August
Entry#296. 8/31/2024. Part1
My husband is in the biology department at Miami University. The Bio department used to have their tradition "Fall bio picnic" on the Friday before Labor Day. It's for all faculty and grad students (and their families). Because of the Covid pandemic, their tradition stopped in 2019. Finally they got it back this year!! Hurray. The wonderful generous professor and his wife offer their farm property for the picnic. Their huge property area and huge barn are perfect for the big big party for all together.
My husband and I were excited to be back to their place, of course. But there are things we need to think ahead, you know? How to manage my husband's wheelchair movement/mobility in grass area, farm ground. How about restroom?
He was confident using his off-road wheelchair. And it worked pretty well. I was happy with that.
I just double checked beforehand about all equipment and settings of this off-road wheelchair.
It's still a bit harder than usual to move around on grass areas with wheelchair, more than you imagine.
And "potluck style" meal time is trickier than you think. You need both hands/arms to move your wheelchair alongside a big long food table. You cannot carry a paperplate with your hand while you pick and put meals onto a plate and move on, cannot do it just like able bodied people. Because it's hard to put a plate with full of foods on your lap then wheel around with it. Well, we still need to learn "how to do it exactly".
But we managed that and enjoyed the wonderful foods (tons of them) very much.
To be continued....
8/28/2024.
Idaho info updates from our son.
There are limited cell phone service in the woods in Idaho for our son. Under that circumstance, he tried to send us some text messages. I'm learning something new. It seems Idaho still has wildfire issues. Our son's team is helping to prevent spreading wildfires. He mentioned about the term "prescribed fire". So I looked it up and read some articles.
https://www.nps.gov/articles/what-is-a-prescribed-fire.htm#:~:text=Prescribed%20fire%20is%20a%20planned,of%20meeting%20the%20burn%20objectives.
I keep praying for people's safety in Idaho/Montana. Last night, our son's texts said "It's pretty clear sky here. No smoke." Let's hope the fire will be subsided sooner.
8/27/2024.
Do you like international foods? What kinds? We’ve been trying many kinds of international foods even before my husband’s injury. Most of the time, my husband finds places where we might be interested in. And most of the time, we enjoy the new tastes very much.
Indian, Thai, Mediterranean, Korean, Turkish, African, and so on.
Of course, we need to check the accessibility at the entrance of restaurants and bathrooms beforehand. That’s our regular routine these days.
The latest find was “Nicaragua foods”!! We loved it.
8/26/2024.
Happy 1st day of Fall Semester 2024!! Such a beautiful day (but it's too hot).
Entry#295. 8/25/2024.
Since my husband is a biology professor, he has many researcher-friends in several fields including biology, zoology, microbiology, entomology, botany, geology and more. It’s always interesting to me to have chances to get some comments from them for any topics.
The other day, when we went handcycling/cycling in Hamilton, we encountered the sign “Road closed”. My husband’s eyes caught the other sign quicker than mine. See?
“Warning Hornets Nest” in yellow sign.
Then it took several minutes to find that nest. It was quite a big size of the nest indeed.
Later on, after my husband posted the photo on his Facebook, his friend pointed out “that’s a bald faced hornet’s nest”. Thanks to his knowledge, I learned about it.
https://the-natural-web.org/2014/02/26/even-bald-faced-hornets-recycle/
My husband reminded me of an old memory of the nest on a branch in front of our driveway in the winter. Yes, I remember that. But I never remembered the name of hornet. Now I know.
Then our music-teacher friend brought up the topic about “eating hornets’ larvae in Japan”! Have you heard about it? Have you seen it? My husband said he tried it in Japan long ago. I don’t think I had tried it before.
I believe you are really curious and interested in it, so here are videos for you. How do you like it?
8/24/2024.
