lunch diary 0131

Monday; After doing morning chores, we went out. We bought new curtains, and had Yuki's glasses repaired. We also went to a mall in Utsunomiya station. It was crowded, so we had lunch there. At Utsunomiya station -- of course we had Utsunomiya's specialty item "GYOZA".

A warm winter day; look for reading glasses, for my mother

Tuesday, Did I eat outside again? Yes. I went to KARAKU and said the master that my friend and I wouldn't perform next month either.

Then I had lunch there alone. Well I pored over my favorite magazine for mature ladies? (senior ladies? elderly ladies?)  with a bitter laugh. How many articles about elderly nursing care there were!

A cloudy winter day; absorbed in an advice column  for elderly

Wednesday; I sautéed vegetables.  In the morning  I walked and passed by the gym. Since the new year started, I haven't exercised at gym.

A pleasant winter day; walk past the gym, totally 5000 steps

Thursday, it suddenly got cold. and it was window. Today I was going to go to the gym. But probably they must have left the windows open for ventilation. So even the heater was on , the place must have been cold. So I didn't go there.

A gloomy winter;　lighting in the daytime , give the blues more



Wednesday, we went to another mall  to look for my mother's goods and calligraphy pens for SYAKYO. We ate simple noodle with sweets (very sweet doughnuts).

A windy winter: the sound and the sunlight, come through the window

Yuki and I made our lunch diary video again. If you are interested in it, please watch it with subtitle in English when you are avialble.

My mother 0129

For me it is very difficult to explain the situation of my mother in English, but let me try it. And probably it is effective for me to sort out my feeling and make myself clear.

Last Tuesday my mother was diagnosed with early Alzheimer's disease.

Well, the end of last year she fell down in the room. So my elder brother N who lives with her and my daughter T who lives next to her house took her to a orthopedic clinic.  And she suffered  a fracture compression. The damage was not so bad, she started to wear a corset. She is taken there once a week by N and T or by my younger brother T who also lives across to her house.  Both Ts have their own cars.

So my brother T applied for elderly care  in public. As of now he takes a day-off once a week, and discuss with an public elderly care center in the award. It takes a few more weeks to clarify  her level of care needed.

Here in Japan the options of elderly care services in public are determined according to the level of nursing care needed. 

However, her behavior started to get strange.

So they (M and T) also took her a special clinic for dementia. And she was diagnosed with  early Alzheimer's disease.

They are doing all things what they can do externally.

However the speed of her change is so quick.

1. It is difficult to talk her on the phone. Because her ears got worse, and it is difficult to concentrate talking.

But she can talk through the video and with an assistant. So, my mother and I talk when my daughter T is with her.

2. She stopped cooking.

So I order her lunch and dinner on the net, and these are delivered every day.

My brother N prepares breakfast and cooks rice every morning. My mother can use the microwave oven. So she nukes the delivered meals when she eats.

However when she is alone, she sometimes skips her meal. So whenever my daughter M stays home, she goes to my mother's house at lunch time and dinner time.

It means I also talk with my mother through video. (this is only what I can do directly for her)

My mother doesn't wander around yet. My mother doesn't do strange actions yet.

but she often gets hysteric because she doesn't understand the situation. 

So "I think" some one is necessary to watch her (like a mother).

My elder brother T seems to want to care her at home.

My younger brother N suggests strongly  to arrange an elderly nursing home quickly, though he "doesn't" do some actions specifically. (or "can't", because the head of household is my elder brother N. And it is not decided which elderly nursing homes can accept her before the lever of nursing care is clarified.)

Additionally I also started to search elderly nursing homes here in Utsunomiya.

SYAKYO

 What is SYAKYO???

" SYAKYO is one of the religious training. It was allegedly started to make his big dream come true. Formally, people copy sutra with ink and an ink brush. "

Last month I borrowed these book about HANYASHIGYOU sutra.

Though it was fun, it was difficult. Anyway I red them up. Then I watched some YOUTUBE which explains the contents in easy Japanese. 

The next step is --- to do SYAKYO.

I checked a temple's site, and download the sheets.

I tried doing syakyo. At the first time I used FUDE-pen (not use real ink and real brush)

Not so bad. So I wanted to do it with real pen and brush. I bought a set of SYAKYO.

Well I 'll try to do SYAKYO 10 times. 

After that??? I'll take the sheets to the temple, which is in Tochgi.

