Stories

Absent from blogging again.
Apologies.

Useless older brother got with the program and decided to take a more active part in his mother's care.
He offered to take her into his home for the winter months - so from November to March he will look after his mother: shop/cook/clean/money manage/chat. Make sure she goes for walks. Make sure she has the correct tea powder and face cream.
That means we will be free for a few months to enjoy orgies of cheese fondue and wine, and meat. 
General all round happiness :-)

Yeah.
Right.

No way. Nothing at all like that. 
Think that must have been a delirious dream I had during my recent mammoth headcold. In between the heats and the shivers and the nose blowing.

Life here is as usual.
It is winter. My man is away at a ski resort. I am in Sapporo with work and cats, and Okaasan care.

Busy since my friend left to go back to the UK. Had to get the accounts in order for the accountant. Had to prep some new class material for spring. Lots of work. The car went to the garage for repair....and cost me Y67,000.
And then a head cold.

Okaasan is fine. She and I have shared dinners. She is locked into the story "in the war I didn't go to school and we didn't have any food because the secret police stole our food parcels from countryside relatives". She can tell me that over 10 times during dinner. Even if I talk about something else - completely unconnected - there will be maybe 10 seconds of silence and she will launch into this story again.

When I was at my worst with the headcold she fussed about me being in the kitchen doing things. Kept telling me to go back to be and sleep. 
"I don't need food! It's good not to eat. Once I didn't eat for a week!" - on and on. She actually followed me round the kitchen telling me this. Nice, but actually stress-giving.
I wasn't doing very complicated cooking - not that I ever do. But my interest in food was zero, so I was just opening pre-cooked packages for Okaasan and heating them up.
She went on and on about how I should be back in bed. So I did.
And she didn't get out for a weekend walk. Spent 6 days sitting in front of her TV.

Now I am getting better again, so tomorrow I will take her out. If I am really kind, it will be a rare trip downtown to walk round the shops. If I am less kind, it will be 45 mins in the local shopping center.

Another 5 weeks...6 weeks of winter to go. I saw grass poking up by the side of the house this week. Spring will be coming.
Another winter almost done with Okaasan. In fact I have been surprised that her physical and mental condition has been ok, with such limited activity.
Her legs are definitely weaker though, so her walking isn't at all steady. Before she is allowed to go out alone after the snow melt - there will have to be a few weeks of accompanied walking. Dear Son will have to do more because he will be home more at the end of the ski season.

Today I am off out with a friend to a TV show recording! As audience members. The guests on the TV show are the actors on the NHK drama Massan - Ellie and Massan.
The drama about the founder of the Japanese whisky business and his Scottish wife. It is almost ending, and now the cast are doing end of season publicity tours.
DS and I watch the show, kind of enjoy it. Hokkaido story. International marriage etc. AMAZING pretend-Japanese language skills by the American actress playing the role of the Scottish wife.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Oh - and if you are in Hokkaido. Next week go to a book shop and buy a copy of this book....it is the once that I helped a friend write, and the CD narration is my voice. Good book about Hokkaido and Japanese life in English and in Japanese. :-)