I love my town, a university town, a small size town named "Oxford" that sounds like a somewhere in England. There are many talented wonderful people here. I love that. One of them, the wonderful professor-mother just published her book. And of course, I purchased it. (I have to confess though. I know another wonderful novel author in town. She moved from here though. I couldn't buy her book at that time because it looked very hard/heavy to read to myself. It is a historical fiction novel. A big book. This time, I bought it anyway.)
I finished reading it and am loving it very much.
8/23/2024.
Our son in Idaho Updates:
He sent us a photo of the woods he was seeing. Wildfires in Idaho hasn't stopped yet, unfortunately. He and his team with other teams will be digging ground to prevent spreading wildfires. I will think of their safety and I admire their efforts and works. Please be safe.
8/22/2024.
This coming new semester is a bit different for my husband. One course he will teach is for 300 students. The room has to be big enough and it has to be accessible for everyone and him (wheelchair). He uses a room in the different building which is next to the biology department. Once again he went to check out the accessibility with his TA. Looks it all sets.
Entry#294. 8/21/2024.
The other day, I just thought about U-Pick or Pick-Your-Own strawberry farms. It’s a season off event right now, I know. Have you tried it before? Of course you do. You might be a regular customer at a local farm, every season. Especially kids love it. I remember I did it in Japan when I was a kid. I took our son to pick strawberries when he was a kid. Then my mind went to the subject “how about accessibility?” like as usual these days. Just a thought. There are two interesting things that got my attention.
But first of all, I have to say this. To be honest, my husband and I haven’t done strawberry picking together in Ohio since 2008 we moved in, even before his accident. So I’m looking up information about accessibility at the farm just because of my curiosity. My husband doesn’t say “I want to go picking strawberries”, no. I don’t think he is interested in it. (Not a high priority) I was thinking “How about disabled children? How about elder people?” Do you know something about it?
I found two articles. There are wheelchair accessible Pick-Your-Own Strawberry Farm in the States and the UK!! Did you know that?
This has a video also.https://www.wcjb.com/content/news/A-sweet-idea-makes-strawberry-picking-handicap-accessible--509081341.html
It says; Rogers farm opened up a small area for people who can't bend to pick strawberries right off the plant. The plants their handicap u-pick are growing out of irrigation pipes that they repurposed as planters. The idea raises the sweet treat high enough to pick the berries off the plant without bending.
This farm is in Scotland (!) It looks so perfect for anybody, everybody!!https://www.simplyemma.co.uk/strawberry-picking-in-a-wheelchair-cairnie-fruit-farm/
It says; The strawberries were placed on top of tables so it was easier to pick them and no bending down.
So the KEY is “elevated” or “raised up” planting system. It’s really nice to know about it.
Then I remember something about this system. It gets very popular in Japan! Did you know that? I guess that most of U-Pick strawberry farms in Japan have this elevated system. Can you imagine? Also they provide “All you can eat” strawberries to people!! (Like an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant).
https://dreamerbyday.ca/2022/03/strawberry-picking-in-japan-hunting-for-ichigo/
So as we can see, it is wheelchair accessible in Japan for picking strawberries. Great to know??!
Entry#293. 8/19/2024.
The local K-12 school has started already earlier than Miami University. I think of my former colleagues (teacher-friends, educator-friends and EA-friends) thinking back to our old good days.
I was an assistant school librarian for a while. I loved my library job very much. Also I loved watching students' school activities and their sports/clubs. I was curious about everything because I didn't grow up in the States, all my childhood experiences happened in Japan. I sounded and acted like a stalker to students at that time, I think so. I sent cheers to them by school emails. I visited their meets and competitions if they happened nearby. I was eager to ask them "How did you feel?" "How did it go?" often. Normal adults don't act like that to school students, do they? I didn't mind at all at that time, that was "me" anyway.
As you can imagine, several students responded to me with a lot of information and their own honest thoughts. They were sweet. They taught me a lot. I was grateful more than you think. I was happy about our connections. Visiting the High school Graduation in May became my tradition since. I still go. However the next one might be my last one because Class of 2025 was my last class that I watched at school (and I still remember them pretty well).
