Tanabata

 July 7th is the Tanabata festival. 

In kindergartens, schools, libraries, community centers, and other buildings, you will see bamboo decorated with colorful strips of paper called tanzaku. People write their wishes, hopes, and dreams on them. 

Tanabata decoration

The festival celebrates the story of two celestial lovers, which is originally from China and came to Japan in the Heian Period (794-1185).

Orihime-Weaving Princess, the daughter of Tentei (Sky King), was a gifted weaver, creating beautiful clothes by the banks of the Amanogawa, the Milky Way.  

Hikoboshi -Cow Herder Star- was a diligent and handsome cow herder who lived on the opposite side of the Milky Way.

One day, they met and fell deeply in love; their love consumed them so much that they neglected their duties.

This angered the Sky King, so he separated them and put them on the opposite side of the Milky Way.

Orihime was so brokenhearted that she pleaded with her father to allow her to meet her husband. Moved by her tears, the Sky King allowed them to meet once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month.

This magical reunion depended on a bridge being formed across the Milky Way. It is said that magpies would form a bridge with their wings. If it rains, however, magpies can't fly and the lovers would have to wait another year.

Today's festival is a joyful occasion to make wishes and celebrate the star-crossed lovers.

I always feel that the real summer has started with this festival. 

I remember teaching in kindergartens, the kids would be so excited to "write" their wishes and put them on the bamboo. 

I don't think the UK has this kind of festival. I'm wondering if other countries do!

Recent Adventures

 I was thinking the other day about how boring my life gets in the summer. I'm basically stuck in my room, as this is the only place that has a working air conditioner; the one in the kitchen/dining room stopped working after two days!

Then Friday happened.

Friday morning, David went out the back door to the storage place to see if there were any other fans. As he came back in, Mama cat made a dash for freedom. 

In the old house, she would escape every now and then, but she would always come back. I felt that she knew that area, as she had been a stray before we took her in!  But here she had never been outside!

Panic ensued. David, Christopher, and I went outside to see if we could find her. Yes, even I went out!

We looked around, but the land is so overgrown that it's impossible to see anything, plus there is so much stuff in the outside storage area that she could be hiding anywhere. I managed to fall over and jar my back! I came back in, but David and Christopher stayed out for almost an hour! Finally, we decided to put some food out to see if that would coax her back.

After about an hour, we saw her, David tried to catch her then but she ran into the storage area. It took another 30 minutes, but David managed to get her. He had to climb over all the stuff in there.

I'm glad we got her back. There are too many wild animals out here which makes it more dangerous for domestic cats to survive.

That was enough adventure for one day, but life hadn't finished throwing me a curveball!

At 10:30 at night, Hannah called me on Messenger, which was unusual; we usually use the Line app to talk!

She looked awful, very pale and almost crying. She was panicking. She said she woke up about half an hour before with no memory of who she was, where she was, what day it was, or what she had done that day. I asked if she remembered about Mama getting out, and she said no if she remembered what she had for dinner, again, no. She said that her jaw was hurting. She asked if I could come and stay with her.

I had to ask Mikey to drive David to work and then take me to Hannah's. I felt so sorry for Mikey as he is now working delivering newspapers from 2am to 4am, and this was already 11pm. I think he got back here after 1am!!

I got to Hannah's at midnight, we sat talking until about 2am!

She has a lot going on with her course. One of her teachers is a nasty piece of work, very narcissistic!  She spends most of the lesson putting the students down! All of the students are stressed by this teacher. I've suggested to Hannah to ask if she can change class. Also, last week Hannah had to do two presentations, plus two for this coming week. 

It was nice to spend the night, not that I got much sleep! I think I spent time watching Hannah, making sure she was okay.

In the morning, we had a late, unhealthy breakfast! One good thing is that Hannah can use Uber Eats to order food! We ordered from McDonald's! I haven't had anything from there for a couple of years, so it was a nice change!

Breakfast

Hannah decided to come home for a few days!

She sent a message to her year tutor. He said that it was no problem, but suggested she go to the hospital to get a proper diagnosis.

So she's at home! I think she is enjoying being with the cats!

She'll have to call the hospital tomorrow and hopefully get an appointment for Tuesday!

My weekend was not boring at all!!  I need to recover from the weekend, so I'm hoping things don't get too crazy!!

Air Conditioners

(This post has affiliate links.)