It is a good reason to go for a drive.

Well, it is on going --- I'm not sure whether I reach the goal or not.

Senior ladies are "great"

I don't know that from what age we call people elderly people.

Anyway I think it is right in my generation or over we are not good with electrical gadgets  like PC, smart phone, iPad and so on.

However -- it doesn't seen to be correct.

These days I see some youtube sites arranged by elderly women, thought they are Japanese.

I like this site, she lives alone, and her mother is in nursery home. Probably she is almost the same age of me.

And I was very surprised to find this site.

She is in her 70s.

Both of them seem spend a calm and sensible? mindful? prudent? or slow life.

So they gave me a big influence. So I made it, which was appeared on the previous diary.

My daughter said; Not feel lonely, but the work composed of photos, music and poems creates an aura of kind of "sweet sorrow", and unique.

My younger daughter said;  it is surreal.

All of them laughed at this work.

This is our real "prudent" retirement life.

pre-cooked dishes and discarding 10 things 0124

 

I made paste of vegetables such as SATO-yam and GOBOU root, squash, and carrots. All of them are used for our breakfast soup.

I also boiled and seasoned DAIKON. You might notice that they were almost the same menu of previous week. You are right.

Any vegetables are needed to cook for eating. Nowadays I use my rice cooker to boil ? steam? vegetables. It is easy. The trouble thing is to blend them. 

I also discarded 10 things. I discarded a dress I didn't wear this winter though it is still winter. I organized a box of my aroma bottles, and discarded two bottles. Then I revised the room I use as a class room. Probably next spring the number of students will be 4, so it is all right to start "discard" some tools. So I discarded small and tiny goods.

Then I cleaned the windows in the room.

These are my regular weekends jobs.

What brought fun to us? 0124

This week, Yuki had no tennis, but he could play golf though it was a half course with a person. It was the first time for them to play golf together. They knew each other at tennis coat, and it was also the first time to talk more with each other. Yuki steadily is expanding his retirement world. (Well, the person is not retired, though they are in the same generation.)

On the other hand, the number of people I can talk is limited. 

However, this week I had a zoom-meeting with my volunteer group. It was fun. They were all fine. One of them has a son who is taking entrance exams to universities. All of them prayed  fervently for his safety and of course success.

"We" don't eat sweet so much, but I always stock something in the freezer.

Well it is time to finish up the frozen black soy beans.

So I baked butter cake with them. (To be precise, my HB baked)

And a idea came up to mind. We often eat sweet red beans paste. So probably a little bit sweet black soy beans paste might not be bad. I mixed sweet red beans paste and unsweetened black soy beans. Them -- we spread them on our toast for our breakfast. No problem,  or rather "tasty".

And we tried some apps.

Yuki made music, I made this video with Haiku.

I added subtitles in English. So please look at it with subtitles.

lunch diary 0123

Today, it was a quiet day, though it is still at night. Since this afternoon it has been raining. I hope it won't snow tomorrow.

This week I felt I was talking with my mother on the phone all the day. Actually not all the day. We talked at noon, and in the evening. We talk using my elder's cell phone, so we can see our faces directly. It means my elder daughter visited my mom twice a day this week. My mother is fine, but suddenly her life style changed, especially her meals. She had to stop cooking by herself. Now my brother who is my mother's son and lives with her, prepares her breakfast, and "tries" to prepare for lunch. And I arrange her dinner (delivery meal box) on net. So to organize my mother's lunch, my daughter visited her at noon. And to check the delivery meal box, she also visited her in the evening. While she visited my mother, I talked with my mother to less my daughter's stress, and of course my mother's stress. -- additionally I talk to Yuki to less my stress after that, though he sometimes (according to him), or often (according to me) ignore listening to me.

Anyway all of us are fine.

Thanks to the pandemic, my daughter works at home, so she could visit my mother constantly. And thanks to my daughter I can talk with my mother. And thanks to my mother, my daughter and I could have more things to talk in common. And also I could (or had to) contact with my brothers more often.

Monday, these are delicatessen.  We walked to a post office, and on the way home dropped by a supermarket, and bought them.

I made miso-soup elaborately?? It means it is not instant or frozen soup. I cooked up some vegetables. In the morning it was cloudy. In the afternoon, we saw the sun. so we took a walk again. Totally we walked more than 5000 steps.

