Back To The House

 David and I went early this morning just to check that everything was alright!  We've had a couple of weeks of intense rain and it's very windy now.  I'm worried about one tree that is next to the house. It's taller than the house if it falls because of the wind it could take out the roof!  Needs to be cut down but I think we might need a professional for that job.

I was surprised at how cool it was. There was a lovely breeze that made it feel a lot cooler than it actually was.  The old thermometer in the house said 28C but it didn't feel like that.

Blueberries

I managed to pick some blueberries.  Not that many but they'll be nice mixed with yoghurt and frozen. Nice cool snack!

in the car

I haven't been in the car for a few days, actually about 2 weeks.  I was rather shocked to see this in front of the passenger seat!  I'll have to ask Mikey about it later.

Made me laugh

I wish Japanese people understood English. This T-shirt says "Try sucking lips".

Gave me a laugh!

It's Hot

 I know it's July and I know it's summer but this heat is killing! In the past week, 8 people have died from heat-related illnesses and over 2000 have been admitted to hospital.  Some places hit 39C!  It's not livable. Where we are the highs are about 33C and that is too much for me.  The big problem for me is that the temperature doesn't drop, even at night!  Last night the lowest was 28C, far too hot.  I have an air conditioner and fan in my room, which helps, but I don't want to see the electric bill. 

I'm drinking loads of water and sports drinks, I don't go out at all.  Even getting to the car makes me sweat!  Most shops are nice and cool.  I spend a lot of time looking at the frozen food, which helps to cool down. Christopher said that he was having a hard time yesterday because he was working in the freezer, sorting goods to be put out.  When he went to help on the registrar he had a hard time feeling warm!  He doesn't mind working in the freezer, he says it's one way of keeping cool.

I worry about Hannah, she has to walk a lot in the heat.  She wears cool clothes, has a hat, and drinks a lot. I told her to break up her walks by stopping into stores. Just to have a few minutes to cool down and feel a bit refreshed might help.  

But this is just the beginning of the summer.  We have at least 3 more months of this intense heat. I think you know what I'll be writing about (moaning about) for the next few posts!  

How to keep cool?  I'm trying to get household chores done early, before 8am if possible.  That does help. This morning I cleaned the kitchen and washed some dishes, even though it was only 7am I was drenched in sweat by the time I had finished.  I planned on doing the floors but they will have to wait until tomorrow.  

I use a fan until the temperature gets to 30C, then the air conditioning goes on. No choice. I keep the curtains closed, no sun on the room helps a lot.

I keep a wet towel around my neck.  That feels nice, especially if I'm cooking.  I haven't cooked much this week.  I'm still recovering from Covid, I'm exhausted, and getting overheated cooking isn't going to help.  

And I drink a lot of water and sports drinks.  I make iced tea sometimes, just to have a different taste but water is the best.  Not sure how much I drink but must be over 3 litres a day, maybe more. I sweat a lot so I always feel I need to drink. 

The cats are hanging out in the corridor, they can come into the living room where the air conditioner is on but somehow they like the corridor.  I make sure there is plenty of water for them.  I think they have the best schedule, they are playing and moving during the cooler times of the day. When it's hot they stretch out and sleep!

Fluffy stretched out across the fan

Silver Lining

 I still don't feel great.  I did one class Wednesday evening and one Thursday morning and felt like I had run a marathon!  I'm managing to do a few chores but haven't cooked a meal since Tuesday!  

My ears are still blocked, and painful sometimes. My back hurts from lying down too much, I've done some exercise to help with the pain but still hard to stand for a long time!  And it's hot. It's 9:30am and already 29C but feels like 35C.  Today's high is forecast to be 33C with 80% humidity, YUK!!!!

The silver lining is that I've lost weight! 2 kilos!  This morning I weighed in at 93.8kg.  Still far too big but so much better.  I've been stuck between 95 and 97 all year, so I'm really happy that I've lost some.  I know it's because I've had no appetite for the past week or so, my eating hasn't been healthy because what I want to eat is bread or snack bread.  But eating just one piece of bread a day means that I have lost some!  David made a nice lunch yesterday, wraps with chicken, salsa sauce (he added some beans to the sauce), couscous, and salad.  I really enjoyed it, the tomato base for the sauce was refreshing.

lunch

Last night we finished the couscous, chicken and had an omelet with it.

