weather,eye doctors and brass bands

The weather here has been interesting. It really can't decide if it is spring or not!  Two week ago Sunday was so beautiful, sunny, bit of wind and perfect temperatures!  Mikey managed to trim the trees outside and I gave the bathroom a good scrub.  I started to plan spring cleaning.  It felt good to be able to move around the house with freezing. Japanese houses don't have central heating so we only warm the room we are using, so going room to room is rather unpleasant when it gets cold!  But the weather that Sunday was a false start to spring, two days later it snowed!  Not a lot and it didn't stick but felt like winter had returned.  Since then it has warmed up until yesterday was up 22C.  but from today it will be cool again!

Magpies in the snow, they are building a nest in one of our trees
 

I finally went back to the eye doctor.  I kept putting it off but no choice.  I will have the operation on April 23rd.  One thing that I was very worried about was the local anesthetic.  I know for teeth you get an awful injection but for eyes?  I was having nightmares about this!  Turns out that my worry was for nothing, the doctor uses eye drops.  Now I need to learn the Japanese for numb!  Always learning something new! 

Last Sunday Mikey, Christopher, David and I went to a concert by one of the local high school's brass band club.  My student was playing the part of Jasmin from Aladdin.  There were three parts to the concert, first was classic music, the Aladdin, then "It's only Rock and Roll".  The whole thing was very professional, the teacher really got into the spirit of things dressing up and dancing with the kids!
I really enjoyed the afternoon!

This time of the year there are a lot of beginnings and endings.  Kids are graduating and going onto the next phase of their lives.  One of the first students we had here has graduated high and moves to go to university this April.  We prepared a little gift for her.  She loves "Jackie Tea", the way I have my tea, milk and sugar.  So I bought a basket and put in a couple of cups, some tea and cocoa and a gift coupon for books!  She was really pleased with it!

Saying Goodbye

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our New Car

New to us that is!  We finally got a good deal on a used car.  My husband's friend introduced us to somebody who had a car shop, he is semi retired but still knows about cars! He showed Mikey an auction site and recommended 3 or 4 cars, Mikey went and chose a car but this guy did the bidding and got us a car under our budget!  He took the car to his place and replaced a couple of things, for free. All in all a very good deal and a very nice car!

Nice, new and shiny car!

Hannah is very busy at school. This is her last month at elementary school, so getting ready for graduation and junior high school.  Today's homework was math that she will be doing in junior high school.  She seems to know what she is doing, I hope so because math is the one thing I really struggle with!  She made a nice bag for me in her home economics class the other week!

Hannah with  the bag she made

Hannah has a very interesting way of explaining things!  Yesterday she was very tired and actually fell asleep after school for about half an hour!  Later in the evening she asked to watch one of her DVDs.  I said I thought  she was too tired to watch anything.  Her answer was rather unique.  She said it's like when you eat dinner and too full but then there is cake you can eat!!  Clever answer, so of course she got to watch her DVD!

One Month

This past month has been hard for me.  Lots of decisions to be made. lots of things that have left me feeling lonely.   Most days I really miss my husband!
It all started when Mikey took the car for the shaken test, the roadworthy test that cars have to go through every two years! Mikey took the the car to a local garage, they gave an estimate for the car!  Mikey came back white.  To fix the car would cost more than we paid for it in the first place.  The garage recommended not driving it as where the wheels were attached to the axle was almost shorn off!  So what to do?  I know very little about cars, Mikey even less!  I finally asked one of my husband's friends to come and have a look at the car and the report.  He recommended getting a different car, he also put us in touch with somebody who could help.  So after a month of feeling bad because we lost money on the first car we managed to get a much better car!  A second hand car but it is a lot better than the first.  We have a car loan to pay but I can deal with that!

The next thing was the camera not working.  It had been bad since last October, sometimes working, sometimes not!  The in January it gave out altogether!  I love having a camera, I love taking photos and this spring we have a lot of things happening. So I need a camera!  I had some money left over from Christmas so I bought a nice camera!  David really loves it!  He has spent a long time playing around with it! 

Then came the awful discovery!  Last week the vision in my left eye became blurred. I thought it was because of seasonal allergies! So I went off to the doctor thinking that I would get some eye drops.  Turns out that I have a cataract on my eye and I have to have an operation to change the lens.  I know this is not a big operation, most hospitals you can go home the same day but I felt really unnerved by the news.  I felt so alone, I really missed hubby that day.  So I really hope all the terrible things that are going to happen in this year are finished with and that things can get better!

What a crazy couple of weeks!

The past couple of weeks have flown by in a whirl of non stop activity!
From January 6th to 9th Christopher had his school trip.  To Nigata, Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Sky Tree.  Of course I worried, for nothing, he had a great time, even if his skiing traumatised him for life!  He enjoyed Disneyland and Sky Tree more, but was shocked at how expensive everything was!

A few photos from his trip

Sky Tree

Entrance to Sky Tree

Christopher got lucky, the view was good, he could see Mt Fuji!

From the top!

At the hotel

Nice pressies!
 

January 9th was Mikey's birthday!  23, he says he feels old!  How should I feel then!
We couldn't celebrate on that day, just too busy.  So on the 12th we went to lunch with another family.  I was a bit worried, my Japanese is so-so but I managed to keep up with the conversation and even joined in!

The Birthday Boys enjoying ice cream!
 

I have a load more to write but have to teach!
More another day!

