Rain

 I know it's the rainy season but the past few days have been crazy.  Heavy torrential rain, thunderstorms and strong wind!

Hannah had university this morning. yes even though it's a Sunday.  We weren't sure if the trains would run so Mikey drove her to the campus and then hung out while she had her class.  When they left it was raining but not too bad within half an hour it got really bad.  The kind of rain where the windshield wipers make no difference.

David got back at about half past nine.  He was soaked through even with a raincoat on!  He said that the road outside was flooded, all the way to the local supermarket.

This was just outside our door.

I've seen the road flood before but it never came into the carport.

Fortunately, the water receded after bout an hour!!  

That was at 10am, it is now 6:30 pm and it is still raining.  And more is forecast for the next 24 hours!!

Oh Bother!

 Feels like two steps forward, 10 steps back!

When my students renew their contract they pay a yearly fee, it's standard practice for most English schools and cram schools.  I don't charge a lot but it helps with covering prints that I make, snacks for the Halloween and Christmas parties and running the air conditioners and heaters.  I was looking through our accounts and noticed that a lot of students will renew this month.  Great, bit extra, maybe I can save some money.  But of course not.

As I mentioned we are in the middle of the rainy season, constant rain for days on end.  So I haven't done a lot of laundry, just what every one needs. It's so hard trying to dry everything inside, even with fans blasting on the clothes it takes a few days.  I was so looking forward to the weekend, couple of dry days, get the laundry done.  Filled the machine, pushed the buttons and nothing.  So I did what I always do when electronics don't work, I unplugged it and waited a bit.  Plugged it back in and watched as the lights flashed through the different wash cycles.  Then nothing, it just wouldn't start.  Unplugged it again and the same thing happened.  So my washing machine is broken.  Christopher took some laundry to the local laundromat, Mikey took more the next day.  But I need a machine.  Summer means lots of showers, which means lots of towels being used.  There is no way I can keep up with laundry without a machine.  I thought of handwashing but in the heat we are experiencing that would be a death sentence.  

David came to the rescue and ordered a machine but he doesn't know when it will be delivered.  He offered to pay but he should be saving for a car.  So that extra bit of money will go for a new machine.  Such is life I guess!!

Fluffy hiding from the storms

It wouldn't be my blog without at least one photo of a cat!  poor Fluffy really freaks out with the thinderstorms, she find the most interesting places to hide!!

Hannah's Outing

 On Sunday Hannah went into the city to watch a musical!  She decided to go by herself.  The musical was a French musical, 1789  Les Amants de la Bastille.  The performance was by the Takarazuka company, the musical was recorded and shown at a movie theater.  This made the tickets a lot cheaper, about half price. 

The show started at 1 o'clock but Hannah got to the city at 10 o'clock.  She had a chance to do some window shopping, which she enjoyed.  As much as I enjoy looking around shops I just don't have the stamina to do that anymore!  She also treated herself to a nice lunch.

Hannah's lunch

She sent me this photo of her lunch!!  So I sent her a photo of our lunch, curry and rice!

Our lunch!!

A few photos of the movie theatre.  Looks like a really nice place.

Outside the movie theatre

In the lobby

There was a 40 minutes break so Hannah treated herself to a cake and drink.

Chiffon Cake

She had a good time and I think she deserved it.  She has been working hard at university and working two part-time jobs!

Nothing

 That's what I've done the past few days! 

Thursday and Friday I had no classes, so I planned to clean, sort out teaching materials and prepare some lesson plans for the next few weeks!  Also I thought that I could clean the at least one kitchen cupboard.  I didn't count on the weather being so bad and me feeling ill because of it!

From Wednesday night to today we've had heavy rain and thunderstorms.  I had a headache all that time, I took so many painkilers that I upset my stomach.  Of course the humidity was high, still is, everything feels damp.  The cats were freaked out by the thunderstorms and spent most of the time in boxes or hiding behind the sofa!  I'm grateful that the worse thing was a lousy headache because some areas were hit really hard.  Floods and landslides in a few areas. According to news sources one person died and two are missing in the worse rain on Saturday.  

Where we live now is safe, the house is above the road and there are no rivers or mountains nearby, so flood or landslides are not a worry!  The other house is a the foot of a mountain.  A few years ago, ove 10 because it was before Hisao died an area near the house had a landslide.  Everytime we get heavy rain or typhoons I worry about that place.  Not looking forward to living there!!!