Once my new normal life with my husband started, the connection with students naturally subsided. When you don't have information about runners (conditions, speed/paces and their aiming goals), you can't cheer them "right" (I know we can cheer them anyway, no matter what. I do know that.) When I cheer for them, I want to know their names and their PR times (that's my old habit from my old BIG FAN era for XC teams) so that I could shout out their names on the course. Well, I don't know that any more. It is okay.
Then guess what next? Do you know Strava?
This is an article "Everything you need to know about Strava"
https://www.canyon.com/en-us/blog-content/advice/how-to-set-up-strava/b19032021.html
My husband started using Strava before I did. It was before his accident. It is now an essential tool for recording his handcycle logs. (distances, paces, speeds, heart rates and more) I am loving using Strava as well. Because? Because of the “following/ followers” system. It’s very similar to other any social media. However the connection in the Strava system is always about sports. I have several athletes that I can see their sports activities through Strava, including high school/ middle school Cross Country runners.
So you see what I want to say? I still can go visiting their home meet to cheer them up because I can see how hard they do training.
Do I still sound like a stalker? Hmmm?
It's "the Beauty of Strava!" Yes.
8/18/2024.
Have you seen "Five Rivers Fountain of Lights" in Dayton???
https://www.metroparks.org/fountain-of-lights/
My husband took me a casual long ride. He said "casual", but it was kind of a heavy-long ride to me. We headed towards Dayton. At the almost turning-around point, my husband saw something extraordinary ahead of us. It looked a Big Fire hose (like from a fire truck). We were still several feet away from there, tried to watch it closer. However it stopped right away.
We looked it up later on and learned about it. It is one of the world's largest fountains!!! In the world! Whoa. I do admire Dayton's work really. I need to ask about it to my friends in Dayton.
8/17/2024.
Sometimes your husband gives you a tiny item which makes your life joyful, doesn't he? My husband gave me a small stamp!! You know? I'm LOVING it.
Entry#292. 8/17/2024.
My husband found a "Frontwheel" in 2022. It is a wheelchair attachment. It's his 'must'-item to go anywhere. I need to make sure it's in our van all the time. He searched about this kind of attachment before he purchased it. There are two kinds in the market, Freewheel and Frontwheel.
https://rgkwheelchairs.com/wheelchairs/power-solutions/frontwheel.html
He was loving his Frontwheel from the beginning. I wrote about it in Nov 2022. SeeEntry#99.
It is his must-item and it is an important item indeed. However I haven't done "regular maintenance" for this. I should have thought about it seriously, like wheelchair wheels and handcycle care. I do pump his wheelchair wheels/tires once a week. I pump his handcycle every time he rides. See?
But I just forgot about Frontwheel care. I am bad.
Luckily we found "one missing bolt" on Frontwheel before something bad happened. It was a very critical issue. I was scared and relieved thinking about "what if". From now on, I put it on my routine check-list, so that I would feel safer.
There is no harm in being too cautious. True?
Entry#291. 8/15/2024.
In honor of The First Day of the school year (in K-12 schools), I looked back on my old days at schools as an EA (Educational Assistant. School Library assistant). I stood in the hallway in front of the library to greet students who were coming back from a long Summer break. Everyone's faces shone with both excitement and nervousness. Good days indeed.
Then I remembered about "Dial combination Padlock for school lockers". Sounds odd? It was interesting to me because there was nothing like this situation in Japan, at Japanese schools. Not at all.
At that time, most kids (I felt like that) had to learn how to use the "Dial combination Padlock" and how to open it. So is it very common to everyone in the States? Parents have to teach their children how to use it before they go to school?
In fact, I needed to refresh my brain about that sequence every year before school started. Funny?
In Japan, in general, they use 3 digits combination locks like this below. It is easier compared to USA school locker locks. Yes? I think of my former teacher friends and hope their new school year started smoothly with less-lessons on how to open those locks.