Christopher and Computers

Monday was Christopher's birthday.  He was 17 years old!  As always I am having a hard time with the idea that my youngest son is now 17. I don't feel old enough!  When I think of Christopher this  is the image I have

his 5th birthday!   Or maybe this 

when he started junior high school!
But now he is a young man of 17!

He loves his games but also loves to reads!!
This year he has to decide which university he wants to attend and study for the entrance tests.
Tuesday he and all the other 2nd graders from his school are on their school trip.  one and half days skiing, one day at Tokyo  Disneyland and a morning at Tokyo Skytree!!  Nice little adventure for them, maybe the last free time for a year!!  Of course I am worried, because of so many bad experiences with teachers over the years I don't trust them at all, not with the safety of my kids!!  But I know if I stopped Christopher from going I would regret it!!  I will be glad when he gets back on Friday!

To add to my stress on Monday both the computers I use crashed!!!  We had no internet which is bad but the thing that stressed me the most was not being able to access the photos I have, especially of my husband!!  David managed to change out the hard disk from the computer I was using and get one working again!!  Then he managed to back up the photos onto an external hard disk. Next he needs to back up our homepage so that we have a copy some where safe.  Looks like I will have to buy a knew computer soon!  I was shocked that some parts of the computer were 10 years old!!!

Hope to have some photos when Christopher gets back!!!

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

                                                      

 

 

Happy New Year 2015

I can't believe that it is already 2015, where does time go?
Last year was a lot harder than I thought it would be!  All the books on grief I had read and peoples experience said that the second year after the death of a loved one was the hardest!  I thought the first year was hard but everybody was right, the second year really sucks!  Most of the first year I was in fog of shock, nothing was real!  I would wake up and hope that it was all a bad dream and Hisao would be downstairs waiting for me!  As the second year wore on I realised that this is my life, that things weren't going to change unless I made the change.  AND I DIDN'T WANT TO!!!!
I wanted to go back to what I thought of as my "real" life, the normal daily round of chores and work with Hisao!  The first half of 2014 I thought I was okay but as the heat and humidity of summer started I realised that I was actually very depressed.  Being physically unwell during the summer really pushed me down. I didn't want to do anything, even the daily chores seemed liked a burden that I couldn't face.  I thought about going to the doctors but decided that being drugged up wouldn't help at all!  I looked around for some inspiration to help me move forward out of my depression, and I found it in my children.  I made myself slow down and watch the kids and what I found was they have inherited different aspects of Hisao!   David shows me the patience that Hisao had when dealing with the electronics in the house.  David set up another computer (the one I usually use is really old and makes a lot of noise).  David found out how to connect all the computers we have to the internet, he also took out the old DVD player and video machine and set the TV up again!  In Hannah I see Hisao's artistic side, he loved to paint and draw.  Hannah spends ages drawing.  She has decided to join the art club next year in junior high school!  With Christopher I see Hisao's love of math.  Christopher has no help with is high school math but he is able to deal with it and always gets good points on his tests!  And in Mikey I see Hisao's ability to put his best side forward. Even when Hisao was sick he would always be cheerful infront of the students, he would never bring people down by being miserable around them!  Mikey is the same.  I have seen Mikey looking really tired and rather down but when he goes to teach it is like he flips a switch and is cheerful and full of energy!  This realisation dawned on me slowly and I found that I am really grateful for my kids.  They give me a reason to go on and a reason to change, to be a better person so I can be a better Mom!


So 2014 was a learning time for me, a lot of internal learning!  2014 was also a time when I realised that without Japanese I can't be independent.  So I guess one thing I have to do is get down to some serious study this year!  Oh Help!


2015 will bring a few changes.  Hannah will graduate elementary school and start junior high school. Christopher has to decide on which university he wants to go to.  David is hoping to get a part time job and Mikey wants to study for some qualifications for teaching English!


So Happy New Year to everybody.  Let's hope that it's good!

Christmas 2014

We had three days of celebration this year!  Although my husband passed away on the 18th we hold a celebration of his life on the 23rd!  I cook up his favorite food, we sit around talkng about him, remembering all the things he did and watch a movie together.  Nice, simple way to remember Hisao.
I cooked up pork miso soup, tempura, chicken, sashime and a salad.  All things he loved, there again he loved whatever I cooked. Even when I messed up the dinner he never complained!

Hisao's dinner

Christmas Eve was busy for me!
Every year I think about wrapping the presents before Christmas and every year I leave it until the last minute.  I did better this year, I had most of the presents wrapped but still had to spend about an hour to finish.  Would of been less but the tape was keep getting stuck to everything except what I was wrapping.
I spent most of the day in the kitchen.  I made a trifle, chocolate pie and a cheese cake.  Did party food for dinner.  David made nan bread and wrapped sausages in it, very nice.  With pizza, salad, eggs, cheese and pears we had a lovely dinner.  Watched Patch Adams, kids enjoyed it!  Also det up the kindle fire that was a Christams present for all of us!

Christmas Eve dinner

David's sausages wrapped in nan bread

Desserts

Christmas morning Hannah tried to drag me out of bed at 6am.  I made her wait another hour!
Both Christopher and Hannah got up just before 7. Both excited to see what they had gotten!  Of course Hannah got a load of stuff, 3 DVD's!   Christopher got a lot of books and some game that he wanted!  The other boys wandered down a bit later!  We spent a very lazy day, watching TV and messing around!  I cooked up chicken this year.  I thought about getting a turkey but they were very expensive and to be honest the kids aren't that impressed by it!

Christmas Day

Dinner

Today I have to teach and try and find my kitchen again!
I think everybody had a great Christmas!