Let the winter begin!

I'm READY!

In my dorky hat and ski gloves, with my monster machine of a snow blower - I am ready for what winter throws at me!

And also ready: for a 10 day starter stretch of time looking after Okaasan alone.

Dear Son's ski teaching schedule changed and he left today for the mountains.

Alone with Okaasan. Here we go again. This is my winter :-)

But not alone now - I have kind, helpful wonderful day care. They will take Okaasan twice a week for dance, lunch, bath and chat. I have end-of-year parties, I have classes. And I have a car. And a snow blower.

And two cats.

On our last day (for a while) as a family we went for lunch at a local curry place. Okaasan was happy to eat her way through a huge vegetable curry, and she clung on to Dear Son's hand as we walked thru the snow to the restaurant.

Because Sapporo now has snow. It snowed all day Friday - non-stop like one of those shake-snow balls with a Christmas scene. And then at 5 pm it turned into a blizzard. A real, howling blizzard. Amazing to see it in an urban area.

I only had to drive 1 km home, but it was scary. I could only see the tail lights of the car in  front. And nothing at the side. Fleeting glimpses of shop lights flickered thru the whirling snow. The car shook.

So this morning: my debut with the snow blower that he bought off the Internet cheaply...made in China....he is using our old car for ski work and on the few times he is home during winter we need two parking spaces at the house. The lawn - usually buried in a meter of snow - has to be kept clear. I can't do it by muscle power alone....

And so.

Another winter as the solo carer for Okaasan. Long dinners together as she chats on about fish, and wartime memories and I try to judge how long more I have to stay and chat. It IS a responsibility; everything that will happen to Okaasan in the next 10 days is my decision and doing - what she eats, what she wears, where she goes...and of course HOW she feels.

I'm getting better at it. Maybe there won't be any more peeing in the trash box as I hide upstairs. Maybe.

But there'll be wine.

And chocolate.

And white lies as I escape to have lunch or dinner alone.

Hope you'll stick around :-)