Yesterday I took Miles, my little black cat, in to the vet for his annual checkup and rabies vaccine. He does not like going in his carrier, so that was the first difficulty (poor buddy!) and then he spent the entire drive to the vet crying. But once we got there, he got very quiet and hid in the back of the carrier–his eyes were very big and he was terrified.
The vet people are very nice, and they gave him time in the room to get used to it and to come out on his own (first we tried cajoling him but he wasn’t having it) and then finally the vet came in. I have been going to the same place for a few years but every visit we see a different vet. This one was very nice and very cat friendly, and we talked about Miles’ weight (I worry he is TOO skinny) and also about Muriel and how she detests vets and growls from her cage and whether we should bring her in anyway.
The main thing that I thought was interesting is that she (the vet) said I should feed the cats some wet food in addition to their dry. I feel like I get a lot of conflicting information about this, whether they need wet, dry, a mix, etc. We’ve been doing only dry for these cats in the hopes of keeping their weight down (I guess I blamed my old cat’s weight on loving their wet food too much!) but apparently dry food is higher in carbs and that’s not good for them. Ultimately we ended up drawing some blood from Miles to make sure he is doing okay and to see if he has any kidney issues, results tba.
At the end, he was wrapped in a blanket sprayed with “pheremones”, being petted and eating some chicken go-gurt type treat while getting his blood drawn. He thought it was all pretty disturbing and perhaps the worst day ever, but later I had to go get my blood drawn for a vaccine study I’m participating in and nobody wrapped me in a blanket, rubbed my head during it, or fed me treats, so he honestly does have it pretty good!
He was quieter on the way home and then ran out of his cage up the stairs to hide for awhile. Muriel was excited he was back home and seemingly a little jealous, haha. She loves the carrier and oddly enjoys new places but NOT the vet.
What a weird title, right? Today is Monday, and I have to take Miles to the vet for some shots and a checkup. Technically we are supposed to take Muriel to the vet, but I’m not sure if that will happen. Muriel hates vets, and threatens them. She growls from her cage, which is not super normal behavior for her–yes she may hiss at children and me if I want her chair, but growling is certainly a step up. So it’s just Miles for today, and maybe forever.
After that I have another appointment and then lots of teaching. Monday is teaching day! Tomorrow I have a few students early and then a rehearsal and a concert (the music of Undertale at the Factory) which will certainly help keep my mind off any Election Day horrors, though we are almost all numb to bad (and good) news these days, so who even knows. But of course still hoping for good news.
We finished watching The Diplomat Season Four last night. It was a good season, very enjoyable. I’m eager to see what happens next. What should I watch next? We watched East of Eden before this.
I’m sitting here blogging on my couch, listening to the trash trucks come down the street. Where I live, Monday is the day they pick up trash and recycling carts. We have some chores divided at our house, and Louie is in charge of emptying trash and recycling and taking the carts to the curb on Sunday nights. We have a slightly more traditional division of labor, I guess: I do laundry and grocery shopping, he mows the lawn and most other yard work and does the trash. Other stuff we share and we also have a house cleaner every two weeks. I wonder what other people do?
This is it, the day in the life of a working freelance musician and teacher, isn’t it fascinating?
I decided on the spur of the moment this morning, while enjoying my breakfast (great grains with blueberries) to join this month’s NaBloPoMo, which means I should post every day in November. I’ve been a little bit lax in my posting, somewhat due to being extremely busy, but also due to just being, not posting, not writing. And it’s a little sad, so I thought, hey, this is a good jump start. Some bloggers are having all kinds of plans, but I plan enough in my regular life, I don’t want to have to plan my blog. Plus, spontaneity in my writing is sort of my thing, you know?
October went by in a FLASH. I know we all say that, every month, but I swear, October was the fastest month. Where did it go? For starters, I worked every single day, with the possible exception of October 31 when I only went to a concert a student was playing on, which wasn’t really work, but wasn’t technically NOT work, you know? So that certainly helped the time go by, constantly working, running around, squeezing in errands (many doctor’s appointments this time of year, the doctor, the dentist, the eye doctor, etc.), grocery shopping, cleaning (haha I don’t really do that), and still trying to find time to socialize.
I did my two weekly gym visits all but one week, and got in a few extra as well. I can feel myself getting stronger, which is super fun. I feel like I belong at the gym, and I’m gaining my confidence back.
I played two weeks of a Broadway show at the Fox Theater, which is our big theater where all the visiting shows come. It was super fun, though absolutely exhausting–Death Becomes Her. Not me, the show.