Fluffy of snow in a clear sky, made our feet stop, at the entrance hall

Tuesday, I made this soup elaborately. I steamed SATO-yam, and stewed Chinese cabbage. I put them into a blender.

It was penetratingly cold, though it was sunny.

From the evening I had a headache, So I went to bed very early.

Sitting by the window, having hot red-bean soup,  still the cold is penetrating

Wednesday, unusually today's mom was cheerful. So we talked about our HAIKU.

Open the shatter, a crescent moon waits for me, the coldest day in winter  byHiroko

Mom reflects, with a frown: the coldest day in winter

Thursday, it was curry, it means it was the rest of last day's dinner.

With lots of love, tasted by my grand daughter: winter squash by Hiroko

Househusband cooks, Daikon and Kabu, turns into curry

Friday, before snow comes (weather report said this weekend it might be snow), we did some errands downtown. On the way home we pulled into a drive-through.

These are popular menu at MATSUYA restaurant.  They are kind of delicatessen, but the aluminum pots come together. It means not to put them into the microwave oven, warm them directly on the oven.

Waiting for our turn, though turn on the heater, hear the sound of tires

revising my Haiku 0120

Well, I receive corrections of my Haiku by mail once a month. 5 haiku are accepted at once.

Though it is difficult to tell how they are corrected because they are Japanese, I'll try to translate corrected ones in English.

December comes, prepare new luncheon mats, of deep red

The order is important, the teacher who correct my Haiku, said.

Deep red , luncheon mats appear: December comes.

Dry FUTON in the sun, for getting new sheets, go shopping

In Haiku world, focus one spot, not to describe things in chronological order. 

Go to sleep in dry Futon in the sun with new sheet

Cook red beans, get a good refreshment, because of spicy taste

Here in Japan, red beans are usually cooked with sugar, I cooked them in spicy taste. So the teacher said to focus "spicy".

A refreshment  boil and seasoned spicy; red beans

First 3000 steps, take of my sweater, 3000 steps again

The teacher said "I understand you try refrain phrase, but ..."

On the way back, take off the sweater,  walk 3000 steps

What do you think of them? It is more clear to image the scenes which I want to describe?

pre-cooked dishes and 10 things discarding 0119

 In this month, more weekly vegetables are arrived. Because a weekly box of my mother's was canceled. It was good for me, because for a while Yuki stays home all the day, so I need to cook more, and -- it is not so good because I need to cook more. Well, additionally these days mincing onions is Yuki's job.

I boiled and seasoned Japanese radish, and GOGOU (rote vegetables).

The others were pre-cooked for our morning soup.

I changed some small goods.

For example, this is a gimlet? I put the "rusty" one in the drawer in my kitchen.

I didn't care it was rusty. But Yuki got worried as a househusband.

So I discard the rusty one, and take a new one from our stationery box.

And I also organized the stationery box and discarded 10 things.

Well I also cleaned the drawer in my kitchen.

What brought fun to us 0118

Since a state of emergency declared, the word of excitement has seemed to be hard to use. (indiscreet? in English) We should refrain from all of things???

Well, let me look back the last week. 

I put away New Year's goods and put goods for SETSUBSUN ( can you see some masks? ) and Valentine's Day.

 

What is SETSUBUN?

To tell the truth, putting some things away is "troublesome", but decorate some things is fun. 

My mother wanted to read a book which is published many years ago. The book is still so famous, and most new ones are published by paperback edition. The letters in them are too small for her to read . So I had to look for a bigger size of book. It was difficult to find on the net. So "we" had a good excuse to browse book stores including used-book stores.

I bought a new one for her, and I bought another one for myself at a used-book store, and Yuki bought a book for himself (I think it has any connection with the book my mother wanted)

We had a morning set after a long interval. It was the day of my annual health check up. So " we " skipped our breakfast. And Yuki drove me to a hospital. After the check up, we dropped by at a bakery. There was no one, so we had our breakfast inside.

We went to a shrine to throw away lucky goods of last year. It was the day of DONTOYAKI, kind of a festival. The festival was not held, but anyway we released our lucky goods of last year smoothly.

And I also went to a volunteer center. Probably it is the first time in a half year. Our group still haven't done any volunteer activities since the pandemic occurred. I don't know what we will be able to do for a while, but I need to update my group information. There I saw a friend. It was also the first time in a half year or more.

