I went to the state of Texas in the USA to visit some immersive English Language schools. I figured; “It’s Austin, how cold could it be?” I made it San Francisco before I became stranded. Texas, it seemed, was frozen.
My sister-in-law lives in the state of Idaho. She said to me “How cold can it be? I bet Idaho is colder.” I told her she was right, Idaho was colder, but the airports were still open. Texas was frozen.
So I spent the night with friends in San Francisco and tried again the next day. When I arrived at the airport all flights into Texas were cancelled, except for mine. Still frozen it seems.
I finally caught my very full flight and we headed to Texas. My daughter-in-law warned me that the power was out, but it should be back on before I arrived.
The power remained cut off for three days. The only heat we had was a gas fireplace, the only light was from candles and flashlights. I ended up not visiting any of the schools on my list due to the combination of frezzing rain and no power, but I did make some new memories.
I bet you thought winter was over...
It has been an unusually warm winter this year, until last week. Now it seems that mother nature is doing her best to make up for lost time. I even saw snow blowing around Hosoe on Tuesday evening.
There’s a bad cold going around, as well as the flu, in addition to the Covid-19 we are all reading about in the news everyday, so bundle up! Wash your hands as often as possible, and don’t forget to gargle.
There’s quite a shortage of face masks, but you can see next months FS NEWS for directions on how to make your own at home. Or, if you’re feeling adventurous, you can order custom printed face masks from this San Francisco based artist:
https://faceidmasks.com
Happy New Year, welcome to 2020!
Here in Japan, most of us take our holidays all at the same time, which can lead to some pretty heavy crowding in popular spots.
In order to avoid such mayhem, my family decided to take a one night trip to Takeshima (island) in Gamagori, Aichi Prefecture.
We encountered a little standstill traffic on the way there, and a bit on the way back, but it could have been (and was for many others) a lot worse. The visit itself was really nice; a great big hotel with an ocean view and a great onsen, great food and plenty of it. The Island itself was quite amazing (there are at least four shrines on an island you can walk all the way around in under thirty minutes) with crystal clear water surrounding a protected wildlife area. I took a bunch of photos and added a few here.
I highly reccomend it!
Typhoon Season!
Three typhoons ( Nos. 9, 10 and 11) were bearing down on the Japanese archipelago earlier this week. Fortunately, they seemed to peter out and veer to the east and south. I'm sure there are more coming soon, so batten down the hatches!
Speaking of Typhoons, I had a whirlwind of a summer vacation. I spent some time traveling around Fuji-san with my family and doing this and that, while at the same time working at home. One particular holiday I was in Hamamatsu Okura ACT Hotel in the morning for a meeting of the Japan-Brazil Friendship Association, and then returned in the afternoon to do a couple of radio interviews with FM Haro's own "Toshimin" .
I hope you stay safe this Typhoon season, it looks to be a busy one!
Golden Week
Richard Marx is on the radio, the rain falls gently on the moist pavement outside, it can only mean one thing; tomorrow brings the week of gold, AKA Golden Week. I don't know about you, but I don't have any special plans, just clean the house, fix up the bike shed, catch up on some sleep, and write some songs.
Nothing fancy. I may even spend some time with the kids if they'll let me ;-)
Enjoy your holidays!
Joe