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!

Blueberries

 The blueberry bushes have a load of berries this year.

I'm so happy to be able to go out in the morning and pick a big bowl full.

I keep thinking that they have finished, and I am amazed that I can find more and more.

I really wanted to make jam, but without an air conditioner, the idea of sterilizing jars and making jam is not tempting at all! So, the ones that are left after I've eaten them are going to be frozen. I love blueberry muffins, but again, it's too hot to bake at the moment!

The past week, I've been having a bowl of blueberries and yoghurt for breakfast. 

It's nice to be able to eat something that we've grown. 

Picking the blueberries

Just being able to go out and get these fruits is such a nice feeling. In Japan, blueberries are rather expensive. I remember seeing about 10 in a pack for 400yen, about £2.00. To have enough to really enjoy them would cost a fortune!

Our attempt at growing other vegetables ended in failure. The only plant that survived is the strawberry plant. But I've decided that we have to try again. A friend sent me a video about growing potatoes in pots or containers. We have a lot of old plastic bowls and other containers, so I'm going to wash them out and prepare them for autumn/winter potatoes. I also want to find out if we can grow sweet potatoes!

Fortunately, the weather has been good so far. It's been hot, but the humidity is low, which really helps. I hope that the weather keeps on like this, if it does I think I can work outside in the early mornings and evenings. Evenings are harder because of the mosquitoes.

I will get this garden sorted out. This has become my mantra!

Goodbye To Hannah

 Mikey drove Hannah and me back to her apartment.

We made a brief stop for shopping on the way. Hannah had no food in her apartment, and I needed to do a weekly shop. Even though I didn't buy that much, I still managed to spend 10,000 yen, about £50.  I try to get the bargains, but food is getting more and more expensive.  Anyway, it's motivated me to try and grow some vegetables, even just potatoes.  Have to start somewhere!  

On the way to Hannah's apartment, we passed a restaurant, at least I think it's a restaurant. The sign they had outside was a bit strange. 

Strange Restaurant

That statue thing is supposed to be a hot dog!  Hannah said it was creepy, and I would have to agree!

And believe it or not, I managed another little walk this afternoon. I'm making the most of the nice weather we are having.  It's a little hot, 29C, but the humidity is still low. It might rain a bit later, but so far this summer has been a lot more bearable than last year. It's going to get hot from Wednesday, but still not like last year when the highs were over 38C.

Today I walked up to our land and it's overgrown!

The weeds are back

I need to make money so we can hire a digger to get this cut down. The land opposite was worse, even the entrance to the field is overgrown!

I managed to move some of the trash that is in front of the storage building. I want to clear that area so David can put his car in if there's a typhoon. We have so much plastic to get rid of. Some of the large bowls and buckets I'm going to use to grow potatoes in, but there are a lot of bits that need to be dumped. Must get this done!

A Little Walk

 It's July, and I actually went for a walk and enjoyed it!

It's hot, the temperature right now is 29C, earlier it was up to 34C, but the humidity is low, about 50%. That might sound high, but the humidity is usually in the 80s.

Yesterday evening, I noticed that outside was cooler than inside. I'd been out picking a few blueberries. I suggested to Hannah that we have a little walk. I planned to walk up to our land, just to see how bad it is! Hannah had a quick look at Google Maps and found a small shrine just behind our house. But because of the stream, we had to walk around the block to get to it. According to Google Maps, it would take about 10 minutes to get there. I still want to know who does the walking for Google Maps, as I think they have longer legs than I do!

The worst part of this little walk was walking on the main road, just a couple of minutes, but there is no place to walk, and cars tend to go by really fast. Also, this was about 6pm, so people are heading home after work.  Once we got off that road, it was really nice! The air was fresh, the scenery so wild and beautiful, lovely mountain views, and stunning cloud formations!

Walking toward the shrine

I think the cage on the right is for trash pickup!

Rather wild!

This was actually an overgrown house. Hannah went up to it and could see the house under the foliage. Interesting and a bit creepy. I'm amazed at how nature just claims back everything. You would think that with all the man-made material used in a standard house that nothing could grow over it, but given time, nature finds a way!

Shipping container

The first question that comes to mind is why, the second is how?  It's just left there. I would love to know what's inside. 

The tori gate

This marks the entrance to the shrine itself.

Writings on the gate

I'm not sure what these writings are, either who made it or who paid for it.

It does say the date that the gate was erected, Showa 11, 1936. So old but not ancient!

Community center

Before we got to the shrine, we found this building. At first we thought it might be a private house but it's a community center. Hannah took some photos of the interior, which looks like it's still being used!

Inside the community center

Around the corner from the building was the shrine.

The shrine

There were even brooms and rakes stored underneath.

Brooms and rakes

So I guess somebody must come to keep the ground clear.

Beautiful old tree

The area was kept nice but not overly taken care of. A nice balance between keeping it safe and letting nature have her way!

I really enjoyed our little walk. Finding something that I didn't know about made it interesting and exciting.

I hope that I can have more of these little walks. If the weather stays like this, I might actually be able to enjoy the summer a bit. I hate that I feel confined to four walls for about half the year.  

Hannah is going back to her apartment tomorrow. I've enjoyed having her here, but she needs to get back to her schedule. 

We are thinking of going for a day trip during her summer holiday, something to look forward to.

But I do need to be able to walk a lot more to enjoy these outings. Back to doing more exercise!!