There I could talk , not chat with people , of course wearing a mask.

lunch diary 0107

One week has passed. Last week, to tell the truth, I was really busy in dealing with my mother. As you know I am not with her, just talk on the phone, and go shopping for her things. And I contact with my brothers, and listen to my daughter's (kind of ) complains and anxiety.

Monday, it was a holiday. I steamed Chinese dumplings with cabbage. "We" (Yuki and I) did walk 3400 steps to a nearby convenience store to make copy of our books.

Snow forecast, ready to go out with a clinic card, my mother goes to bed

Tuesday, in Tokyo it didn't snow, so my mother could go to a clinic (My daughter gave her a ride). Here in Utsunomiya we had a little snow. Anyway it was really cold. So we decided to put away some preserved food. So I made this noodle. To tell the truth we don't like it very much. We were interested in it when we found it, but we didn't like it. So half of it was left.  It was all right because we didn't waste food. Additionally, to cook it, we went out to a nearby supermarket to add something which would make the taste better, such as boiled & seasoned eggs, and seasoned bamboo shoots called Menma. 

Night coming, being cooped up home, with one-pot dish

Wednesday, it was frozen food of curry noodle. Can you see that under the noodle there are lots of Japanese leeks. We went to the filed of Japanese leek, and got a big bag of Japanese leeks again.

It was my annual health check day. I didn't gain my weight.

(Well, I seldom check my weight, because I'm really afraid of gaining my weight, so I try to ignore it in my daily life.)

Japanese leek fields, get a farmer to dig up, here in Utsunomiya

Thursday, it suddenly got warm. It was going to be a day of DONTOYAKI festival. Dontoyaki means that we get the shrine to burn lucky things of last year. The festival wasn't hold, but the shrine burn them. So as we wake up, we took our lucky things to a nearby shrine.

Friday, it was cold again. The sudden big change is really hard for me.

I used "my" dried vegetables for the soup. I cut them very rough, so -- they looked like garbage.

Frozen windows, my house and my mother's house , get really old

Pre-cooked dishes and discarding 10 things 0111

I'll continue making weekly making pre-cooked dishes and discarding 10 things constantly. 

All of three are boiled and seasoned vegetables.

One is salty with Konbu sea weed, another one is soy sauce tasted, and the other one is  non taste.

Non tasted one is squash and red beans. 

I baked bread with it.

Well, I also discarded 10 things. I checked expired foods. There were some of them which I used half of.

And I also some of them which are stored in the fridge moved into the freezer. So I discarded 3 frozen packs to make room.

So I discarded 10 things.

While I checked the fridge and freezer, I also cleaned "one" box in the fridge.

Not all of them. I'll try "small cleaning" constantly.

What made me a little bit excited 0111

When we woke up, it was snowing. Now it is around 10 AM. Luckily it stopped. It doesn't seem to pile up. Tomorrow Yuki was going to play golf, which was going to be the first time of this year, but it was canceled. Probably the golf course is covered with snow.

Last week, what made me a little bit excited??

We went to a big shrine. During the New Year's holidays we avoided to go to crowded places. So last week we visited a shrine, there were a few people. It takes a 20 minute drive, but we walked up more than 300 steps. Our pedometers showed only 2500 steps, but we used more stamina. (Our pedometers of our cell phones don't response to height difference.)

On the way home, coincidently we found Japanese leek fields. So we bought a bunch of Japanese leaks on site. 

This year we had no New Year parade of fire department brigades, and no first fair at shrine. So we went to a traditional Japanese goods shop directly and bought this thing, which is called KIBUNA.

I also bought for my friend and my neighbor as usual. 

Thanks to them, I could drop by to their house and chat them for a while.

And we celebrate my 60's birthday at Karaku carmly.

lunch diary 0111

 One week already passed. Each day seemed to have been long, but the week seemed to be very fast.

During New Year's holidays we had OSECHI dishes, so it was really easy to prepare each meal because we have lots of delicatessens, so I didn't cook so much.  Now we have usual meals.

Monday, the main is a bowl of soup with rice cake. And the side dish is boiled and seasoned fish.  Usually it is the day of New Year parade of fire department brigades. However, it wasn't hold. We saw it on the net.

