Back Home

 I came home yesterday.

Hannah is also home for about a week. 

This week is Obon, one of the major holidays here in Japan. It's a time to welcome the ancestors back. There are different festivals and ceremonies during this time. Also, a lot of people take the chance to return to their hometown, visiting grandparents, parents, and other relatives.

I wonder if many people are risking traveling now. 

Since yesterday, we have had the most incredible storms.

As we were driving back, we noticed that the rain, which had been a slight drizzle, was getting heavier. By the time we got home, I was glad to be off the road!  The drizzle turned into a downpour! It seemed to let up for about an hour, but then it got heavier. Also, it was rather windy. 

Of course, I had to get a video!

Sorry, it's a bit jumpy, trying to hold an umbrella and a phone was not that easy! Also, the umbrella got stuck on the trees!

This storm actually got a lot worse! 

At about 8pm, we received a level four evacuation alert! Level five is the highest! All of our phones started to sound at the same time. 

The warning we received was for the possibility of a landslide. We were told to evacuate to a place just down the road, but I didn't think that area would be any safer than here; it's a lot lower and could possibly flood!  There is a possibility of a landslide, but we are so far down the mountain that I don't think it would come this far. Also, there are a lot of houses and buildings between us and the mountain. 

This is how bad the storm became; this thunder went on for a few hours!

This storm was really intense. Even between the thunderclaps claps I could feel the house vibrate!

We are lucky here; some areas have had it very bad! Floods, landslides, and damage to roads and bridges! In one place, a house was destroyed by a landslide, and one of the occupants is missing!

We are still under a thunderstorm advisory. It looks like this weather could go on for a few more days!

I really hope that we will have a couple of days of dry weather, as I want to get a lot done this week! We will see!

I'm Missing My Cats

I've been staying at Hannah's since Wednesday, going home tomorrow. I've really missed the cats! It's so quiet here, except for Hannah's neighbour! It's really strange not hearing the cats, especially at night. I know once I get back home, I'll be complaining about the noise the cats make! For now, though, I'm missing them. I talk to the cats a lot, I ask their opinions on things, like what to make for dinner! I know I'm really talking to myself, but having an audience does help!

I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but my left eye socket is swollen and rather painful. It feels like I've been punched!

Swollen eye

I'm really not photogenic at the best of times, but with my eye swollen, I look awful. Never mind.

I think it might be from the allergic attack I had the other day. I'm not sure why, but I started to sneeze like crazy, two boxes of tissues in half a day after taking medicine. This went on for two days with very little relief. When the allergies calmed down, the area under my left eye felt sore. Yesterday morning, it was so swollen and painful I thought about finding a doctor, but I didn't have a chance. This morning I used an ice pack wrapped in a towel, which helped a lot. It's still painful but not as bad. Perhaps some swelling in my sinuses is pressing on my eye. If it isn't better by Monday, then I'll have to go to an eye doctor. I hope it gets better as I really don't want to go to the doctors!  

Back home tomorrow.  I hope I'm not greeted by a load of dirty dishes! The weather has cooled down a lot; if it's like this next week, I want to go out, visit a few places. Hannah is coming back for the holiday. She wants to visit a bookstore that is in the city, just a bus ride away! Plus I must get everyone out in the garden!

Staying At Hannah's

 It feels strange staying here. Nice but strange. I ask permission to take a shower or put the air conditioner on, as this isn't my home, and I don't pay the bills.  

Yesterday we went out for lunch. There's a nice family restaurant just down the road from Hannah's apartment. A family restaurant is basically a chain of casual dining restaurants that are family-friendly. They have a large choice on the menu and a lot of kid-friendly choices. They are also very affordable.

The one problem is that there is so much choice, and most meals are very good value for money, that it can take a long time to decide what to get!

Yesterdays lunch

We shared the salad and pizza. I had the hamburger and sausage plate with bread. Hannah had steak and hash potatoes. All this for just 3,000 yen, about £15.

After lunch, we had a little walk to an electric store. Hannah needs to buy a new computer, so she wants to compare prices. The computers in there were twice as much as online, so she gave up. But this store also sells furniture, so she bought a desk and chair. This wasn't an impulse buy; she's been looking for a good desk and chair for a few months!

The store delivered the chair and desk today and assembled them as well!

I'm glad that the delivery people put the chair and desk together; it took them over 30 minutes. The desk was a lot harder to assemble than I thought it would be. They kept unscrewing parts and moving them around. All rather amusing!