 We need air conditioners, they aren't a luxury!

Today's high was 36C, with humidity at 65%.  Without an air conditioner, it's difficult to do anything!

I would love to buy new ones, but of course, we don't have the money.

So I decided to be brave and open up the air conditioners that are here. They were installed when the house was built 33 years ago. The big problem is that they have never been cleaned.

One of the old air conditioners

To work efficiently, air conditioners should be cleaned at least once a year. In the old house, I would clean out the air conditioners before using them.

The one in the tatami room was rather clean, I think it was only used once a year, when we would gather for Obon in August.

The one that I was worried about was the one in the kitchen/dining area. I really didn't want to use it, but without it, cooking is difficult. Even with it, cooking is difficult; the machine is the wrong size for the room. But at least I can go and sit near it while I'm waiting for something to cook! Gives me a bit of a break! Also, this is the place where the cats hang out, and for the past couple of days, David has been sleeping on the sofa there!

I got Christopher to open it up. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I think my mother-in-law didn't really use it!

Christopher took the front filters out and washed them, wiped down what surfaces he could get to. But I know that the deeper part of the machine needs to be cleaned. So I bought some spray that cleans out the deep part of the machine. It helps to kill off any mold that has grown in there.

This is what I use

This really helps to clean out the deep part of the air conditioner

This is the link to it on Amazon.

https://amzn.to/4eC9nkq

I don't know how long these old air conditioners will last or how expensive they are to run. Newer models have an eco mode on them. The old one in the kitchen/dining area doesn't have a remote control. I'm not looking for to the electric bill.

But it's better than nothing. This heat is going to continue to climb; next week is forecast to be up to 38C. Help!

My Health

 I think I have to make my health a priority over the next few months!

I've let things slide, I'm eating too much junk (just had a couple of small donuts!), not exercising, and not sleeping properly. I'm stressed and frustrated about our money situation. I want to do a lot in this house, but there is no money at all. I know it doesn't help, but stress makes me eat, I find comfort in food!

At the beginning of June, I had my yearly check-up. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my A1c number was good, which is the test for diabetes. I was told that the number should be between 4.5 and 6.00. When I was diagnosed, my number was 7.2; the last test I was at 6.00. Which is good, but I need to get it lower. I know what to do, but doing it seems so hard.

For me, dieting, eating healthy, and being proactive about my health is more about my mind, my thinking! I know that it would be a lot better to have a salad with some low-fat protein for dinner, but I'll have a sandwich or noodles instead. If the bread was a good whole wheat bread, it might be alright, but the bread in Japan is white and has very little nutrition! Another excuse for my bad eating is the price of food, especially anything that is healthy! As summer starts, the price of vegetables goes up. The other day I was shopping and came across a bunch of grapes for 5,000yen, that's about £25!!

Expensive grapes

Fortunately, that isn't normal, but food prices are going up. The things that are cheap are the more unhealthy choices: snack breads (my big weakness), snacks, and cup noodles. They aren't bad as a treat or if you are too busy to cook, but eating those kinds of foods every day will add inches to your waistline and make you unhealthy in the long run. Japan actually has a problem with diabetes, even though obesity is low! I was surprised when the doctor told me that my mother-in-law had diabetes, even though she only weighed 48kg, about 100lbs!  

I also have to start exercising more! I thought that living here, I would be outside in the garden or walking to the other fields. I did it a few times, but not consistently! Now, it's too hot to be outside. I get up early, between 5 and 6am, to get chores done and start lunch. I think I might be able to do a few things outside at that time, I should try!  By 8am, it's already 30C! I should go back to doing the chair exercises; they are gentle and do help. At the moment my lower back hurts if I'm standing for more than 20 minutes, I know it's because my weight has gone up a bit. There's a certain weight that once I go over it, my back is very painful! I've noticed over the past few weeks that it has started to hurt again, so I checked my weight and sure enough, I've put on about a kilo! That doesn't sound like a lot, but I know that one kilo will lead to another and another if I don't make changes now!  Again, I know what to do, but doing it seems difficult! 

Another area that I'm struggling with is my sleep patterns! I sleep too much during the day and then spend most of the night tossing and turning! I have sleeping tablets from the doctor, but the few nights I've taken them, I've had bad dreams! Maybe I should just take them for a couple of weeks to get my sleep pattern in order!

