Photo credit: our son, KT
April
4/30/2023.
Have you seen "Dekopon" fruits in a grocery? The word "Dekopon" is Japanese, did you know that? We like it. You'd like it, too.
https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/departments/produce/dekopon-citrus
4/29/2023.
I had a fantastic time last night at Miami University Hall auditorium! I brought flowers there for 3 singers. I loved everything!!!
There was a big bonus to myself at the end part of the concert. It was my very first time to attend their show. Seems they have their “famous” tradition that many alumni singers join in on the stage. It was an extraordinary gorgeous view that they all sang together. Their smiles were just precious. Then I spotted one very familiar face in them. The super awesome high school choir director!!! He was there. Woooo hoooo. His appearance made my night brighter and happier indeed. I made my mind right away, I will attend their Home Concert in May again, and it will be my annual must-go-event!! Yes, it was that much perfectly wonderful concert! O WP, A W and Q K (plus his parents M K + S K) you all are awesome. Thank you for giving me this opportunity.
Entry#126. 4/28/2023.
Being in a trail, entering into a trail makes my husband happy. It makes me happy, too. We love being outdoors and being surrounded by nature very much. My husband has been seeking the ways into trail a lot. Because regular daily wheelchair doesn't work well on trail grounds. Wheels/tires are too thin and there is a chance to break/puncture plus be stuck. Of course, there are several options to make it work. You might not have an idea about switching wheels. Wheels have a quick release system. It's easy to change them. He has big thick tires (it's like mountainbike tires) and he can use them on his daily wheelchair. However changing tires means "the brake system has to be adjusted". It's tricky. I didn't realize that part until I actually saw it with my eyes. Adjusting brake system is way trickier than you think. It makes me nervous always. Well, my husband doesn't use these tires much for trails because his daily wheelchair is important for his daily life the most, with extra care on casters very much.
So my husnbabd found different types of wheelchairs for trails/gravels. Each time he got different types of wheelchair, he needs to "master" it for movement including turning, wheelie and back-and-forth. Sometimes his fingers/thumbs got caught by brake's part which is so painful. Once he gets used to it, he feels secure about it. I'm grateful that he has several options for things he wants to do.
Whenever we are ready at the trail head with his "trail wheelchair", we get excited, you know. However (yes, there is always however, unfortunately) in the middle of trails, we have to face a difficult obstacle = wooden bridges. Some are good, some are bad (means we have to turn around and go home).
We play it by ear, yes, we do. We improvise, yes, we do. We will find "our way" eventually.
photos: 1 and 2; this was ok. 3; we gave up on this because there are high gaps. 4; at a high steep hill place, it's hard to climb up, as you can see.
4/25/2023.
I'm just like a tiny kid who wants to show off her new favorite toy to everybody in the world. Yes, just like that. My Red Bike works smoothly and fast. It's light. It brightens me up. Yippee.
Entry#125. 4/22/2023.
I’m getting old that I cannot catch up with the latest education system in Japan. Funny? What I’m writing about here might be not up to date and not accurate. It’s about “writing an essay” in Japan. I remember that kids write essays (作文 さくぶん) in elementary school and middle school. They have many essay contests also. However in my high school and college (more like college of art/science), there were not much opportunities to “write”. Sounds a bit odd, maybe. Anyway I didn’t write much for classes and didn’t get any skill of creative writings. I wish I could have gotten some lessons. Here, in US, there are many chances to express yourself in writing forms in high schools; for the scholarships. Plus essays for the school internships/grants in colleges. (Oh, of course there are scholarship programs in Japan as well. I’m not sure how much popular. I didn’t apply any.)
To me, there is a big difference about “how to write an essay” between in Japan and in US. Luckily I had several chances to read essays written by local students (great friends of mine) in the past. Their essays impressed me a lot. I loved their writings a lot.
Recently I was lucky enough to read my own son’s writing. He generously shared it with me casually. It made me chuckle and feel so happy. I cannot share whole thing here, but I’d love to show an introduction part which was my very favorite. It goes like this;
Ever since I was young, I have loved skill-based activities. These could be things like insect catching, yo-yo-ing, unicycling, etc. This is what led to me being captivated by pottery. The seemingly effortless method of creating objects that I see every day from a lump of clay was magical.
