lost4good

DC & New York & NYC and Pakistan with me meeting a brother (from a different mother same father) at 78 years old for the first time.

Off onto our next adventure, still the war between some & Iran slowing flights we hear. However, our arrival at Heathrow was easy.

The end to the previous blog for our 2 or 3 readers who may not have read it to the end… https://neuage.me/truro-uk/

Narda’s text is in italics (or copied as images from her notebook as she handwrites her blog and adds drawings/photos to it) and the rest – the rambling bits – are Terrell’s.

It was a different type of leaving. We spent the whole day cleaning, filling up the car with diesel — even queuing for it, as the war with Iran had caused shortages.

Then we headed to the train using our split ticket. We had to get off at Exeter St Davids, waited a short while, and the next train arrived. Pretty easy. Then came the trip to Paddington, followed by a short train ride to Terminal 8. From there we took a connecting bus.

We slept well in our hotel, then returned to the terminal. It was quick and painless. The flight to the USA was fine. We spent three hours using our vouchers for the business lounge — nice.

When we arrived in DC, immigration was very fast — no lines, a friendly officer, all done in ten minutes.

Then a ride on the Metro, and Chris picked us up at one of the stops. Lovely to see him again.

02 April Thursday
Flight to DC so easy and good I forget what it was like. In DC upon arrival, I went into the foreign line even though I have a USA passport (and an Australian one) with Narda. There were two in front of us. The inspector or whatever they are called, said welcome to America and barely looked at our papers/visa for Narda/passport. Of course, we had them all scanned in London, but we were amazed how fast it was. There is so much nonsense in the news – & a hundred times more on social media about foreigners arriving in the USA and getting put into detention or sent back to their departing place or even sent to a foreign country they had never been in. Simply put the most we ever saw in our five weeks in the States were a few times groups of five or six national guard people standing on a corner looking bored. Just want to put that all to rest. Yes, there is a war between Iran and others and yes, there are probably things going on we did not see but we realized at the beginning it was best to not put on any news channels and not to pay any attention to any social media. By doing so we had a great time. Dulles Airport seems to be much the same decade after decade. The difference for us was having a train into the city. There is a bit of a walk to the station, but we dragged our sorry asses to it and people at the counter were very helpful getting us on our way. We found everywhere we went people being very friendly and helpful. We took the Silver LineMetrorail train to L’Enfant Plaza, switched to the Greenbelt Line to Fort Totten stop for Chris to collect us.

03 April Friday
Tried to get T-Mobile no luck for me – the story here is not a good one. Bloody terrible T-Mobile to be short and simple. Every country we go to we have to get a sim card. Our phones do not take e-sim, which is all the go it seems to be now. Thankfully my son Sacha is giving me his ‘old’ Google Pixel phone – which is newer than my ‘old’ phone when we are back in Australia. To make a terrible stupid story short, Chris took us to a T-Mobile shop. An hour later, after charging us $101 USD ($141 Aus – where we pay $40 for a prepaid per month – up from $30 last year) the dude who frantically tried to get my phone working said my phone did not take their sim card – something about US regulation and the model of my phone (Oppo something or the other). Narda’s finally worked. So, we said cancel the whole thing which he said he would which would have returned our money but of course for the month it never happened. Calls to T-Mobile were unanswered, they had no care package in their works. Bottom line is/was that we had Narda’s sim working and mine didn’t and we paid $101 dollar for a prepaid one-month account. We will never use T-Mobile again. Vodaphone folks at least checked my phone before selling me a sim card then trying to install it and said forget it mate USA regulations for whatever reason thought my phone was shit.

04 April Saturday

Bus to Silver Springs tried AT&T no luck – walked to Rock Creek Park.

Rock Creek Park was established by an act of Congress signed into law by President Benjamin Harrison on September 27, 1890. It was only the third national park established by the U.S., following Yellowstone in 1872 and Mackinac National Park in 1875.

05 April Sunday

To Miracle theatre church – Wholefoods shopping. Firstly, Miracle Theatre Church. The only time I get to church is when in DC. Really? Who needs religion in DC? Narda’s son is the lead pastor at Grace Capital City and of course we go to see him. Chris started this odyssey decades ago, not counting Australia, in Atlanta, Georgia when he was asked to set up a church branch of the Grace Capital City Church down there up in DC and it has been a highly successful adventure. See https://gracecapitalcity.com/ This year they are in Miracle Theatre, Washington, D.C.’s oldest operating movie theatre. Built in 1909. https://themiracletheatre.com/

A nice tradition after church (or at any time for that matter) is going to Chipotle Mexican Grill. The serves are so large that Narda and I share one – usually the salad bowl.

Wishing they would come to Adelaide. We found one later in NYC and had the same great feed. Usually, we shop at the walking distance Walmart. Though our favourite is the Wholefoods Market which we need to have Chris drive us to – wait this is getting boring.

For a better cultural experience with the feel of a different place than being in our suburb in Adelaide is the Walmart Supercentre nearby at 529 Georgia Street. Often, we are the only white people there, which is great, like I said different than where we live in our suburb. Our quite spot in South Australia is well, quiet. This Walmart is teaming with activity, with lots of people. People with attitude though always friendly when we smile or request where is the bloody organic tofu mate? Sometimes we are treated to a performance of a person who is either high or drunk or whatever half naked yelling at the buses or the one tree in front of the store or just at life itself. There are street stalls selling stuff I am not quite sure what. Not as busy or hectic as Columbia Heights which is the most colourful area with many street stalls and many people with dynamic expressions. We go there for the subway starts there as the nearest one to Chris & Jessica’s home where we live in the basement, which is an Airbnb when we are not there. If you need a great place when visiting DC this would be it.

06 April Monday

Bus with Chris and children to Smithsonian American Museum – Chris had to apply for something or the other near the White House, so we tagged along with the children and took them to The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. They have been here so many times that we could barely keep up with them as they could probably do the whole museum in 18 minutes which they attempted. Narda and I found a place to sit down. Fortunately, Chris’ appointment only was for about half an hour, and we were soon on our way home. 07 April Tuesday

Started the day with walking kids to school.

 We missed the height of Cherry Blossom Week by a few days or perhaps a week. However, they were still doing their thing.

The walk to school is about fifteen minutes. If we get out the door in time in the morning, we join up with three or four other families with their children in the same age group as Narda’s grandies. We collected them at the end of the day too.

After dropping them off we took the bus labelled Metrobus Route D50 “Waterfront”: Starts from 14th Street & Colorado Avenue NW in Northwest DC, travels all the way down 14th Street, and terminates at the Waterfront station. Washington, D.C., has enacted a zero-fare bus bill into law.

Mayor Muriel Bowser declined to officially approve the bill, which eliminates the $2 fare for all city buses, adds a dozen 24-hour bus lines starting in July and calls for a $10 million investment into other service improvements to the bus lines.
But the council enacted the proposal without the mayor’s signature, making Washington the largest U.S. city to codify a fare-free transit system.

The statement comes from a CNBC news article published on January 30, 2023, titled:
“D.C. free bus bill becomes law as zero-fare transit systems take off.”

Unlucky for us we still had to pay bus fare, though we noticed few did. Lucky for us we had old DC senior transit cards and got slammed for $1 for each ride. Looking on their web site just now I see metro buses are free starting June 2026. Narda’s ex-husband and his wife are to DC next week (now being 21^st of May) so they will get free bus. Of course, the trip to there costs more because of jet fuel and wars and all that caper.

