Snow

We have had a very mild winter this year.  Last week the temperature was similar to mid March.
Sunday saw a high of 18C, which is very warm for February.  But that all change on Monday.
Started with a drop in temperature, then cold winds and icy rain by the evening that had
turned to snow.  Came down all Monday night, woke up to a covering of snow Tuesday morning!
Looked nice but by lunch time it had melted!

See, just a bit of snow.

Hannah was happy as her school started late today, first class was 10am.  This week is end of term tests for her school.  Hope she does okay!

Cats...Again

I know I've written about our cats before but they are such a big part of our lives.
A lot of my day is taken up with caring for them.  There are the not nice jobs of cleaning the litter boxes (I can't do it as the smell makes me vomit), then there is cat pee when they just can't be bothered with using the litter box and cat vomit.  Also scratches as cats seem to have a need to hang on with their claws!  They make work out of nothing, even as I began writing this two of the older cats started to fight, so I have spent 5 minutes chasing them, good exercise!  We now have 7 cats and
 Mama is pregnant again.  We saved money to have her fixed but Steve (our white cat) got sick with kidney stones so the money we saved went to pay for his vet bills.  We tried to keep her in but she escaped and we are now looking at her having more kittens!  Bother!
There is also an abundance of cuteness with them!  Just looking at their faces melts my heart, even when I am getting cat pee out of my carpet!  The older cats are fighting a lot, I think they need more exercise so I bought a cat harness to take them for walks!  Not really working!  Put it on Alan  and he acts like he can't walk, just lies down!  Poor thing had such a pitiful face, like we were torturing him!

We only got him to the entrance and he wouldn't move!

One of our kittens doesn't like to held, every time she is picked up she crawls on to your shoulder.

Fluffy on Mikey's  shoulder, completely relaxed!

And feeding time is crazy.  To hear them you would think we starve them!

Hannah trying to feed them!

Life with cats is crazy at times, messy all the time and lovely when they settle for a nap on your lap.  Would I take in Mama cat if I had known how much work cats are?  Probably! 

Coronavirus Part 2

I am very confused about this coronavirus.
The media hype seems to be rather too much.  Watching Sky News, from the UK,  the other day I was
rather surprised that they knew exactly how many people had this sickness, at that time 4 people, all of them were in hospital.  The news also stated that the staff at a pub had been asked to quarantine themselves because it was believed that a customer that had become sick had been in there. What about other customers?  Also how serious is this illness.  I know people are dying from it but why?  Were they already vulnerable because of previous problems or age, did they get adequate help when they went to the hospital, did they get to the hospital in a timely fashion so that life saving support could be offered.  There are too many questions!  What I want to know is how safe is my family?  We are practicing basic hygiene, washing hands and face and gargling after being in contact with other people.  I use an alcohol spray on my tables after teaching.  Also eating as healthy as possible so that if we do get sick our bodies have the energy to fight it!  I have found this video to be helpful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YscZRozTN9s   He has a no nonsense approach and helped me to understand more.  He also suggests checking with the CDC or WHO to get the best information!

The past few weeks I have been on a baking binge!  Yesterday I helped Hannah make a chocolate pound cake,  last week she had a go at choco chip cookies!  Both turned out nice!  David made  a lovely sponge as well.

David's cake

And of course some cat photos to finish!