Now I wonder. I want to ask my nieces and my husband's niece "Do you know how to open them?"
8/15/2024.
I was not so curious about Paralympic Games before. Even at Tokyo Olympics/Paralympics 2020 (in 2021), I didn't watch much on TV. I should have been interested about it, I feel bad a bit. Now, I am interested in it. After we started our new normal life with SCI (Spinal Cord Injury), things I am curious about has changed for sure. Plus my running as a hobby stopped and my cycling is my joyful thing. I watched both Tour De France and Road cycling race at Olympic.
I am excited to watch "Handcycle races" at Paralympic starting from 9/4 to 9/7! Will you watch them?
Entry#290. 8/13/2024.
I'm going to write about our son who was born in Manhattan, KS in 2002. His parents are both Japanese (as you know). We all speak Japanese at home all the time. He is totally fine to communicate with Japanese people using Japanese. However he cannot use "polite forms" of Japanese language which is kind of important skills to live in Japan mostly. It might sound interesting to you. He can read some of Japanese characters (alphabets), but not all. He cannot read Japanese novels, but I believe he can read through Children's picture books.
I gave up on teaching him Japanese at some point when he was young, so some parts were my faults. It was interesting though. He took Japanese classes which was offered by Miami University during his high school years. Seemed he enjoyed it.
It was also interesting that he mastered unicycle, juggling, and more without any classes. He was into rock climbing after he joined in youth climbing team.
I have one old memory of him that I never forget from his Kindergarten year.
His PE teacher talked to me when we met at the school. She asked me "Can you skip?"
See? You might wonder? I was surprised very much. What? Can I SKIP?? Yes, of course, I can skip. I showed her my skipping. What did I do? Did I do something wrong?
She explained to me. It was about our son. He wasn't able to skip during the PE class, he had no idea how to skip. I was shocked, you know? I didn't even think about it. Was "skipping" what parents had to teach their children??
Well, I talked to him after he was home and skipped together. Funny? I never forget this funny memory.
That boy is now 22 years old. I don't think he remembers this "skip" story.
Do you skip??
Entry#289. 8/11/2024..
My parents in Sapporo, Japan often babysit for their two granddaughters. (the 2nd grade and kindergarten) My mother shares many stories about them. They go swimming lessons this summer. That reminds me of my childhood a long time ago. I remember my summer swim lessons when I was a kid. It was a 25 meter long pool. My summer course's goal was "completing to swim 1000 meter". (I'm not sure if I remember it right though. It is an old memory.) At that time, I stopped and stood up each 25 meter. That means I had 40 resting times to finish swimming 1000 meter. Well, I think I made it to the end. It was one of my interesting summer childhood memories in Japan. After our son was born in Manhattan, KS and moved into Oxford, OH in 2008, I put him into a summer swimming program in town. It was not in a swim team at all. I wanted to give him an opportunity for a USA swimming lesson. I wanted to observe how American swim coaches teach younger kids “how to swim”. Then I saw they taught kids “how to tread water”! Well, you might wonder “why I was so surprised”. First, in Japan, there is no lesson to tread water. (I think I’m right. If I’m wrong, let me know, people in Japan.) This is a funny part. I can “swim”. I can float, do free style, back stroke, breast stroke, and mimicking butterfly(!). Yes, I can swim, I can say that. However I cannot tread water. That’s a shocking fact, isn’t it? There is a certain swimming program in Japan, of course. Most of elementary schools in whole Japan have their own school pools. They have a swimming curriculum for each levels of grades. It’s a requirement for all kids. But no teaching how to tread water. (Strange?) I was pleased that our son got the lesson and he does tread water now, of course. Wait, do you tread water??
https://www.swimnow.co.uk/featured/treading-water-7-steps-to-staying-afloat/
8/10/2024.
