Battery Park to Staten Island, NYC

There's magic in the less planned stuff... a short wander from Ground Zero was a play & dog park, deli and then the perfect picnic esplanade on the Hudson River just around the corner from the grassy field of Battery Park, that looked across to the Statue of Liberty. Then we caught the Staten Island Ferry for some windswept and fabulous views before the airport beckoned and we were back to four and on the i95 south, heading through more rain...

Central Park, New York

We got time to picnic, relax on a rock, soak up the afternoon sun and for action took on a few official and unofficial play 'affordances' in the lovely natural-design park at 5th Avenue and 67th. Thank you Billy Johnson for this spot.

Making Art in NYC

The art started with an Occupy moment on the High Line for the production of this tiny cityscape with a delightful anarchist, then some Sigmar Polke collage-layering at MoMA, with a dash of Holocaust education thrown in, followed by stop-go-animation production in the education studio, well that one was really P.

Our view of The High Line

Thanks to the sharing-economy we certainly got a view of the High Line for our weekend in NYC. A bit precipitous if you sat out on the fire escape but a great vantage point to spot passing grannies and singers and joggers and waving couples and tourists. Morning jogs for M & me and baked goods from Chelsea Market en route home - bliss!

Ed Ruscha on the Highline

This was the weekend of Ed Ruscha. His scaffold team hooked up just in front of our window and over three days pretty much finished this - 'Honey I twisted through more traffic damm today'. Romance, open-road nostalgia and metropolis living summed up on fade-out sunset pink.

Then on to the Frick for a room of miniature homoerotic bronzes and Ruscha on the 17th Century - with sage-grey marine skies, a tiny flag ship below and the words - war! taxes! alchemy! damsels! firewood! melancholia! plague! History painting just got seriously witty, well in 1988 it did - thanks Ed!

Playmobil on Tour

Home-from-home in Manhattan for the Playmobil guys and the odd Callico Critter...

Citgo, Temple Hills

RVA to NYC is a reasonable drive, but it's worth making sure the car is ready, so unusually I checked the tyre pressure and topped up oil and coolant. Some of these tasks involved reading the owners manual - with car maintenance I mostly live in denial. The vehicle had also been taken through a car wash and had an interior vacuum, so should have been feeling really loved.

Snacks were packed and we departed northwards. First stop for loos, then back on the road and cruising nicely past Washington, two hours of seven down, when we lost engine power. Conveniently near an exit, sloping down we headed towards green lights and came to a stop by a vehicle rental shop.

The recovery truck arrived and was surprised not to find a 'Ford Torus', somehow, 'Can you tow us?', got lost in translation. Nine hours later, well into the night the engine reignites and we're ready for Part II of this epic road trip. Now with the stormy edge of southern tornados to push through until 3am, when we find ourselves on Manhattan staring across a street, that is now a river and pondering how to find a lock box on a railing, park and move everything up 5 flights of stairs to our temporary new home.

Spring Walk, Rockwood Park

J's school spring walk took us through a new park with a fab lake full of turtles and lily pads. Her two best friends and their little brothers pottered with us, though J and Mason were the only ones to balance right out on tree stumps over the water...

Back to the forest shelter for a hotdog cookout for the 80+ folks and more tiny carrots than you can possibly imagine. You know you're in the right place when the organic veggie dogs are as popular as the generic.

Sundown Picnic, Maymont

We took a sunset stroll across Maymont park, peeked in on a retreating (wild) groundhog, before settling down to a Scotch Egg picnic with G&Ts in our preferred pagoda with a view. Two years ago we looked like this.

Class Terracotta Army, Second Grade

The class art project for the Strawberry Street Festival is a mash-up of Gormley guys and the Chinese Terracotta Army c/o Emperor Qin.

Late night clay prep involved a two-generational production line, some dental floss and scales for portion control. Then classroom sketching c/o fab British Museum book, clay modeling and intense concentration as the warriors became individuals and multi gender.

No-one was walled in alive once finished and some even stayed into recess. These 27 characters now await firing.

Hollywood Cemetery, Oregon Hill

Julia - the daughter of a president - had a glorious angel and then there were the confederate boys and more multi-colour dogwoods for me. Hard to beat as the perfect spring spot.

Easter Parade, RVA

Send in the clowns... they really are freaky but a highlight of this Easter parade for the girls, if you discount the neighbour throwing fire sticks to the juggler with the smooth banter and a uni-cycle.

Easter Morning in RVA

Dawn with a sunrise for the big girls in Forest Hill park (a call to find peace amongst the stress of it all), then Lindt eggs and the odd golden bunny in the yard and finally a spring floral cross at St Mark's.

Blissful - as it should be, with all that arising!

Easter Eggs on Floyd

A visceral sight but fab egg blowing action all round. Scented paints added a new dimension this year with stripes and a dark rainbow being the aesthetics of choice.

Climbing on Belle Isle

The view form the top was amazing... not really!
Without a belay there was a reluctance to go higher. One day maybe...

Grayhaven Winery, Goochland

This is my favourite local spot for wine tasting and roaming. There's some crumbling but cool 1970s play kit, an insanely high not-quite-built treehouse and a brook for paddling, once you push through the snaky undergrowth... plus a South African vibe, friendly horses and leaping Koi in the pond.

Bike Ride to Carytown

The ultimate spring bike ride... we pottered up to Carytown on a day without a car and did the Japanese mini market; the amazing toy store; the chocolate shop and a few stylish thrift spots for maxi skirts. Oh, and the butchers for our future roast beef.

The dogwoods are gorgeous this year. All pink and white - like Dutch muisjes.

Flying Squirrels vs Reading PA, The Diamond

Still working on getting my head around baseball. They can seriously catch and occasionally do a full 'rounder' but in between there are so many false starts and comings and goings. The home team aka The Flying Squirrels seemed to be out there and active for longer, so I think that's a win for them. The guest got the detail more.

Barefoot Puppets, Maymont

A wriggling knitted worm, a kazoo and plenty of slap stick humour entranced these guys and led to fabulously detailed questions from the floor, once the puppet show was packed away in it's suitcase...

MAGIC

Flower Garland, Shields Market

There was a sweat shop set-up with quality-control oversight from HK c/o skype, as M had been tasked by our favourite local store, Shields Market, to create a springtime garland of flowers.

It was not a smooth journey and communal effort was needed to supplement the very plain interpretation of the brief that was stubbornly upheld, despite multiple interventions and a generous cash incentive.

Savage Neck Reserve, Eastern Shore, VA

There are angels to be found on the Savage Neck sands and protected tiger beetles. We were back for more wilderness...

This time fueled by fab fish from The Shanty in Cape Charles and a bit of Corn Hole training in their dockside patio. A blissful road-trip, if you exclude the very long return journey of traffic jams and intense migraines and lost mobile phones (and now a deer tick found on the guest, after the 36 hours!).

Moo Moo is back

Spring break, for the school guinea pig, is at our house. He's such a lovely big splodge of pet and is much more relaxed with us these days. He's chuntering and he has a new set of sketched portraits thanks to Granny Fan.