Good morning, dear reader. I’ve been at home for more than a full week now, enjoying some mostly miserable weather here in New York, a trend that is finally shifting this weekend.

I’ve not only had time to catch up on so many of my projects around here that have been dragging on, but also to get to drive my cars for a change. Don’t get me wrong, wheeling the cars of others all around the world is a real privilege, but when you’re away from home as much as I am, there’s real joy in taking your old, familiar machines out to run errands or catch a movie -- even if refueling them stings an awful lot right now.

But it’s not always driving that I’m doing on my travels. On one of my recent trips to Japan, I headed north out of Tokyo to ride a train. The Smile Train, to be exact, a railway line more formally called the Akita Nairiku Jukan Tetsudo Railway. It’s reputed to be Japan’s most scenic railway. I’ve visited Japan many times, rarely straying more than a day trip away from Tokyo, and was really looking for an opportunity to get out into the country.

This was it. That line runs through Akita Prefecture, a place that Amanda and I had hoped would be filled with fuzzy, photogenic dogs. Alas, we saw only one of that particular breed of inu while we were up there, but the Smile Train itself was literally littered with pictures of the things. They were romping in the snow, standing majestically in fields, and generally looking a lot warmer and more welcoming than I know their breed can sometimes be.

The train ride itself was fun, but the time we spent on either end was a real joy. On one side, there’s Kakunodate, full of authentic, Edo-period samurai homes that are a trip back to a time I’ve seen recreated in so many Kurosawa films. On the other end, we stayed in Hirosaki, land of more varieties of apple pie than I could sample during my brief stay there. And that was despite my best efforts.

It was a lovely trip, and I feel very fortunate to be able to document part of it for Mastercard’s travel site.

On that note, I’m really enjoying my limited forays into travel writing, and I’m also struggling to find homes for reviews of various products I get access to from time to time.

I’ve been professionally writing product reviews for going on 30 years now, and it’s a little sad to me that placing them is harder today than ever before.

So, I’m tempted to do more of that on here. My question, then: Would that be of interest? It’d rarely be more than once a week, and I would of course try to keep it interesting. There’s a little poll up there for ya, or of course you’re always welcome to comment, email, or find me on some other platform.

Showing up in print is an increasingly rare treat these days, so I’m happy to share that you can catch me in three magazines this month.

In Excellence, I wrote about Porsche’s latest electric Macan, the GTS. For Roundel, my impressions from behind the wheel of a prototype of BMW’s upcoming i3. And finally, for Car Graphic in Japan, I wrote about Lucid’s current struggles in the States and whether its next models will really change its fate.

That’s all from me for now. I’m soon off to Germany to drive another electric Porsche, and then I’ll head down to Rome for the unveiling of what will almost certainly be the most controversial electric car of the year... maybe the decade. I can’t wait to see it and show y’all what it looks like.

Until then, try not to be too controversial yourself, and enjoy what’s left of your weekend.