Several news about wildfires come in my news feeds on social media. Sometimes it just slips away from my thoughts. However I need to keep thinking of Idaho/Montana wildfires these days. I will keep praying for people's safety in these areas. Because our son is currently on his mission as a part of his job until mid of October in Idaho. Hopefully he will learn and grow through this experience and opportunity. Stay safe, son.
8/09/2024.
I think I pedal a lot these days. To be exact, my husband does handcycle a lot and I just follow him. Look at the stats. Year-to-date. In 2024 (from January) I rode 70(!) times. The total distance is almost 900 miles. (My husband's distance is almost 1000 miles!!) I am pretty happy about that.
Entry#288. 8/08/2024.
My husband and I had a great experience of adaptive kayaking at the Ohio River Paddlefest 2024. Thanks to several organizations: The Bridge, Adventure Crew, The Motz Moves, The Great Parks and more.
https://www.thebridgeadaptive.org/
https://themotzgroup.com/about-us/motz-moves/
https://www.greatparks.org/parks/miami-whitewater-forest
https://www.adventurecrew.org/
Here, the official site of Ohio River Paddlefest
https://www.ohioriverpaddlefest.org/photos-media
I learned a lot about the event itself as an able-bodied person. Also I learned more about adaptive kayaking from a point of view of disabled people. Everything worked out pretty well. I was grateful and thankful for all helpers/volunteers' efforts and thoughtfulness.
Imagine that you float on the Ohio River (the Big one) with over 2000 kayakers/canoeists/paddleboarders. An amazing view and amazing feeling indeed.
It was different from kayaking on lakes because there was current on the river (water was moving). (On a lake, you go back to a starting point to finish.) There was a starting point and the finish point (of course).
On the other hand, several lake places have "self launcher systems" which I wrote about before.
Here is from Great Parks website:
An accessible canoe/kayak launch was completed in April 2016 and meets requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It is a floating dock equipped with a “Universally Accessible Transfer System” that allows an unassisted individual with a physical disability to access a canoe or kayak. It consists of a bench that slides over onto a railing system that allows the individual to sit down into a canoe or kayak.
This is very nice only if you have your own kayak. It is good to know about it and understand the opportunity/ possibility.
Back to the story of Ohio River Paddlefest 2024.
I want to introduce TWO important devices/equipments for disabled kayakers (especially for SCI people = full-time manual wheelchair users).
1. Transfer Bench
(From a website)
The paddler slides to a transfer board, positioned directly above the kayak seat. Adjustable handles enable the paddler to remove pressure from the transfer board, which is then removed – freeing the paddler to lower down onto the kayak seat.
2. Kayak Chariot (Cart)
(From a website)
This unique design allows transfers on a flat level surface (like a parking lot) by positioning the cockpit rim at wheelchair height. With the paddler in the kayak, the rig can be rolled into the water and floated off of the chariot – making most water entry points (like boat ramps) accessible. Disassembles for easy transport.
The Bridge owns these sets for their adaptive kayaking program. (For now, just one pair.) How much disabled kayakers feel safer and more confident because of these devices. Very much. It takes more time to be ready than able-bodied kayakers. But it was a smooth transition more than everyone thought. I can say that.
Then I want to point out TWO more important "transportation" services related to Ohio River Paddlefest 2024.
1. Wheelchair transportation.
My all-time concern is "wheelchair location". It sounds a bit funny, but it is always serious to my husband. Because his wheelchair is "his legs" and a part of his body. I need to make sure his body is all one-piece together. At this kayaking event, I was hungry to get the information of "who transfers his wheelchair and how". If nobody, I should do it by myself.
One of Adventurer Crew members volunteered to take care of 3(!) manual wheelchairs. We were really fortunate. Without him, this event wouldn’t happen at all. That’s true. He picked up 3 wheelchairs at the starting point after disabled kayakers rode into kayaks. Drove up to the finish point to transfer 3 wheelchairs and waited for us to arrive.