The bus ride took us about an hour. Normally we would have gotten off at Colombia Heights only 15-minutes away. The bus ride is through central DC past the White House, Capital, Treasury something and all those seemingly important places. The marina and District Wharf, a mile-long complex along the Potomac featuring the iconic Municipal Fish Market, plus restaurants, bars, shops, and hotels was where we were headed mainly to see the Cherry Blossom Festival area which we did not find. We did look at all the fancy yachts in the marina and because it was a rather cold day and we needed a toilet we went into a classy looking hotel, InterContinental, found the toilet and thought it would be a good time to sit down and rest. The lobby looked very comfortable. I noticed that there was a coffee machine with milk and all the fixings one would need so we made ourselves a good cuppa and even got to use their Wi-Fi. No one said anything, like ‘hey mate you people gonna pay for that coffee?’ it became one of our favourite stories to tell of the day. I looked up the price of the place and blimey it was about 20x more than what we would want to pay for a hotel with a nice lobby and free coffee, toilets (with warm towels and perfume and face splashing lotions), a view of the wharf and Wi-Fi.

I did not take any photos of us luxuriating in such a nice lobby. I thought maybe that would be pushing the envelope too far and next they would ask what our room number could possibly be as we no doubt looked like freeloaders, or not… I think we look a bit classy. Of course, I would just say #234 or something like that.

We walked out of the wharf area and to L’Enfant Plaza as we were told that is where we could get a new senior’s card. Mine from years ago worked but Narda’s did not. A woman refused to issue Narda a new senior card without picture id or/and a passport. We came back and showed Narda’s passport on her phone, she said didn’t accept images on a phone. We had no intention of going all the way back home and back to her royal highness. We just stood there and looked at her, after a few minutes she asked to see Narda’s phone, changed her mind and issued a new card. We asked why the one we had no longer worked and it seems that the magnetic strip had demagnetised, go figure.

L’Enfant Plaza is like a main hub with trains going hither and thither; The specific lines serving the station include

• Metro Lines:
  • Green Line
  • Yellow Line
  • Blue Line
  • Orange Line
  • Silver Line [1, 2]
• Commuter Rail Lines:
  • VRE Fredericksburg Line
  • VRE Manassas Line

L’Enfant Plaza was part of the Southwest Washington, D.C. urban renewal project, one of the earliest urban renewal projects in the U.S., and the first such in Washington, D.C. they tossed it all together in the mid-1950s. There is an interesting read of it in Wikipedia if this blog becomes too boring and you need something more stimulating https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Enfant_Plaza

At Columbia Heights is Target and Lidl. When we didn’t get to the sketchy Walmart (that is what a family member calls it so it must be correct) we would take the bus to Columbia Heights and go to Lidl. We don’t have Lidl in Australia, and we like them in Europe. Aldi and Lidl are both German companies but only Aldi (600+ stores) hangs out in Australia.  Very similar stores. By now you are probably thinking of going to Wikipedia and learning about L’Enfant Plaza.

08 April Wednesday

After walking children to school we took the bus to Hilton Hotel as there was an advertised, under events (free ones), an art show of cherry blossoms at the Hilton Hotel. Blimey, how disappointing. There were some paintings mostly of nothing to do with cherry blossoms not sure what they were of and no free coffee. We bought on of those fancy coffees for seven USD (that is more than ten buck in Australia) and found a bus to a train to a bus home.

What was significant for me anyway was that when we were back to Chris’ & Jessica’s I posted my blog for our wonderful stay in the UK. https://neuage.me/truro-uk/

09 April Thursday
home – shopping with Chris, to Safeway – Chris and Jessica to hotel for a couple of days – we’re looking after children.

10 April Friday
Bus D50 to city bus D10 to Arts Club of Washington, 2017 I St NW – https://artsclubofwashington.org/   

Founded in 1916, The Arts Club of Washington is the oldest nonprofit arts organization in the nation’s capital, committed to elevating all forms of artistic expression, facilitating cultural conversations, and preserving the unique history of our permanent collection and buildings, including the historic Monroe House, former home to President James Monroe.

https://artsclubofwashington.org/   

It was a brilliant concert. And free.  The building is well worth the visit.

13 April Monday

Train morning to Alexandria, Virginia – old town – trolly bus to Potomac River.

Step-by-Step Route

1. Board the Train: Enter Columbia Heights Station and board a Yellow Line train heading south (towards Huntington).
2. The Ride: Stay on the train as it heads through downtown D.C., crosses the Potomac River, and travels through Arlington into Alexandria.
3. Arrive: Get off at Braddock Road (for northern Alexandria) or King Street–Old Town (for central Old Town Alexandria)

At the metro station in Alexandria there is the Free King Street Trolley & the Free DASH bus that roams the length and depth of King Street. The trolly is a replica or perhaps the real thing of an old school trolly. Being morning the many restaurants in the old town were closed. We did a tour of the harbour (walked to the pier sat down and went and got some take away food and sat down again) then rode the DASH bus back to the station. Oh, and we went to the Torpedo Factory Art Centre in the old Torpedo Factory https://torpedofactory.org/  The Torpedo Factory Art Centre is the former U.S. Naval Torpedo Station, a naval munitions factory on the banks of the Potomac River in Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia, which was converted into an art centre in 1974. Like most things in DC it is free. There are lots of art and sculptures and starving artists whishing/hoping we would purchase some humongous art piece which would pay their living expenses for a year so that they could create in their bubble but we didn’t even buy a fridge magnet (didn’t see any) or even a postcard or an actual torpedo which most likely would not be accepted on our upcoming flight JFK to Doha to Lahore, Pakistan.

14 April Tuesday
Took Liam to soccer – We have watched Liam over the years playing soccer and now 11 years old, still the goalie for his team, he has showed more tenacity and no doubt the reason for winning was his preventing most of the other team from getting the ball into a net most of the time. I think it was about six to three by the end.

Three years ago in those early AI years we had a roo helping him in the goal which was quite useful.  Now he is grownup a bit and doesn’t need AI to keep the ball out of the goal place. This is a continuation of a life long watching kids at sports cycel. I would take my children to basketball and baseball (Leigh got as far as being a pitcher for the LA Dodgers which is a long ways) from small to tall, Sacha did play soccer for a couple of years; Narda’s three sons were active in basketball and Aussie Rules Footy and I went with her to their games though they were grown up in the 20 or so years we went to watch. Liam is the next generation of those to watch and I am sure sometime we will see both Josiah 4 and Arhun – 2. Those seemingly rare times we are home in Adelaide we watch Maggie and Mabel playing basketball on Saturday.

I made a video, obviously, Chris posted it on FB – ask him.

Liam likes his basketball too – already dunking the ball…

Bus to bookstore – Politics and Poetry – We took a bus to Politics and Prose at 5015 Connecticut Avenue NW and looked at all those expensive books that trendy bookstores flog and had expensive coffee downstairs. The real reason we wanted to go to Politics and Prose was because it was next door to the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria. For those who love a good off-the-wall smear campaign against the democrats (especially Clintons) you would remember or not Pizza Gate – next door to Politics and Prose. It was alleged in the basement all kinds of hanky pranky was going on. Read about it, I did; Pizzagate conspiracy theory, on Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizzagate_conspiracy_theory#Origins Unfortunately, or not the place was closed, and we did not see any of that liberal-woke activity that those other people like to say is happening in the basement of pizza shops. Good golly there are a lot of crazy folks in the world…

15 April Wednesday

To People’s House – 1700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW – .

People knowing people. We got in the long line in front of the People’s House half an hour early. At 9 am an announcement of anyone who is not in a group but has tickets come in first. That was us. Through people knowing people we gave our name at the desk and even got a cool bag with images of the White House on it and four Christmas ornaments. We later traded two of the ornaments for another ornament and a figurine of Theodore Roosevelt and a book of Roosevelt’s quotes.

The People’s House opened its doors in September 2024 Stewart D. McLaurin President, White House Historical Association.

I especially like the Roosevelt dude. His son, Theodore “Ted” Roosevelt Jr. went to Albany Academy for Boys, where back in the early 200s Narda and I taught. One of the many things Mr Cool President did was not have a Christmas Tree because he was an avid environmentalist and didn’t want to cut down a tree.

