July

 July was hot, very hot. August is going to be hotter!!  

I read an article the other day asking when did summer in Japan get to be so miserable?  The article talked about the fun that was had by everyone a few years ago, trips to the beach or pool, summer festivals or just going to the park. Now those activities are more like an endurance test.  A lot of the summer festivals go on until the evenings, many concluding with spectacular firework shows.   This year, however, a lot were washed out because of sudden thunderstorms or attendance wasn't so high because it stayed hot until very late at night.

I feel sorry for the kids. Summer is hard because they have so much homework but at least they used to be able to play outside with friends. My husband said that when he was in junior high school he and his mates would ride their bikes all day!  That just isn't doable nowadays.  I've noticed the small park near here is very quiet. Until it got hot I could hear kids playing on there, now it's quiet, just the cicadas making a noise!

For myself changing my attitude has helped a lot.  I want to get things done but wasting what bit of energy moaning about things isn't going to help me at all.  I've accepted that summer is hard on my body so I do what I can when I can.  The main living area has air conditioning so I can manage to keep that clean.  The toilet, bathroom, corridors, and stairs are harder. There is so much cat hair everywhere, during the other seasons I sweep every day and mop every other day!  Now I get Christopher to do it.  Toilet and bathroom are early morning jobs.

I've told myself that it's okay to spend most of my day reading or sleeping.  The house isn't too bad. The yard needs doing, maybe early morning I can sweep the walkway and pull a few weeds. The other house will have to wait a bit.  I'm planning on going on Sunday, just to drop off some of the boxes and check that things are alright there. 

My worry is this Saturday and Sunday, according to my weather app it's going to be 39C.  That is crazy. I don't know if it's ever been that hot here!

Cats stretched out in the corridor

I keep putting the cats in the air-conditioned room but they prefer the corridor.  The downstairs corridor, I think upstairs is warmer!

Christopher's Cooking

 Since Christopher finished work he has been helping me around the house.

The rooms with air conditioning in I can manage but the other rooms and areas are difficult for me to do. That's where Christopher comes in.  The entrance and corridors need sweeping every day, so that is one job that Christopher does.

He's also teaching himself how to cook.  He really likes Japanese cuisine.  He finds recipes on the internet, then shops and cooks,

Yesterday he made Inari sushi.  Rice that is flavored with rice vinegar and a little bit of sugar stuffed into fried tofu pockets.  Very simple but very tasty. He served it with leftover fried beef and salad.  Nice, light dinner for a very hot day!

Inari sushi

He had some of the fried tofu pockets left over so this morning he made some more but added pickled ginger to the rice.  That made them very refreshing.

with pickled ginger

I'm glad that he and David can cook, helps a lot.  I don't like instant food or obento, but occasionally is alright.  I find it hard to cook every day because it's so hot.  Having other people to take over when I don't feel up to it really helps.  That way we can avoid instant foods as much as possible!!

Mikey came back with these flashy glasses last night!

flashy glasses

Because his shirt was blue he actually looked blue!

Christopher and Hannah had a go with them.

Having fun with the glasses. 

Of Course

 I write a post about not moaning.

I spent the day trying to find the good, see the funny side, have a happy day! I managed to do the floors, and Hannah helped. David has prepared a few meals, which makes life easier. Christopher cooked dinner because I had to do Mikey's classes.

A good day. I stayed up late, went to bed about midnight.  Went to brush my teeth and found a massive cockroach crawling over the toothbrushes!  I couldn't kill the damn thing but I threw away the toothbrushes.  I found some stuff to kill the cockroaches and put that out this morning.

I still had a good attitude. I was thinking that last year we didn't have so many cockroaches, so that might be why we are having a few this year. I can deal with this, it isn't the end of the world.

Got to bed. Looked at my Google Hub which displays the date, time, and temperature. It was 12:15 at night and still 31C.

After midnight and still over 30C. That is just crazy!  I woke up at 2am and it was 29C.  It didn't cool down at all!

I felt I was being challenged.  Can I keep a good attitude or am I going to start the poor me moaning again? I took a deep breath and told myself, deal with it, you have an air conditioner, you'll be okay!

I really am grateful that we have air conditioning. Also, I'm hoping that moving to the other house will help. We have a lot of green here but this is a city.  Where we are moving to is really countryside, lots of green and slightly elevated!  Even one or two degrees lower might help!  I might buy a kid's pool to hang out in!!!!

Mikey is doing cotton candy today. It's the local summer festival. He is working with somebody so they can take turns going into stores to cool down.

The floats for the summer festival

Hannah took these photos of the floats for the summer festival. These are carried through the streets.  I haven't been to any of the festivals here, it's always too hot and too crowded.

Next month is the big fireworks festival in the next city.  We can see the fireworks from our balcony, which is nice. When the kids were little we tried to go but it was always too crowded! 

Gave Myself A Good Talking Too

 Last night I went to bed feeling rather fed up.  It's hot, too hot and I'm miserable.

Yesterday I moved from in front of the air conditioner to find a book, in the same room so still rather cool and I ended up sweating like crazy.  I washed my face, I sweat a lot on my face, cooled down a bit, and prepared my lesson.  But I felt so miserable, the class was good but all I wanted to do was lie on my bed!

When I went to bed I gave myself a good talking to.  I told myself to deal with the situation.  It's hot and humid and very uncomfortable. But that isn't going to change for a few months. I have to change my attitude or have a very miserable summer.  So I've set myself a few challenges.

1.  To do something every day and be satisfied with that.  I can't clean the whole house, I can't sort and pack up all the rooms but I can sweep/vacuum a floor, sort one drawer or shelf.  I don't have to do everything in one day, one week, or even one month.