I don’t need to write special essays for my life/my career because I’m not that young anymore. But my son needs to write more and express himself more for his future career/job. I will keep praying for him and keep cheering on him forever, yes! Reading someone’s essay is so good to myself, always. Oh, you can send yours to me anytime. I’d love that.
Photo: my son’s latest creations. He now mixes glazes using his own recipe (ingredients) to create his color, so he says. He sounds like a clay/sand/mineral specialist. My eyes open wide. Yours?
4/22/2023.
Happy happy Earth day! I'm grateful to be able to soak up the sunshine on this day even though its chilly and not so warm. Seeing my Lily of the valley already blooming which is a bit earlier than last year. My hummingbirds haven't arrived here yet. But my wonderful friend in Olsburg, Kansas (near Manhattan, KS) told me that her hummers are already there. I'm jealous. It's so magical feeling that the spring atmosphere gives us every year. Our planet is still wonderful!
4/20/2023.
LOOK! I got a new bike. It's perfectly my size and I fell in love with it. I love it!
4/18/2023.
"If the Sun shines, we bike!!" It's our magic words. The temperature dropped down in these two days and the coldness made me so unmotivated. But the Sun was shining today, my husband went biking. I, this time, biked to the high school to watch the track meet! I made it. The high light of this event was, personally, 1600m run! 3 boys from THS fought each other, pushed each other, and their great running was heating up till the finish line. It was SO SO great to watch them. I believe they all got their PR. Their smiles were precious. I was super happy to be there to witness the excitement really.
photos: If the sun shines, yes, we Bike!!"
Entry#124. 4/16/2023.
I was not a competitive runner at all, I have done just several official races before; 5K run. Thanks to our son’s Cross country career in High/Middle schools, we (my husband, son and I) did trail running together many times in the past. We LOVE running in the trails!! Even I asked my husband to attend the local 5K race in 2017 and we all did it together. It was for the first time ever that we competed at the same time. As you can guess, I was the happiest member of the family.
In 2018, we attended the mud 5K (or it might be 4 mile) race at the Perfect North slope. This race had many obstacles in mud fields. You could pick a time-trial race, but we just did without timing. It was so hard to keep up the pace/speed, it was impossible to me. It was so much fun to be struggled with mud, though.
In 2019, I ran 5K at my favorite course in Eaton. There was high/middle schools’ Cross country meet. They always provide the open race for public at the very end of the schedule. Before this race day, I visited this park to do a practice run. I had to check the course beforehand. I’m not that fast runner at all, but you know, I had my goal time and I wanted to beat it. That means I had to train hard and go for it. I loved that process as well.
These are our pastimes. Then here we are now, my husband will “run” 10K with his handcycle at the Flying Pig in Cincinnati. The organization gave a new handcycle division to the community for the first time which is still a pilot program. Once my husband determined competing the race, he got in training mode. He wanted to check the route because it has several long uphills in it. He has his goal time in his mind but it’d be difficult to guess/calculate “uphill times”. Climbing up uphills with handcycle is so hard, it’s more than we imagine. We spent times in Cincinnati (liver side area) and were able to see some parts of incline. We wished if there was a chance to practice on the course, but there isn’t any. (Of course not. That’s a fun part of the big city races, isn’t it? I’ve never done that kind of big races.)
He never knows the actual uphills beforehand (how hard it’s going to be) but he has been doing hill-workout in our neighborhood where has a good loop with inclines (Hilltop rd!). He does 3 sets of 3 loops, sometimes 4 sets. He knows his pace now and could set his goal for the 10K race. I love this process, too.
On the other hand, there are still concerns(worries) as well. What if it’s pouring? We’ve not done handcycling in the rain yet. How do we reach out at the starting line from a hotel? He needs to handcycle all the way on the road where might have traffic regulations and traffic controls. (I do hope it’s accessible. Fingers crossed.)
At least his training is going well. I’ll write about “how to prepare for the race at the hotel” later. It’s my challenge as well.
Photo: 5K in 2017. Mud race in 2018. My race in 2019!
4/15/2023.
