August

 I know there's one more day, but I'm going to Hannah's tomorrow and won't have a chance to post.

August is tough for me; it is the hottest month. We usually have a break for holidays, but I never really did anything during that time. This year, however, turned out to be different and somehow better.

The heat and humidity were the same, relentless. I managed to survive without an air conditioner in the kitchen/dining room. One thing that helped was that the humidity was significantly lower than usual, until this past week. Most years, as the temperature got higher, so did the humidity. Having temperatures of 35 °C plus and humidity of 80% was normal. This year, however, humidity stayed below 60%. That really helped. This past week it has been higher, but I can deal with a week or so, not a few months!

I enjoyed staying at Hannah's for a few days, and having Hannah here for a week was nice. I proved to myself that I'm not as helpless as I thought. At Hannah's, we went out almost every day to eat and shop a bit. Also, when Hannah came here, we could get on the bus and go shopping, something I never thought I would do in August!

The other highlight was David's birthday! As I said, birthdays are now a time of reflection and wondering how did I get here?  I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that two of my kids are now in their 30s!

I think I pushed myself to do things this August instead of just hanging around the house moaning! I realize that the summers aren't going to get any better, so I should adapt to the heat and humidity and live my life as best as possible. Spending almost half the year just complaining isn't going to help me in the long run; making an effort and doing things will help.

I have a couple of things to look forward to in September. On the 20th, Hannah and I are going to see the Les Misérables World Tour Concert, in English. I'm beyond excited! On the 26th, I'm going for a day trip to Hita with Hannah. There are also a couple of places I want to visit near here that I can get to on the bus. I'm hoping the weather will cool down so I can do that!

Just a couple of photos from August!

Hannah's new desk

Sushi for David's birthday

Fluffy with her collar to stop her over-grooming

I found this photo of Hisao the other day. I think this was from when he was in junior high school.

Decluttering Disaster

 I was reading some posts from last year, I wrote about how I was going to declutter, throw out things that we don't need, really downsize! 

I did, I threw away a lot of stuff. I remember Hannah helping me; she was ruthless! She would tell me that I don't need to keep every single thing that I have, that old notebooks, that belonged to students I don't even remember, can go!  That textbooks that are so out of date should be thrown away. The clothes that are 5 sizes too small and outdated should be in the trash, not hanging in the closet. She could get a bit scary!

I threw out so much stuff. I thought I was winning the clutter war. Until I went to find something in the storage room the other day!

The storage room

According to Google Earth, this building is 9 meters long; this room spans the entire building.

If I did so well with decluttering, how come I still have so much stuff up there? It's not just my stuff, but everybody's things!

Once it cools down I will get up there. I need help, as many of the boxes are quite heavy.

Another space is the cupboard in my room!

Sigh!

The bottom is alright, my books.

The top has become "I don't know where it belongs, so put it there for now"

I promised myself I wouldn't do that. That moving here would be a new start, and I would stop collecting things, holding onto things, because I feel it's a waste to throw them away.

So another thing on my list!  

I'll wait until the weather cools down a bit, then tackle these problems.

Another area is the kitchen. I love kitchen goods, pots, pans, bowls, any gadget, and of course, tableware. The problem is that this kitchen has very limited and awkward storage. The cupboards under the counter are difficult to access. I would love to have big drawers, so I could pull them out and see what's in there.  I have a lot of very big pots, which were great when there were six of us, but now we are only four, soon just three, so I think some of the larger pots will have to go in storage.

I keep thinking I don't have anything to do, but I think it's more a case of not wanting to do things, just putting them off.

I will get this done!!!

Yet Another Storm

 This summer, so far, the weather has been rather wild!

Throughout Japan, there has been a lot of heavy rain.

One term that has been used over and over in the news is gerira-gou ゲリラ豪雨, guerrilla rain. It's a sudden heavy downpour. These storms develop quickly, within 30 minutes, and can be very localized. Usual rain or thunderstorms can be predicted days ahead.

I'm not sure what type of storm we had yesterday, but it was another heavy rain storm with thunder thrown in for good measure. Of course, the storm started just as we were going to the other city to teach! Typical!

I was amazed at the many different clouds and the colors in the sky. Mikey is pointing at where the rain was already falling.

This was about 5 minutes later. The rain got really heavy. I don't know if I caught it on the video, but there was lightning about!

Again, a few minutes later. It's hard to see, but the roads were already starting to flood.

One of my students that evening was a bit late. When I asked why, she said that the train from school had stopped because lightning had struck the train signal.

One thing I'm worried about is the price of fruit and vegetables this autumn. These rainstorms have caused significant damage to farms. In one news segment I was watching, a vineyard had lost all the grapes; every bunch of grapes was moldy!  I'm wondering how bad other crops have been hit! 

The Midnight Fight

There's an affiliate link in this post.

 It wasn't a cockroach this time.

Actually, I haven't seen any this summer. Maybe one or two small ones. But not the massive ones I was expecting.

I think one reason is that we used this stuff a few times before we moved in.

Just add water to make a smoke that gets into every corner.

https://amzn.to/45XS1e2   This is the link for the product on Amazon.

I would love to do it again, but not sure what to do with the cats!  It says it's safe for children, but I think you have to be out of the house while it's working!  Trying to get the cats into their carry cages is not fun! I'll have to see if there is a product that is alright to use with the cats. Any ideas?

Anyway, last night's visitor was this little guy!

A little lizard.

I don't mind them so much; they don't make me scream or give me goosebumps like insects do, but I didn't like the idea of it hanging around my room while I was sleeping!  

I called Christopher to catch it for me. But it ran away and hid somewhere; it's still hiding now!  

I wonder how it got in. My windows have screens on them. Another mystery!