This is a screen shot from Google Map.

The house

The building with the mark is the house the other buildings are the storage/garage. The garden is massive, plus there are at least 15 other pieces of land, most of which are bigger than this place. Next to the storage building is a stream that has been lined with concrete, it's very deep and carries the water off the mountain.  I'm not sure if it follows a completely natural course.   I've known it to fill up but not over flow.  But there's always a first time!!!

Mom

 Today is nineteen years since Mom passed away.

I can't imagine what she would be like if she had lived, like Hisao, they are frozen in time, in my memory. 

One thing remember are all the stories she would tell us of her childhood.  These are the things that I remember and I know that memories are weird, they change and get distorted.  So if my Dad and brothers remember different things, that's okay!  I'm sharing my memories.

How to catch a rabbit, was a story that had me giggling a lot.  Mom was the youngest of eight children.  Her mother, my Grandmother, died when Mom was just 6 years old.  My Granddad worked on a farm, long hard hours, so her older brothers had to watch Mom a lot.  Of course, as boys they wanted to be off on their own adventures!  To keep Mom busy they taught her how to catch rabbits.  They would take her to a hole, place a lettuce leaf with some pepper on it and a brick next to the leaf.  The idea was the rabbit would smell the lettuce, come out of the hole, sniff the pepper, sneeze and knock itself out on the brick. Apparently, Mom spent most of the day watching this hole, the fact that there were no rabbits inside didn't matter, it kept Mom occupied while her brothers went off doing whatever they wanted!!

I remember Mom making fantastic fancy dress costumes for me, I actually won one year, I was dressed as the Queen of Hearts.  Mom made a dress of red and white crepe paper, a cardboard crown and even the jam tarts for me to carry!!  There were fairy wings made of old wallpaper,  doing puzzles together and songs at night, even though she couldn't sing.  There were games of eye-spy, the one I remember was playing with Steve.  He had something beginning with 'M', Mom and I guessed for ages, finally had to give in!  Turned out to be a motorbike going down the road!!! Water fights in the summer and if we were lucky to get snow then snowball fights!!

Even though 19 years have passed I still miss her.   As I watch my kids grow up I want to call her and tell her all the daft things they do!

Found some photos

I don't when or where

She thought I had no film in the camera

At work

With Alan

With Hannah, a year before she passed

Cats

 

No, I haven't gone mad and got a load of new cats!  This is a cat cafe that Hannah went to this morning.  She had to buy a swimsuit for next week, she has to go to a special needs school for the day and the lessons include swimming.  She checked the local mall and stores but nothing.  I told her that the bigger mall was just a few stations away.  Also, the station is only 2 minutes walk to the mall.  This might be dangerous as the mall has a load of shops that Hannah loves!  She spent time in the cat cafe, got the swimsuit that she needed, then off to the bookshop.  She sent me a message saying that the bookshop has a lot of education books, but she came back with this.

History of cats!

This sign tickled Hannah

The sign says 'Cats Only'

Feeling better

 First I would like to say thank you to my friends who reached out with advice and support on facebook and messenger.  I'm grateful that you took time to read and to write back.  My heart feels a lot better because of that!

When I wrote last time I realized that I was very angry about things.  I've known about these problems with the house for  the past few months so why so angry now.  Part of it was the extreme heat we've been experiencing, up 33C the other day. I'm frustrated as I have so much to do but with the heat it's impossible to do anything.  I would love to work away at the problems at the other house and keep this house and yard clean and tidy but just no energy at all.  I'm trying to get up early, about 5am to get things done before it gets hot but after a few days I'm exhausted.  Still keep trying.  I'm grateful that David is willing to cook most days, that really helps!  At the moment I have no appetite so no idea what to make.  

Of course the cats have to make life hard.  Poor Sam hasn't been peeing.  Two of the older cats have problems with their kidneys so we are very careful about things.  Hannah and Christopher took him to the vet this morning.  He has crystals forming not really a stone as yet.  He got an injection which will make him drink a lot.  Hannah also bought flea medication, cost a fortune but she is willing to pay.  I feel sorry for her as she is working two part time jobs to make money for graduate school in two years time.  

David and Sam, few months ago