“Perhaps the turning point for Theodore Roosevelt came when J.P. Morgan told him, in a meeting at the White House, “If we have done anything wrong, send your man to my man and they can fix it up.” It was time, the president saw, for government to ensure that no single entity in American life – not big business, not big labor – was favored above any other group, and so vowed to make the laws fair to all. Here he issues his famous clarion call:
“All I ask is a square deal for every man. Give him a fair chance. Do not let him wrong anyone, and do not let him be wronged.”
The promise of American life, Roosevelt knew, was to be found in the equality of opportunity. The reforms of Teddy Roosevelt’s Square Deal would help ensure that every citizen had a fair chance to compete and succeed.”

the internet

Being special people or so we like to believe we had a wonderful tour. I would suggest this as one of the top things to see in DC, right up there with a few wanders through Rock Creek Park and The Kennedy Centre (if you can pop in before…nope now is OK – June 2026).

Of course, Narda and I had to have a snapshot of us at the Oval Office. I was ordering a vegetarian woke liberal serve of justice. Not sure what Narda was doing on the phone at the Oval Office Desk.

Narda enjoyed her rest in the theatre area where presidents and mates watch our YouTube video clips. https://www.youtube.com/neuage09

First ladies

We wandered over to the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery and saw the groovy – State Fairs: Growing American Craft, a free exhibition. Featuring over 240 artworks, including a life-size butter cow created on-site by the Iowa State Fair’s official butter sculptor Sarah Pratt, and a display featuring a pyramid of more than 700 glass jars of preserved fruits and vegetables by canning superstar Rod Zeitler, seed art, and 4-H quilts, a size 96 boots of Big Tex® from the State Fair of Texas®, celebrating the history of American fairground crafts and other state fair thingies.

The Renwick Gallery, a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) in Washington D.C., is a premier destination dedicated to contemporary craft and decorative art. Housed in a historic 1859 building located just steps from the White House, it is renowned for its groundbreaking, immersive installations.

There were all these pictures made totally from seeds – lots of them – we just took a few photos and gave up counting the seeds in each one…

random photos from the exhibition – out of a hundred or less here are a handful…

16 April Thursday
Took Josiah and Liam to National Museum for Children – there 10.30 to one – Chipotle on way home got off bus too soon took next bus – hot day 33 Celsius – LOST MY GLASSES on bus – filled in a forum – had second pair in suitcase –

Well, what is a grandma and her toyboy to do? Of course, take the little ones to the National Museum for Children, https://nationalchildrensmuseum.org/. We didn’t especially care for it, but the kids loved it. There was not really a place for the likes of us. Just a few cold hard metal benches. After an hour we broke the rules, rally, who wouldn’t? and left them on their own and went upstairs for coffee. Another hour passed and I was close to old person death with a sore bottom, so I wandered around and watched screaming, laughing, crying people (mainly the adults) and even interacted slightly with the grannies. To make it worse this is not a free museum. Like $18.95 per person (adults and children except under 1 year old is free). Not sure why adults have to pay, it’s not like a glorified child sitting thingy we are supposed to always stay with them. There wasn’t even free Wi-Fi – fortunately I am not one of type of folks who complains. To make it even worse I would not call it a museum. It was just an indoor expensive boring (for me) place to grow old in, which is what I did. However, Josiah and Liam liked it and that is what is important.

Narda and I even joined in playing with the green screen. Looks like one of my acid trips from the 1960s.

17 April Friday

The primary, popular outdoor sculpture garden on the National Mall is the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, located at 7th Street and Constitution Ave NW. It features modern, large-scale sculptures, a café, and a fountain that becomes an ice rink in winter. See our images

We did not get to many museums this time. Just the bloody children’s one and the National Gallery of Art which is incredible. We have done the others several times before. I used to live in Baltimore 1976-1979 and I used to go DC a lot. Especially on weekends I would set up my artwork on the mall – now where the sculpture garden is and even sold some of my stuff back then. Thinking back, I wonder why no one stopped me or asked if I had permission. I would be the only one. Surely would not get away with it now. This is a sample of what I was selling https://neuage.org/post-neo-noir-neuage/index.html  I do not have any photos of my set up in the national mall, but it was similar to my setting up in New Orleans in the early 1970s & setting up in Adelaide in the 1990s.

We took a bus and a metro train to the Kennedy Centre, realizing on the way back that we could have taken buses (2 – one is a transfer) all the way.

The All-Bus Route
Bus 1 (D40): Board the D40 bus at the Georgia Ave NW & New Hampshire Ave NW stop heading toward L’Enfant Plaza. The Transfer: Ride the D40 down to 7th St N Pennsylvania Ave NW and get off the bus. Bus 2 (D10): Cross the street to the Pennsylvania Ave NW & 7th St NW stop. Hop on the westbound D10 bus heading toward the Kennedy Center. Arrival: The D10 will drop you off directly at the Kennedy Center Roadway.

We attended a free concert. The Kennedy Centre currently hosts free performances every Wednesday through Saturday at 6:00 p.m. as part of their Millennium Stage series. (this is the one we saw, on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OozxetDPTjo) Located in the heart of President Kennedy’s living memorial, is an immersive exhibit using the latest in digital technology to explore how the arts infused and informed the Kennedy presidency. The title of the area is “Arts & Ideas” With the centre being closed after fourth of July 2026 and who knows what will be left of it after two years of demolition. According to ChatGPT or was it CoPilot? Trump’s takeover has already reshaped programming, leadership, branding, and artistic direction so dramatically that future programs, including Arts & Ideas, are at risk of being altered, paused, or replaced. It is worth a trip to Washington DC before July 2026 just to see this exhibition & before the centre is no longer the Kennedy Centre. Update – headline on 30 May 2026 “Judge says Trump can’t add his name to Kennedy Centre and blocks planned closure”. There is already appeal in place so we will see whether US District Judge Casey Cooper’s ruling stays.

What a great noon time concert these musicians were terrific.

After our free little concert, we watched the sunset over the Potomac River walking over to the western edge of the terrace for the unobstructed view over Virginia. After the sunset we went to the eastern side of the terrace to watch the Washington D.C. skyline light up, including illuminated views of the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument.

Then the D10 bus across from the centre which was waiting when we went out home. Probably one of the best viewpoints in DC – soon to be no more.

“The life of the arts, far from being an interruption, a distraction, in the life of a nation, is very close to the center of a nation’s purpose.”

President John F. Kennedy

Located in the heart of President Kennedy’s living memorial, there is an immersive exhibit using digital technology to explore how the arts infused and informed the Kennedy presidency. This, along with the concerts is what makes this place so good. One could spend a day reading and viewing all the stuff – we took a half hour as we absorb information quickly.

Narda and I once did the Louvre Museum in Paris in a couple of hours. When I went there as a single parent when my boys were 9 & 11, we did the Louvre Museum in less time than that. As I said it is the ability of absorbing information quickly…

18 April Saturday

We all went (Chris, Jessica, children and us) to dinner at CACTUS CANTINA https://cactuscantina.com/  (An Authentic Taste of Tex-Mex, Elevated, a Washington D.C. institution since 1990, serving authentic Tex-Mex, Cuban, and Spanish specialties. https://cactuscantina.com/) What a good feed. The place is all tricked out in Mexican fashion.

After we went to the amazing https://cathedral.org/ National Cathedral (The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul) and did a walk around.

You may remember a few years ago when the lead bell ringer took us for a tour inside the bell tower. We had rented his Airbnb flat next to Chris/Jessica’s home because family was staying in their house that time when we were there for Chris’ 40th birthday and Narda’s 65th birthday see our blog at https://neuage.me/usa-2019/. Everyone in the family was there, Narda’s 3 sons (over from Australia & Pakistan) Narda’s ex-husband and wife. But Narda and I did the bell tower just with the ringer – what an experience. It’s over there on YouTube if you want to revisit it – I did. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoK-vBcZcS0

20 April Monday

Random images a handful amongst hundreds of Narda and her DC family.

