Our May 2023 visit to Madeira was a magical experience. After arriving on a quick two hour flight south from Lisbon, we soon found ourselves in a paradise of flowers, butterflies, steep mountain landscapes, flowing water, and adventure. Our first stop after picking up a rental car and checking into our hotel was to visit a lookout point, Cabo Girao. Here a skywalk juts out from a cliff, 580 meters above the ocean. The cliff drops straight down, especially as we looked through the glass floor of the skywalk. After taking in the spectacular views, we drove to a spot at sea level where a waterfall crashes down on the road; we watched some cars drive through the waterfall. Then we stopped at Porto Sol, a colorful beach town, where we enjoyed a cocktail at a cafe overlooking the ocean. ...

Jacob and I went to the Stanford Jazz Workshop on Monday night to hear really innovative music led by Jaimeo Brown. He combined samples of gospel singers with live guitar, electronics, drums, and saxophone. Meanwhile behind the musicians, a video of scenes with elephants and water slowly played. The musicians were all phenomenal, and they created a powerful experience. Campbell Recital Hall is quite small and it felt like a real privilege to hear such great music in an intimate space. ...

To see Micah run the San Francisco Half Marathon, I arose at 5:30 am. Driving up 280, I watched the most beautiful sunrise unfold over the East Bay hills. There was no traffic in San Francisco, so I arrived at the Golden Gate Bridge parking lot by 6:20 am and the clouds were still pink, with some sun coming in from the east. The top-ranked marathoners were already across the bridge. You can see just their heads in the photo, if you look carefully. ...

Jacob and I went on a Monday night adventure to the outer planets and back with the innovative jazz-rock fusion group Pluto Juice. Dayna Stephens led on his EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument), an instrument that you play like a saxophone but which makes sound only via a connected synthesizer. A few times he picked up his tenor saxophone, and proved to have awesome tone, technique and expressivity. Billy Mohler on electric bass held down a solid groove, heavy on octave doubling, compression and other effects. Anthony Fung on drums co-leads the band and played some great intros and solos to the tunes. Joining the group for the first time, Charles Altura offered spacey textures on guitar, but also played very agile, speedy solos. Sometimes the music sounded like instrumentals on David Bowie’s “Low”; sometimes more like classic jazz-rock fusion; other times like a spacey, lush trip. ...

On a warm July Sunday, Ollie and I set out to climb Windy Hill with no particular expectations. Leaving from our house on Town Trail, we gradually started to climb through the trees, which opened up at this familiar old corral. But today’s hike was special because the sky was amazing–full of wispy, swirly clouds. When we reached the first water stop, a bench with a view in the shade, we could see the twin peaks of Windy Hill in the distance but the sky stole the show (above picture). I thought to myself: “Ollie, hope you like this kind of Sunday church service!” ...