My friend April visited for a few days during one of my busy stretches. I did a lot of weddings, church services, etc, and then makeup lessons from the shows…it’s been a lot. It’s one of those months where I question my decision making and start to think about how burn out I might be. Especially like today when Louie texted to tell me he noticed I’d left the deep freezer cracked open and the whole thing was very frosty (I’m pretty sure I last opened it on Wednesday, gah!), or perhaps like last weekend when I thought I saw a friend named Susan coming out of Death Becomes Her, but for the life of me, at the time I couldn’t think of her name to SAVE MY LIFE. I mean, we have hung out quite a few times. How embarrassing on both counts.
I should blame perimenopause, it’s all the rage, but I want to blame not getting quite enough sleep and trying to multitask, which we can’t really do. Or working too much. Or maybe just perimenopause.
So that’s my stream of consciousness for NOW. If I am good to my word, you can look forward to a blog post every day in November, perhaps like this one, or perhaps better or worse, longer or shorter. I’m still thinking I will write/recap my Alaska trip, and I have so many wonderful thoughts and pictures to share, but that requires a certain amount of time to sit down and create, and lately I’ve just been flopping down and reading when I have that time. But this month should be better, haha, how many times have I said that? (Please don’t answer, I would feel horrible.)
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 Roedde House Museum, which is an old house from 1893 that has been restored and decorated with stuff from the period it was from.
There were a few people there at the same time, but the person from the museum tried to go around and give some information and answer questions. The house was very neat, though she thought I wouldn’t be too impressed as St Louis has tons of old houses, hah! We don’t have that many house museums though, so it was still a lot of fun.
After visiting the museum I headed to a Vietnamese restaurant for lunch and enjoyed some Pho.
Then it was time to get back to the hotel to meet Louie–we had to walk a few minutes to the bus stop, where were taking the YVR Skylynx bus to Whistler! It was easy to find the bus stop and we (as usual) got there a little too early. We boarded the bus with no problems, and then settled in for about a 2 hour bus ride. It was a very scenic ride along the Sea to Sky Highway, but I did fall asleep for part of it.
We got to Whistler and then went to find our hotel. I had chosen the Adara Hotel for a good price, decent location, and good reviews. It was a little tricky to find–navigating a pedestrian area like Whistler reminded me of navigating in Tokyo, where you would find it but then not find what you were looking for! But we managed, and we got checked in, and were able to enjoy the hot tub as well–it was an outdoor hot tub by the pool, on a rooftop of sorts, but really just the second floor.
Whistler is a very nice, but very high end ski resort. It reminded me of Vail, and I assume costs to ski and such are similar, though the restaurants were cheaper. That might have been an exchange rate thing though. We had an evening restaurant at Alta Bistro–we sat outside and it was so lovely! We got a prix fix menu which gave us a few choices and a few courses, and wow, it was amazing!
We started with oysters, which I enjoy but Louie enjoys more than me.
You can see it was a beautiful location! The outside patio was lovely, and the service was friendly and timely. We enjoyed watching some birds as well.
Note to self for next trip: take pictures of the MENU as well so I know what we got. There was also dessert but it was getting dark by then so the pictures weren’t any good. We walked back to the hotel, satisfied and happy, glad to be in Whistler for two nights!
Day 6:
We woke up and got breakfast at Mogul Coffee–very nice overnight oats and coffee. Then we stopped into a grocery store to get snacks and sandwiches for the day.
Initially I had planned for us to take the gondolas up and do the High Note Hike on this day, but it wasn’t open yet for the season (too much snow still I guess!). The gondolas on Whistler Mountain weren’t open in the morning either, so we found our way to Blackcomb Gondola and took the gondola up. You have to buy a daily pass for the gondolas, which isn’t cheap, but you can ride all day. Once you buy it, you might as well use all of the ones that you can!
Don’t tease the bears!
The gondola ride was very scenic, though the air was a bit hazy with smoke from nearby (not too nearby thankfully) wildfires.
I believe that is Green Lake.
We headed out on the path after arriving and using the bathrooms (there’s a whole infrastruture with a ski restaurant, shop, etc on the top.)
We did the Overlord Trail and the Lakeside Loop, and were thinking maybe the Decker Loop, but it was a bit too steep for me at the beginning, so Louie and I decided to split up.
But first we were together for awhile, enjoying the fresh air and piney smell from high elevation. You sure don’t get that in St Louis! We saw a marmot pretty early in the hike as well, which was a lovely bonus.
I mean, really, this hike was phenomenally beautiful. Words cannot describe it. I took a million pictures (only a slight exaggeration) because I just couldn’t stop myself.
It was a fairly busy hike, so when we decided to split up we knew each of us would be okay on our own because there were plenty of people around. I did slip once and landed right on my butt, but my hiking poles helped me fall more slowly (ha!) and I was okay.
When I got back close to the appropriately named Rendezvous Lodge, where Louie would meet me when he was done, I saw another marmot. This one stayed in view for some time and allowed me to take quite a few pictures of him.