Our last night there we watched a movie that Dr. Jessica starred in about her involvement in climate change and bringing people’s awareness of especially those who traditionally do not believe in it. Often, she is on The Hill – speaking with government officials about climate change. The movie will be available after being shown at cinema festivals. The last time we were in DC two years ago, we watched some of this being filmed so it was great seeing the finished item.

Chris drove us – after dropping off kids – 10.35 train to NYC – in NYC bought salad etc. for train – arrived half hour late due to medical emergency on train –

It was easy getting on the train at Union Station DC. When we got there, we were herded into a waiting room and not allowed to dash to the platform to get the best seat on the train which as always is our forward motion strategy in life. We could not even find a seat near the front of the waiting room. When the announcement was made, we scrambled forward only to find a very long line in front of us. However, our spirits picked up when there was an announcement that the elderly and children and disabled could come to the front of the current chaos. When we got there it looked much better, however, we were only near the front of the line. Then we were told those who needed the elevator could go first. Well of course, Narda’s knee was hurting so off we went. (it is true she had a torn meniscus from the year before stepping out of our caravan and it does flair up so we were truthful and of course she needs me with her to carry at least my half of the stuff we drag around the world), then suddenly we were in front and down the elevator and the first onto the train. Bottom line – we got comfortable seats.

When we got to New York Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station life was not quite the same.  The Amtrak Empire Service train to Albany-Rensselaer (ALB) operates a train from the Moynihan Train Hall, which was not there in the past. It opened January 1, 2021, (the $1.6 billion train hall was built directly inside the 1912 Farley Post Office, sitting across the street from the traditional Penn Station). We used to take the Empire Service train to Albany-Rensselaer and back to NYC in the years we lived in upstate New York and later in NYC (2002 – 2010) and our complaint then was that it was impossible to be quick onto the train to get an ideal seat. About fifteen minutes before the train arrived it would be announced what platform it was to arrive on, and everyone would magically appear in front of the track gate with us being squashed somewhere in the midst. That was then. Now is now. Oh wait! Nothing has changed. Lovely new train hall with places to sit and restaurants and overpriced coffee and artwork and blah blah blah – 1.6 billion $ to make it all so cool but still the same old story. Fifteen minutes before the train arrived it would be announced what platform it was to arrive on, and everyone would magically appear in front of the track gate with us being squashed somewhere in the midst. Oh, did I just say that? No other train system in the world does this. You purchase a ticket and have an assigned seat. India, UK Europe, Vietnam, Australia…We were just in the UK for a month and every time we got a train ticket, we had a seat so there was no scramble to find one. We were in Europe and India and Vietnam last year – same same. Come on Amtrak get it together and assign seats. Luckily the train was not full, and we did get a seat. So, I will stop complaining for a bit.

Baltimore

Amtrak DC to Albany NY via NYC.
What a journey what a trip.
Passing Baltimore. There she is out the window.
I started this trip there.
1979 think it was about September
Living with my friend Lynn (not a girlfriend we just shared a house for a year or more) and her 8-10 years old daughter, Tracy, in a cottage in Timonium Maryland outside of Baltimore.

I was in an astrological group. One evening someone spoke about an astrological conference in Auckland New Zealand then onto Sydney.
I was working at Shepherd Pratt in the adolescent section. No bank savings no money so I said “can’t go”. The same week two credit cards arrived. Bought my tickets. By January 1st we were on the way. Lots happened along the way. Too much to say here… it’s in my book, “Leaving Australia, before the after“. See chapter 34 Book One “1980 Hello Australia” for the actual story.

The thing is I just kept going. When I came back to Baltimore I moved to Hawaii, March 1980, had Sacha with a person from Adelaide who I met at the Sydney astrological meeting January 4, 1981 and June 1981 we moved to Australia. Had a second child got divorced raised two children on my own in Australia. The second child was signed and was a professional pitcher for the Los Angeles dodgers only to commit suicide age 20. Now I have been married to the marvellous Narda for 26 years and we have lived and worked (as teachers) in NYC, upstate New York, Dalian China, and Australia and travelled to more than 50 countries, including 26 house exchanges in various cities, usually for a month or more.
46 years later I am going past Baltimore again. What I would have missed if I had not gone to that astrological meeting.

Of course, as when I was leaving Baltimore, I had no idea of these 46 years unfoldment I have no idea what is ahead of us. No one ever does. I even am beginning to think there will not be another 46 years yet in front of me, Damn!

Sidenote (as most everything in my life is) I made an entry into MapQuest saying I lived in Timonium, Maryland (about half an hour from Baltimore). This was in the early 1990s when I was living in Adelaide, and the internet was new and fun to play in. I made up a description of myself; totally untrue and I put it in for my address at 1719 Broadway Road, Lutherville Timonium, which is where I lived in the photo above with my friend Lynn & her daughter. I have never been involved in family counselling. I wrote that because I thought it was funny as I had a very messy divorce and was as far as one could get from being a counsellor. I have written many times over the years to MapQuest to have my thingy removed to no avail. I don’t bother anymore. This is why we should believe everything we see on the internet.  

At the end of this train trip, we are in the Albany NY area. An area I left in 1965, 60 years ago. Tonight my brother will collect us from the train station.
Sounds normal. It isn’t. I was born in 1947. I was adopted in 1950. In 1987 I tracked down my birth mother family, mum had died in the early 1970s, but I found my sister and brother. Susan lives in upstate New York, and I have visited her several times since first meeting her in 1992 with my two boys. I met bro Euclid in Hilo Hawaii with Narda in 2002. In a few days I will see Susan again.

As all people have, I had a mum and dad. I never was in touch with the father part of me. However, in December when Narda and I were on the cruise ship Celestyal Discovery going through the Suez Canal my sister texted me that my brother from a different mother wanted to get in touch with me. It seems that New York has some privacy policy about opening adoption records after 75 years and through lots of research from my newfound brother, up popped me. Susan has told me over the years that she was sure I had a brother and sister from my father’s side, and she knew who. So, in 6 hours I meet a new brother. We have been writing back and forth for about 4 months. We have some differences though. I am a democrat woke vegetarian atheist liberal ex-hippie or still one according to some, who did the 60s in a massive way, will leave it at that. He was in the army has two sons who went to military schools… He eats meat and smokes cigars. It seems we have different political outlooks, who cares? We don’t.    

What is even more tripped out is that Narda & I got a place in Albany via our house exchange site six months ago. We thought after DC we would like to spend a week in upstate New York as we worked in the area for five years and have friends there, we taught in China with.

Turns out my new-brother lives 15 minutes from where we will stay. All so cosmic.

Of course this whole trip has the background of the USA Iran Israel war which began while we were in flight between KL and Istanbul. In a week we are supposed to be on a flight JFK to Doha to Lahore Pakistan. Today, Monday April 20 there is a breakdown in peace talks.
Then again, I see that Baltimore is back there and NYC is approaching.  And of course, there is that story part of my life 1966+ we are staying there for two nights before leaving the states. I suppose I will waffle on about my life of the NYC 1960s me then.

Robert, my newfound bro, who BTW has the same name as my adopted brother, go figure, was at the train station with his wife to collect us. His first sentence was “you are real”. Wow, no one has ever said that to me and I am glad I am not just a figment of my imagination or someone else’s. Robert & wife, Terry took us to our house stay and then to a supermarket to get a week’s supplies and came in and we chatted for a while. This was the start of a week together, going places and learning about one another.

