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!!

Wi-fi Woes

 I never realized how much I rely on the wi-fi until it stops working!

The past few days, the wi-fi has been spotty, working great for a while, then just stopping. Everything I watch is through streaming services, yesterday I started to watch something when it suddenly stopped. I waited for a while but it just wouldn't start again. I asked Christopher to see if he could do something but he couldn't. I had to wait until David woke up, but he only had a couple of hours before work, so no real chance to see what was wrong and how to fix it!

Today I begged David to find out what's wrong and fix it. Took him most of the morning but he managed to get things working.

He basically reset everything, with a new password. He set up my TV, but not my other devices. I thought about waiting until he woke up, but Hannah needed to send something to her university, so she needed the password.

I remembered Mikey had the password, but he had gone to teach. I sent him a message and asked him to send the password.

The message I got back was "password"!

Not funny, but he did send the real password after!

Hannah is going back on Sunday. I hope she'll be alright. The cats will miss her!!

Hannah and Fluffy