Sixty -Three

 That's how old I am today!

I can't decide if that's old or not!

When I was in elementary school, we were asked to imagine what the year 2000 would be like. This was around 1972, when there seemed to be endless possibilities for the year 2000, including flying cars, robots cleaning houses, and computers that responded to voice commands, much like those in Star Trek.  I couldn't write anything for ages because I figured out Winventions!

Now 38 seems too young! Just the beginning of life!

When I hear of people passing away in their 60s, 70s, or even 80s, I think it's too young.

When did this mind shift happen?  I used to think that living until your 70s was good, a life well spent, but now I think it's too young to die.

Maybe it's not to do with the number, but what you are doing every day. 

Am I living my best life, squeezing in as many conversations with those that are important to me, having little adventures every day, growing and discovering new things about myself, my life, this incredible planet that we live on? Or am I mindlessly binge-watching TV, ignoring my loved ones, and focusing on the things that aren't working instead of living in gratitude for the things that I have?

I feel that I'm not living my life with purpose; I am wasting too much time watching TV or messing around on social media instead of focusing on what I should be doing!

As I said yesterday, today is the start of another year for me. I don't want to be in the same situation this time next year. I want to be healthier, I want my business to grow, and I want to start a new business. I want to see my kids' lives getting better. 

So I start now. I start by doing some exercise before I go to bed tonight. I start by reading a page in easy Japanese. I'll make a plan for tomorrow and follow through with what needs to be done. 

I was looking through some photos to add to this post. I always feel my life was so hard, and in many ways it has been. But looking at these old photos, I've come to realize that it wasn't all bad. I was loved, first by my parents and siblings, later by my husband, and now by my kids!

I was, maybe, in my late 20s here.

With Mom, Mikey, and Alan.

First time in Japan.

In my 40s with the kids in the UK.

I always feel that I'm not photogenic. This is from last year with Hannah.

Not too bad!

So here's hoping this next year will see a lot of improvements!!!

Feeling Overwhelmed

 I haven't really looked around the garden for the past month. It's been too hot or raining very heavily, the kind of weather I try to avoid.

I decided to have a quick look this evening. I wish I hadn't!

The one good thing I found few more blueberries. I thought they had finished! 

Another bag of blueberries

There are still some that aren't ripe, so maybe another bagful.

The garden is overgrown again. All the work we did there has been lost. 

I think it needs to be done constantly! The way we've done it is to focus for a few weeks and then do nothing for a few weeks. I guess that doesn't work. 

The weeds are back.

Not doing things constantly or consistently is really my problem. In all areas of my life, I make the same mistake. I'll start something, for example, studying Japanese, make a good go at it for a while, but then stop for whatever reason, and I always have a good excuse, too busy, too tired, or just fed up!

After seeing the garden, I realized that I have to change that habit. I have to follow up on the things I'm doing, not just daydreaming about things, but taking action to make things happen.

Tomorrow is my birthday, a good day to start some new habits. Not a lot of things to start with, but something that I need to do to live a better life. One is exercise, find a routine that fits my lifestyle. Another is Japanese study, do a few minutes every day and do the garden, again a few minutes in the morning!

I'll try to revisit this post in a month! I hope I've made some progress.

Learning Lanuages

 Yesterday, Mikey and I did our monthly volunteer class. I was looking around the class, about 20 adults, wondering why they were studying English. Most of the students are my age or older; a few are in their 20s or 30s. I can understand the younger students wanting to improve their English so they can travel or to help in their jobs, but the older participants, what motivates them to come every month?

For myself, having a reason to learn Japanese really helps me to keep going when I get stuck, which is often.

I have never been motivated to learn Japanese just because I live here. Somehow, I've managed with my broken Japanese; I haven't learned how to read or write, I never saw the need!

But recently I've been rethinking things. I need to really get down to some serious Japanese study. I want to communicate with Mikey's in-laws. His father-in-law speaks a bit of English, but I feel it would be so much better if I could speak Japanese; this is Japan after all.

Also, I dream of traveling in Japan. I don't know if my kids would want to go with me, so I might have to take the plunge and go alone. At the moment, I have a hard time shopping by myself, I have an irrational fear of the self registers!  After teaching yesterday, I wanted to run into a supermarket. Mikey wasn't feeling too good, so he asked if he could rest in the car. Getting what I wanted wasn't a problem, but being faced with the machine to pay sent me into a mild panic attack, too many buttons to push! Fortunately, it had an English menu, which was easy enough to use, but what if I don't have that option? I need to be able to read the basic instructions! 

Another problem I have is collecting materials to use, but then not using them. I have loads of books that I've bought over the past 30-something years, I have books I've downloaded onto my Kindle and web pages marked to get back to, but never do. I keep looking for that magic formula that would make learning easy, but I know that the only way to learn is to make an effort! I am trying, I've found a few YouTube channels that are in Japanese that I like to watch, some have English subtitles, some don't. There are a few cooking sites that I really enjoy watching. I usually write down the recipes in English. If there are things I can't understand, I ask one of the kids to help me out! I've also found some videos that are made for listening practice; these have subtitles in English and Japanese, which are very helpful. 

One thing that I worry about is mental decline as I get older. Every time I go to the hospital, I see these old people who are really not aware of what is going on around them. I don't want to end up like that. I've read that "exercising" the brain by continuously learning can help with staving off dementia! 

Just a couple of photos from yesterday. Recently, the sky has been so dramatic, and the cloud formations are really incredible.

It's hard to see, but the mountains looked white.

Opposite view, I love the clouds on the mountains

Tomorrow morning, I have to get outside; there's a typhoon approaching. It just suddenly formed off the coast, very unusual! I want to try and clean up a bit more. If it isn't raining!