I ate my lunch and then after awhile Louie found me. We took the Peak to Peak Gondola across the mountain to Whistler Mountain. This was an insane ride, the gondola is so high up and it is a little scary if you have a fear of heights, but was amazingly fun!
Then we did a shorter hike on Whistler Mountain as we couldn’t resist. This hike went down first and up later, which is pretty much nobody’s favorite, but it had amazing views as well.
We posed with the Olympic Rings: the skiing parts of the Vancouver Olympics were held in Whistler.
We took a gondola down, finally, towards the end of the day. We got our own gondola (it wasn’t very busy) and really enjoyed the views on the way down as well. It was fun to have a private gondola and chat without worrying about other people correctly us or annoying them.
We got back to the hotel then (very short walk from the Whistler Gondola) and decided to hit up the hot tub again (after cleaning up first, of course.) Our hotel had also given us a coupon for two free “welcome drinks” so we wanted to take advantage of it. Unlike the day before when the pool and hot tub were crowded, we were the only ones out there. We ordered our free drinks at the bar/restaurant that was right there, planning to drink them outside, but then after we ordered, it started raining! So we decided to go into the restaurant for our drinks, even though we only had our robes over our swimsuits. Vacation is here, baby!
I seem to be wearing some sort of shorts too, so I guess I didn’t JUST have my robe.
For dinner we chose a nearby, highly rated Mexican place called Mexican Corner. There was a short wait to get seated, but then we enjoyed our food quite a bit.
We split a ceviche appetizer and then I had enchiladas with mole sauce. It was delicious, especially after all the hiking! Everything tastes better after a day of hiking.
We weren’t quite ready for bed after dinner so we walked around a little more.
I guess Sean had an accident.
The Adara Hotel: not fancy, but totally nice enough. We would stay here again, especially if the price were right, which it was for this visit.
The next day we will have the morning in Whistler and then back to Vancouver, so I’ll tell you about that soon!
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. But the coffee and pastries were good, so we were happy. Then Louie headed off to his conference and I headed to my tour: a walking tour called “Ancient Trees of Vancouver” which met at Third Beach in Stanley Park.
I took an uber or lyft to the park and then got there a little early. I wandered around first.
Third Beach and the English Bay in the background.Love the mossy rocks and the oil tankers waiting their turns. They get there early because if you are late it costs insane amounts of money.More mossy rocks! Yay! And birds.
There were about 8-10 on the tour, and we met up easily and then headed out. We would be walking a few miles through the park learning about the trees. The previous year Louie and I had done a bike tour that went around Stanley Park so I was excited to do something a bit different.
Our guide was named Colin and he was very informative and entertaining.
The tour was great. I loved walking through the forest and learning about the trees, and the weather was amazing. I loved seeing the trees and the ferns, which are so different than we have here in St Louis. We learned a lot, and I gained a better understanding of the history of Vancouver and Stanley Park as well. I felt very educated afterwards, and wanted to save all the big trees!
I saw an excellent slug. This is what really gets me excited on a trip.An old picture of the trees where the trees are. Trees can live for a long time!Standing next to a big tree. This reminds me that it’s been too hot in St Louis to wear jeans until just recently. We really need to steal Vancouver’s weather somehow.Nature finds a way. Another big tree, with me.
After the tour, Louie asked me to meet for lunch, so I got an uber to Horin Ramen, which was a ramen place we had eaten at last year and loved.
They had aprons and I figured, better do it. Plus, the Japanese do.
We greatly enjoyed our lunch, and then we headed our separate ways again. I went to the Bill Reid Gallery to see his art and other art by native people. It was very well done, small but well curated.
Then I went back to the room to relax and regroup. I read a bit and rested my feet until Louie was done. We did have a little time then so we hit the hot tub to relax a bit before dinner.
For dinner we headed to Salmon and Bannock. It’s Vancouver’s only Indigenous restaurant and we were intrigued to try it.
This is bannock.Game sausages with blueberriesBison bone marrow. We weren’t sure about this one, dare we eat a bison, but the server really suggested it. It was delicious thank you bison!
And then we also had mains, so we were stuffed by the end.
Since it was still light after dinner, we decided to walk back rather than get a lyft, so we enjoyed a nice walk. It was the same bridge I’d walked over the day before, but I knew enough that we needed to be on the left side going towards downtown.
After dinner, we were pretty tired, so we just went to bed.
Day 4: This day I slept in just a tad, and had coffee in the room and Louie headed out without me, then I headed out to Granville Island when I was ready. I walked there and then took the Aqua Bus to the Island.
On the Aqua BusLooking at the Aqua Bus from the dock.
