GOD, brilliant Lord, Your name echoes around the world! ~psalm 8:9 (The Message) We fly to Tennessee...
Laudaute Dominum
posted by J
I once performed Mozart’s “Laudaute Dominum” in Salzburg Cathedral with about a dozen high school classmates. Mozart wrote that piece of music for the cathedral’s archbishop in the 1780s. It was to be part of evening vesper services. For us, it was a normal day in one...
Hospitality 102
posted by S
I used to think of myself as a pretty hospitable person. But that was before I met the Samuels… and the Stonemans… and the Carlsons… and the Bultemas….. and the Chaveses… and the Pughs… and the Eubanks… The list of guest presenters in my Hospitality...
Loop Walkers
posted by J
My view this morning from a park bench in Seoul’s Sajik Park. As early walkers looped past me every so often, I considered my last morning on foreign soil. Tomorrow, we wake up in Hawaii. Today, on a bench — I read in the Old Testament about something the Israelites did after...
Our Recommendations
posted by S
While planning for our year, both in advance and on-the-go, TripAdvisor became our sixth family member. We poured over reviews and suggestions of restaurants, apartments, hikes, hotels, trains, and self-guided tours. As a school writing assignment, we even studied what makes a good review and...
Writing Writing?
posted by S
“Writing writing prompts”???? Sheesh, I sure am glad J is teaching them writing instead of...
Have Math, Will Trav...
posted by S
W is practicing for his Algebra End-of-Course exam in a park in Seoul. H and E are back at the apartment with J working on writing writing prompts. Tomorrow is our last day of...
Something for Everyo...
posted by S
The perfect place for a date excursion here in Seoul later this week: I plan on cake and wine, he plans on bread and cheese. Happy...
Haunting Afternoon, ...
posted by J
Big mystery from today in Takayama, Japan: At 1:30 in the afternoon, we heard music played on — it seemed — a loudspeaker mounted on every other lamp post in the city’s wide valley. Then … a voice began saying something. Echoes from that voice bounced from loudspeaker...
Stories of the Scar
posted by J
Years ago before a seventh grade math class, a newly sharpened pencil started rolling down my pitched desk. I moved quickly to catch it before it landed in my lap. I missed … the pencil landed eraser end down … and the lead tip dug deeply in to my left palm. A mark has been inside...
Prowling Ninja
posted by J
According to legend, the floors of Nijo Castle in Kyoto, Japan were crafted to squeak like the song of a nightengale — to warn the Shogun and his bodyguards of prowling ninja. Here’s a brief clip of the that sound (presented here on the website). H, W and I visited Nijo Castle...
An Unhindered Walk
posted by J
This morning was lazy, unplanned — and glorious. I went for a long stroll along Kyoto’s central river walk. It was unhindered time. Whole groups of falcons soared in circles above. I passed families eating picnic lunches. A cormorant came in for a landing next to me in the river,...
Work Done Well
posted by J
While riding one of Japan’s bullet trains between Kyoto and Tokyo earlier this week … S and I employed a tried and true parenting/teaching tactic to get some substantive schoolwork done: If you write four haiku poems about ANY experience so far in Japan, you can play on the...
Years Later, A Wave
posted by J
When our Kyoto landlord asked W, H, and E this week about some of our trip traditions, they told him about what they have come to call “forced marches” — required journeys and hikes and walks through beauty or history or both. Their description of the phrase got a big laugh...
Tokyo Temple Tooth
posted by J
Since last July, our three boys have lost a total of 13 teeth. E lost our latest Wild tooth yesterday — after visiting Tokyo’s Sensoji Temple. We celebrated with ice...