All posts by hannahviolin

I am a violinist. I also enjoy running, working out, reading, and hanging with my friends and cat.
New York, Travel

St Louis to Manhattan to Brooklyn

Louie and I wanted to have two trips this summer, one at the beginning and one at the end of the summer. The first trip we focused on visiting family, so we planned a trip to New York and Philadelphia (with a little side trip as well.) We planned to fly into NYC, visit his uncle Paul, go to Brooklyn to visit my sister Carrie, take the train to Elizabethtown, PA to visit my aunt Connie, and then finally to Philadelphia to visit his dad, and fly home from there. All of the travel arrangements worked out just as planned, and we had a great time.

Our first stop was New York City, so that’s what I’ll tell you about today. We flew direct to La Guardia and the flight was uneventful.

We landed in La Guardia and were amazed by the airport: both of us recalled LGA being a dump, and instead it was a beautiful modern looking building. Evidently the terminal was new and LGA had had a large renovation over the past few years. We obviously don’t fly to New York much. Anyway, we took a cab to get into the city, and the cab driver was classic “New York”. At several points the driver yelled at other drivers out the window things like, “I’m going to teach you how to drive!” It was like in the old Jerry Seinfeld bit about NY cabbies and how it doesn’t feel real, it’s like it’s all happening on TV.

In any case, we made it to Louie’s uncle’s apartment without major incident, and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon catching up with him.

My sister Carrie came over for dinner that night, and Louie’s aunt Phyllis and uncle Paul made pasta, salad, and we had strawberries with ice cream.

The next day Louie and I hit the ground running for sightseeing. We had coffee and croissants for breakfast, and then starting walking up 5th avenue. If you are familiar with Manhattan, we started near Union Square (well, we did that regardless if you are familiar with Manhattan or not, but it will mean more to you.) We walked all the way to Central Park, had lunch at a place called DIG, walked around Central Park, and then back down 7th, past Carnegie Hall, through Times Square, had gelato, and finally back to Paul’s place. It was a 10 mile walking day, and it was invigorating and exhausting.

We met up with Paul and Phyllis after they finished work and went to Fowl Witch for dinner. It was delicious!

The next morning we had breakfast at Newsbar Cafe, and then in the late morning took the train down to Brooklyn to Carrie’s place. Riding public transportation is super easy now for NYC, just tap your credit card to buy a ticket upon entry. Make sure to use the same card each time, because if you take enough rides to spend the same as a weekly pass you’ll be charged for that instead, and also any transfers will be tracked automatically. We did have a little trouble with our trains and ended up getting off what would have actually been the correct train but got convinced by a stranger it was wrong. No big deal though, it just took a little longer. Lesson: always trust google first for directions rather than people, haha.

My feet hurt from the walking the day before, so ostensibly it was going to be a lighter day, but no, we still walked over 10 miles! We had lunch at a Thai place called Sukh.

We walked down to Brooklyn Bridge Park after that, and along the water. We could see a bunch of bridges, and the Statue of Liberty in the distance, and of course Manhattan.

We had an ice cream stop at one point, and then finally back at Carrie’s for a bit in the late afternoon. We rested before deciding where to go for dinner: we ended up going to Zaytoon’s, a middle eastern place that Carrie really wanted to show us. We ate a delicious dinner there.

Maybe that’s a good place to stop for today. I’ll finish up our days in Brooklyn and the rest of the trip another day: I’m sure you can’t wait!

Random thoughts

First Day of June, and it feels like summer

I know I’ve been a bit MIA here on the blog, I am still here! We took a trip to NY and Philadelphia and I will tell you more about that later, but now we are back.

We got back a few days ago and are doing the usual catch up. I don’t teach again until Monday, so it’s been really easy to get things done here…or easier. We took a long bike ride yesterday, on the Katy Trail. We went from Augusta to Dutzow and then back. We stopped halfway, in Dutzow, and had lunch at a restaurant right by the trailhead, which I would totally recommend. It was a nice day: not humid to speak of, not too hot, and the cicadas were a nice added touch, haha. The way back we did have a bit of wind to bike into which made it more challenging but we still made good time.

After that we did yard work, and then went out to dinner and relaxed. Today I am actually going to a wedding, as a guest, not as a violinist! And tomorrow is back to work in the evening with an outdoor concert as part of the Metropolitan Orchestra of St Louis.

