxes. Released in November 2012, once we have a new president on this side of the pond (or perhaps the same one), this will be essential viewing for all!


Designer's Lincoln blog entry

On the road... Virginia DMV

One of us made it straight through the test, including the additional questions on The Cure and other UK 8Os pop trivia. The other one of us gets to multiple choice road signs again at dawn. In the mean time we spotted some seasonal car decor that stopped us in our tracks, though not without paying due attention to the rules of the road, of course.

Update: Successful at dawn.

Winter Wiggles, Maymont Nature Centre

We actually, really did touch a snake... cool and smooth and keen on armpit warmth. Not our ours though!

Unimpressed J quickly moved on to her craft-making snake activity before recruiting a fellow toddler to redistribute the entire (and not insubstantial) soft animal collection. Flying squirrels on menu for next time.

First Fridays, Downtown Richmond

Either side of a 6 lane city street are private galleries and musicians and a festive food fair and fantastic design store, all overseen by two cops in the middle of the road guiding art-goers with necessary care between venues.

The highlight was the 1708 not-for-profit space with puff-blown (ours) and motion-sensored pieces of marine materials formed into such satisfying shapes. A relief after J's sweaty-hand interaction with some shiny photographs -  we exited at speed. An earthy, mythical installation at the ADA gallery almost had potential, particularly its watercolour animal bunting.

Then we roamed free in the outdoor food market for sweet pizza (Nutella, strawberries and cream) and South African red wine grown locally in Gum Springs by Dion and family. In the darkness the lights twinkled, the Mormons handed out hot chocolate and a family gave us home-baked nougat - this certainly wasn't your regular art trawl.

1708 Gallery
First Fridays
Grayhaven Winery
Quirk Gallery
ADA Gallery
Pizza Tonight

GardenFest of Lights, Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, Richmond

The tasteful end of tacky in the ever-immaculate Lewis Ginter Gardens. The best bits were the quiet backwaters where the insane colour combinations and overwhelming gleam of LEDs dissipated. However the spirit of the crowds was amicable, the night balmy and the sandpit was magical in the dark. There really is no National Trust styling this side of the pond, but a touch of 40s Disney never fails to cheer the soul.

GardenFest of Lights

Sandbridge, Virginia Beach

Is there much more to say than Sunday 27th November on the beach and warm... well if you add in the school of dolphins just beyond the shore and our first snake warning sign in the lagoon rushes, it gets even more exotic. However even down at this low-rise end of Virginia Beach the character homes are lost amidst the wave of prefab blandness. The lagoon bar, Baja, was a chilled spot and our lunchtime happy-hour Bloody Mary's made for a fun pit stop. Home in time for tea, though five hours on the road in total is a little far for a day trip.

Sandbridge Island Restaurant and Raw Bar

Lamplighter Roasting Co, 116 S. Addison St. Richmond, VA

Our new favourite coffee haunt is Lamplighter. It smells amazing, their decaf tastes great, the toasted bagels are fantastic and there's plenty of out-door seating. It's near and soon we'll be able to cycle. Until then a five minute walk to contentedness... and a friendly, youthful vibe.

Lamplighter Roasting Co

Virginia Fine Art Museum, Boulevard, Richmond

The local gallery is a tad swanky. Super-sized in recent times by Rick Mather architects, though the real touch of genius is the car-park roof-turned gardens. Cascades and long strips of water and then wide, wide lawns made for rolling, as well as the odd sculpture create a peaceful spot amidst the city streets.

Indoors it's all very white and monied, with gifted works and spaces galore and with poster slogans like, 'Hang here - it's your art!' it's hard not too feel a little queazy. Of course, add demented children into the mix and things actually get quite tense. However Zu Bing's tabacco project stopped them in their tracks, with a gigantic tiger's pelt made out of thousands of cigarettes that changed from orange and white to tabacco-brown and white, as you moved. Tristin Lowe's soft felt whale made me smile and with the appearance of an Andy Warhol brillo box, I was finally on famliar ground.

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

8 1/2, Strawberry Street, Richmond

A small and focussed Italian deli offering sundries such as puy lentils and panettone, great take-out pizza and spectacularly curt service. No chit-chat.


Take-us-as-you-find-us: no web site.

https://foursquare.com/v/8-12/4adf1b78f964a5209f7721e3

Autumn leaves, everywhere, VA.