I love Japanese food but at the moment I don't want the usual soy sauce or miso taste.  We've been eating a lot of cold noodles, nice but something different really helps!

I'm trying not to worry about the other house.  I honestly don't know if I can do anything there during the summer.  I should sort out some money and get air conditioners put in!  I hope to go next week.  I hope that the awful rain we've had hasn't done any damage!!

I'm Back

 I didn't go anywhere, just my bed for 5 days.

I think I had Covid.  I couldn't be bothered with going to the doctor for a test.  When I got sick last Thursday Mikey had the car.  He could have dropped me off but I would have to walk back, in the pouring rain.  I asked David what medicine he got, just painkillers and cough medicine. I already had that at home so decided to stay in bed.  

This time the symptoms were weird, low-grade fever but the most awful cough. Still coughing now, not as much but a few times a day.  Headache, body aches, and vomiting.  No appetite for 3 or 4 days, took me a day to eat a piece of toast!  David recovered enough to make a big pot of chicken soup.  That kept me going for a few days!!

On Saturday Christopher and Hannah came down with the same symptoms so they went to the emergency room.  I know there isn't any medicine but I wanted something stronger for them.  Christopher has allergies and slight asthma so any cold or flu has him coughing a lot.  The cough medicine I had was okay but he needed something stronger. With Hannah, it's the very high fever she gets.  She had flu a few years ago and her fever went up to 40.5C, so again stronger medicine is needed.  Mikey dropped them off and then went shopping.  They came back an hour later laughing, the nurse thought that Christopher and Hannah were a couple.

I'm fed up of being sick.  May was shingles, just recovered 100%, was getting into my exercise again when I got hit with this.  I still feel under the weather but need to start teaching, need to clean the house and if possible go to the other place. The last two weeks have been constant rain, I'm wondering if there is any damage to the other house.  Here we are battling mold.  I hope the other house doesn't have the same problem.  From today the heat has started.  Today was 31C,  looking at the 10-day forecast it looks like every day is over 30C.  I don't like the summer!

Sports Drink

This has been my drink of choice for the past few days.  I'm wondering about the slogan, sweat is beautiful!  

Feeling Bleh

 Why do summer colds feel worse than winter colds?

I'm not really sick, low-grade fever, sore throat, and headache.  But I feel like I've been run over by a truck. I have no energy at all. I can't blame it on the heat as it is rather cool today, just 21C at the moment. Yesterday I cooked and cleaned but feel as if I've done more than that.  I know I'm stressed at the moment, the kid's health and our money situation but surely I shouldn't be this tired.  I know there is nothing wrong with me, I had a full check-up at the beginning of the month so why so tired and feeling run down!?

David is feeling a bit better but still has a high fever. He was complaining of a sore throat last night.  I'm trying to get him to eat but he doesn't have much appetite, he had some soup yesterday, wondering what to get him today!!

I wanted to go to the other house today but decided against it. I just don't have the energy and when I feel like this I get upset at the smallest thing.  I need to shop and pay bills!  Then just rest, and prepare for classes for the next few days.  Try not to feel guilty about not going to the other house, I tell myself that even if I go I won't be able to do much.  We still have a few months, I hope to go a few times during the summer.  We will get there.  Having a couple of rooms cleaned out really helps.  I can see what I want to do, how to arrange things and what I need to change to make the house ours and not my mother-in-law's.

One thing I would love to do is to have a second floor.  The views of the mountains are stunning but we can't really see them because of the house in front of ours. It's on a higher elevation and two stories tall. We can see the top of the mountains but I would love to see the sides.  The way the foliage changes through the seasons is really amazing.  There are so many shades of green, in the spring the cherry blossoms and in the autumn the colored leaves are beautiful. Maybe some kind of deck with a second floor?  Something to think about and research!

Mountains from the road

The same range from a nearby park

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.