Done it - for another year :-)

There we are - another year of cooking New Year's Eve dinner for a Japanese old lady.

Noodles, soup, bits of greenery and out of sight some fish and veggies deep fried in a wedge of batter.

Any good? I have no idea. Seemed ok. If you like that kind of thing. Okaasan didn't think I added enough soup....I never know how much is "enough".

But she ate it and I laid the table with a special cloth and set out some old seasonal decorations.

Offered her plum wine...but no, that's too sweet with food.

Offered her the sake I bought...but no, THAT'S sake to offer the gods tomorrow. So won't drink that now. Not until January 7th...

So we both drank water with our noodles.

And I came upstairs afterwards to mix the plum wine with the rest of the Belgian chocolates. :-)

Fairly good day as end of year.

I made the simmered vegetables dish in the morning and called Okaasan into the kitchen at the last moment to tell me if the taste was "enough". She told me endlessly that I'd made too much sauce...and should have cooked all the veggies one by one.

After 5 mins of being told that  I got her back into her room to continue watching TV.

I also got her to arrange the flowers I bought yesterday....

Glorious weather. I left Okaasan lunch on the table and spent a few hours in the sunshine with Cute Baby and his mum - trying to encourage him that people sitting on a plastic sheet and slipping down a slope was actually fun.

Took ages to filter thru his overly-cautious two year old brain that it might...MIGHT...just be kind of fun.

Finally he got it and we ran up and down at the play area on the town ski area.

Have to work off my double-layer Belgian chocolate box somehow.

Did some shopping with CB and his mum.

Then home to take Okaasan out to the supermarket - with Y2,000 in her purse.

I left her there 45 mins and then picked her up in the car.

She'd bought: a small box of the simmered veggie dish I'd made in the morning...New Year sweets, a BIG door decoration, candies, instant soups, nut snacks, yogurt.

And so.

End of year.

2013. What on earth happened in it?

Okaasan went to day care twice a week. That's great.

She had a lot of teeth problems.

And incontinence got worse.

She did less and less laundry and cleaning and personal care.

Then awful leg problems and almost stopped walking

And finally - somewhat amazingly - recovered.

But her walking is much less, much slower now.

She doesn't go out so much alone. And doesn't go far.

Mentally she is mainly ok - but it doesn't take much to knock her off course and then the loopy stuff is just under the surface.

and all of you! Thank YOU for reading this blog and comments and support. Never thought I'd still be writing this a few years on...

Of course, I am am getting the whole hang of being an Oyomesan more and more. The cooking, the houseworking, the balancing of freedom with domestic duties.

Dear Son and I continue to be a good team. Mainly.

Oh, enough already. 

What we all need now is a cat picture....and I need to go back in the living room to the TV. Top up the plum wine glass and reach for another chocolate.

See you in 2014. :-)