There were friends in town and I went on a weekend trip to the mountains. I tend to listen to podcasts on the train which include music podcasts. That reminds me I should write a post on music podcasts I love.

Eric Dolphy is becoming one of my favorite jazz artists for sure. I always leave an album thinking about how much I liked it.

The Pleasure Seekers album completely wiped out all other music from my brain. People into garage rock…here you go. Punk before punk. Features a member who went on to be a legendary 1970s rock star.

• The Pleasure Seekers What a Way to Die #rock
• Eric Dolphy Quintet On Prestige #jazz

By chance, the station where the onsen hotel we booked six months ago was the same station a friend of our opened up a French bistro. We went to it and surprised him and met his wife.

He got married and moved to a big city in Japan and was going to set up a small shop there. After a few months, they realized something wasn't right.

Nothing was a challenge. They weren't learning anything new. So they sought out a beautiful onsen town in the mountains and moved there. They remodeled an abandoned clothing store into a wonderful bistro.

While we were there and talking about their shop he said a thing the stuck in my mind the rest of the trip.

Change really isn't a change if you are just moving you and your stuff to a different place.

They said so far all the good memories they have had opening the place is the learning how to do everything. Learning the new is the exciting part. Keep learning.