Coronavirus

For the past few days I have been watching the news and reading newspapers about this latest
disease, the corona virus novel.  I am wondering how dangerous is it compared to the usual influenza.  How much is media hype and do I need to worry?
One thing that I have noticed is the emotive wording used by most newspapers.  In one newspaper there is a warning of  "A global pandemic" , that word, pandemic, brings up images of the 1918-1919 flu that was truly horrific.  Another phrase that comes up time and time again is "deadly illness".  Showing  pictures of medical professionals in full hazmat suits, of people passing through airports having their temperatures checked by scanners leads to a feeling of dread, that this is something totally horrific that we have no control over.  But what is the reality.  Reading through the NHS homepage gives a different point of view.  People who have recently returned from Wuhan or have been in contact with people from that area are advised to stay inside for 14 days, if they show symptoms then there is a number given to call for advice.  My understanding (and I have no medical background, just Doctor Google) this is just another version of the 'flu.  Symptoms include feeling tired, fever, difficulty breathing and a cough, sounds like the 'flu I had just before Christmas.  Yes it can lead to pneumonia, but my understanding is that most 'flus can lead to pneumonia.  Is it deadly, yes, people have died from it but I wonder what kind of medical care were they given, how old were they and what was their health before they caught this virus.  'Flu and pneumonia have been making the rounds in my local area, kindergartens, elementary, junior high schools and high schools have all had cases in the past few weeks, the warm winter isn't helping.  So we are practicing good hygiene, washing hands and face and gargling after being in contact with other people.  Also I had a bottle of alcohol spray that I use to wipe down surfaces.  Plus making sure we eat properly, plenty of  fresh fruits and vegetables. In a world made smaller by technology we can expect this kind of thing to be the norm.  I am sure that 50 years ago we would never have heard of Wuhan or this virus!

On a lighter note, the cats are driving me to distraction.  This happened the other day

Steve got in the washing machine!

Plus we had Claws not Jaws

Twenty Nine Years!

Today is my 29th anniversary of coming to Japan.
I was only coming for five years!  I figured make some money and go back to England!
Never happened, we kept putting off going until it got too late!
When I visited England a couple of years ago I couldn't imagine living there now, it is
so different to what I remember.

I've spent the past couple of days going down memory lane with my kids!  I seem to remember the
weirdest things.  I arrived at Narita Airport in the evening, Hisao was supposed to meet me but he was late!  I remember having a mini panic attack, I had very little money, no way to contact Hisao and no idea how to get to his place!  He turned up almost an hour late!
I remember buying shoes, first thing I bought in Japan, that rubbed my feet so bad, I ended up with massive blisters!  We spent a couple of months in Tokyo, but I really didn't like it!  Great place to visit but not to live!  I don't like any big city much!  Coming back to Hisao's home town was the best thing for us!

Twenty nine years ago I wouldn't have believed how my life has turned out.  I thought things would be so different.  I never imagined being a widow, with my own business, 4 kids, 1 dog and 7 cats!

Took a couple of photos of photos from when I arrived here!

Quality isn't that good sorry!  Such a long time ago!

Birthday Week

This week we have two birthdays.  Today is Christopher's, he is now 22!  He can drive me crazy but he is also a very caring young man with an incredible sense of humor.  We walk his dog at night, usually at 11pm or so!  The other week he was moaning that his trousers were to loose and coming down.  He said it was all the weight he had lost.  I countered that it was because the elastic was old, his reply was "Mom, let me dream, let me hope!"   He is still trying to find a job!  He had a good job last year but the store got flooded for the second year running, which meant that there wasn't enough money to keep on extra staff.  He was the last hired, so the first to be let go!  He was disappointed but he got some good experience in the few months he worked there.
David is doing fried pork cutlet, salad, rice and miso soup for dinner! Christopher's request!  Keeping it simple as we are still recovering from the flu that hit everybody over the winter break!

Christopher at 22!

Christopher at 12, when he graduated from elementary school

Have no idea what to do for Mikey's birthday.  My oldest boy, he will be 28.  I guess he isn't a boy any more!

Mikey from last year

Happy New Year 2020

I hope every bodies new year is going better than ours!
Last night was okay but nobody had appetite so our yakiniku party was not so much fun!
Then Mama cat escaped and came back with a live mouse!  David and Hannah were standing on chairs, I'm chasing the cat who is chasing the mouse.  Finally caught Mama who had the mouse in her mouth.  Rescued the mouse, David took it outside!

One rescued mouse!

This morning Christopher told me that he had vomited last night and he had a 39C fever.  Took him to the local A&E, he has the flu.
David said that he was tired this morning, came back from the A&E he has the same symptoms but won't go to the doctor.  He is now sleeping!
So all my plans for a lovely dinner have gone out of the window. Hannah isn't feeling good and doesn't want to eat, Mikey is at work so that leaves just me!  I'll have some soup a bit later!  I had to cook the meat because I had already defrosted it, hopefully do a proper dinner tomorrow!
Let's hope things get better!