We had a most excellent cat sitter while we were gone and she sent a variety of pictures: we would be doing something and then get a few texts about how the cats were doing and what they were up to with 5 to 10 (or more) pictures. It was always fun to receive! Are they the most photogenic cats or what??

The cat sitter would bring toys along to interact with the cats. They really seem to enjoy it, though when we are home, they don’t enjoy toys as much, and just want to cuddle with Louie.

Some other things going on: I resigned from my morning job. I learned a lot and really enjoyed many aspects of it, but I couldn’t do the hours anymore: I can get up early, but it’s really hard to get up early AND stay up working late, so after a lot of thought, I decided to drop the early morning thing. I’ll miss working with those kids though! I am starting my summer teaching schedule this week, as well as playing a couple of gigs with the Pop Pop Pop Orchestra, and then after that things start up at the Muny, which I am excited about (I was lucky enough to be asked to play for three of the shows this year, though I’m not a regular player). I don’t have too many weddings this summer (strange, IMHO), but I have a lot of other things going on, and perhaps weddings will fill in more. So that’s the work side of things. Taking some time off is SO nice, but I know getting back to seeing everybody soon will be fun as well.

Random thoughts

This and that and sunsets

I finished my early morning job! I still have to submit grades, but I’m going to do that right after I finish this post.

We had a very successful studio recital this past weekend. 21 students played, and I was proud of them all. There was a weird thing where there were three young boys running around making noise, climbing trees, and it seemed that they weren’t anybody’s there, but simply kids from the neighborhood (? which, if I had been smart and gotten a picture I would try to get them in trouble, because I found out afterwards that in addition to me, three other adults talked to them and asked them to please go further away). But it wasn’t terribly disruptive, and it definitely didn’t affect anyone’s enjoyment or performance.

Louie and I got out for a nice bike ride on Sunday. We drove out to the new Chain of Rocks park, and biked across the bridge there, the next bridge, and then on the levee for a bit and then headed back. It was windy and sunny, but not too hot yet, so an enjoyable afternoon.

It was a nice and relaxing weekend, honestly. Sunday was my first day off since Spring Break! I didn’t have anything going on other than the studio recital, so once that was done I was really relaxed. We watched “The Descendants” for our movie club, finished Killing Eve (that was actually before the weekend) and started on Shogun. We got a few things done around the house, though not as much as we probably should have (story of adulting, right?)

We missed all of the aurora stuff: the first night I didn’t know that you were supposed to go outside and take a picture even if you didn’t see anything–I had assumed that being in city we would have too much light pollution, and I supposed we might have, but who knows. The second night we tried a little but no luck, and no, we didn’t stay up late. I’m recovering from my early morning job so staying up past 11 is a real accomplishment.

But, we did see this lovely sunset on Sunday evening:

It may not be the northern lights, but a regular sunset can also be a pretty gorgeous event.

Random thoughts

A week in the life, sort of

Thursday mornings are usually my day to sleep in a bit and catch up on things around the house. I only have two more days of early mornings before summer so it doesn’t feel quite as pressing to me today, and I also didn’t really sleep in at all…

This has been an exhausting week! It followed a busy weekend, so that’s not surprising.

Last week: Thursday night we went to see a colleague and friend play at Jack’s Joint at O’Connell’s Pub. It was a fun show and they did two sets, but a lot of people left at the break (not because they didn’t enjoy it, but I think because they were exhausted!). We stayed to the end, and overall really enjoyed ourselves.

Friday night we went to the Symphony and heard Yo-Yo Ma play the Elgar Cello Concerto. This was a lot of fun, but the concert was sold out and the audience was LOUD and poorly behaved. He played softly, and the audience did not sit quietly and try not to make a lot of noise. But we definitely enjoyed the concert anyway.

Saturday morning I had a gig with the Bach Society and then had to teach a few makeup lessons at Wash U (I’m finally done!!).

Saturday night we had a really neat experience in our neighborhood: we attended a progressive dinner. Our first stop was for appetizers, and we met many neighbors we had never met before and enjoyed some hummus and pigs in a blanket. Then it was time for dinner. We had a bit of a mishap finding the house first as we went to the address listed and found that there was no house there at all, it was an address between two houses. I did a little bit of research and realized they had transposed the numbers, so we were just a little ways away from the correct house. We had a wonderful dinner of chicken piccata, broccoli, carrots, potatoes, and homemade bread, and enjoyed conversing with some really interesting people and drinking some nice white wine.