Firstly, I want to point out some interesting facts… I now have two brothers; Robert and Robert. The first, Robert Adsit (https://neuage.org/robert_adsit.htm) my adopted brother, who died age 49 of AIDS was an artist, see The Art & Life of Robert J. Admit: A book of paintings, drawings, writings and memories of the New York City artist eBook : Seifer, Marc J., Waterman, Marta , Neuage, Terrell (Marc J. Seifer is a well-known author, https://marcseifer.com and the amazing Marta Waterman, https://martawaterman.com put together a book about him with a bit from me.
2. My birth name was Terry Lawrence Miller – birth father Lawrence Miller. My adopted father was Kenneth Adsit, and my adopted name was Terrell Kenneth Adsit. So, two fathers, two middle names of their first names.
3. New Robert’s wife’s name is Terry
4. A person who looked after Narda & I (2002 – 2010) often when we were in upstate NY and when we moved to the city had parents whose name was Adsit-Miller. Reminder, I assume none of these people knew one another.

New Robert never really heard of me, though he thinks he heard his parents discuss me in an argument they once had when he was young

Now I see why I changed my name to Terrell Neuage (no middle name) in 1981…I think I see why. If you want more on this, see https://neuage.org/Name-Neuage.html Besides, though I did not know it at the time, it is easier to find me on the internet than if I stayed with Terrell Miller or Terrell Adsit. There are a lot of entries for me under Terrell Adsit but none for Terrell Miller, and of course, lots for Terrell Neuage. How embarrassing.

Back to our travels…

21 April Tuesday

Robert & Terry collected us early for a drive around where I attempted to grow up in Clifton Park. Robert Clifton Park cemetery –

to other spots in the once were quite country farming town where I grew up and which is now all shopping centres and crap. We had dinner at Cracker Barrel Old Country Store which is a nice mock-up of and old country store and where we used to eat with my adopted father back in 2002+ when he was in his late 90s. Kenneth Adsit died at 102 so I wish I had some of his genes.

Narda with new-bro Robert

22 April Wednesday

With Robert & Terry to our homes we had in Round Lake. We had two homes there https://neuage.org/house.html. Our first home looks much the same from the outside. Our second and larger home we were taking photos of when the owner came out and invited us in. She remembered us from five years ago when we were doing the same thing. In the five years since we saw it last, they have repainted and tarted up the place with a totally different colour scheme than what we did. Narda and I liked their version.

Inside was nicely done too with an added working fireplace. We lived there for a couple of years and did major restoration/renovations on it then moved to The City, then China and rented it out for years before selling it to people who obviously love the place.

A story about this house (from the local Round Lake historian who came to our home one day and told us this story) when Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was in the Adirondacks & President McKinley, who was shot, took a fatal turn, died and Roosevelt was to become president a person living in our house was the one who went up to the Adirondacks and told Roosevelt “you’re the man” or some such line. However, I have not found anything that confirms this though we like telling the story.

Our main nearby city to where I grew up is Saratoga Spa.

Due to the presence of mineral waters Saratoga Springs was developed as a spa resort, spurring the construction of several hotels, including the United States Hotel and the Grand Union Hotel. The latter was, in its day, the largest hotel in the world. “Queen of Spas“: Dubbed the “Queen of Spas” in the 1800s, Saratoga attracted visitors from across the country who came to drink and bathe in the waters, believing they could cure various ailments.
Saratoga Spa has over 20 public springs—ranging from flat to highly carbonated mineral water, which I really like and Narda doesn’t. The more carbonated the better. Growing up in Clifton Park my (adopted) father often took us there on Sundays and we would fill up bottles of the water. The spas never stops – the water is always coming out of the pipes.
Native American Roots & Early Settlers
For centuries, local Native American tribes revered the bubbling, highly carbonated mineral waters for their spirituality and perceived healing powers. By the early 1800s, European settlers discovered the waters, transforming the surrounding wilderness into a fashionable destination for “taking the cure”

Unfortunately, my photos of our visit this time did not come out but I have one from when Narda and I went there

There is a great pdf all about this including history HERE
The FDR & New Deal Era (1930s)
The spa’s defining era occurred under New York Governor (and later U.S. President) Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR, who sought treatment for infantile paralysis, frequently visited Saratoga to bathe in the waters. He championed the development of a grand, European-style wellness centre. Using over $3.2 million in federal WPA and Reconstruction Finance Corporation funds, the “New Spa” was built by 1,200 local workers and officially opened on July 26, 1935.

• Saratoga Racecourse: Opened in 1863, it is the oldest continually operating sporting venue in the United States. It is widely considered the crown jewel of American thoroughbred horse racing. Narda and I went there a couple of times to a horse race or two. Think I put $2 on the old grey mare but lost it so never betted on a horse again.
• The Battles of Saratoga: Often called the turning point of the Revolutionary War, the American victory here in 1777 convinced France to officially ally with the colonies. My adopted father has a story about a grandson or some such relative who laid on the battlefield and whose brother was telegrammed that he may still be alive and he found his brother on the battlefield and because he had worms coming from a wound he knew the dude was still alive and he brought him home and nursed him back to health. My father says he remembers being showed the wound when my father was young and the dude was old at the time and he still had this hole in him.

Another main event about Saratoga Spa is that the first concert I ever went to was there. My father drove me to see Peter, Paul and Mary about 1963 or so. He stayed in his car and prayed for me – he was a very religious Methodist (Weslyn Methodist – John Wesley broke away from the Church of England as they were not strict enough – damn! No wonder I did the 1960s at such a level).

 Robert & Terry took us to lunch at the Rusty Nail; because they like it, and we have a good story about it. Long ago, sometime between 2002 – 2006 when we were living in Round Lake, we were driving on route 146 and were pulled over by a policeman for something – I think we had a busted rear light or not a blinker – forget exactly. Narda was driving, showed her Australian license, and remarked how we were looking for a pub to go to but there aren’t any in upstate. The policeman seemed offended and said there was a really good pub, The Rusty Nail, and we should check it out. He totally forgot about why he stopped us, even put his ticket pad or whatever it was back into his pocket. We all drove off. Went to the bloody rusty nail, went inside – it is a sports bar – looked like a bunch of rednecks (sorry family or anyone who thinks I am a woke vegetarian liberal) having beers (I stopped alcohol in 2005) so we left. However, here in 2026 with newbrother & his wife we had a wonderful, tasty meal and I must say The Rusty Nail is a good restaurant, though not in the realm of a pub (UK or Australian level).

Getting to know this new side of my family is good. Trying to cover 78 years in a few days is a bit difficult (68 years for him as he is ten years younger) like if as an older brother I would have been a good influence on him. Probably not.

Robert drove us where he believed I lived before being adopted.

Sister Susan doesn’t exactly agree. Anyway, I was put into Vanderheyden Hall (It originated as the Troy Orphan Asylum in 1833) a couple of times. After the first time (grandmother had me put in; something about my 15 or 16 year old mother and Lawrence Miller – mum’s step brother – was in the army and not around and though my birth certificate says they were married it was apparently annulled) in Vanderheyden Hall my mum sort of kidnapped me out of there, but grandmother got me back in to Vanderheyden Hall. Apparently, this happened a couple of times until grandmother superior had my mum committed to a mental hospital and got me back once again into Vanderheyden Hall where I was adopted age three by the Adsits. Robert remembers going to this house and he says this is where my mum was living at the time. Because I am so bloody old there is no one around to verify all this. Narda and I used to visit my grandmother back in the early 2000s and we would ask who my father is but she would just say a passing sailor. Apparently to stop any scandal within the family. Grandmother died in about 2009 age 99 so that is the end of the enquiry. Robert’s father’s name is on my birth certificate and all points to him being the one. He died years ago. Once in about 2005 I rang him and asked if he was my father. Instead of denying it he said, “I don’t think so”. That to me is not an answer.

