One Year

 This month marks a year since we moved here.

I'm still struggling with this house! I have so many conflicting feelings about this place.

On the one hand, I'm grateful that we could move here. I don't think we could have gotten another rental place, not with 9 cats and no one to act as a guarantor. I know some companies act as a guarantor, but I think it would have been difficult to use them. At least here we don't have that problem, also having the cats here is alright.

I also know that if my mother-in-law were still alive, the kids wouldn't move here. They actually said they would rather be homeless than live with her. She passed away before we even thought of moving here.

But, even after a year, this house still doesn't feel like home!

I'm constantly trying to rearrange things, trying to make it feel right. 

The summer was really hard as we had only one working air conditioner, the one in my room! Cooking in 35 °C plus heat is really hard! Also, because the kitchen/dining area got too hot, we didn't spend time there; it's the only communal area of the house. Everyone spent time in their own rooms! At the old house, when everyone had a day off from work, we would eat lunch together, then sit and talk, have a laugh and make plans. Some days, we would spend a good hour or more just being together. Having the air conditioner on made it easy to hang out together. Now, even on days off, we don't hang out together. More now the weather has cooled down, but the summer was just eat and go!

This house is impossible to keep clean! I'm even having to sweep the ceilings! There is dust everywhere. I sweep, dust, and wipe down things every day. And it's not just the cats, though they don't help! There are ledges around the walls, top and bottom, that are dust traps! I've had dust build up on my curtains. The winter adds extra work as the condensation on the windows is incredible! I have to wipe down the windows two or three times a day. If I don't, then there is a pool of water on the floor! 

The bathroom goes mouldy in one day! The cleaner I use to get rid of the mould is used up in about a week, in the other house it would last for a month! If the bathroom isn't sprayed every day, it gets bad. The bathroom is too big, the bathtub is in one corner, and the shower is on the opposite wall. The rest of the room is dead space. The tiles on the floor broke just a year after being laid, but have never been fixed. I have to put special mats down; otherwise, it's easy to cut your feet on the rough edges of the tiles! I thought of fixing them, but I'm going to wait until I can change the whole bathroom!

Then there is the garden! It's overwhelming. I'm trying to pull weeds, cut down some of the bushes and trees, but I don't have that much energy. Everyone else is so busy with work, they do what they can, but the garden needs to be seen to almost every day to try and make it look nice!

When I was younger, I used to think that by the time I'm in my 60s, I'd be settled, that even if I was still working, I would have some time for myself. I thought I would have money to travel a bit, to find hobbies that I could enjoy. Looks like that kind of life is a dream! 

I really hope that I can make some money to do some renovations in the house. The kitchen, bathroom and toilet are priorities. There are other things I would love to do, but not as important. 

Even if I never really love this house, this is it! I keep looking at houses for sale in the area where we used to live, but I'll never have the money to move, so I have to make the most of this place!

At least I have a nice view from my window. The autumn leaves are late this year; they are just starting to turn! I noticed this lovely tree outside my window today!

Lovely colours

It's hard to see in the photo, but the colour is very vibrant!

I'm going to make a cup of tea, get a book and spend time reading and looking at this beautiful tree!

November

 As with every month, there have been ups and downs!

But I think there were more ups than downs!

Spending a couple of days at Hannah's was nice. When I'm at home, I feel like I should be doing something! This house constantly needs cleaning. At Hannah's, I can wash the dishes, do the laundry and run the vacuum in about half an hour, then I'm free to read or watch videos!

Here, it's a vicious cycle of cleaning, trying to find a place for things, decluttering, rehousing things, and then there is all the mess from the cats! The floors need sweeping two or three times a day, and the carpets have to be vacuumed constantly. Then there are all these ledges that collect dust, even wiping down every other day doesn't seem to help. Then the mountain of dishes, the massive sink that collects bits of food in the corners. I have to fill a pan to rinse the sink properly. I feel that I could be cleaning 24 hours a day, and it still wouldn't be clean. Whenever I wipe surfaces, the cloth is covered in a fine brown dust. At first, I thought it was because of the cats, but I've noticed that even places where the cats haven't been are the same.

It's exhausting and time-consuming! Add to that the vacuum cleaner is broken. It just stopped picking up. I changed the bag and cleaned out the hose part, but it still won't pick up; it just makes an awful noise! Another expense I can't afford!

I'm still trying to fulfil the goals I set for the end of the year. 

My diet had been a bit hit and miss. But I've lost some weight, about 3kgs, since September. I'm going to struggle with Christmas and the New Year. I love the festive foods, the cakes, cookies and other fattening foods. I don't want to deny myself and be miserable, so I need to figure out how to enjoy the foods I love without going overboard! It's going to be a challenge!

I'm reading Wuthering Heights. It's interesting but not an easy read! I'm about halfway through and hope to finish it soon! I want to read "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. Again, I have an idea of the story, I've watched various adaptations of the story, but I have never read the book! My favourite movie of the book is "The Muppets Christmas Carol"

Japanese study has been a bit harder to get into. I need to really set aside some time every day to go through the books I have. That is my determination for the beginning of December!