2.  Spend time with Hannah.  She's hoping to go to graduate school and will move into her own apartment. I would like to teach her how to cook. Just hanging out together, watching musicals, and chatting would be nice.

3.  Be grateful! Find something every day to be grateful for.  I remember earlier this year India was very hot, so hot that schools had to close. I felt so sorry for the people, there is very little infrastructure, and I think most places don't have air conditioning or even fans.  I'm lucky that here I have air conditioning and fans.  Most places are cool. I don't have to go out, I work from home.  So for today, I'm grateful that I have air conditioning.  

I really want to try to have a better attitude. Moaning around is just making me tired and isn't doing my mental or physical health any good!  

My poor cats are suffering from the heat. But they won't stay in the cooler rooms!

Steve and Mama stretched out in the corridor

Last night Fluffy and Alfie were watching the little lizard on the outside of the window!

Lizard watching

Can It Get Any Worse?

 Yesterday my weather app said it was 38C with a real feel of 41C!!

Then I watched the local news. A small city, about 20 minutes drive from here was featured, it has a lot of lovely temples and is popular with tourists.  The reporter was showing a thermometer, it read 41C!!

The afternoon cooled down to 29C with an incredible thunderstorm and tornado warning.  We were lucky as the storm wasn't over us but the city in the news because of the high temperature was shown again! This time because a house was hit by lightning and caught fire!

I'm finding it harder and harder to do anything!  In the air conditioning, I can cope, just!  But as soon as I leave the cooler room I sweat like crazy.  Just going to the toilet I'm soaked through!  I spent a few minutes in the room next to where we teach to find a few things and am now dripping with sweat.  I have headaches every day and feel so wiped out!

I keep telling myself that every day finished is a day closer to the cooler weather but I feel like I'm just wasting so much time.  I need to push to get a few more things done here even if I can't go to the other house!  One good thing is that Christopher is helping me out a lot. Most days he'll wash dishes, do the floors, and run to the drug store for things. I was shocked the other day when I opened the pantry.  Christopher had cleaned and organized it for me!

Talking of Christopher, he went shopping this morning and bought a very Japanese-style summer set. It really suits him!

Very cool

I like the dragon on the back!

Not Coping

 Monday I went to the other house.

Yesterday I cleaned here, made lunch, and went shopping.  I took a small thank-you gift to my neighbor for sweeping the cuttings up. I stood talking to her for about a minute and felt as if my body was on fire! The temperature yesterday was 37C!!

Today I've basically been in bed.  I planned to go to the other house. Got up at 5:30, and made breakfast. Just doing that sapped all my energy.  I realized that even if I went to the other house I wouldn't be able to do anything. So I went back to bed. The upturn from this was Mikey could drive Hannah to her university this morning.  That helped a lot as we had a thunderstorm!

I've spent most of the day sleeping. I feel a bit better but still no energy. Tomorrow I have a few classes and would like to clean out some of the kitchen cabinets and get things boxed up to take to the other house.

I'm wondering how much of feeling awful is physical and how much has to do with not wanting to move!

I know there is no choice, I know that it could be good but at the same time, it feels like a lot of hard work with no real reward!  Moving is usually a choice, moving to a better place, a nicer house but this move feels like a step backward. Yes, I own the house but that has no meaning as I don't like the place or the location. I would love to pull that house down and build something nice but of course no money.

I know a lot of this moaning has to do with feeling awful because of the heat.  I know that I'm just looking at the bad things, which there are many, and not seeing the good. Maybe as the weather cools down I'll find something good!

One thing that worries me is that each summer seems harder than the one before. I don't know if it's because of my health or age or if the climate is getting worse. Maybe a combination of both things!!

I need to focus on my health more. This year has been hard, shingles and then Covid.  Diabetes and the list of aches and pains. I've been having more bad days than good recently. Nothing specifically wrong just feeling drained, achy, and unable to focus.  I have a coupon for a health check. I don't usually bother as I have a thorough check-up when I have my cancer check-up.  But maybe getting some more checks might help.  

Cats cooling in the corridor

The cats are suffering from the heat as well.   They are lying stretched out! I can always tell the weather by how the cats are lying. In the cold weather, they curl up together, when it's hot they stretch out far away from each other!

I Tried

 This morning David, Christopher and I went to the other house.

We arrived just after 7am.  I thought we could do at least 2 hours work by going so early. But by 8am it was already 31C!!!

I tried to do the kitchen sink.  The mold was really thick.  I used a full bottle of bleach just on the drain area!

The blue is the original color

Just trying to clean that took over half an hour.

Managed to get most of the trash out of the dining area, swept, vacuumed, and wiped the floor over.  The floor isn't looking very good at all, lots of stains and marks.  I'm wondering what I can do to make it look nice!

After that, I gave up. I was drenched in sweat, felt sick, and had a headache coming on.  

Still a lot to do but I really don't know if I can do anything more until the weather changes.  But if this summer follows the pattern of the last few years that won't be until October.  Maybe I should just get an air conditioner put in the main room, at least then I could have somewhere cooler to rest!

Just to add to my woes, we have cockroaches here.  Last year I saw one the whole summer.  Just this week we have had 2!  I asked Hannah to wash a few dishes, she came back saying that there was a large cockroach in the sink! I got brave and squirted it with dish soap.  It died and I got rid of the body.  I looked very calm but inside I was screaming!! Tomorrow I'll have to clean out one cupboard that has open packages in it!!  More work, just what I need!

Cute cat photo to finish with!

Steve in the cupboard

I emptied this cupboard out, the cats think it's their new hiding place. They've been taking turns going in all day!