Another strange or at least to me coincidence is that newbrother Robert lives in Wynantskill, New York. Vanderheyden Hall is in Wynantskill which has a population of 4,000 (2020 census). Robert now lives in the same town I lived in 75-78 years ago. Go figure. My favourite line in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Orphan_Asylum is this:

Troy Orphan Asylum was one of the orphanages from which Martha Van Rensselaer, director of the Cornell College of Home Economics, requested infants be used as “practice babies” for home economics students in the 1920s.

Couple that with that I was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, the home of Sanitarium, founded in 1866 by the Seventh-day Adventist Church and famously managed by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, it revolutionized wellness by pioneering health foods (like cornflakes), physical fitness, and hydrotherapy one can see why not only was I a tofu maker for a decade in Adelaide https://neuage.org/tofu.html but well I was a tofu maker.

23 April Thursday
Narda and I had a day to ourselves, visiting Port Albany and learning how the Dutch (people like Narda) settled here.

We went to the fantastic museum learned about the Mohican, Mohawk, and Dutch before 1660 – the exhibit was much the same as when I used to go there is a child/teenager. The New York State Museum features a premier exhibition titled First Peoples. It traces 13,000 years of Indigenous history in New York, famously known for its immersive diorama of a Mohawk Haudenosaunee village, a life-sized reconstructed longhouse, and a rich collection of artifacts and contemporary indigenous art. [1, 2, 3]

Now they have the addition of the Barbie museum showcase – why we went through that I am not quite sure, but the museum and the river walk is really great.

The New York State Women Veterans Memorial is located on Madison Avenue in Albany, New York. It commemorates the role of women in military service. 

24 April Friday

We had visitors from the past and met at the Albany State Capital with Diane who Narda worked with in the early 200s at Albany Academy for Girls and Frank who we worked with in Dalian, China for three years came up from the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania (a three-hour drive). 

When visiting with folks from the past we often find that we just continue on in conversations from where we had left off years earlier. Frank and his wife we worked with in China, visited in Myanmar when they were teachers there and a few times in Chiang Mai Thailand. Diana, we have visited several times on our way through upstate NY over the past 20+ years.

The state capitol building was completed in 1899 being built in the Classical/Romanesque style that makes it look so cool. Narda & Diana did the tour whilst Frank and I reminisced and made future plans for Narda and I to visit him and his wife in the Poconos next time we are in the States (hopefully 2028 – I will be 81 then – damn that’s old!)

Diana took us to Washington Park. To see the tulips. The Albany Tulip Festival is Albany’s signature spring event held annually in historic Washington Park. While it is celebrated to welcome the spring bloom, the festival takes place in early May usually Mother Day which was a week after we left. But we still got to groove on the tulips in Washington Park.

“The festival originated as a result of Albany becoming sister-cities with Nijmegen in the Netherlands following World War II. In gratitude, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands sent 2,000 flower bulbs to Albany.^[1] On July 1, 1948, Albany’s Mayor Erastus Corning 2nd got a city ordinance passed declaring the tulip as the city’s official flower. In addition, he sent a request to Queen Wilhelmina to name a varietyof the flower as Albany’s tulip. On July 11, 1948, her reply was “Her Majesty gladly accepts the invitation to designate a tulip as the official flower of Albany.” She picked the variety “Orange Wonder”, a slow-growing and relatively rare 18-inch tall tulip that is orange-shaded with a scarlet toward the center.^[2]
The first Tulip Festival was celebrated the following year on May 14, 1949, with opening ceremonies still carried on today as tradition, such as the sweeping of State Street and the crowning of the Tulip Queen.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_Festival_(Albany,_New_York)

25 April Saturday

Rest day wrote this blog – just kidding, I started it back then and now it is June first, and I am still writing here in Adelaide and in two weeks we are off to Bali for a holiday. Wow!

Saturday evening, we went to the home of New-Brother Robert and had a wonderful evening with his family. Daughter Delanis and sons Jerrod and Austin. Austin & wife have a 4-year-old named, Stone – same age as Josiah back in DC. Austin is a stone mason, so it makes sense. Robert and Terry have great kids. See slideshow Delanis and her partner are off on a cruise next week, lucky them, from Florida. Jerrod has a GTO which I definitely will want a ride in next time we are here. As I mentioned earlier, I was adopted in the same township as they live in. 78 years ago to now – have I really gone very far? Here I am back in my same area. What a journey this life has been. This family has a get together most weekends with family and friends. Sometimes, especially in the summer they have dozens of people enjoying their swimming pool and hospitality. This is something I have not experienced much in my life. Having left home at age 16 and just never really stopping including raising my children on my own in a foreign country (Australia) I have not experienced much of a family. I have family with Narda’s family so I shouldn’t say that and at times there are family gatherings with Narda’s three sisters and their families and three sons who are scattered around the world. But for my personal family I just have son Sacha who lives in Melbourne. Anyway, experiencing bro Robert’s homelife was fantastic. Of course, they catered to their liberal woke vegetarian relationship with lots of good vegetarian food.

meeting my new – but always there even when I did not know they were family..

26 April Sunday
Bro Robert and Terry visited us in the morning, talked more – bonding more – how do you fit 78 years into a few days? Then they drove us to the car rental, and we got one from enterprise by 10 am we were on the way to sister Sue’s in Gilbertsville

arriving at noon just as a group, the Morris Singers were wrapping up their dancing in the main street. The group is a distinct tradition of English folk dancing. The dancers wear bell pads on their shins (which jingle with their jumps and steps) and frequently use props like handkerchiefs or wooden sticks to embellish the choreography. Images slideshow. Because we arrived late, right when they were ending their dancing and my sister Sue was joining them, we saw very little of their repertoire. Apparently. there were less than usual dancers due to some conflicts between the Canadian dancers and the US in other words the Canadians didn’t join in with the tour.

I have a minute clip of the Morris Dancers – not much more

Gilbertsville is small, like with about 300 people living there, The National Register of Historic Places recognition of the entire village of Gilbertsville as a Historic District was awarded in May 1983.

I took lots of pictures and videos but the one I made last time a few years ago is still much better than what I would throw together this time https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CURuP4Dgps

the slideshows and photos here though are from this trip in case you were wondering. Susan is an amazingly good artists and so is her daughter, Nikki and her partner, Lucas. Nikki hand draws the characters in her books – see https://www.patreon.com/c/bhfic/posts

She also designs and hand makes characters that she sends worldwide as well as uses in her stories. Her studio is a wonder.

Susan took us to Gilbert Lake State Park, and we met Nikki & Lucas there and walked around this beautiful lake.

27 April Monday   

Now my family is complete. I first met Susan in 1992 when I was 45 – a long story chasing after my adoption family. Susan is from my mother’s side and due to a spelling error on my birth certificate it took me 45 years to find my brother & sister from mum’s side. Euclid my step bro from mum’s side lives in Hawaii and Narda & I met him in 2002. This time, age 78, I am hanging out with my brother from my father’s side for the first time. Apparently, there is a sister from the father’s side too, living in Texas but we have not had any contact.

Walked around the village with Susan, Nikki and Lucas – see images –

Left Sue’s at noon – to car rental Shawn picked us up overnight with them.

Jean and Shawn are our work mates from Dalian, China. Even though we worked together more than a decade ago we catch up.

with Frank & Kay / Jean & Shawn

There have been other places we have hung out together, but I can’t find the photos, so it doesn’t matter – bottom line – friendship is important and the ease of moving around the world and of social media makes the narrative continue.

Jean drove us to train station – Robert and Terry met us at the Amtrak Station and we had an hour together before saying goodbye to my new family with a hopeful promise that we will be back or Robert will come to Australia for a visit. Narda caught up with Bobby Place who she worked with 2002+ at Albany Academy.