New desk and chair

Set up with her books, she needs more bookshelves

This morning, Hannah had an MRI. There is nothing visible that could cause these episodes. So maybe just stress. She has another appointment in October. I hope that she can put this behind her and move forward with her studies and her life!

I'll be glad to get back to my own house. Even though I don't really like the place, it is mine and I have a lot of work to do there. Anyway, this time here has been a little holiday for me!

Hannah

 Hannah had another episode on Tuesday, not a seizure, from what she described, it sounds like sleep paralysis. 

My understanding of sleep paralysis is that there is a disconnect between the brain and body. When we are in REM sleep, the time when we dream, our brains temporarily paralyze the muscles in our body; otherwise, we would be acting out our dreams! As we wake up, the muscles become active again. Sleep paralysis happens when we are waking up, but our bodies are still paralyzed. It's not dangerous but rather scary. I've had a few episodes of this myself, so I can understand Hannah's panic.

She decided to come home Tuesday evening. She spent the night at home but had to return to university today. So I've come back with her for a few days. Next week is a holiday, so she can come home again for a few days.

This morning I offered to make breakfast. Just something simple, sausage, eggs, and English muffins.

Breakfast at Hannah's

It took longer than it should have, as I spent time looking for things. I forgot how difficult it is to cook in somebody else's kitchen!

I made a little video of Hannah's apartment. I narrated it, but my voice sounds awful. It always does, but sounds worse than usual as I have awful allergies and a sore throat.

Enjoy the video even though it's not the best quality!

Hannah has an MRI appointment on Friday, so I hope she can start to get some answers as to why these things keep happening to her!

I'm wondering what to do for the rest of the morning! I've cleaned up, hung the laundry, I have to wash the dishes from breakfast, but after that I'm free. Read? Watch TV? Lie around?  I would go out but the weather is rather unstable, thunderstorms on and off, and rain that goes from a little drizzle to full-on downpour in a matter of seconds!

It's very quiet here, no cats. I never thought I would miss them so much! I'll have to ask Christopher to send some photos later!

Hiroshima And Nagasaki

 Today, at 8:15 am, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, 80 years ago. Three days later, the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.

Every summer, these events are marked. August 15th, the day that Japan surrendered, is marked a day to remember the soliders who gave their lives in war.

I have very mixed feelings about these dates of the bombs be memorialized.

Of course, it's important to remember the innocent victims who died on those days, about 80,000 in Hiroshima and 40,000 in Nagasaki. Plus the ones that suffered for many years after with burns, radiation sickness and cancers caused by the bombing. I say a prayer for these people every year.

What I struggle with is the fact that the media always portrays Japan as being the victim. Japan might be the victim of the atomic bomb but it was the aggressor in the war.

One of the reasons Amercia joined the war in the Pacific Thearter was the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

The Japanese had already expanded it's emipre across a large area of Southeast Asia. Japan was driven by the desire to obtain natural resources. Also national prestiage and military power played a part in the expansion.

These facts aren't really talked about, either in education or in the media. It's all about the suffering of the Japanese people. The atrocities commited by the Imeperial Army (The Rape of Nanking or Comfort Women, for example) are brushed over. Some people believe that all the awful things that happened in the war are conspirecy theories put out by western media.

Was the use of the atomic bomb really necceasary?

I've heard arguments from both sides. But it's hard to judge, I wasn't there and I wasn't the one to make the decision to drop the bombs.

One argument for using the bombs is that it shortend the war. The loss of life was horrendous on those days but a prolonged war would of caused a lot more casualites.

Were both bombs needed?  I don't think so, dropping the one on Hiroshima was enough to scare the Japanese leaders into considering surrender.

There are many lessons to learn from these tradgies. One thing I would like to see is that the children are taught that even countries have to face the consequences of their actions. If Japan hadn't attacked Pearl Harbor, then maybe the bombs wouldn't have been used!

I've visited Nagasaki and toured the area where the bomb was dropped. There is a beautiful Peace Park. I had a look at the museum but had to leave as the photos were very disturbing.

This year Hannah went to Hiroshima. She visited the Peace Dome and meseum, again a very disturbing place to visit.

Some photos from Hiroshima.

A drum that was found in a school

An elementary school, this place was used as a makeshift hospital

The Peace Dome

By the way, I'm sorry for any mistakes, especially spellings. The spell/grammar check AI use isn't working!

Exhausted

 As much as I enjoyed my shopping on Sunday, it left me totally exhausted!