New Year parade of fire department brigades, seeing it on the net, with an image of tremendous impact

Tuesday, I deep fried frozen cream korokke kind of croquettes. Most of the day I contacted with someone about my mother. Suddenly her life style changed. I ordered every day delivery meals, stopped weekly delivery food ingredients on the phone. And of course I listened to her complains patiently.

Over the phone, celebrate NANAKUSA-GAYU  with words (instead of eating)

Wednesday, We went to KARAKU, and celebrate my 60's birthday calmly.

When I got 50, I felt kind of "end" of my active working. I thought what I should do from then until I would get 60.

Now, I just have a strange feeling. Not so positive, not so pathetic, not so frustrated, just strange.

Winter strawberry, celebrate my 60 with strange feeling

Thursday, I sautéed yam an beef. In the morning I went to my friend's beauty salon, and got a hair cut. In the afternoon Yuki went to a barbershop. I also went there together to read some my favorite magazines there.

After New Year, talk with my friend calmly, at her beauty salon

Friday, I cooked Chinese cabbage and ground pork. To tell the truth it was our yesterday's dinner. we had the rest of it for our lunch for the next day.

Chinese cabbage, fry, sauté, and boil , for three days  

Yuki can't go to ramen noodle shops.

Here in Utsunomiya, a state of emergency was declared. Restaurants should be closed at 8 PM. However schools are usual. Public facilities such as libraries, "tennis courts", and so on are open as usual. So our life is not so changed.

However, Yuki stopped to go to ramen noodle shop. He went somewhere of noodle shops once a week, or every other week. He likes so called "B LANK noodle." 

It is good to save his pocket money.

Well, well, but the business world is clever.

Sweets which we buy at sweets shop are delicious but expensive. So convenience stores started to sell their original sweets at reasonable price and reasonable quality a few years ago. And it was called "sweets fighting". At that time, buying sweets at convenience store is a kind of B-grade, and not polite especially when we take them as a present. But now, they are really study to create new sweets, and some of them are rare. So such common sense got out of date.

And the same thing happens, now "b-grade ramen fighting"  has started. The price is reasonable, and according to him the taste is almost the same as his favorite ramen noodle. And they are often sold out, because they have got high popularity. (They are kind of fresh noodle, not instant)

The big difference between noodle shop's noodle and convenience store's noodle is the volume of chopped onion. Yuki added lots of chopped onion.

So he--- tried to chop a whole of onion --- but I asked him not to mess the kitchen. And I told how to use a gadget, which is used by me and used to by my daughters and Ah-chan. All of them are not good with chopping onions.

It is more than 20 years, and still works. It is not electronic.

New Year's holiday has gone.

Two of us basically spent at home lazily? calmly To tell the truth the pain of my mother's legs suddenly severe. so suddenly she wasn't able to do some things by herself. The most trouble is she can't cook what she wants to eat. So during this holiday, I often contacted with her, my daughter, my brothers on the phone. My mother is fine, and has a big appetite. I was going to see her, but only once I would visit her, anything would be resolved.So talking on the phone for a long time, is the best thing what I can do. (people who surrounds her are tired of listening to her complaints? It seems that only I tell her to give up doing or not to do it.)Well our New year's vacation was....I bought a little bit expensive bouquet of flowers. I had flower gift certificates. So I used them. And I added some branches in the garden to them.

On the day before New Year's Eve, I hold a small individual recital of my piano students with their parents. So these flower added an elegant atmosphere.

We have a custom to visit a shrine on New Year's Day.

This year we avoid going famous shrines. We went a shrine in country, which takes 15 minute drive. Few people were there, but the decoration of SHIMEKAZARI were new. That means someone manages this shrine.


And another custom? or main fun is getting lucky bags. We could buy the last one of sweets lucky bags at a "good" sweet shop.

And to make us happy, two graduated students dropped by. 

Happy New Year!

 Happy New Year!

For two of us, it is a usual day. We thought we would oversleep ---however, we got up at usual time, and did radio exercise.

And we could see a sunrise of today from a window of our daughter's room as usual.

And, we had breakfast at the usual time. We had a soup with rice cake instead of bread or rice. And I served special feast.--- well we didn't have all, they are our three-days dishes.

Today's our plans are ..... mainly being at home.

Walking to a nearby shrine, (or we might drive to a small shrine in the country)

Talking on the phone or video with our mother

That's it.

Now it is past 9.

Yuki is practicing the guitar, I'm updating this blog.

Happy New Year!