Amtrak train to NYC was not crowded and we took the seats on the side of the glorious Hudson River. We arrived NYC 2:15 pm and walked over to 34^th street to the D-line subway to 9^th Avenue in Brooklyn – Holiday Inn Sunset Park arrived 3:15 out to dinner walked neighbourhood. Nice hood.

29 April Wednesday

Subway

60 years
Different feet in front of me
Different people
Different me
NYC
Something
Somehow
Somewhat the same
18 to 78
How did it happen
War in Vietnam
War in Iran
Nixon/Trump
Noone seems to care
Getting off at Washington Square
I lived there 1960s
Even slept on a bench or two
Smoked a few things
Tripped a bit
Dylan philosophizing at a club
Over on MacDougal Street
I was happy
Still am
Riding the subway
Next stop
Greenwich Village
60+ years later  

Subway into w 4^th Narda at St Lukes –

Narda went up to the gate just to look at her old workplace. Out came the security person, Monica, who Narda got along really well with. She saw Narda on the security camera ran out yelling “Narda”. Monica would stop at a classroom door, go in and say to the teacher, “could you come out…” and when they did they would jump and hug and wow such excitement. I managed to capture some of those moments. Five or so teachers still worked at St Lukes who worked with Narda for the 5 years she was there.

We got a tour of the school, as there has been a large rebuilding of the school since Narda was there.

Because we only have a day and a half in NYC before our flight to Doha and onto Lahore Narda and we are out in the back blocks of Brooklyn there could not make times to catch up after school.

Walked through Washington square – meaningful, special, evolutionary moments of me happened in this park. I used to run away from home – Clifton Park – starting about 14 years old and Washington Square was part of my learning about life place. Later when I became a responsible teenager then early 20s Washington Square became a large part of my learning – oh wait there was not much change from when I was younger. This was the era of Dylan and the beatniks. I remember reading books about the beatniks in Greenwich village when I was young and it seemed like the life for me. They wrote poems on walls, drank and smoked stuff and had girlfriends galore – what a dreamlife. Well, I did spend a large part of my life doing picture poems (New Orleans in the 1970s, NYC end of the 1960s, Hawaii for a bit in early 1980s and Adelaide in the 1990s and Maryland in the late 1970s…see  https://neuage.org/pp/ )

but here I am 60 years later all cleaned up, no alcohol since 2005, none of that illegal or now legal stuff for many decades, one woman for 26 years and could never want more. Life is good. Stopped by where I lived one time in about 1966 or one of those 1960s years. East tenth street. A young person probably early 30s came out of a shop next door and I told him I used to live there in the 1960s and he thought that was so cool.

Stopped in at St Mark’s Church (St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery) New York City’s oldest site of continuous religious practice. 

In 1651, Petrus Stuyvesant, Director General of New Netherland, purchased land for a bowery or farm from the Dutch West India Company and by 1660 built a family chapel at the present-day site of St. Mark’s Church. Stuyvesant died in 1672 and was interred in a vault under the chapel.
In the 1960s, St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery in Manhattan’s East Village became a legendary hub for anti-war activism and counterculture. Allen Ginsberg frequently participated in and led various fasts, vigils, and poetry readings held at the church to protest the Vietnam War and advocate for global peace.
Ginsberg’s association with St. Mark’s is deeply tied to The Poetry Project. Founded in 1966 with a federal grant, the project quickly became the epicentre of the East Village poetry scene. Ginsberg gave multiple readings at the church, which often served as rallies and benefits for various anti-war and social justice.

I mention this because…I was part of one of these fasts for peace in 1966. In a true transparency moment of mine I must admit I snuck in some food as 24-hours for a 17-year-old was a bit difficult. But I did read a poem, and I was part of this.

Of course, all these years later I got up and married me a Dutch woman, even living in Dutch upstate New York and in NYC with said Dutch woman, is all just so cool in my little bubble I live in.

We took the subway to WTC as we could not easily figure out the buses. I think we would have had to change a few times, so we missed seeing clearly as we went over the Manhattan Bridge because the train was crowded and the windows were dirty, but I did see a bit, not enough to take photos though. We walked around heaps, visited the World Trade Centre site

and walked to the river looking for the free ferry to Ikea, gave up and went back for dinner in Sunset Park near hotel and had our first Poke Bowl at Sunset Park Brooklyn. A poke bowl apparently is a bowl full of stuff, like Subway, where one chooses but as we are not eating bread anymore (part of our new diet: no bread, pasta, rice, refined foods, sugar, salt..think we soon will just being eating lawn clippings) Subway is out. Our bowls were full of yummy salad stuff.

30 April Thursday
stayed in Sunset Park area mostly at hotel – poke bowl for dinner

01 May Friday
Late checkout – 2pm – subway – Long Island Rail to airport – to terminal 8 nowhere to sit back to terminal 1 ate lunch/dinner of split pea soup – back to terminal 8 flight left 10 pm – arrived Doha 5.30 pm Doha time – easy through immigration to Premier Hotel – checked in about 6.45 pm slept until 10.30 about 3.5 hours – shower – taxi to airport – flight left 2 am Saturday Doha time

Those are my notes for the day. Not much to add. We have been concerned for the past few weeks whether our flight would even happen. If you remember, I barely do anymore, we began this trip at the time of the start of the war between USA & Iran. We were in flight from Kuala Lumpur to Istanbul when the plane, originally going over Iran & Iraq had to make a detour to Jeddah, Saudia Arabia, as explained in our blog, war, https://neuage.me/war There were different stories/threats/promises/agreements/reversals etc. during our whole three-month trip. Every few days someone somewhere said/hinted at/promised/declared that Doha would not be possible. It would be bombed, it would be spared, it would be nirvana (didn’t hear that one) we did not know for sure whether Qatar would get their planes there or not. Obviously, they did because we are here and you are wherever, wondering whether this narrative will ever end (hint – it will – soon).

JFK Airport is crap. Terminal 8, until getting through check in which we could not do until three hours before our flight has nowhere to sit down. We had to take the SkyTrain back to terminal one – luggage in hand – for a few hours to have dinner before going to terminal 8, checking in and waiting for our flight. Qatar is a good airline. We were exhausted (feeling much more than my mere 78 years old), getting to a hotel and sleeping for three hours after a 13+ hours is difficult. Doha is easy though to get through customs to leave the airport.  and off to the airport.

02 May Saturday

Strait of Hormuz!
Meanings
Interpretations
Lacking fans
So far below
What should I feel
Think
Believe
So high but not high
Above
I listen to my 1960s song selection
Dylan Joplin Hendrix
Dawn over the middle east
QR628 Doha > Lahore
Pakistan seeking peace
I’m so stuck in the 1960s
AI is unable to unscramble me
Perhaps those below
Should become stuck
Like me
When the strait of Hormuz
Was nothing more
Than ‘all along the watchtower’ a Dylan script
Performed by Jimi Hendrix
“there must be some way out of here said the Joker to the thief…”
Here
All along
The Strait of Hormuz

arrived in Lahore 7.30 am Brendan collected us with Emran about 8 am – couple of naps – to international club for dinner – to bed after 11 pm –

04 May Monday

Optic world ordered 2 pairs glasses each Narda and me. https://opticworld.pk/ I lost my glasses in DC. What happened was that they got left on a bus. I realized when I got home. We wrote the bus company, but they did not have them. A few weeks later when we were in upstate NY on our way toward JFK to go to Doha-Lahore I received an email with a photo of my glasses. I wrote back then telephoned the sender who did not speak English but got his son over to his home to talk to me and we sort of set up a way for Chris to retrieve them. The people with my glasses lived 20 minutes on the other side of town. Chris agreed to get them soonish. I was using an older backup paid from years ago that were not that good for the way my eyes seemed to have aged. When we got to Lahore, I thought I should just get a new pair as to post my other glasses to Australia would cost a lot. Chris and family are coming to Australia for Christmas but that is a long time from now for me to have not clear vision. We went to Optic World in central market, and they did a very thorough test. I had paid $650 ($465 USD) for them in Australia but in Lahore they were less than $100 Australian ($72 USD) so not only did I get two pairs, but Narda got two pairs too. These are mine >

05 May Tuesday
TUK TUK to main market Narda earrings walk home. To American international school with Arjun etc. Narda bought necklaces.  With Sophie to computer repair left to install 2 tb western Digital SSD should collect tomorrow. Lunch at the amazing Café Aylanto Gulberg.