Leaves, leaves, leaves. What to do with leaves?

Rake them, sweep them, blow them.
Into the road, into the trash, under the carpet.

Falling in them seems the best option... if you're not bothered by who's going to bite you!

Belle Isle, Richmond

Indians, Captain John Smith, a Civil War prison and twentieth century fish industry have all spent time on Belle Isle but most recently and most famously James Spader was there with his daughter. We walked across the suspension foot bridge and leapt across the rocks (with due care). A great riverside spot with head-clearing fresh air.

Belle Isle

Hair Theater, N Robinson Street, Richmond

The first shearing on foreign soil and in such style. J sat solemnly throughout, whilst M chattered. Bobs were created -- shorter and more sculpted than every previously achieved. Complimentary cookies and coffee were on offer and lollies for kids (not salicylate suitable - J wept), and a salon decor of relaxed, shabby chic made for a pleasant evening, safely out of the drizzling rain.

Hair Theater

Fall on Floyd, Richmond VA

Warm days and blue skies but very cold nights in houses not designed for insulation. However if you look up you get shots like these and below the streets are covered in dry, scrunchy leaves.

Coppola's Deli, S Colonial Avenue, Richmond

This is the new comfort food. Forget the tuna melt - the house special is a Cheese Steak sub with 100% beef steak, grilled onions, hot & sweet peppers, covered with provolone cheese, mustard and ketchup (I refrain from this element) on a freshly baked roll. More child friendly is a shared turkey and tomato roll with an organic "Adam and Eve" apple juice box. The staff are a delightful mix of the old-hand Italian and the kind-student variety.

Coppola's Deli

Studio 231, New Museum, Bowery, New York

Forget the joylessness of Carsten Höller's New Museum offering and step next door for the mad delights of Spartacus Chetwynd's current installation. With heroes like Jabba the Hut and a passion for the sublime, 'Home Made Tasers' is a hodgepodge of fun. Wheeled on an office chair between mini sets revealing the increasingly barmy tales of man's evolution - Creationists and Darwinists beware this is somewhere between Scientology and Planet of the Apes - our child was given the slightly less racy version of our lives to this point which ended with the wildly shocking PP3-powered tazer sparks and the charm of a french man dressed in a green-veined frock.

Spartacus Chetwynd

The Highline, New York

Prairie planting in style - a walkway above the city streets on railway tracks now bedecked with wooden slatted sun loungers, a toe-dipping water sheet, wafting auburn-leafed trees, purple Michaelmas daisies amidst the long grasses and just so much more more... stunningly simple detailing and concrete that has never looked so good. A 70's hotel that one moves beneath that feels like the set of a sci-fi movie and the essential naked man post-shower in a window. Just beneath us the Chelsea Market and all that is great about American food - from Amy's Bread to insane cup cakes and then the lovely gluten-free burgers and beers of Friedmans.

The Highline

Friedmans

Ground Zero, Manhattan

Dedicated to those who survived September 11th 2001 - a shiny Jeff Koons.

Dedicated to those who died at Ground Zero - two deep pools in the footprints of the twin Towers, by Walker and Arad.

Halloween, 1900 block, Hanover Avenue, Richmond, VA

I've enjoyed Halloween in the past and so long as the kids are polite, in fancy dress or at least wearing a mask, they're welcome to knock at the door. It is a great way to meet the neighbours. And so with a small amount of effort I'd usually got one of the best Halloween houses around (though the smarter kids had begun to note the same ageing ghosts from earlier years). Anyway, all those efforts paled tonight at Hanover Avenue's Halloween street party where unless you have a 20ft Galleon in your front garden, The Cat in the Hat themed porch (with Thing One, Thing Two, Sally and I), or a reconstruction of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, you're just not even trying.

Spot M the Witch in the blur.

Halloween on Hanover Avenue

Blue Ridge Parkway, Waynesboro, VA

Ninety minutes west of Richmond is, so we are told, a beautiful route - the Skyline Drive, along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Shenandoah National Park. If you intend to enjoy the drive and see the lovely autumn colours but find the road is closed due to inclement weather, there can be no better alternative than French Toast at Weasie's Kitchen and a walk along the temporarily pedestrianised Blue Ridge Parkway with plenty of tarmac for picnics.

Weasie's Kitchen

Blue Ridge Parkway