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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!

I have to say, I have not been great about taking pictures. Me: I have some time to blog right now, let me look at my pictures from the past few days. Hmm. There’s nothing there!

Maybe later today I can get some crescents.

The weekend ended up being a relaxing weekend. We had a few things we were going to go see, but ended up just chilling out at home more and getting some things done around the house. I really needed that, because I have been feeling burnt out and ready for the semester to end, and I think this weekend gave me the energy I need. (Hahahah not really but I will make it through!)

We saw the total eclipse in 2017 in our backyard and it was a neat experience, but I didn’t think driving anywhere to see another one was necessary and Louie agreed with me, until yesterday when he panicked and worried he was missing out and so he made arrangements to tag along with a friend to see it but I’d already made too many plans for the day to switch (was worried about getting back for some students but particularly an evening rehearsal.) Truthfully I was annoyed at Louie because we had talked about it before, but I am happy to do things on my terms and let him enjoy it with his friend, and who knows, maybe I’ll have sun and they won’t! I will either go to my backyard or walk over to the park or to the university campus.

I feel like there are two camps, the “oh, yeah, we had that in 2017 it was cool” and the “oh my god you can’t miss the eclipse, nothing but a total eclipse is worth it and you are a total loser if you don’t take the day off work!”. I fell into the first one, and while I’m sure seeing it again would be cool, I also wanted to just see at home or close to home and experience whatever was happening here. I’m also happy Louie is getting his experience, though I will keep trying to get him to be a BIT more of a planner.

Things I remember from 2017: the way the bugs started “singing” and the birds got quiet and the streetlights came out, and then the birds starting singing like it was morning. I also remember being in my own backyard with some friends and how neat that was. Life is full of choices!

Are you getting the eclipse where you are? Have you seen a solar eclipse before?

Other things going on: we are hosting our movie club tomorrow night. We watch the movie ahead of time and get together to discuss it, just like you would in a book club. This month’s movie was Poor Things, which I enjoyed but also have very mixed feelings on. I also already finished my book club book for the month: The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride, and I would recommend it. I finished The Hunter by Tana French last night and enjoyed that as well. I am still stuck on how much I loved In the Woods and will never quite get over that and enjoy another book of hers the same, however.

We also have a reservation this week to eat at a new restaurant by Ben Poremba, Esca. One of my favorite restaurants was Olio, which recently closed, and hopefully this will fill the hole a little bit. There’s a good restaurant scene here, but there’s also always a lot of places that close. I guess it’s the way of it, but sometimes it feels like a game of whack-a-mole: a new place opens somewhere, but another one closes leaving an empty building in its place. But with all of us doing so much shopping on the internet and grocery shopping at huge supermarkets, what can fill up all of these little storefront and restaurants? This is something I ponder as I walk down Delmar in the Loop (local readers will know what I mean at least). On the east side, things are hopping and growing more than ever, but the west side there there are dozens of empty restaurants and storefronts. It seems like, at least in St Louis, that new and “hot” places open but leave other places empty, and we just keep switching around where the happening place is, rather than growing overall. It’s a bit sad!

But I hope to have a fabulous meal, and by then it’ll practically be the weekend again. My goal for this week: take some pictures!

So, again, tell me: have you seen an eclipse before? Are you in the “path of totality” this year?