Yesterday was made even more difficult because of the ongoing thunderstorms all morning. I ended up with an awful headache. Needless to say, very little got done!

I had plans, clean the entrance and the tatami room again. The cats have decided that the tatami room is theirs. I don't mind, but finding hair everywhere is driving me crazy, even though we keep brushing the cats, they still seem to shed a lot! Also, the smell is driving me up the wall! I need to keep on top of the cleaning, but with the heat, it has been really difficult! 

This morning I pushed myself to get some done, not 100% but a good start, I hope to finish tomorrow and then try to at least run the vacuum once or twice a week.

I need to make a good cleaning schedule. I've written about this before; in my mind, I have an idea of what needs to be done and when, but I don't write it down. I'm also very good at making excuses; I have classes today and don't want to be too tired for that, I have to clean the kitchen and cook lunch, the garden needs doing, I'm tired, etc. Some of my excuses are very creative; the mess is an ongoing work of art, the best one I came up with was after watching a documentary about hoarders, I actually told the kids I was trying to see how long it would take for the mess to become unlivable, only lasted two days! Even though my house isn't that clean, I actually don't like a mess, and I especially don't like things that smell!  I think that is why I spend a lot of time and energy cleaning the kitchen. 

I guess it's time to get off my computer and start some lunch! 

Just a few photos of the cats, the ones that cause so much trouble, but are still cute!

Mama

She came back after a week.

Fluffy lying on my iPad and phone

Steve

Five of them in the dirty corridor, which is the coolest place.

A Bit Of Fun Shopping

 Recently, the only shopping I do is grocery shopping. It's turned into a rather stressful chore that needs to be done!  The main stress is from the price of everyday things. I'm spending more now to feed four of us than when there were six of us!  I know that when we were a family of six, the kids were little, but I would buy things that I now consider luxury items, fresh fruit or ice cream, come to mind. My shopping now is very basic things, a bit of meat, chicken, maybe fish sometimes. Basic vegetables, always seasonal, as they are cheaper. Then the daily necessities, like milk, bread, eggs, and sausages. Nothing fancy. I can pick up 20 items and pay over 7,000 yen, about £35, that would be for three days!  Also, I go to two or three different supermarkets, one has cheap meat but the fish is expensive and never looks or smells very fresh, another has good deals on vegetables but milk and eggs are expensive, and then another for all the things I couldn't get at the first two shops! It is exhausting and rather frustrating!

Today we went to a shopping mall. I usually don't bother with these places, too much walking, and the supermarkets there are a lot more expensive than the other places. But I saw on Facebook that there's a coffee/ import shop that had English brand tea!  I buy cheap tea, it's okay, but I really wanted something a bit special. Also, these stores are good for Christmas food, and yes, I know it's only August, but this is one way I survive the summer, by planning Christmas!

The mall was a 30-minute drive from here. We had to cross the river, I was shocked at how low the water was.

I think we need some rain.

Since those awful thunderstorms the other week, we haven't had any rain. The forecast is for some this week. I hope it rains as it does cool things down a bit!

The first thing I noticed at the mall was the flood barrier. This mall is close to a river, not the one in the photo!  The problem is that the river is higher than the mall. Christopher worked at this mall. During the rainy season that year, the river burst its banks and flooded the mall; the water came up to Christopher's knees. He was working at the bookstore and said that all the books on the lower shelves were damaged. Because of this, Christopher lost his job!  He had only just started to work there. This was the second year in a row that the mall had flooded, so I think that the insurance couldn't cover the damage. The store had to find a way to save money, so maybe that is why Christopher lost his job!

Now the mall has these barriers at the entrance.

These barriers pull across the entrance during floods.

I wonder if they work!

I managed to find the store that I wanted to go to. It was smaller than I thought, but they had the tea.

English tea

I'm looking forward to a cup of real English tea.

We had a little wander around and found Muji. This is a lovely store that has a minimalistic design philosophy. They sell a wide range of goods. I'm always drawn to stationery goods and kitchen goods. I bought myself a couple of nice pens.

Nice pens

I also bought Christopher a new T-shirt.

Of course, green.

I had a look at a few things for David's birthday. I think I'll have to go back there to get him something.

I had a look in the supermarket, it was expensive, but I came across a small corner of plant-based items. This is something that is only just catching on in Japan. I saw these noodles.

Vegan

Somehow, they don't look very appetizing!

On the way out, I caught the back end of a train that goes around the mall. The kids love it!