Thanks to him, I was able to kayak with others. It meant a lot to me. I thanked him so much.
2. Accessible shuttle bus service.
Okay, I confess. I kept worrying about this in several weeks. What kind of bus do they have for Paddlefest? What if they cannot accept 3 wheelchair users at once? So many “what if” questions in my mind.
And they were “school buses”!! My husband hasn’t ridden in a school bus yet after his injury. So it was a nice experience to both of us. It just took longer time to get ready (so many security gears for wheelchairs), so other able-bodied riders had to wait extra minutes on the bus. (I felt a bit bad for them.)
They spread 3 wheelchair users to two groups, 2 on one bus and 1 on the other bus. (I didn’t know why, though.) But it worked anyway. And as you can guess, I was all smiling during the transportation by the shuttle (school) bus. I was happy.
Entry#287. 8/06/2024.
Japan is an interesting country as I wrote before. The Japanese calendar year starts from April. Schools start from April and end in March. The first day of the school year is always in April. The last day of the school year is always in March. Graduations happen in March. (Companies are the same. Business year always starts in April.)
Summer break = (only!) 40 days (7/20 to 8/31)
Both Spring break and Winter break = about 10 days
School sports and clubs system is very different from the US system. Students cannot be in multiple sports. If you decide to join a baseball team in high school, you play baseball all year long(!) for a full 4 years until you graduate. There is a summer team camp during Summer break. It's full of commitment for one sport.
I don't think that Japanese students do sports plus other clubs like any music clubs (brass, orchestra, koto, chorus). They usually pick only one activity. I might be wrong because I don't have any latest updates about the latest school stuff.
So I often feel that our son was so lucky and fortunate that he had many opportunities to experience several sports and clubs. Summer camps in the US are wonderful. Our son did a circus camp, a climbing camp and so on.
One Summer I had a nice experience. (It's now a long long time ago.) One of my friends held a Summer Writing camp at the local community art center. She was an instructor who lectured about "writing" for young kids. I was very curious about it and asked her if I could attend. She generously said yes. I was in that room where there were young kids who love writing and want to be better writers. I was the only adult there. I had no idea what happened during this writing camp. I just wanted to observe it.
The instructor (my friend) said, "I give you 10 minutes and you write as much as you can in 10 minutes. Any topics, any themes. Okay?" She included me, sending an eye signal.
Then she said, "Ready? Go!"
What? Wait. What am I supposed to do? What?
Everyone in that room started writing. The room got totally silent. Just only handwriting sounds. The black pencil color quickly covered white paper. They wrote with that quick speed. I was astonished very much. On the other hand, I froze. I couldn’t write much. I didn’t get used to writing at that time. Not at all.
I believe I could do some writing in 10 minutes now, getting used to it because of my blog.
Then, after 10 minutes passed, the instructor (my friend) told us “Okay. Who wants to share your story?”
What? As you can guess, most of kids there raised their hands eagerly to share. I was impressed. I just cannot. No way. (Because I didn’t write much.)
This whole experience was very new and very fresh to me at that time. Because this wouldn’t happen in Japan at all. It was one of the eye-opening experiences. I still remember it vividly.
Also I admired my writing-instructor-friend very much.
How much can you write in 10 minutes?
Photo: This wonderful lady spent 6 weeks in Japan (in May and June). I was so curious about her experience. She shared her stories with me. It's so precious that we both now understand two different cultures with similar feelings.
8/04/2024.
Tomorrow is the first day of his first job for our son. Guess where he is now?
8/03/2024.
WE DID IT!!! The Ohio River Paddlefest 2024. We made it to be there to paddle 4.5 mile (3.9mi on Strava) (with other over 2000 attendees). Can you imagine? Details are coming later.
8/01/2024.
I was doodling the other day. Funny. It's still hard to draw a bicycle even though I pedal a lot more than before. I should know better for now.
And it's harder to draw a handcycle and a wheelchair to me. Hmmm
Go back to.the last month
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