About us

We are Marge Saxon and Sergei Gromyko and we live in - and write about - our explorations of our lovely adopted island home of Alameda, California.
Our histories are highly improbable but the older we get the more we agree that life often is improbable. Indeed, it is often so improbable that it can seem indistinguishable from fiction.
I (Marge) am the grand niece of Mark Saxon, a well-known special agent and radio personality born in the UK and whose beat was southern Africa. Uncle Mark's nemesis was Sergei Gromyko senior, my Sergei's father, also a special agent (although on the opposite side) and radio personality. In fact, Mark Saxon and Sergei Gromyko shared their stories on the same radio show. "No Place to Hide" aired across southern Africa in the days before television came to Africa; the show's audience was huge, diverse, and, in the main, under fifteen years old. Sergei junior and I met at a support group for Children (and family members) of Special Agents. Our need for support derived from the simple fact that we are products of Cold War conservatives and we grew into beings with worldviews that are anything but conservative. (Here's an example that may give you an idea of the kind of support required to keep people like me and Sergei on the straight and narrow. It's a tough ole world under the best of conditions and très compliqué when large, close-knit families include special agents...and extra special and well-meaning nieces, nephews, uncles, aunts, sons, and daughters who don't share the ideology of special agents - or the need for special agencies...these days known as Homeland Security -- and, I'd add,Wall Street Securities! Other children of special agents are the only ones who fully share our experiences and who fully understand the need to negotiate - carefully and with sensitivity - conversations around the Thanksgiving and other holiday tables.)
Sergei and I relocated to Alameda more than a decade ago and recently we began showing our appreciation for our new home by rambling around and sharing our explorations to anyone who still reads for pleasure. 
While we like to think we're quite different from our forebears perhaps we are not as different as all that. After all, Mark Saxon and Sergei Gromyko had no place to hide while they investigated...and all hell broke loose when they ran into one another.
Marge Saxon and Sergei Gromyko (junior) have a whole island to investigate unimpeded as well as a friendly audience with whom to share our investigations. Maybe one of these days we'll land a radio show. We could call it "Marge Saxon and Sergei Gromyko Do Alameda"...or "Marge Saxon and Sergei Gromyko uncover Alameda"...
Until then, find us here rambling with - and for - you!

In case you are wondering, no, this is not Marge and Sergei. For one thing we either bicycle - one bike each - or walk around the island; we seldom use fossil fuel to propel ourselves. Moreover, if this were us, Marge would be driving and Sergei would be in the sidecar taking photographs! (Believe me, one needs patience and wiles when rambling with Sergei: the man stops every 5 feet to take photographs!) You can be assured, however, that we'd both blow kisses!