My school, Occidental College, started yesterday! Officially summer is over! This summer was very productive, and I had a lot of fun with friends and family. I think it was one of the best ones! It is always hardto go back to school, but once I start meeting with students and teaching them I feel very energized and happy. I love teaching. I love students.  I love the atmosphere around Occidental College. My tour is coming up in 3 weeks, and the first concert in 2010-11 is scheduled in 2 weeks in LA.

I could not miss this wonderful opportunity to hear Fleisher, especially Ravel Concerto for Left Hand! I went their dress rehearsal at Hollywood Bowl last Tuesday. I did not know that anyone can listen the dress rehearsal of LA Phil on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It is a fantastic chance to hear great music in very relaxed situation without any $! Fleisher played with beautiful  tone, expression, phrasing, color—. It was just beautiful and elegant. I think he passed 80 years old, and it is  amazing! Once he sat down at the piano he played great, but he seemed having  difficulty walking around. He looked fragile—. It was inspiring.

I joined with my church friends to see this movie. This is about Nelson Mandela’s life around 1995 World Cup Rugby championship held at Ellis Park, Johannesburg, South Africa. The big success ( South Africa team, Springbok, won the championship!) made post-apartheid race relations easier. Without much of explanation the relationship between Mandela (Morgan Freeman) and Francois Pineaar-a captain of the team (Matt Damon)  is well portrayed. The process to the championship is the main point of the movie, and the movie shows the human’s possibility, strength, love, forgiveness–. After seeing one of the worst movies in my life recently (I won’t tell you the title!) this Invictus was eye-opening movie. Well done!

I went to hear one of my favorite pianists at Hollywood Bowl, Stephen Hough with Brahms #1 concerto. I like his collections of pieces (like Spanish one and English one) on CDs, and I learned some of charming pieces out of his CDs. Actually I am bringing Granados/valses poeticos on my Central America Tour in September!  I am a big fun of Granados, but I did not know this very chamrming piece until I heard his CD.

Anyway I was very excited to hear him again. His performance was very refined, thoughtful, energetic and elegant—. His technique (on a Big screen we saw his hands pretty well!!) seems refined as his music is. And he has huge hands so those fingering on his hands won’t work for me. It was enjoyable evening with my cello friend. I had my sake with me during the concert, and it is perfect to enjoy drink at Hollywood Bowl. Tovey, the conductor, is a great charm for summer venue! Hough gives me a new idea each timeI hear him. I look forward for the future concert by Hough!

This was a very enjoyable movie with the truth in life! Of course Steve Carell (Barry) is a genius actor, and the unique characters surrounded him were all great (Darla, Therman, Kieron–)!  I am always amazed by the imagination of writers and painters, but look–! What those actors and actresses can do! Each (unrealistic persons!) character is beyond a great acting! And Steve Carell can portrait this odd and dumb character so well and tells us the truth in our lives. It is a great comedy with amazing acting and the life lessons. Those characters are still dancing in my mind!

Every summer my husband’s family get together at my mother-in-law’s house in IN. And she usually cleans up the closets before the gathering, and offers the items from the closet for us! This summer (My father-in-law passed away last summer) was even more so! She offered many many items. My brother-in-law, Joe, offered to be the leader of this free (!) auction. We raised our hands for the dream items (!)  or we got things randomly! So this old suit case is “Made in Japan”, and that was the reason I got! I announced to everybody that I will put the Harajuku Kawaii Deco on this suit case (of course most of my family does not know what Deco is–) , and will walk with it on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood!

I went to the craft shop near by my house, and got sparkling materials and the glue. I learned how to do as I was doing (this is sort of my style in many areas, anyway!). It was really fun! Please see the deco suit case in the photo section in this homepage. I would love to find my time to do more!

IT was a BIG concert at Hollywood Bowl this past Sunday! I heard it was packed! So Dudamel was conducting the favorite Carmen! I went to listen their dress rehearsal at Disney Concert Hall a day before. I fully enjoyed it with my friend. Under Dudamel’s baton the music became so vivid, lively, expressive, meaningful, fun—-. He is just great! Because it was in Disney Hall we could hear the real voice and sound without amplification. Every single musician in the orchestra was playing with full expression, and the singers were beautiful and powerful. The time flew quickly, and we left the hall humming the tunes from Carmen! I had a wonderful afternoon!

Every summer I enjoy having a picnic at Hollywood Bowl before the concert, at least once a summer! I went there with freinds and my husband (he is in LA Phil so it is so great to go with him. The musicians have an access to VIP parking!) last Tuesday, and we enjoyed our picnic. There are many tables around the Bowl, and we sit down one of them. It is so nice to be outside having wine and food, and chat! This picnic is a tradition at the Bowl, and many people come early to enjoy this relaxing moment.  If you have not been to LA it may be strange–. We have pretty cool evening in summer  so people come with blankets and thick jackets for the concert!

We love this outside theatre! Summer at Hollywood Bowl is one of greatest things to do in LA!

I experimented to make rose water this year (picture in photo section of this website) using veryeasy recipe. I understand that the people in the old days used this rose water as perfume. We need fresh roses so it is little bit sad to pick them up when they look perfect. We combine rose peddles with vodka (funny?)  in a jar, like 1:1 and leave it in few days. We have to shake occasionally. Then it is done! How easy! After taking out the peddles we can enjoy the fragrance and the color! I chose”Sweet Surrender” and “Voluptuos” for the first butch, separately. Voluptuos have stronger smell in my new perfume than Sweet Surrender! They both got the pretty color! If you grow roses it is another way to enjoy.

I love number puzzles! First I started to enjoy those puzzles in Japan. Actually we have so many different puzzles in Japan ( I was a Nikori fun!). Recently I do Ken Ken after I playedthis puzzle in New York Times. Ken Ken has different dimension in thinking than Sudoku. Sudoku means Su(number) Doku (solitude) in Japanese, and I believe it was invented in Japan as well. The puzzle is the best way to spend time on the airplane, but I do it all the time!