Train ride around the mall.

I tried to get some video on the way back, but Mikey was driving very fast! I really liked the trees that have been planted along the road. The red flowers were very beautiful!

As you can see, the mall is in the middle of the countryside!

I had a nice afternoon, but I was so tired after! 

Surviving Summer

 The heat has really intensified! The past week has seen temperatures in the upper 30s; I think one day it reached 40 °C.  I'm not sure about other places, but here the humidity has been around 50%, which makes it a bit easier.

I still don't have air conditioners in all the rooms. I have mine, which really helps. David's is working at the moment, he went outside and kicked the machine, then it worked. 

We tried to get the old machines working, but no luck.

But somehow we are surviving!

It's not easy, but if I can get up early to clean and start lunch, it really helps!  Also, I give everyone an area to clean. Then I stay in my room with the air conditioner on for the rest of the day.

I realized the other day that this is the first summer that I haven't had an air conditioner in the main rooms. A few times I haven't had air conditioners in the bedrooms, but I've always had them in the rooms that are used a lot, the kitchen, dining room, living room, and the rooms I used for teaching. I've often wondered if it would be possible to live without air conditioning! Now I know it's possible, but not nice! 

I keep telling myself that it's almost autumn! That the temperature will go down, and soon I will be complaining about the cold! For me, the cold is a lot easier to deal with!

Last week I went shopping with Christopher. We found these cute soft toys. I thought this one looked like Christopher!

July

 I didn't think July was so busy, but looking back, I did a lot of things!

Having Hannah here for a week was nice, but the reason she came wasn't good. She has a few weeks' holiday from university next month and is using that time to go to the doctors to figure out what the problem might be! She went to a "brain doctor", a neurologist, today.  He said that there are three possible causes for her seizures: first is epilepsy, second is stress, and third is a circulation problem.  She has an appointment for an MRI next week. I hope that she can get this sorted out as soon as possible. 

July started out relatively cool. I actually managed to go out in the evenings for little walks! The mercury would get up to 33C but because the humidity is low, it just doesn't feel that bad!

The past few days, however, the temperature has really gone up, summer has really started! According to the weather forecast, it could get up to 40 °C tomorrow!  That is crazy! I really hope the humidity stays low!  I know what I'm going to do: stay in my room with the air conditioner on. I might have to open the door so the cats can come and go. They really don't like the air conditioner, but they might stay near the door!

I really want to get things done in August; I need to push to do the yard. I'm looking for some potatoes to start growing in pots. I went to one of the garden center stores near here, but couldn't see any! I'll have a look online. Also, I'm still trying to figure out the kitchen storage. I really miss my pantry. I never realized just how useful that was in the other house!

Keeping Fluffy out of the food cupboard would be a good start!

Fluffy likes to find interesting places to sleep.

Those two things should keep me busy!

Of course, with the weather warming up, the bugs are coming out.  Found this on the car the other day!

These give me goosebumps.

And yes, I screamed.

I hope August is a good month; it's usually a hard month because of the heat, but I'm determined to make it better this year!

What A Week

 Last week was hard!

It started off with me feeling totally overwhelmed by our situation.

We have no money but need a lot!

The only asset we have is the land, but we can't sell it as it's still in either my mother-in-law's name or my grandmother-in-law's name.  To change the name would cost between £150 and £500 for each piece of land, and we own about 16 pieces of land.

The house and garden need a lot of work. Not having air conditioners is crazy, this week the temperature will be over 38 °C. Trying to cook or clean in that heat is almost impossible. I worry about David as he has to sleep during the hottest time of the day. He has a fan on his bed, which helps, but I'm not sure how much good sleep he gets. He looks exhausted! He needs a holiday but can't afford one! I don't think he's had a holiday since he started work there, about 4 years ago! The only time he's had off was when he got Covid!

Then Mama cat got out and hasn't come back! She escaped on Wednesday, but we haven't seen her at all since then. I didn't want to tell Hannah as I know she'll stress, but she would ask why no photos of Mama. I figured telling Hannah now is better!

Come back Mama

I had a new student on Thursday. My first online student. The lesson was okay, but there's a lot to learn about using Zoom. I have to set up a schedule and figure out how to send materials or make something on the Zoom app! It's a challenge. Which is good for me!

I tried very hard not to get too desperate, but of course, life loves giving me a hard time. 

We have to pay land tax this month, 2,5000 yen, £125, then insurance for David's car, 50,000 yen, £250, plus the electric bill will be more as I've run the only air conditioner a lot! 