I'm planning to go to the Home concert of Miami University Men's Glee Club end of this month. So exciting!!!
Entry#123. 4/14/2023.
Did I tell you about this before? Maybe not. It's about "documenting" my husband's ICU stay right after the accident. If you search some Youtube videos about SCI life or Paraplegic life, there are many Paraplegic Youtubers in the world. Most of them have videos about "what happened and why did he/she become paraplegic?" They posted videos about their hospital stays. Many people are very curious about those stories (including myself). On the other hand, I didn't have any photos of my husband in the ICU, not at all. He had long rough days in ICU, longer than I imagined. There were several moments I thought I was losing my husband. So I was not capable of taking photos of him at that time. Once he moved to the rehab facility, I started "documenting" everything about him. However there was only one photo of both, my husband and I, together during his inpatient care time. Just only one. We were both hopeful and imagined a life after being discharged from hospital. We smiled big. We didn't imagine down-time much, we didn't know much back then. (Well, we survived anyway.) So this only-one-photo means a lot to myself really.
I'm going to put three photos here today. The first one: Oct 2020. The second one: The only-one-photo from his hospital stay. The third one: the latest photo of us. (photo credit: our son) I want to say that we are doing our best as much as we can. We are doing ok because we still smile the same as before. Yes, I think so.
4/12/2023.
Sometimes, I want several doppelgängers of mine especially in gorgeous spring days. I want to mow, I want to clean my yard/garden, I want to wash my house, I want to paint, and so on. Plus I want to wash my boy-dog, Ranger aaaand to cook as much as I can. Well, I don't have enough "bodies" to do all stuffs. Just do a bit by bit. Funny. This wonderful warm sunshiny weather makes me feel "you can do it more and more!" Let's see how much I can do. Oh, how is your Lily of the Valley in your garden? Mine is growing day by day.
Photos: cannot stop taking pictures of flowers. But I know photos including human beings are more wonderful and precious. I'll try some more.
4/11/2023.
I did it! My hummingbird feeders are set. Woooo hooooo. The view from my dining room got joyful now. The feeders make me feel so happy during waiting time for my hummingbirds.
4/10/2023.
In this month, my husband and I have a "watchword/password". If Sun shines, we bike! It is for the Flying Pig 10K, yes. Then if my husband decides "long run day", I just follow him with a grin. However 20 mile biking was way too hard to myself, more than I imagined. My husband did an awesome job and I was so proud of his accomplishment this time. On the way home, I just fell asleep deeply like I passed out and I couldn't wake up when we arrived home. I was that much exhausted. That made us giggle.
Happy Easter!!!
Wow, this sunshine is just perfect for today! Feeling so much spring energy from everywhere.
4/09/2023.
It's tough and hard to follow my husband's handcycling training for 10K. He is on it! Photo: Also it's hard to capture both of us together into the same photo. Do you see a shadow of mine??
4/08/2023.
Did I miss the right time? I'm going to put up my hummingbird feeders soon, maybe this weekend. Did you already put it up?
Entry#122. 4/07/2023.
It all started from this event “Handcycle Try-it-out” on November 13, 2021. My husband discovered what handcycle was, how to ride on it, and how to use it. Plus he met other paraplegic people and had a good conversation with them. This experience made him think of getting his own handcycle somehow somewhere. This day was the very beginning of his handcycle-journey!
After this, he found and purchased a handcycle on December 19, 2021. His first handcycling with his own bike happened on December 31, 2021!
I can say he fell in love with handcycling from the beginning even though it’s a hard/challenging exercise indeed.
We are always thankful and grateful for the nonprofit group “The Bridge adaptive sports and recreation” very very much. We couldn’t have come up to this level of “life” without them and their programs.
https://www.thebridgeadaptive.org/
Photos: on Nov 13, 2021!!
4/06/2023.
It was another BIG day for my husband's lab crews. One of his grad student performed her master thesis defense and she did a great job. Luckily I made it to observe/witness the presentation.
Then I did rethink about how to do a great presentation. I've learned about a concept of 3MT (3 minutes thesis) before. It fascinates me knowing how it's done. However it's not that easy to myself, I cannot mimic that kind of presentation/speech. But I'm still curious about it and it's good to know about those things. Photos: from the defense presentation. Video: I found one which I was so interested in.
