It's hard to believe September is almost over! Mostly because we have spent the month roasting in high 90's temperatures here, and even today we are expected to see 90 degrees. So it still feels like summer, even as the fall workload takes over. I have been working hard. Lots of students (45 counting my college students) and lots of gigs.

Louie and I have been slowly ramping up our travel budgets and our travel days. We've always taken vacations in the summer, but as we've gotten older, we have wanted to travel more. I've gained confidence in my travel planning, and I've found myself wanting to go more places and see more things than I ever did before. There's also a sense of, who knows what the future will bring, that came after COVID and so, we didn't JUST go to Japan last summer.

Though it's almost fall officially, and school has been in session for weeks, it is still summer here. I had an outdoor gig yesterday and it was 96 degrees, plus humidity, heat index of 108 or so. It was possibly the most miserable I have ever been playing the violin, or at least on the hot end of things. I didn't think ahead to have something to wipe the sweat off my neck, so I kept using tissues and it was just gross.

We are really getting to the end here. We have just a few more days in Tokyo, and then we go home...to see the cats who no doubt miss us very much. Okay, since I'm blogging after the fact, yes, the cats missed us, but they also seemed totally okay. One ottoman was completely covered in cat hair. Starting off in Tokyo…

As with somehow everything, when planning for Japan I wanted to do it all. And the internet tells you, don't do this, just plan one or two activities a day and allow for rest, you'll get home too tired. Which is a good point, I'm sure, except who cares if you get home tired? Of course you want to be able to appreciate what you are seeing, and you don't want to have such a jam packed, down to the minute itinerary that there is no room for extras or diversions, but there is no need to plan for a slow trip unless that's what you want.

Mayor Mamdani says he will attend New York City's annual 9/11 remembrance ceremony Friday despite mounting criticism from some family members of victims.

When we decided to go to Japan, I asked (myself), can we go to Matsumoto? This is where Shinichi Suzuki had his school, this is where he lived when he pioneered the Suzuki method, a method, a philosophy really, of teaching children to play music by using music in the same way that a child learns his native language. This is the method I learned violin through, and it greatly informs how I teach the violin.

Okay, so I'm going to tell you about our last day of the walking tour. This isn't the last day of our trip, but it IS the last day of the walking tour part. As a reminder (or if you are new, WELCOME), we did a trip to Japan in late May/early June, with part of it being a lovely 5 day walking tour on the Nakasendo Trail supported by and booked through…

The time flies, doesn't it? I'm already two weeks into the school year, though for my college job that means I've only taught some students one lesson rather than two. It will be Christmas before we know it. I read something on the internet the other day, it was a 20 year old asking older people, how long does it feel to live from 20 to 60?

I'll take a break from (not very quickly) writing trip reports to writing about my day to day life as is. And technically yesterday was the first day of school, but today is the first day for some people. The last few weeks before school started went by quickly, and I didn't get very much done. I had some high hopes for a few home projects, but I found myself just wanting to catch up on my reading and podcast listening.

So, this was a day that didn't turn out quite right, due to some personal things and my toes being a hot mess. It's worth noting that SINCE this date, just the other day both of my pinky toenails fell off. There are little tiny new nails growing in, but on the night in Tsumago, I thought, man, I'm going to lose those nails.

I've received many in person comments on my blog, which is a little funny to me. But so few on the internet comments, which would be a lovely thing as well. If you are reading and want to tell me, please do! I love hearing from readers. And if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. For previous posts about my trip in Japan in May/early June, click here–

Writing a blog is harder work than you would think. Probably not as hard as being an influencer and having to pretend that your life is amazing and spend hours a day on videos and "content", but you know, for instance, today is a day off and I have to get my hair cut, and plus, I'm reading a fun book (a REAL book, not on my kindle, which means I need light) and I could be doing that instead of blogging.

I'm sorry for my delay in writing about this trip. Life hasn't been that busy, but I have been busy enough...it's also been challenging transitioning back into "regular life". I finally caught up with photos enough to blog about some more of the Japan trip! For previous posts: Nagoya: Not boring at all Starting off in Tokyo Off to Kyoto on a very fast train!

Hi all! I know it's been awhile: I was traveling again and I just don't blog while I'm gone. Now I'm home and recovering from a redeye flight home from Anchorage...we had a fabulous trip in Alaska which I'll probably tell you about once I finish telling you about Japan. I have had an incredibly amazing year of travel, and I feel so incredibly lucky to be able to do this.

After this post, I may have to take a break and catch you up to more recent happenings in my life, but for now, onward and upward! Let's continue the recaps of my recent trip to Japan. Nagoya: Not boring at all Starting off in Tokyo Off to Kyoto on a very fast train! Takayama for a few days Day 11:

Just a reminder, here are some previous posts about our trip to Japan at the end of May/early June: Starting off in Tokyo Off to Kyoto on a very fast train! Takayama for a few days When I decided we should go to Nagoya, I knew this was against recommendations: most people say, oh, Nagoya is boring, don't go to Nagoya, you won't see anything different there.

To continue, we recently got back from an amazing trip to Japan. Starting off in Tokyo Off to Kyoto on a very fast train! Day 6: Louie woke up early and used the onsen, but I just relaxed and then packed up. We enjoyed another large breakfast at the Ryokan. For this breakfast, we had things we needed to grill atop those black pots.

We recently got back from an amazing trip to Japan. Starting off in Tokyo A few questions have come up: one being did I plan this myself or use something? I did do the planning for the majority of the trip on my own, but there is one portion where we did a 5 day walk on the Nakansendo Trail (recaps to come, wait on the edge of your seat) where I used a company.

We got back last night from Japan. It was an amazing trip, and I can't wait to tell you all about it. You'll read a bunch of different stuff while planning a trip to Japan about how Japanese people act and how you need to see this or that, or how you can't do this or that. I'm here to tell you that some of it is true and some of it is overblown, and whatever you do, make sure to take the trip you want to take and not the one other people want you to take.