Then the oil lamp came on in David's car. He took it in yesterday, got the oil changed and the brakes looked at, cost 5,000 yen, £25, not too bad, but the engine needs changing, which would cost 30,000 yen, £150. I think he got scammed! He bought the car off the internet without seeing it, maybe not the best idea!

Where is all this money going to come from? David is paying for almost everything at the moment, and he isn't earning that much!

Just to add to my misery, I've been sick with an upset stomach. I think it's all the stress that I'm dealing with!

I haven't really slept much or well this past couple of weeks, about 2 hours out of 24 hours. The nights that David isn't working, I took sleeping tablets but only got 4 hours!

Christopher has been cooking and baking for the past few weeks. I'm glad that he has started to do some cooking.  I try to do lunch, but dinner tends to be a bit hit and miss! Most days, Christopher will make something quick for dinner, which really helps!

Yesterday, he made some very nice blueberry muffins. He made more today, some without blueberries as Mikey doesn't like cooked fruit!

Blueberry muffins

Muffins with cat paw prints

Cheeky request!

I've added a Ko-Fi button, if you would like to buy me a coffee, or tea!!!!

A Change Of Plans

 There's a bus stop at the bottom of this road, the bus goes into the city and one of the train stations. Train stations in larger cities in Japan are like mini shopping malls. 

I haven't visited this station in many years, about 25 years, maybe more. When Mikey was a toddler, I would get on the bus with him and go there. We would look around the stores, and I would usually buy him a little toy. I remember there was a little bookstore that would have English magazines, like Reader's Digest or Time Magazine, and I would treat myself to a copy. If I didn't have to rush back, we would go to McDonald's and get a snack. I enjoyed doing that.  It felt normal when most of my life felt abnormal, dealing with a completely different culture and language.  It was something I would have done if we lived in the UK.

Unfortunately, the area around the train station became run down. I think the final blow for the stores there was the building of a massive shopping mall in 2003. Slowly, the stores, even the larger ones, closed down.

When I accepted that moving here was inevitable, I started to look at what is in this area. I knew it would be easy for me just to stay in the house and do nothing. Because I can't drive, I needed places that I could get to on the bus. I came across a video about this train station, it's been totally revitalized! I was surprised to see how good it looks. Not only in the station but the area surrounding it has changed, new stores have come in, including Diaso and Don Quijote, a fantastic discount store!

I planned to get on the bus this afternoon, just go and have a look round. But I haven't been sleeping very well this week, maybe one hour in 24 hours. Even with the sleeping tablets, I only slept 4 hours! So even though I really wanted to go, I decided against it. Maybe after next week, according to my weather app, next week is going to be extremely hot, over 35 °C for 6 days!

But I did want to get out, so this evening, just before sunset, Christopher and I went for a walk around the area. 

It wasn't easy, but it felt good to get out.

I love how quiet it is and the light!

I think this is a Jizo; they usually have red hats, but he has a yellow one.

There's a small park up the road, but it looks overgrown.

On the way back, we found some chickens.

Chickens, but they smelt bad!

Growing beer?

On the way back, we passed our land. Every time I see it, I feel overwhelmed. It really is too much to deal with! 

We really need a lot of money to get this cleared. The problem is that this is only 2 of 16 pieces!

A Bit Worried

 The news has been tracking three typhoons near Japan for the past few days. Fortunately, none of them are on course to come here, but it's got me a bit worried!

The reason I'm worried has to do with all the trash and other items that are still outside or under the storage roof. There are a lot of things that can go flying if the wind picks up.

This is a little video I took this morning.

As you can see, so much of that stuff is light enough to become airborne if a typhoon hits!

I managed to tidy up some of it this morning. I got Christopher to help. I basically moved what I could further into the storage place at the side. I know the best is the throw out all the plastic things, but disposing of plastic is very hard. There's a city incinerator that we can take it to, and we should get that done as soon as possible, but we need some one with an ID for this city. David has the form to change the address on his license, but he has to go to the police station, which is on the other side of the city. 

I'll try and get more done tomorrow morning. If I go out early enough, between 5am and 6am, I can actually work. The more I get done before 8am, the better. The heat has finally begun. 

This morning we had a small earthquake, maybe a one here. The epicenter was in Nagasaki. Hannah was in class when it happened. She said it felt long and rather strong! 