We had been a little nervous about the event, but we really enjoyed the dinner company, and then we headed to dessert at a third house (the most gorgeous place of the night, though all the houses were lovely) and enjoyed more conversation and lots of dessert options. We ran into some of the same people at two of the three courses, but overall met quite a lot of people. I didn’t take a single photo, I was just living in the moment! We ended the night at a fourth house which we were invited to by a couple at the dessert, and finally walked home and slept well. We will definitely do the progressive dinner again next year if we are able!

Sunday morning I had a gig with the quartet and then in the afternoon I attended a concert. I have a student who attends a local community college and he was playing a solo with the orchestra. I didn’t know until I got there that the orchestra was also playing a piece he had written! The evening was for relaxing and having a zoom call with my family.

So, Monday hit hard but the middle of the day was taken up with a hair appointment. I got a cut and color and ended up talking with my stylist about trying a more center part to modernize my “do”. I realized that having a side part definitely dated me in the same way that Princess Diana’s hair and that style dated people of that age. It’s been fun having a different look, though it’s probably quite subtle.

Tuesday morning I woke up extra early because of the tornado sirens. I couldn’t get back to sleep afterwards and there wasn’t enough time anyway, so I just had an early start to the day. Sigh. That made teaching extra exhausting, but I managed, and did grab a short nap around lunchtime.

Wednesday was a frustrating day in several ways, but I made it. I had plenty of teaching, and a school concert that night. I was meant to go from one concert to another but the second concert got postponed due to the weather (I am not sure I am onboard with the idea of canceling things due to potential thunderstorms, when perhaps delays are a better idea) which makes today longer than I wanted. Oh well. It’s concert season, my students are doing interesting and cool things, and I am trying to attend when I can and support them to pay forward all the support I received from my teachers when I was younger (and because I am a sucker, haha.)

So that brings us back to Thursday, which is where I started. I have lunch plans with a friend followed by teaching and said concert. Wish me luck!

Teaching

Whirlwind of a Month!

I have to say, this month has been the busiest in awhile. I think I say that every month, so I don’t even know anymore. I do know that I have 7 more mornings to wake up for class and then it’s SUMMMMMMMMMMMERRRRR!!!!

Last weekend was full. It started early with a Thursday night mini golf evening with Louie and a friend at nearby Magic Mini Golf. We were going to get dinner there, but the kitchen was closed (at 7:30pm?) so we went to Nudo House first and enjoyed dinner there instead. The weather was crazy, with heavy rainstorms all night long, and we definitely got a bit soaked going back and forth but we had a fun night with quite a few hole in ones. Holes in one?

I had two concerts Friday evening so I was busy working! I wasn’t super happy with my performance on either concert, but I suppose they were okay. I was really focused on getting my students ready for Festival the same weekend and hadn’t been able to practice as much as I might have, plus the constant weather changes were negatively affecting the way my violin sounded and bow felt, so I was a bit out of sorts.

Saturday was festival day #1 with 5 students playing, and afterwards we walked up to the Thurteen Carnival for a bit (before it was shut down), and then went to the Symphony concert that night. It was a nice concert with better seats than we usually buy because we got the tickets from some friends 🙂 They played a lot of Sibelius which was fun (and was getting us more excited to visit Finland this summer.)

Sunday morning I was at the festival all day, proctoring and grading theory tests. I didn’t get back until late afternoon (it was an easy job, but I just needed to be there for a long time.) I had 3 students perform that morning as well. After that we wanted to just do nothing, but Louie and I had made plans to do some work at our old house (someday this thing will go on the market but not yet) and then grab dinner nearby. We started watching Killing Eve that night as well, which is a fun show with Sandra Oh on Netflix with four seasons (at this time?).

Monday was back to work except that night we went to Louie’s mom’s for a Passover Seder, so it was another late night. It was just the four of us and we had a nice time.

And then the rest of the week just flew by: teaching, getting juries ready, getting performances lined for students, getting some things ready for four gigs this weekend, and keeping the house running (laundry and groceries are my main jobs). This is the last week of classes at Wash U: next week is juries and a few makeup lessons. I have 3 more weeks of private teaching but only 2 until the recital, and we are hard at work getting the school (my before school program) kids ready for their spring concert. I also have one student playing a concerto with his college orchestra (not Wash U, a local community college), and another playing with her school orchestra the same night as my own school that I hope to attend afterwards (she is sure it will be a longer concert and she is near the end, fingers crossed!). This weekend is mostly full of work for me: a wedding, a mass, a memorial service, and a concert, plus the Great Artists Series on Sunday night. If I can make it to May 13 things settle down tremendously after that.

