Summer Colds

 For the past couple of weeks, Hannah has been battling a lingering summer cold. She's not really sick but coughing almost all night has exhausted her.  She had a low-grade fever for a few days.  After another night of no sleep, I told her to go to the doctor to get some medicine to help with the cough. She went to the local clinic and came back with a load of medicine.  I was hoping that she would recover but of course, life isn't that straightforward.  One of the medicines has a side effect of making your heart race. she took the full dose the first night but couldn't sleep because her heart was racing so fast. The next night she took half the dose, which is what the pharmacist said to do, but her heart was still racing.  We checked on my blood pressure machine, her heart rate was 118 per minute.  She gave up on those medicines.  She is a lot better, finally!

But of course, Hannah isn't the only one sick.  Last night David had a fever,  of 38.5C,  a little bit high. He didn't have work so managed to sleep on and off during the night.  This morning he was no better, complaining of a sore throat, headache, body aches, and nausea.  I told him he should go to the doctor so Mikey drove him this morning.  I was thinking that he might have flu.  But he has covid!!  He's sleeping now, I hope he can recover quickly.  We don't have to isolate, covid is in the same category as the flu now. But I told Hannah to inform the manager at the nursery where she is working.  The children are basically babies and toddlers for which covid might still be dangerous.  I'm not sure if the nursery has a protocol in place for this situation.  Hannah said that one of the other staff didn't come in last week because their husband had covid.  

I had plans for today but couldn't do anything.  I have a headache, I think it has to do with the weather. It's raining and the humidity is high.  I struggle to feel good in this weather.  Never mind I can rest again after my class.  

Selfie

 David keeps taking selfies on my phone and sending them to Hannah!  His phone camera is broken, may be taking too many selfies.  

copying the cat's expression

Just Thinking

 The end of this month will mark 20 years since Mom passed away.

I was looking through my photos to find some to put on here. I think I've used most of them already.

Just looking at them gave me a sense of wonder, of capturing a time, an emotion, an event that will never happen again.  Even if we revisit a place the experience will be different. 

The person I am today is totally different from the person I was when I came to Japan.  I wonder how much my Mom would have changed if she had lived.  I think she would still have a daft sense of humor. Christmas would still be a big thing for her.  She would still dote on her grandkids.  I wonder how she would have coped with the pandemic, would she have worried all the time.  (I actually wonder how anybody coped with the pandemic!).

with Alan and his mate

This was on holiday, end of the 1980s, maybe.  

Holiday in Wales

I was 15 or 16 here.    Nice quiet beach in South Wales.  One thing I remember was chasing Steve and Alan around the beach.  It was early in the year, the sea was grey but it was fun just to get away from school for a week.

Going to France

having an extension built

These are photos that Mom sent me.

The top one is on the ferry to France.  She wrote on the back "On the way to France, feeling sick"

On the bottom one she wrote "Showing off on the patio"

I'm glad that I have photos, they help me to recall things, people, places, and experiences. They make me happy and sad. I wish I had more photos of Mom.  But the ones I have I treasure.  

Weather

 This time of year is the rainy season here in Japan. 

The past few years have meant very heavy rain, causing floods and landslides.

I know from the news that some places have been hit with floods but so far we are okay.  We had rain yesterday, almost 24 hours. I enjoyed it as the temperature dropped from 34C to about 25C.  Today it's hot again, up to 30C this afternoon. 

I often think of this poem when the weather is driving me crazy.

Whether the weather be fine or whether the weather be not

Whether the weather be cold or whether the weather be hot

We'll whether the weather, whatever the weather

Whether we like it or not

I love teaching this to my older students!  

I've realized that moaning about the weather is a very human thing.  In the winter it's too cold, in the summer too hot.  I'm trying to appreciate the seasons more, even summer that I don't enjoy.  One way is to enjoy the different available foods.  Seasonal favorites are a big thing here. It's almost impossible to get out-of-season fruits and vegetables.  Autumn is the season for apples, they are really plentiful and delicious but now there are almost no apples in the supermarket. The fruits now are melons, peaches, plums, and some berries.  I can't remember if this is the case in the UK.  Cooking shows have programs on how to use seasonal fruits and vegetables.  I like that they show traditional recipes with a modern twist. I don't watch the programs but buy the magazines, It's one way of studying Japanese!

So summer is here.  Early and apparently this year is going to be very hot.  I'm wondering if the other house will be cooler as it's at a slightly higher elevation. I'm also wondering if one or two degrees will make that much difference when it gets to over 35C.  I guess we will find out!

The cats are suffering from the heat as well.  They are lying around all day, only getting active in the early morning or night.

The other day Alan was flat on his back!  David put his phone on Alan's stomach, Teletubbies.

Teletubbies

Busy Day

 We had to take Frodo to the vet this morning.

Another lump, probably because of fighting.  Mikey took Hannah and I in the car.   The vet is just a five-minute walk but the carry case is heavy and difficult to carry because Frodo was moving around and crying.  

Usually, getting the cats in the carry case is difficult, but this morning they were all having a turn inside.

Alfie

Steve

This is the first time I've been to this vet, a very small place but very nice.  The vet was thorough in his exam. Poor Frodo cried but he didn't lash out at the vet or nurse.  I noticed that the nurse's hands had a lot of scratch marks on them.  I guess that comes with the job!

The building that the vet has shares the space with another business, I think a hairdresser. The vet's parking spaces are marked with a paw mark, I thought that was rather cute!