I always ask my students which they prefer, a typhoon or an earthquake. Most say a typhoon. Although I would prefer to avoid any natural disasters, I find typhoons are easier to deal with. Especially with the latest technology that allows you to track the typhoon, you have time to prepare. Also, with a typhoon, you can see when it will hit and when it will leave your area. Earthquakes just happen, and there is no way to predict if the quake is just a one-off or the start of a series of quakes!

It's HOT

 Until this week, the weather hasn't been too bad!

It's been hot, but not the scorching, humid weather that I associate with summer in Japan.  Even today, the humidity was still rather low, about 50%, usually it can get up to 80%

Yesterday was the first day that I felt sick because of the heat! On Tuesday and Wednesday, I have to go back to the other city to do some English lessons. Usually I'm alright with this, I go from my room which has air conditioning in, to the car, with air conditioning to the community center, again with air conditioning. 

But the air conditioning in the car isn't really working! On the long stretches of road, when we don't have to stop for lights, it works okay, but in the city, where there are a lot of lights, it stops working! Of course, yesterday, even the two long roads that we usually whiz down were busy, and the traffic was slow, hence no air conditioner and a very hot, melting lady!

I was surprised to see that even Hokaido was hot, one city recorded temperatures of 40C. That is crazy, Hokaido is known for it's mild summers, temperatures usually range from 14C to 24C.

I think summer has really started!

I'm always very careful to avoid heatstroke. I drink as much as possible, either water or some kind of sports drink. Recently, I've started to buy salt candies, I don't know how much they help. I stay in the air conditioning and keep fans on in the rooms that don't have air conditioners. We are surrounded by trees and bushes which really help to keep the house a bit cooler. I complain that the roof comes down too low over the windows. In the winter, the rooms are too cold because there is no sun in the rooms at all, but at this time of year, it does help to keep the rooms a bit cooler! I like to have the windows open so any bit of breeze can get in!

I'm still trying to get outside a bit every day, even just a stroll around the garden helps me. I want to get out early to try and pull weeds or tidy up a bit. This week I haven't had the energy to do that, but I hope to do some over the weekend. 

The cats are suffering the heat but they find cool places to sleep. I make sure there is fresh water for them in different places around the house, but they all seem to prefer my water!

Fred is drinking my water!

Silver Centers

 I posted a short video of my garden on Instagram.

This is the video.

As you can see, it is rather overgrown, and I'm feeling overwhelmed!

One person on Instagram suggested I call the Silver Center to see if they can help.

I had forgotten about this resource and think it's a good idea, once this heat has finished.

Silver Centers were first established in 1975.  There are now 1,300 centers across Japan.

The centers offer employment opportunities for retirees who want to stay active, give back to the community, and earn a little extra money.

The jobs are light, including gardening, helping with housework, and office work, among others.

Japan has an ageing population; a lot are single, either never married, divorced, or widowed. As they age, friends and relatives start to pass away or leave the area. It must be lonely for a lot of these people.

Giving them the chance to do a bit of work is a way to help them keep active, to make new friends and give something back to their community.

We would have to pay a few thousand yen for them to come and help in the yard. But a lot cheaper than hiring a professional company to help!

Looking at that video, I wonder if doing our garden is light work! 

Marine Day

 Today is a national holiday, Marine Day.

This holiday started in 1941 as Marine Memorial Day to commemorate Emperor Meiji's 1876 voyage on the steamship Meiji Maru. It became a national holiday in 1996, when it was renamed Marine Day. From 2003, the holiday has been on the 3rd Monday in July, to create a long weekend.

This is also the start of summer holidays for most schools, so a lot of families take off for a day or two at the beach.

When my kids were little would go to a beach for a day. Unlike beaches in the UK, there are very few amenities at the beaches we visited. In the UK, most beach towns would have amusement parks, game arcades, cafes and restaurants, plus theaters. 

I was so shocked by my first visit to the beach here. There was nothing, a place to sit, which was basically an open-sided hut with tatami mats that you could rent for the day. There were changing rooms and showers. But no shops, game arcades or amusement parks! 

I realized that in Japan, at least in northern Kyushu, you go to the beach to enjoy the sea. In the UK, the weather is usually bad, so other entertainment is needed.

I like the idea of a day to celebrate the sea. Japan relies heavily on the sea for food and trade. 

The sea is something we need to appreciate more and take care of better!

