March Fun in the Tropics...

While Ashlynn worked hard during the week, going to bed much earlier than she ever did in Glasgow, she played hard on the weekends. She loved going hiking with the other grad students...

...as well as spending time in the crystal clear water. 

 

Snails and Swimming in Moorea...

Crossing fingers that this video works of Ashlynn explaining what it took to reset up her lab inside of the facilities.

Our scientist at work!

She basically had to start her research over and thus had to collect new snails.

It was crazy how much plumbing she had to do as well as set up a lot of monitors. 

This photo was featured on Scuba Diving Magazine’s article about Women Divers Hall of Fame Awards 2024 Scholarships and Grants. Ashlynn worked hard to submit applications for funding for her research and her hard work paid off as she was granted the Graduate Marine Conservation Scholarship worth $2,000 to help offset her travel costs. She also received several other awards from other organizations.  

Much of the surrounding reef was very shallow...

...so she actually didn’t do much scuba diving there. 

 

Easter Hash in Richmond...

On March 30, there was a large turnout to celebrate Last Tango and Contour’s wedding. The couple generously provided bubbly and chocolate eggs at the drink stop in a cemetery, which seemed like a strange choice of spots for a wedding celebration. 

It was a beautiful day...

…and the trail brought us to many spots which were new to me...

…including York House, built in 1630 in Twickenham, currently serving as Town Hall for Richmond Upon Thames...

…and home to The Naked Ladies. 

Made of Carrera marble, the eight sea nymphs and two horses date back to the late 19th or early 20th century. 

This mural made me smile...

…and this sign made me laugh. 
 

Spotted on Various March Hashes...

I just happened to be running with Fishy Fingers when we happened upon this fishy street. The concept of a hash was born and we are finally haring together in early December with a fishy theme. 

When a City H3 trail brought us through Leake Street Tunnel, we caught this artist putting some finishing touches on this lovely fox...

…which Opee couldn’t resist pretending to kiss.

He then convinced me and a visiting hasher to pick up some spray cans to pretend we were the artists behind this fun creature. 

A London H3 trail passed a lock in Camden that was barely wide enough for these two barges...

…and took us up to Primrose Hill for a nice view of downtown.

Lastly, I found an infinity mirror on the way to another hash.

 

Last Bits in Amsterdam...

On our third and final day in Amsterdam, I left my bag at the hotel and took a long walk and crossed the Berlagebrug, which was built in 1931 in a competing style with the Amsterdam School. 

. Along the way, I spotted this Banksy-like mural...

…some fancy buildings...

…and a sculpture on a lock. 

I finally visited the National Holocaust Names Memorial where the 102,000 Dutch Jews that were murdered by Nazis and not properly buried finally have their names listed individually. 

The reflections on mirrors were a fitting feature for this somber monument.

This funky rat was outside of what was once the Hermitage Museum, which showcased Russian art and was an unexpected casualty of the attack on the Ukraine in February 2022. It is now the H’art Museum, where I quickly flitted through an uninspiring Roman exhibit, That evening, Jimmy and I took the overnight ferry back to England. 

He went straight to work, so wasn’t with me when I discovered that my key wouldn’t open our door. Since it wouldn’t open with the building manager’s key either, it was clearly a problem with the lock itself. Luckily it took less than two hours from the time that I called our property manager to when a locksmith had replaced the lock. Ironically, just two days ago, a handyman destroyed our deadbolt while miscalculating where to install a new door handle.

 

Art and Cherry Blossoms...

On our final day in Amsterdam, I wandered around by myself. I visited the Anzo Nobel Art Space. Skies Over Snaefell, named after a mountain in Iceland, featured 1,536 LED lamps that changed colors.  

Will You Stay With Me apparently lies somewhere in-between a hallucinogenic mushroom and an umbrella.

Performing a Landscape was a landscape generated by a gaming simulator overlaid on a video of a storm.

Hyperrealist sculpture Hopes and Dreams was made in 1999 using euros which were not yet in circulation. According to American artist Tony Matelli: Yes, money does grow on trees, but only in art where everything is an illusion, a glass globe on the point of bursting.

Nearby I saw some of Mother Nature’s spring artwork in a park...

…and next to another complex in the style of the Amsterdam School.

 

Learning About the Amsterdam School Movement...

Our destination that afternoon was a museum that somehow I had never visited: Het Schip (The Ship). Shaped like a ship, it actually is an entire building complex built in 1919 for the working class. Since 2001, the school and post office have operated as a museum about the architectural style of the Amsterdam School, a movement from 1910 until 1930 that was characterized by brick construction with decorative masonry. 

We begun our visit with a tour which started in the old post office, which had a telephone box that the poor had previously had little access to.

The expressionist style was very clear with this forbidden sign. 

Even the urinals in the schoolyard were specially designed. 

This was a recreation of how the typical working class family lived before this complex was built: sharing a single room without electricity or running water.

What a remarkable change it must have been to be lucky enough to be able to move into Het Schip with a real kitchen, flushing toilet, living room and possibly even two bedrooms. 

Nearby were some other buildings built with the style of the Amsterdam School. That evening Bob cooked dinner for me, Jimmy and Lisa. It was great to catch up with them.