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

The First One

 Last night was awful!  I was suffering from the most terrible allergic attack. Sneezing, sniffling, and coughing for hours, no sleep, and I used two packs of tissues!

At 3 o'clock, I decided to take some more allergy medicine. I had taken some at about 7 pm, so there was enough time between doses!  I'm supposed to take 4 capsules a day, but I was desperate to sleep.

I came into the kitchen, put the light on, went to get a cup from the drainer when I saw IT!!! A big, fast-moving cockroach!!!

I just stood there, staring at where it had run past! All I could think is that cockroaches are never alone; if there's one, then it's a good bet that he has some friends hiding somewhere.

I would like to think that the cats would hunt them down! But the cats have gone into summer mode!

Summer mode cats!

Anyway, I got up at 5am and cleaned the sink and the dish drainers! There's more to do, as always, but I have no energy today. 

David did some more outside. It really is a losing battle! He found this cute frog statue, which was on a stone! David thought it was really at first!

Kind of cute

I'll have to find a new home for it!

Better go and see if I can clean the kitchen a bit more!

Night Noises

 Where we lived before was in a housing area of a small city. 

Most nights were quiet, but sometimes there would be the occasional sound that disturbed the peace. A car going down the road, the newspaper delivery man on his scooter at 3am. A baby crying or families shouting. Sirens from the main fire station or police cars on the main road, both just a few minutes walk away.  Dogs barking and cats fighting. 

These noises were somehow comforting; I recognized what they were and could, for the most part, ignore them!

We moved to the middle of the countryside in December, and it was so quiet at night. But as nature has woken up after the winter, the noises have started, and I'm slightly freaked out.

Some noises I recognize, the frogs in the creek set up a real racket or a late-night car, a few times ambulances have gone past, there are a lot of elderly people in this area, so I guess that is normal. 

But there are so many noises that I don't recognize. Insects chirping, some night birds, I think I've heard an owl a few times.

Last night was awful. Some animal was moving around in the undergrowth outside my window. I could hear it scurrying around and stifling, then it started to sneeze! I have no idea what was there, and I don't want to know! What was out there?  

Also, this house is noisy. It settles at night, it sounds like it's sighing, relieved that it has survived another day.  

The doors are all sliding doors, except for the bathroom and toilet doors. Anytime they are opened, they scrape along the runners. Last night, the cats managed to open three different doors, I kept going out to see what was going on!

I guess with time, I'll get used to the night noises.

Early morning brings lovely bird songs, until the crows start! Their call is so raw, like vocal sandpaper! But somehow it harmonizes with the morning chorus! I don't think anybody could oversleep here!

Last night we had a beautiful sunset. I managed to get some photos, but they don't do the colors justice.

Beautiful

Reflection of the sunset on the mountains

I went to check on the blueberries this morning, they are just starting to ripen!

Found this little guy

Praying Mantis

Just a baby one, so I could get close enough to take a photo, if it were an adult, I would be running the other way.

And of course, the cats had to check on me.

Nosey cats!

Mom

 It's now 21 years since Mom passed away!

I'm just a year younger than she was when she passed away. I really feel that 64 was too young for her to die.

One enduring memory I have of Mom is her reading to me! She read Little Women, Heidi, and The Water Babies; those are the ones I remember. I'm sure there were others. I can remember the stories of Little Women and Heidi, but I don't recall The Water Babies. I have a copy somewhere, I'll have to find it and read it one day!

Just some photos of Mom over the years!

Very young Mom

She told me she was 19 in this photo, but I don't know!  I don't know why I have this photo. I found it in my jewelry box a few years ago!

At work

This brings back memories! When I was 16, I went to college for a year, like high school but for a trade. To make a bit of money, I worked as a cleaner with Mom. I thought it would be easy, but Mom was a real task master! This is in the first place we worked, a small bakery/ coffee shop. Here it was just the two of us. Later, Mom got a job as a supervisor of, I think, 10 ladies, including me!  A lot of fun but a lot of hard work!

Christmas, maybe just before I came to Japan

Mom loved Christmas, even though there were no kids, she still put up two trees, even the kitchen got decorated!

Visiting with Mikey. I have to find some of the photos with the other kids! She loved her grandkids. She would send toys and books almost every month for them!  

I miss Mom! Even though I was in my 40s when she passed away, it was hard. I guess it doesn't matter how old you are. Losing a parent isn't easy!

Lucky

 I'm not sure of the date, but it's five years ago this week that we lost Lucky, our beautiful Golden Labrador.

She was such a friendly dog, even the vet said that he had never met such a friendly dog!

She was an outside dog. I did try to bring her in, especially in bad weather, but she was never happy. In the yard, she would dig and run around like an idiot.

One time, she was barking up a storm, we thought a cat or snake was in the yard, so we went to see. She was barking at a caterpillar.  She wasn't attacking it, just barking! Cute but very strange.

Just some photos, as I'm now crying!!!

As a puppy

She put this on herself.

In her favorite place

Senkoji Temple

 This temple is just down the road from where we live! It has beautiful grounds covered in hydrangeas, ajisai in Japanese.

I've seen this place advertised locally over the past few weeks. There is a hydrangea festival there every June. This is the season for these flowers. For me, the first sign of the rainy season is the blooming of the hydrangeas!

The temple charges a small fee to enter. I guess it helps to keep the grounds clean and the flowers well-tended.

Our tickets

Mikey drove us, but was too tired from all the driving he did yesterday, so he stayed in the car!  Christopher came with me!  I was happy to go by myself, but having someone with me who can read Japanese really helps!

The temple is up the mountain, so it has beautiful views over the valley.

View from the parking lot.

Today was very cloudy with intermittent rain showers. There was also a nice breeze, so even though it was a bit hot and humid, the wind helped to keep things cool!  

At the entrance was the temple bell.

Explaining about the temple bell

The temple bell

As we entered, there were various buildings and different statues. 

I'm not sure what this is, but I liked it. It was in the entrance of one of the buildings!

Interesting carving!

There were some statues to pray to. 

Mizuko  statue

Mizuko is a baby that is miscarried, aborted, or stillborn.  There is a memorial service called Mizuko Kuyo done for these babies.

We couldn't see what the other statues were for!

Some of the other statues

There were other buildings, one was the temple, the other is maybe the mausoleum.

The temple

Maybe the mausoleum

We then followed the trail of the hydrangeas.

beautiful hydrangeas

Scattered among the flowers were these really charming little statues.

Charming statues

 

There's something very cute about these. There were so many, and each one was different! I bought a little badge with one on!

My badge

We stopped for a while by a very old tree. The edge of the temple is surrounded by forests, we could hear a stream, but couldn't see it.

Lovely tree

Looking into the forest, those are all bamboo.

More of the forest floor

View of the mausoleum

I took a couple of videos. Just to try and get the feeling of the place. It was busy, but somehow it wasn't noisy and didn't feel crowded.

I tried to not get people in, but difficult!

I really enjoyed myself. We could have stayed longer, there was a hillside that had a lot more flowers, but it started to rain!

Still, it was a nice hour, a break from the usual schedule!