Lahore has some very classy restaurants. One we had lunch at (after going past machine gun totting guards and airport type security inside) was Café Aylanto. I like our treatment at these places; someone parks our car (Brendan likes to drive himself in this incredibly chaotic city) people at the door – after all the security to get us to our table and waiters running around after our every need. Hey Australia we could use some of this attention. https://www.cafeaylanto.org/ looking at their menu now I am wondering why we aren’t in Lahore instead of Adelaide eating beans and eggs for lunch.

Early, soon after Sofie and Brendan went to work, about pre 8 am, Narda realized she needed new earrings. Really? Who realizes first thing in the morning that they need new earrings? Anyway, off we went to main market and got some.

Later Brendan’s driver took us to the school they teach at with two-year old Arjun in tow. As I am not allowed to snap photos at the school for security reasons I will pass on their website for you to wonder at this great school. It could easily have been any large expensive private school in USA. There was even a large USA flag in the entrance. https://www.las.edu.pk/ check it out. Of course, Arjun was only interested in the playground. Eventually we all escaped the playground and did a tour of the school.

Of course, the star of the show is Arhun, lots about him in our earlier blog https://neuage.me/omg/ at the end of that trip (Cruise through the Suez Canal/Saudi Arabia/Thailand etc.) we spent a week with Arhun (almost two then) in Koh Samui, Thailand for Christmas & New Years 2026 so it was good seeing him all grown up at 2 years and three months. He knows Narda’s name but seems stuck between rell & and almost Terrell with an Australian-Pakistanis 2-year old accent.

06 May Wednesday

Last year I had a new hard drive put into my ASUS ROG Zephyrus groovy gaming computer (that I inherited from Sacha last year) to increase the RAM & hard drive to a terabyte, in India. However, the person doing it only put on 135 gigs for the C drive which quickly filled up with all my Adobe etc stuff I need to be happy. The D drive had the rest which does not help as Adobe & Windows & friends like to hangout on the C drive. SO, in Lahore I had Sofie take me to a computer centre, and I had a two-terabyte solid state SSD high speed Drive shoved in. Which, as you can imagine, makes me very happy. The experience was quite the experience. The building is five or more stories, fills a block, and is all just phone and computer stores. Hafeez Center Lahore. Like hundreds of them. All males. I wanted Narda to come with us, but Sofie said no as some of the males grab at women. I figured Narda would just knock them out if they tried, I would probably stand back and take a video of it. Anyway, Sofie led me through crowds of people hawking phones and up to the third or so floor and we found a place that repairs ASUS computers and I left mine with him. It was ready two days later – can you imagine going two days without your computer? Anyway, the person brought it to the gate of our compound and Sofie went out and collected it. I was a bit concerned waiting, visualizing a dude riding around the crazy traffic of Lahore with my laptop strapped to his back. I even wondered whether I would ever see it again. I think it was about $368 USD to repair it (clean the fan etc) and install the HD. Now is about a month later and the computer works better than ever, and I think the cost is about a third of what I would have paid in Australia. A happy story.

07 May Thursday
We went to a school concert 9 – 10.30 am in their very large modern auditorium. We collected our glasses and now I can see very good again.  Sophie’s parents took us out to a high-class restaurant for dinner. We never go to such classy places in Adelaide so it is nice being where we can afford 4- & 5-star places, even better when someone else is paying.

There is a good little coffee shop next door to where we are living – Polymath  https://www.instagram.com/polymathcorp/?hl=en even having coffee at western prices, wait…that isn’t a good thing but it is good coffee.

08 May Friday
Brendan and Sofie took us to lunch at Àmú in Gulberg for Mother’s Day, a very upscale classy French joint half a block from their home, I had the best omelette of my life.

Friday night we took an Uber to the International Club as the traffic was too crazy for either Brendan or his driver to navigate. The usual 20-minute ride took an hour and a half. Rumour has it that the military was doing a parade to glorify their involvement in the Iran-USA Peace Talks. See our little clip over on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxUw9XB7T20

We had our usual good meals there, minus bread potatoes and rice – probably as I said earlier – getting to the point where carrot & lawn clippings are looking good.

And that is it…Saturday, Emran drove us to the airport, and we flew China southern to Guangzhou. This is really the way to go for us in the future. China Southern gives not only free accommodation but a shuttle to and fro from the airport. If the stay is more than eight hours. Ours was about 18-hours. The airport experience was awful. Lahore to Guangzhou is only five hours but we arrived like about five am China time and had a jolly old time trying to figure out customs as China grants a 3-day free visa. After more than an hour we found the correct line which took more than two-hours to reach the front at which we were told we had not filled out the correct entrance form. Thankfully we were given some forms to fill out and did not have to get to the back of a very long line. Once inside the main terminal we had difficulty finding the China Southern desk to get our hotel. Someone directed us to the third floor where we were directed to the first floor where we were directed one way then later another way finally finding the desk and waited another half hour for the shuttle to the hotel. Southern Airlines Pearl Airport Hotel (Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport T2) is a gem. Apparently, there are four or five hotels they can send you to, I suppose if the Pearl one is full. The Pearl is enormous. Included was the free buffet breakfast which we ate lots of and went to sleep for lots of hours in a very good room. In the afternoon we wandered around the neighbourhood but were unable to use our credit card. Many places in China do not take international credit cards, only cash or their particular credit card. At the Pearl hotel we were OK and had a great dinner and good coffee in the afternoon and the usual fridge magnet. As China Southern only flies to Adelaide 10 pm every other day, arriving early gives the long stay. Now we are planning our next trip (India: October – December 2026) to come home via Guangzhou; flying Delhi to Guangzhou arriving 4 am two days before the flight to Adelaide so we can have one night and two whole days at this hotel and spend time taking random buses in Guangzhou and the river cruise, which we did in 2005 as a celebration of being able to do that again – 20-years later.

High again
Somewhere in the world
Something about being above it all
“The wind cries Mary”
What does anything mean?
“The traffic lights turn blue tomorrow”
This flight spanning continents
Memories blurring life experiences
If I knew then…
I wish I could forget
I wish I could remember
I wish I didn’t wish
“Don’t think twice it’s all right”
Tomorrow I won’t remember now as being yesterday
Being above the past
“Where I am bound I cannot say”
But then again I never viewed life as anything more
Than a broken cliche
That is untenable
Here high above it all
When in some torn reality
I am only high in imagination
Like I have always been
High above
Where dead memories return to haunt me
So often again

10 May 2026
China southern Guangzhou to Adelaide

At the airport Narda decides she wants a new suitcase and tries to fit her backpack into it – ha ha ha

11 May Monday

Arrived 8ish Stu collected us from airport – slept about three hours on plane – food not good (our fault we ordered the raw veggie meal: it wasn’t blessed or organic…damn this diet sucks) –

And that is our little journey to the States and Pakistan. Our next trip is June 14 – 21 to Bali for Narda’s birthday which we are celebrating with her three sisters and their husbands as her sisters have birthdays around this time too. Then home for July to October with some camping trips with the caravan deep into the outback away from the city lights & humans then to India for a couple of months. 2027 we are just starting to plan. I turn 80 and want to do a cruise for my birthday – we’ll see. Right now, we are looking at Vietnam for March 2028 with family as Brendan turns 50 – damn that is old. Bye – thanks for reading. There won’t be a quiz this time – just kidding.