It is not to say that I have been running around only working, but simply that I have been working enough that I haven’t had much bandwidth beyond that. I read a fun book this week: The 7 1/2 Lives of Evelyn Hardcastle (not to be confused with the 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, which I am pretty sure I did for awhile). I’ve gotten in some nice walks and exercise, and listened to lots of podcasts. I have NOT done much cooking, but that’s fine, and I have done more practicing this week than last, as I didn’t care for the feeling of not playing as well as I would like last weekend. It makes me grumpy 🙂

How has your week been going? Any fun plans for the weekend?

Random thoughts

Summer is getting closer

1 Comment

We did a lot last weekend! This made up for the previous weekend when we pretty much bailed on all the concerts we could have seen and instead just ate good food and did stuff around the house.

Okay, the last week has been quite eventful. Did I take a lot of pictures (am I even a real blogger?)? Not really. But: we went out to a lovely dinner at Esca, a new restaurant here by Ben Poremba, who was the man behind one of my favorite (and currently closed) restaurants, Olio. Esca did NOT disappoint. We shared a variety of dishes including the branzino and the fire roasted beets and everything was delicious and better than we would have expected. If you can get a reservation and have the budget for it, I recommend that you go. We are already planning our next trip.

Friday night we went over the “old house” to do some work and discovered that the basement had flooded due to a clogged drain somehow. Louie got out the snake and worked on the drain in the backyard for 15-20 minutes (it was not fun) and finally got it unclogged. The sound of rushing water was glorious and then we had a bit of clean up to do. It was an unpleasant way to spend the evening so we consoled ourselves afterwards at the nearby Mexican restaurant, with tacos and margaritas.

Saturday I worked quite a bit and we went to a movie by the Italian Film Festival with a friend. It was a comedy and I really loved it! I laughed quite a bit, but not as hard as a trio of Italian women who were sitting near us.

Poster for the Film we saw: Grazie Ragazzi

Sunday we did something quite unusual: we saw a concert in a bunker. We went to the Tyson Research Center in West County and watched/listened to a concert of improvisation inside a bunker. Evidently there are dozens of bunkers that were originally used to store ammunition during WW2 but now are empty and some graduate students we allowed to use them for projects. One student put this concert together, with piano, violin, bass, and other things such as some accordion, foot stomping, humming, and more. The violinist was Marina from my sister Carrie’s quartet The Rhythm Method, so I was glad to meet her. Louie and I enjoyed the experience.

Later that day I played on a concert with the St Louis Chamber Soloists: unfortunately nobody seemed to get any photos of that.

Then the week began again in earnest, but it’s so near the end. In one month I am done teaching for the spring and we are heading out for our first summer trip (visiting a variety of family members in NY and PA) and then summer work begins after that. The year is just flying by, as always.

There was a time I was obsessed with taking cake pictures! This one was at the entrance to the Tyson Research Center, which is shared with the Endangered Wolf Center. I definitely want to take a tour at the Wolf Center sometime soon.

What else have I been up to lately? Teaching and practicing, of course, getting ready for some students to perform this weekend at the Music Club Federation Spring Festival (playing piano with one, this is not a good idea, but it was the best idea at the time), continuing to plan things for our upcoming travel, reading some books, watching tv, going on long walks listening to a variety of podcasts, doing a little cooking, trying to keep up on everything around the house (we are low on milk), and looking forward to another weekend of activities. This weekend I’m busy with the festival and proctoring theory exams, but we are going to the symphony one night and probably working at the old house another day and maybe going to the Thurteen Festival, but it might depend on how busy Louie is. He’s got one more week of classes after today and he is BUSY BUSY with it. There are more things to do than time to do them, that includes fun things that we want to do as well as not as fun things that we need to do, and it’s always a choice!

Here’s a photo my mom posted of the dome house in spring. Spring is here, both in St Louis and in South Carolina. Summer is probably here soon too.

And here’s what the cats have been up to.

Miles has been getting friendlier in his middle age. The students are shocked and always tell me things like “Miles was just sitting there and he let me pet him twice before running away”. It’s so fun to hear!