4/05/2023.
I had a nice chatting time with one of my neighbors. She is selling her house and moving to Columbus near her daughter’s place. She was a wonderful librarian at Miami University. She gave me a nice English “phrase” when we talked about my son who is majoring in biology. And she knows my husband is a biology professor.
“The Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
So she taught me. I was smiling. I love this saying. I was happy that she left me this phrase before she leaves. I’ll remember it with an image of her really.
4/05/2023.
This is just released from the official site.
In the message, it says:
"We are thrilled to add these new divisions to the Flying Pig Marathon Weekend," said Iris Simpson Bush, CEO of the Flying Pig Marathon. "We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to participate, and we are excited to provide that opportunity to handcycle athletes and para athletes. We hope that these new divisions will inspire more people to get involved in our race experiences while making the Flying Pig Marathon Weekend even more diverse, inclusive and accessible."
This made my heart so so warm right now. It's happening for a real!
4/04/2023.
When you receive the special thank-you card from your favorite fabulous Mock trial team, your day gets brighter. They are high-level, skilled, knowledgeable and sweet future-attorneys who make me smile all the time.
4/03/2023.
It's not so easy to take a picture of yourself during biking on the road, by yourself. Sometimes you need to put a camera on the road and set a timer. Then you can capture yourself into a photo.
Entry#121. 4/02/2023.
Sometimes I feel so useless and less-knowledgeable about “how to take care of a house”. It’s different between Japanese house and American house. But you might be shocked to know the fact I don’t know about Japanese house neither. I should have paid more attention about things my parents did for the house. I was just spoiled by them and didn’t learn anything about house stuffs. I regret it now.
Well, my husband did everything when we bought our very first house in Oxford, OH in 2008. I cannot thank him enough, even nowadays also. We were happy and proud, of course. I’ve learned a bit by bit about house maintenance since then. A funny part is “I cannot notice a wrong part until a problem actually happens”. And you know, things are not so good if it happens.
A while ago, once rain water came inside the house from the top of the front door. Leaking water. I thought the door was too old and needed to replace. It turned out that the problem was an old gutter at the top of the front door.
Every time it rained, I had to hold towels at the door and changed towels repeatedly miserably. It was so terrible that I had to make an action to ask a company to replace a gutter. It went smoothly for all processes until construction guys came. I was so ready to see the replacing process was done. Next words they told me was “Sorry. We cannot do this. You need to fix the roof first. The upper roof part of the front door was damaged which caused the trouble of gutter.”
I was shocked and terrified to know the fact I faced. As you can guess now, the process was restarted all over again. I needed my husband‘s help as well. When it was all done, I was relieved and super happy to see the new roof and gutters.
It’s still funny. I still have a project for replacing a new front door which I’ve left behind for a long long time. Additionally I still have a project of “how to make the front door accessible for wheelchair”.
Once we had a sewage backup caused by blockage with tree roots (tree roots in sewer lines).
I still have a problem of flooding in a long driveway and front door area.
I didn’t know about “how to clean dryer vent line” at all. My vent line is very very long and I should have know that. Now I know this and I can keep it in mind. I’m good about it.
Well, it’s endless to count the number of my house problem. I need to learn more. Sometimes it makes me think “I wish I should’ve known these things when I was a teenager”.
Our house is at age 43 now. I still love it.
photo: Look!!! This was exact one year ago today!
4/01/2023.
It was simple pure joy to bump into two great human beings and a wonderful HUGE puppy right after my husband’s hill-workout for his 10K handcycle race. “Hune” the Bernese mountain dog is 8 mo old puppy (85 lb!!). My husband’s biology professor friend couple’s boy-dog. They visited my wonderful neighbor lady’s house. It was a perfect coincidence. Hune the puppy ran into my husband’s side and they greeted deeply. Their interaction warmed my heart so much. My husband is a real deep dog-person. He grew up with dogs. After his injury, it’s tough and different to cuddle/hug our boy-dog Ranger to my husband no matter how much he wants to do. Sometimes they do with a bit different ways. So meeting Hune this time was precious!
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