We had biked through Granville Island the year before, but we hadn’t explored it, so I wanted to give myself time to shop and walk around before an afternoon boat tour.
I found a really interesting book store and couldn’t resist buying a few things I hadn’t heard of. I also got some postcards and prints.
Timmy Turtle Romantic Outfit. I’d seen these silos from above on the bridge, and now I saw them from the road.
I wandered around quite a while, and then got lunch at a Thai restaurant called Sen Pad Thai that was in the food court area of the Market. After lunch it was time to meet my boat tour. I’d signed up for a Boat to Bowen Island on Unesco Howe Sound Fjord with Vancouver Water Adventures.
On the boat!
It was a fun ride. We drove about 1 hour or so, from Granville Island to Bowen Island, with a few scenic stops on the way, to look at some fancy houses and a little island covered in seals.
At Bowen Island, we had some time to walk around–there wasn’t much to see, but we got a coupon for a free drink or ice cream, and there were a few shops and a pier.
The way back we saw more seals, eagles, and cormorants. I had a new DSLR camera with a long lens to try out.
This is a cormorant. They have a unique thing they do where they look like that. One of a few bald eagles we saw. Nothing like we’ll see in Alaska, but more than I usually see in Parkview at home.The mountains were lovely, coming up out of the water–this was the Unesco Biosphere part of the tour.I had the edge on the way back, and ended up getting some nice seabreeze and seawater on me.
Anyway, after I got back, I took an uber back to the hotel to meet Louie again. I believe we may have gone to the hot tub again, but maybe not. My notes and memory are foggy and unclear.
And then it was time for the conference gala: a Night at the Aquarium!
We got there a little early due to a time confusion, but ended up chatting and getting to know one of Louie’s colleagues. Then we entered the Aquarium, which is also in Stanley Park. I expected there would be a dining room of sorts, but instead there were just a bunch of stations and tables throughout the whole park. This was good and bad: bad because the stations had huge lines and nobody really knew what was going on at first, but good because it was really fun to eat near the animals! We ended up outside near the seals and sea lions, and I had a nice time chatting with Louie’s colleagues, some who I already knew and others I met for the first time. I didn’t do any pictures for some reason, I think wanting to seem more professional and less touristy, so this is what you get:
Anyway, it was a fun night, and afterwards, we got an uber back to the hotel for our last night there. And that’s where I’ll leave you.
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. Mostly it’s been weddings and some I’ve had to organize, so lots of putting music together in digital setlists and lots of communication. Coming up there’s Bach Society and a musical (Death Becomes Her) so I’m trying to get prepared for that. I’ve also been hitting the gym two to three times a week, and doing a weekly stretch session, which has been super helpful.
But we’ve been having fun as well, though a bit too aggressively at times: it’s easy to get to the end of the day and wish you could just stay home and relax instead of going to the play you bought tickets for! But that’s how I like to make a full life, by filling it, ha!
As usual I hit a low point on the Katy Trail. I never tire of making sure to pose for this picture.
We went to Black Mountain STL for dinner one night and it turned out to be a “pop-up” night there, so we enjoyed “Nugs and Bubs” instead. Then we went next door to see “The Mercy Seat” with St Louis Actors Studio at the Gaslight Theater.
Another night we saw “Come From Away” at Stages and then got a late dinner at Katie’s Pizza.
And another night I met a friend to see “Little Women” at the St Louis Rep.
The cats are worn out just thinking about it!
Then Louie and I got dressed up and hit our neighborhood’s Oktoberfest Party. In September, don’t judge. His outfit is from my dad, circa 1973 and my outfit is from online, circa 2026. We made a good pair, I think. Perhaps we also have our Halloween costumes already, as we may need to dress up for a party this year.
Louie is also wearing the Oktoberfest T-shirt from the previous year, though the straps cover up a graphic of a squirrel wearing Lederhosen. We didn’t do T-shirts this year. Anyway, the party was great fun: we talked with a bunch of people, ate pretzels and bratwurst, and drank beer from a keg, which is always a good time. I made an Apple Kuchen, though I had some trouble with the recipe: first I couldn’t find the one I’d made before, then thought I did, and realized it was a completely messed up recipe, probably somehow made by AI (I’m being absolutely serious, there is no way anyone submitted that recipe as it was a hot mess and didn’t work) and ultimately I had to start all over using the recipe…from my blog. Oops. I was too tired really and tried to do too much that week and rushed it. A lesson was learned, and all the kuchen got eaten anyway!
This weekend we are going to a symphony concert and hoping to get a hike in, weather permitting. October will fly by because there is a ton happening: regular work, a show at the Fox for two weeks, Louie’s birthday, and of course, Halloween. Let’s hope we get to at least enjoy some lovely fall weather before the ice and cold comes to get us!