Typical beach in northern Kyushu

One reason I like this photo is the fact that the lady has left her bags on the table while she went to paddle in the sea with her kids. I don't know if you can see, but she left everything, including her purse. She had enough confidence in the safety of Japan to leave her stuff and go paddling. I know that wouldn't work in the UK. This was a few years ago, just after the pandemic, so maybe not that many people about, but still!

Change of subject! I'm trying to figure out how to add a Ko-Fi button! It's a donation service. Our money situation is dire, and I need to do something. 

 I have no idea what I'm doing. I've made a Ko-Fi page, but I'm having problems with the link. 

Maybe by the next post I'll have it working!!

Why?

 I've just spent over an hour trying to make a simple alphabet worksheet.

I asked Gemini, Google's AI, to create one. It was okay, but I didn't like the formatting; the letters were too small and close together.

So I took the basic idea and tried to make something myself.

But it's ended in me feeling totally frustrated and fed up. 

I asked Hannah about making lines that are used a lot in the notebooks for English here in Japan. Which is basically 3 lines, then a red line, which the letters sit on, and a blue line to show where the letters that have a tail finish. 

She found what I wanted in a couple of minutes using Google Slides! I had spent the best part of an hour on Google Docs, swearing at my computer because I couldn't get it right!

Lesson learned, ask Hannah!. 

She has to make a lot of PowerPoint presentations for university. She studied how to do that in high school, and it has really helped her a lot!

Today wasn't such a good day. It's very hot, according to my weather app, this week is going to be very hot. I keep getting excessive heat warnings! The only good thing is that the humidity is still low, which really helps. But I've gotten to the last half of July without feeling like I'm going to die from the heat, so that's good! Let's hope that after this week the temperatures will be a little bit more normal. I've enjoyed the couple of walks I've had and really want to explore this area a bit more. I'm actually looking at Google Maps to see what is near here to walk to!

Last evening's sunset

We had incredible thunderstorms yesterday afternoon. When they had moved on, the sunset was very beautiful. 

Also, I didn't need the air conditioner last night, I even had to turn the fan off at about 3am as I felt a bit cold. Nice!

The only problem was the noise from beneath my window. I had the window open, and I could hear some kind of animal moving around. I think it was a wild hog, as I could hear grunting!

The fun of living in the countryside of Japan!

A Walk In The Rain

 After I finished writing yesterday, I really wanted to go for a walk.

After having that lovely walk with Hannah the other week, I've been wanting to go out more, just to see this area and enjoy the nature.

Yesterday was cool as it had been raining on and off all day, for me, that is good walking weather.

I asked Christopher to go with me. We headed out, but as soon as we got to the road, it started to rain. I thought about turning back, but we had umbrellas and the rain wasn't that heavy!

I'd seen a tori gate, which is the entrance to a shrine that I wanted to check out. I had an idea that we could get to the shrine from a back road, instead of walking along the main road. So off we went on a little adventure!

These signs are everywhere, marking out a walking course in this area.

We walked along this road for a while. It was nice and quiet, a chance to see nature.

These might be persimmons.

Big field of sunflowers

We couldn't find the shrine, but we found an old burial mound, built in the year 600!

Just a short video of the burial mound.

This is the big tree that is growing over the burial mound.

Beautiful, majestic tree

Christopher had my phone to take photos and video, I should have known he would take one of me. Not flattering at all but this is how I look. 

The fat foreigner

It has given me more incentive to try and lose weight!

On the way back, we came across these plants. Again, I have no idea what they are, but I love this color.

The color didn't show up very well, but it's a very light, smoky green.

We headed back the way we came. I think I walked about 1 kilometer, it was hard but I felt very good after!

Notebooks

 I came across a video a while back talking about how to use a notebook.

The creator of the video stated that he used his notebook to help him step away from technology. He showed a page in the notebook that listed things he could do, broken down in how many minutes it takes to do each task, instead of just scrolling through social media. Simple things like making a nice cup of coffee to things that take longer, like going for a walk.

I will admit that I scoffed at this idea. I mean, do we really need to be told how to use a notebook? 

Then I started to watch my own kids more carefully. They use their phones for everything, of course, social media, and YouTube, but also to keep notes or appointments. The same is true for my students, if they ask to change their lesson time, they check their phones to see when they are available. 

I understand that it's convenient to keep everything on your phone or iPad, but what happens if you can't recharge them, or you get hacked and all your information has disappeared?