Mark for the vet's parking space.

After we dropped Hannah and Frodo back home Mikey and I went to the community center to do our monthly volunteer class.

The building is new and very nice.  There are several rooms for meetings, to teach in, a room with a small stage.  A large kitchen that is set up to teach cooking, I don't know if it was at this place or another community center but one class that was very popular was a cooking class for elderly gentlemen.  I think most of these gentlemen had lost their wives and had no idea how to cook.  I thought it was a very good idea. I noticed that the building also had a shower room.  It's marked as an evacuation place, so if there is water and power people can get a quick shower if they are forced to leave their homes! I'm rather impressed by the building and also the way that it is used.  We go once a month, and most of the students are elderly, part of the idea is to help the elderly to have fulfilling lives, to keep them active longer, and put off going into a care home.  The classes that I've noticed are varied, dance classes, cooking classes, English, and some kind of meditation. It's nice to see these people get together, chatting and excited.  

I managed to get a few photos of the building.

The room we use to teach in

Baby changing room, next is the shower room

entrance

space to hang out

After lunch, I decided to rest for a bit.  Today was very hot.  I came down to be greeted by the first massive cockroach of the year.

I really hate summer!!!!

I Can't Win

 Last week was awful.  The heat and humidity were so high that just breathing made me sweat.  I pushed to do things here and at the other house but it was hard and exhausting.  I spent every day getting really irritated over the smallest of things.  I tried to keep the kitchen clean and the floors swept and mopped, other jobs I got the kids to do. 

I was worried because this year feels harder than last year.  If this is because I'm getting older then each year is going to be progressively worse.  David pointed out that the temperature got higher earlier than last year. So maybe it's not just me.

Last night I checked the weather and noticed that today is going to be a bit cooler.  The forecast high was 28C, with lower humidity.  Great I thought to myself, a chance to get a load of jobs done.

But this morning I woke up with a sore throat, cough, and headache, feeling like I'd been hit by a truck.  Hannah said that she feels awful as well.  She came back yesterday afternoon and went to bed.  She also told me that one of the toddlers she was taking care of at the nursery had a high fever and cough.  So we might have caught a summer cold!  

So I can't win, the weather is great for cleaning but I feel awful, I could push and I might later. The problem is that the rest of this week looks like rain, maybe the beginning of the rainy season, very difficult to do a lot at the other house!

One thing I've been doing is sorting through some photos.  I have a Google Hub Nest.  A Christmas gift from David a few years ago. One thing I love about it is that it runs the photos I have stored.  It randomly shows photos, some recent, others older. Seeing some of the older photos I wonder what was going on.  For example, Mikey with a bucket on his head.

Why?

I never told him that was the bucket for cleaning the toilet!

Or this one of the lads in the kitchen, what are they talking about?

Or what was so funny?

Hannah having a good laugh

I think my favorite photos are the ones from long ago.

Hisao and Christopher

Christmas

Hisao and Hannah 

I thought things were tough when these photos were taken but when I look back on them things were very simple.  Maybe in a few years, this time in my life will seem easy and simple!

At Least ...

 I got the entrance cleaned out.

Before

After

It's nice to have it cleaned out.  We bought slippers to start wearing in the house.  I still don't have water but managed to get some dust off with wet tissues for the floor.  Everywhere needs to be wiped down. There are a lot of ledges that catch dust.  Also, the shoe box is very tall but not up to the ceiling, there's newspapers on the top that I need to get down but I wasn't feeling brave enough to tackle that today.

I'm not sure when I can go again.  This weather is really getting me down.  The heat is okay.  Yesterday was hot, up to 33C but the humidity was low, about 45%.  This morning was cool, 23C but humidity was 85%.  I noticed that yesterday I was fine, hot but I could cook, clean and teach.  I only used the air conditioner when teaching.  Today I felt awful. Even in the car. The worst thing about this is how it affects my mood.  I get so miserable and irritated.  I was in such a bad mood this morning that I shouted at a centipede and upset Mikey!  

Never mind.  We are slowly getting there.

I've Had Enough....

 of summer.  And it hasn't really started yet!

Yesterday and today saw highs of 33C.  Humidity between 60 to 80%.

Yesterday I was watching TV in the evening, and the sweat was just pouring out of me.  Just breathing was making me sweat.  But because the humidity was so high the sweat doesn't evaporate.  I kept washing and wiping my face but it didn't help.  To think that we have at least 5 months of this is depressing.  There is no respite from the heat and humidity.

I watched the weather report last night.  All of Japan was over 30C.  Even Sapporo in Hokkaido hit 30C. It looks like it will be like this for the rest of the week.  

I know other countries have it worse.  Indian is on the news almost every day, with temperatures nearly 50C.  I don't know how people are surviving!

On Wednesday we usually go to the other house.  Today I decided not to go.  I wasn't feeling all that good and Mikey was recovering from his cold.  Went shopping.  I'm glad we didn't go as I got sick in the shops, dizzy, and nauseous.  I kept "doing the penguin", standing in front of the freezers to cool down, shop a bit, then back to the freezers!! Helped a bit.

Yes, that fat lady with white hair is me.

This is the supermarket near the house where Christopher works.  It's closing down next month for renovations.  It needs doing, the equipment is old, today one of the freezers was leaking, again.  I think when it is reopened it will be very nice but we won't be here to enjoy it!!!