I thought I’d pop in to say hi, in the midst of telling you slowly about all of our travel! Also today is my brother Jesse’s birthday, so happy birthday to him!

We’ve been gone A LOT this summer, because after Norway we took a trip to Austin (another work conference for Louie) and then went to Chautauqua, New York to visit family again. I’ve squeezed in some teaching and gigs in between, but this week I’m more “back to normal” and happy for it.

My summer teaching schedule is lighter, and I’m staying organized this summer with My Music Staff, which helps me so much with scheduling and reminding students of their times, since the summer is totally random and in no way related to the fall schedule.

Gig wise I’ve got a bunch of performances this month which is super fun. I am playing Falstaff with Union Avenue Opera, a concert with Brahms A Minor Quartet with my quartet, three concerts of orchestral music with the Gateway Festival Orchestra, another concert with a flute group called Clover Isle at a retirement home, and my band is playing a show as well, and then I’m taking a break for a few weeks to have a surgery and recover before school starts.

It’s funny, having had COVID this summer, now I feel like the rest of the summer I don’t have to worry about COVID. I’m aware that isn’t entirely true, and that people don’t really know, but in a way it’s like, the worst has happened? Or at least, something I’d been dreading happened, and it was okay and we made it through. I think that people aren’t sure what to do or how to feel anymore, and on the internet it seems like people are either “woo hoo covid is gone for good” or “covid is never leaving and you are a fool and total jerk to not wear a mask at all times” and there is no grey area. I’m aware the internet is not the place for grey areas, but it seems to me the truth is obviously in between: this isn’t the same covid we were dealing with before, but perhaps for some it can still be deadly, but that’s way less common and most people are totally fine…and we can’t stay inside avoiding people forever because the mental health implications of that are real and dangerous too. But with the lack of nuance and gray area (gray, grey?) we can’t say, oh, NOW is a good time to wear your mask, because cases are rising, we have to say one or the other.

I’m rambling now, so I’ll move on.

We had our annual Sublette Park fireworks party Saturday night. It was low key: I suppose we didn’t give people much notice and our friend group has shrunk over the past few years due to our busy schedules, but it was a fun time and the weather was perfect. One of my friends brought a date so that was exciting, and we had some good food and good conversations. The fireworks show was better than in recent memory, and we still have fridge of leftover side dishes to enjoy for a few days until we tire of potato salad and pudding.

Friday night we went to a Wine Dinner at the Whittemore House at Wash U. It’s a monthly dinner with wine pairings for each course, and this was the second we have attended. We don’t always want to eat meat, but sometimes we make exceptions, and this was one, for two reasons. 1) It was a “Nordic Wine Dinner!” and 2) Our friend Ben was presenting the pairings. It was a wonderful evening of food, wine, and conversation.

After traveling I have to recalibrate myself to focusing on the day by day and appreciating that. It’s always a tough transition, as the life of sightseeing can be so fun and wonderful, yet also quite stressful. I enjoy trip planning so much, but then taking the trip is a little different. I read a quote about how you plan the trip, but then you have to take the trip in front of you instead of the trip you imagined beforehand, and that is SO TRUE. But then you have to return to the day-by-day, and even though instagram will torture you with beautiful pictures of scenery whenever you log on, and it’s not really torture, but it does make you wish you could travel half the time and didn’t have to work at all. But regular life is nice too, just teaching, being at home, seeing friends, watching shows on TV, cooking, making my own coffee (almost always better than coffee in a cafe), using the bathroom whenever you need to, etc.

In addition to our travels, we attended 3 Opera Theater St Louis Performances this season, two as part of the Young Friends (yes, we are still “young” in the eyes of opera, though not for long) and one as a treat from Louie’s mom. I particularly enjoyed the Magic Flute, which I had never heard nor played before!

I’ve also been getting back into violin playing shape. As you might imagine, after being out of town approximately 1 month of the past 6 weeks, that means not feeling super at home on the violin. And then I did some yardwork too, which made my hands very tired, a bad combination! But the weeks ahead will be “normal” and will be nice to have.

How is your July going?