I really need a lot more energy to get things done! I also have to stop thinking that my life is over, that being in my sixties means that there is nothing new for me, nothing to look forward to except old age. I have a friend who is 70, and she is talking about saving money to start a new business!  I need to change my mindset, get my health sorted, and start living, doing things that make me happy and make the people around me happy.

I will try to update on any progress I make! My first goal is to drop about 7kgs before my next appointment in September. Also, I need to be able to walk more by then, as Hannah and I have tickets to see Les Misérables at the end of September!

Wish me luck!!

 

July 5th???

 In 1999, a manga titled 'The Future I Saw' was published.  The manga artist, Ryo Tatsuki, claimed to have dreams that predicted future events. These dreams took place between 1985 and 1999.

She said that her dreams would come true either 15 days after her dreams or 15 years later.

According to different sources, she predicted the deaths of Freddie Mercury and Princess Diana.

There are also claims that she predicted the March 11th Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

Since April, I think, I've noticed a lot of articles and videos on social media about July 7th. According to Ryo Tatsuki, there will be a catastrophic tsunami between the Philippines and southern Japan. She says that there will be a massive undersea eruption and the tsunami will be larger than the March 11th one!

This prophecy has caused a mix of fear, fascination, and even a slump in tourism. I've taken it with a pinch of salt.

Is there a possibility of an undersea eruption? Yes, the sea between the Philippines and Japan is very active. At the moment, a string of small islands are experiencing an earthquake swarm; they have experienced almost 500 quakes in 4 days.  

Of course, these earthquakes, the waking of a volcano in Kyushu, and earthquakes in the Philippines have a lot of people really worried.  

Will there be panic buying of necessities, like bottled water and foods that can be easily prepared, especially if there is no power? I hope not, maybe I should buy extra toilet paper because every time there is some kind of disaster, toilet paper seems to sell out!  

For me, just dealing with the heat is enough. Another hot day predicted, up 35C again, this will be ongoing for at least 10 days, then it will cool to 32C!  I don't have the energy to think about earthquakes and tsunamis. As my kids say, if it happens, it happens. We can't change it or stop it!

My big problem is keeping the cats cool! Poor things are really suffering!  It's just too hot for them. In the other house, we had air conditioners, I never realised just how necessary they are until I didn't have them. 

Hot cats

It's just after 7am, and it's already too hot.

June

 I'm glad June is finished with!

It's such an emotional month for me! Husband's birthday, Mom's death, and our dog, Lucky's death.

I know that these things happened years ago, but they still get to me. Not as bad, but still hard!

I was hoping to get some students, but that hasn't happened.

Christopher helped me set up my profile on a freelance site that he uses. It's similar to Fiverr but just for Japan. I hope I can get a few online students through that!

Our money situation is really bad!  We are basically using David's income for almost everything. And he isn't making that much. I really hoped to get students just so I could get air conditioners. It's crazy not to have them. It was over 30C at 8am, I really don't know what to do anymore.

I want to get the land sorted, but now it's too hot! Also, we need to hire some tools as digging out the old growth is impossible by hand!

Let's hope things get better!

I think there are going to be a lot of complaints this month! 

These photos came up from my memories!  This is from last year, I still didn't believe we would ever have this house ready to move into!  So I guess time and effort does change things!

Summer Schedule

 The heat has started!

According to the weather apps I use, it's going to be 35C today. This is going to continue for at least two weeks, then we will get a break when the high will be 32C.

One big problem is that it feels a lot hotter than the actual temperature! For example, yesterday it was 31C but the real feel temperature was 38C. 

So, from today, I have to start my summer schedule. Get up early, get as much done before the heat becomes unbearable! Then spend the rest of my day in my room, the only place with a working air conditioner.

I really don't like that my life becomes so small in summer. But no choice. I'm trying to be positive about things, but it's so hard.

I suffer from this every year. I really can't deal with the heat. I would love to be able to go out, do some in the garden, or just take a walk.  But I know that I can't do that until the weather cools down! 

Never mind. I have the TV in my room, so I can binge-watch stuff. I also have lots of books to read. On my Kindle, I have over 6000 books. Plus, I have a small library of real books to work through! 

I need to make money. Poor David really needs an air conditioner. He has to sleep during the hottest time of the day! I've offered him my room, but he likes his own bed!

Fluffy found a new place to hide!

Fluffy in the shoe box