Let's continue talking about my summer trip to Vancouver, Whistler, and ultimately, Alaska. Days 1 and 2 Days 3 and 4 Day 5: It was Louie's last morning of the conference and we had to check out, so I took care of that and stored the bags at the hotel before heading out for my last morning of solo sightseeing. I walked to the…

Days 1 and 2 Day 3: Louie and I decided to branch out from the hotel for breakfast, to save money. We ended up at Olivier's La Boulangerie, which was right around the corner from our hotel AND the reviews online raved about their almond croissants. It was a bit of a wait because only one poor woman was taking orders and filling orders--we assumed somebody was running late or something.

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!