The highlight of November was the trip to Hita. I really enjoyed myself. Also, I could see how, having lost a bit of weight, I was able to walk more without pain. This has inspired me to keep on my diet, even though I'm worried about the holiday season derailing my hard work!

Beautiful tree in Hita

At the restaurant

Hannah at one of the resting spots

One more month to 2026! I have a couple of things planned for December. There is a place in the city near here that has a lot of temples, called Tera Machi, Temple Town. I'm planning on going with Christopher one afternoon. And of course, Hannah and I are going to see The Phantom of the Opera on Christmas Day.

I hope this last month will be good and productive!

Day Trip To Hita (Part Three)

 After lunch, we had a look around the rest of Mamda Machi.

So many beautiful buildings, most of which are now shops, restaurants, cafes or museums.

One of the museums we went into was the home and clinic of a dentist.

The ground floor was the living area, and the upstairs level housed the dental clinic. I didn't have confidence using the stairs; they were very steep and didn't have a handrail. I could have gone up okay, but coming down might have been a problem.

Dental Clinic, built in 1914

The dental clinic

Hannah went upstairs. She said it was very interesting, especially the dentist chair and the old instruments!

We strolled around; it was getting very busy by then. 

This is a little video Hannah took!

The last place was a pharmacy museum. Again, it was both a house and a business.

I really enjoyed the display in the kitchen.

Old obento boxes

For cooking rice

Stone sink

I thought it was interesting that the sink was so big but not deep! I wonder if that is why sinks in Japan are always very big!

I managed to get to the second floor.  

Maybe for storing drugs

Measuring cup

Old prescriptions

Hot water bottle

I don't know what this was

Hannah made it to the third floor. She said the view was really incredible.

The view from the 3rd floor of the pharmacy

3rd floor of the pharmacy

I really like this old cash register.

Not sure what it's advertising, but it had a cat on it!

After the Pharmacy Museum, we decided to head home. It wasn't very late, about 3 o'clock, but everywhere was getting busier and busier.  

I really enjoyed my day trip. There is a lot more to see in Hita, so I'm hoping to go again!

On the way home, we stopped at Ukiha Michi no Eki. This is a rest stop that caters to people driving out of the city areas. They have shops, lots of local produce, information on the area and some resturants or cafes. One reason we stopped was that I needed the toilet, but after seeing the line, I gave up.

There was a nice observation area. The road we were on is at the foot of a mountain range, the view across the valley is really impressive.

It was a bit windy!

Hannah

Lovely view

Hannah with some of the scarecrow-like dolls they had put up

Godzilla

I hope you enjoyed this trip as much as I did. 

Day Trip to Hita (Part Two)

 I'm sorry it's taken a couple of days to get back to writing about my trip to Hita. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I'm out at work almost all day. I thought about writing when I got back, but I was too tired to focus!

After the museum of the school, we drove to Mameda Machi. This is a beautifuly preseverd Edo Period district (1603 to 1868). There are many small shops, cafes, resturants and museums. One thing that I really appreciated was the covered rest areas. I was glad to find a place to sit after wandering around for a while.

The first place we visted was a museum dedicated to the Kusano Family. The oldest son of this family is the person who founded the school we had visited. Usually in Japan, esepecailly in the Edo Period the oldest son would inherit the family business, but in this case the second son inherited. The oldest son was not very strong physically.

This is where we entered Mamada Machi

We couldn't take photos inside the museum. Here are a couple of photos from the pamphlet we had.

Hina Dolls display for Hinamatsuru, this is in the spring

I love this painted panels, they usually tell some story

The museum is in the family's house. However, it isn't the original building. A few years ago the building was taken down and rebuilt, using the original materials as much as possible. One reason the tour guide gave was to improve the buildings ability to withstand earthquakes. We had an earthquake on Tuesday, maybe a M3 in Hita, so these measures are important!

One thing I noticed was how low the ceiling are. The guide was saying that in the Edo period people were shorter than today, so high ceilings or doorways were not needed. The only two room that had high ceiling were the grandparents rooms and the guest room!

Even thought we couldn't take photos inside we could take photos of the garden. The house was built round a courtyard garden. There was an open corridor that ran round the house, the rooms on one side and the garden on the other.

I think the other photos are on Hannah's phone and she's at university now, I'll ask her to send them later.

Here are a few of the other building in the area.

We decided to get some lunch. Usually when we eat out we go to the usual chain resturants. But I really wanted to try a smaller resturant. Something more uniquie! Hannah and I spent ages searching for resturants in this area, there are quite a few but very expensive. We settled on a small place that had "teishoku" set meal menu! Teishoku is usually a main dish served with rice, soup and side dishes such as salad or some pickles.

The meals we had were very nice. Mikey had a tonkustu set, breaded fried pork chop set, Hannah had a hamburger set and I had a chicken katsu set, deep fried bread chicken breast! Everything was freshly prepared. The resturant was small, just 10 seats. I really enjoyed it. 

Hannah's lunch

My meal

We didn't get a photo of Mikey's!

The resturant

Mikey and Hannah

Hannah and me!

We visited a few more museums in the aftertoon but I think that will have to be the next post!