I suggested to Hannah that she keep a journal to help with her stress. I've written a journal since I was 16 years old, not daily, but a few times a week, I write down what's going on and, more importantly, how I feel. It helps me to stop internalizing things and gives me something to look back on, to see how I've grown and changed or how I'm still struggling with the same things (losing weight is a constant theme!). Hannah said she can use her phone, but I told her that the physical movement of writing helps a lot with stress and anger. I showed her some of my old journals and pointed out the difference in my handwriting when I'm stressed or angry, compared to when I feel alright and happy. The more stressed I am, the smaller my writing gets, and I press very heavily on the paper. When I'm in a good place, my writing is larger and flows very nicely. I gave Hannah a nice notebook to use. I hope she does use it!

That is one good use for notebooks, but I have other notebooks for general things.

I was cleaning out a cupboard the other day, I was actually looking for something, but I can't remember what, when I came across a stack of notebooks. I decided to look through these notebooks and found that they were what I call my scribble books.

These are notebooks that I use when I watch things on YouTube or look things up on the internet. They contain web page addresses that I saw somewhere to check out later. They have ideas for this blog or plans for making a web page (still just a plan, as I have no idea how to do it). There are recipes that I saw somewhere that I should write into one of my recipe notebooks. 

But most of the content is "To Do Lists"!

These are usually weekly lists. They are titled something like "Between July 18th to July 25th I have to do....". Then there is a list of about 10 items that need to be done.

These made me laugh as they never change. Some of these notebooks go back to 2020, pandemic time! But the lists are the same: clean the kitchen, do the toilet, clean the bedrooms, lose weight, and study Japanese. 

On one list, I wrote "Clean the chicken", I think I meant clean the kitchen!

The list I have now includes fold the clean laundry that is dumped on my floor!

Clean laundry mountain!

I will do it, one day!

These are a couple of the notebooks I've been using, they are from Daiso, 100 yen shop. I love Daiso, I'll have to do a haul one day!

The one on top is the one I'm using now.

Does anybody else use a notebook, or are you all digital? Let me know!

Just a good laugh to finish. I took a pack of mince out of the freezer last night to defrost. I usually put the meat in the fridge after an hour, but I forgot last night! When I went into the kitchen this morning, I found that the pack had been broken and the meat nibbled at!

I think somebody had a midnight snack!

Change Of Plans

 I had great plans for today!

I was going to get up at 5am, clean a bit outside and leave Christopher with a long list of things to do. Then I was going to clean the kitchen and the corridor. Make lunch and then spend the rest of the day reading, studying Japanese and watching TV.

Unfortuanlly, most of that didn:t get done!

I didn't fall asleep until 3 am!  The cats wouldn't settle down. Then my brain went into over drive. I kept thinking about how I really wanted to get things done and thinking about how good it would feel to have at least part of the outside sorted. I know it sounds crazy but I'm really worried about the weird weather Japan has been experciening this summer. None of this is in Kyushu (except for that crazy thunderstorm last week) but that doesn't mean it can't happen here. There have been a lot of localized floods caused by what the media is calling "guerrilla rain", these sudden, intense down pours. Also, a couple of days ago there was a small tornando in Shizuoka.  It wasn't very long, just a few hundred meters but the damage was very bad, a garage had it's roof ripped off. The roof was found 100 meters away! Christopher was showing me that in another area cars were flipped over.

We have so much outside that could go flying if we got hit by a tornado, typhoon or even high winds. I don't like to think about the kind of damage that could be caused by some of the stuff out there!

So last night, I lay in bed, just thinking and planning and not sleeping. Which means I didn't get up at 5am! I woke up almost 8am, but felt awful! I decided that I wouldn't try to outside this morning, I can do it in the evening! I thought about sending Christopher out but asked him to clean the tatami room instead!

I cleaned the kitchen, got David to sort out a problem I was having with Amazon Photos (I'm really bad at computer stuff, I try but get so frustrated). Made lunch, then spent the afternoon in my room, with my air conditioner on. Today was hot, 36C, but again not too humid. The air conditioner really helped at lot.

At about 5 oclcock I decided to go outside. There are still some blueberries to be picked, I thought I could do that then start on the garden and the cleaning. But this happened.

A sudden down pour. There was thunder about as well.

Fluffy wasn't happy about the thunder!

Fluffy under the chair because of the thunderstorm

Tomorrow is another day! I have to try to get things done. I really want to get things sorted as soon as possible. Problem is everyone is so tired from work and I feel bad to ask them to do a lot, especially if I'm not doing that much. I keep telling myself that they are young men with a lot more energy and stamina than I have. 

I hope tomorrow is better! Wish me luck!