October
10/30/2024.
My sweet veterinarian friend who has two children (both ran Cross country with our son at high school) stopped by my house a while ago. She got a new car: Mini Cooper! It looked so cute and nice. Then I was astonished seeing something super different. Do you know "LED Door projector" thing??? I was just simply impressed.
Then if you discover "bicycle angel wings tail light", your eyes will be opening wide.
10/27/2024.
My pansy update:
I got yellow pansy from my wonderful sweet friend (she is my forever mentor) for my birthday. I love seeing pansies wherever they are. However I gave up to purchase them by myself a long ago. Because of deer. I tried them several times with hoping many blooms. But they were all gone the NEXT DAY. Deer munched them. Sad.
I was happy that she gave yellow pansy to me. I kept them inside this time!! And they started blooming more each day. My smile grows each day. So much fun.
Entry#318. 10/26/2024.
I haven’t attended the weddings much, not much. Less than 10 times, so far. Since my husband and I are originally from Japan, we are not so familiar with American (western?) style wedding ceremonies/receptions. But we know some from movies, of course. We are movie lovers. (By the way, in Japan, there are no dance times in the wedding receptions, no dance at all. Interesting? No first dance, no mother-son dance, no father-daughter dance. You got curious, maybe?)
Even though I haven’t experienced much weddings, every time I get the invitation card, I get excited. Wedding is always fun. It’s always happy atmosphere. Dressing up is fun.
We attended the wedding reception tonight. We are lucky enough to know both the groom and the bride. The highlight of tonight was “surprise reunion”!! You should laugh. I was super loud and crazily shouting with maximum joy! They were “our baristas” 3-4 years ago. Our bonding got stronger after my husband’s accident. I was super happy tonight. Yes, wedding is always fun. And I was so happy and proud (!) that my husband cleaned himself up very nicely. Love it. How about me? I’m giggling.
10/26/2024.
Our recent autumn cycling/handcycling update. Here are photos for you. Each one is different day. I'm so loving to pedal seeing fall gorgeous colors very much. I bet you see beautiful colors at your places.
Entry#317. 10/26/2024.
Today’s entry is for my music-lover friends (music teachers, band directors, choir singers, music writers and so on). My mother in Japan is a current choir member. It’s a community choir group. They are my mother’s generation people. Unfortunately they don’t perform for the public. They sing together for fun and joy. However I really want to listen to their singing.
They have 5-7 songs to work on. I ask my mother about the list of the songs each month. It’s fun to ask about them since I used to sing in an elementary school choir group. I still remember songs I sang. This comparison conversation with my mother is wonderful to me.
I’d love to share the songs here. It’s from YouTube that I found randomly. At least you know how it sounds like. You would love it.
I love that my mother keeps singing. Hope it goes forever really. The best part is that my mother's sister is always together to sing in the choir. Wonderful.
Entry#316. 10/25/2024.
My husband participates in several events provided by The Bridge Adaptive Sports and Rec.
https://www.thebridgeadaptive.org/programs-2024-all/calendarWe are thankful and grateful for involvement in this wonderful organization. Thanks to them, my husband can try several adaptive sports comfortably with many great sources and information. If they need some help or extra hands, we would love to use our time for them. There might be a possibility they might need operational/usable handcycles right away. My husband offered the director of the Bridge that they could borrow his handcycles to use. Two of them. It’s my turn to take an action. These two machines had to be checked for conditions, brakes, gears, shifting and seating settings before someone uses it. So I did. Fun part was “test ride” time! Yes, I did test ride on them. It feels so different (than any bicycle) but it feels so fun. You should try it, I mean it.
Side note: I wrote about the other handcycle (an off road style, but a tricky one). I checked up on this as well. The mechanical system, brakes and gears, is different than other 3 handcycles. However I noticed that it was rear-drive system, but one-rear-wheel-drive system(!?). My husband and I didn’t realize about it before. We thought it was both-rear-wheels-drive without any doubt. Well, we know now about the actual system. We both laughed about it. Photo below is the one.
10/23/2024.
Aaaaaaand Lights Up!
10/22/2024.
I am a street mural lover. I just love them wherever they are. When my town, Oxford announced the new mural project, of course, I got excited. And I was curious about the artist the city picked. I found the Youtube video about her. She is (of course) from Oxford! Now I wonder "why she picked the red fox". Ohio origin? I look forward to reading the reason of Red Fox somewhere in some articles. I love this brand new mural. And her original art technique as well. How do you like it?
Entry#315. 10/19/2024.
Our son has been doing a seasonal job in the forest in Montana/Idaho area. It’s a part of Montana Conservation Corps jobs. He still works on looking for a real permanent job. Lately he shared his thoughts with us and he mentioned about Colorado fourteeners initiative that he is willing to do something for them next.
https://www.14ers.org/who-we-are/our-mission/
Have you heard of it? We are Colorado 14ers Lovers for a long time since our son was still a young boy. In fact, my husband and son introduced me about CFI.
If he could find something to do for them soon, that’d be awesome. I love his idea.
You might be curious.
We (3 of us) had our tradition before my husband’s accident. I was in a some parts of it. Not all of it because I joined them several times, once in 2-3 years. Their future goal was hiking up all 54 fourteeners, one by one, each summer. Yes, all of them. It would take many years to accomplish, but they really enjoyed the process of their dream planning.
Right after my husband’s injury, I immediately stopped looking at any Colorado trip pictures. That was a natural reaction by myself because I was thinking “We never climb up 14ers anymore with his Spinal Cord Injury.” That made me think “I should not look back at our Colorado trips. Not anymore.” Just like that. Interesting?
Even I stopped looking back any rock climbing memories, both inside climbing gyms and outdoor climbing sites. It was okay with it to me.
However our son continued “our” tradition with his own way/style, he took his friends to Colorado areas and climbed up 14er with them, one at a time, kept counting his numbers of 14ers. I am grateful and happy for his actions. He shares every stories in Colorado with us, my husband and me. We are thankful for that.
My thoughts have been changed as well. I am now looking at our old Colorado trips’ photos. And guess what? You would love to hear it. My husband has been thinking of climbing up two of 14ers with his handcycle in future someday. These two mountains are popular/famous to handcyclists as “very hard/tough but fun challenging for handcycle”! See? He found his new goals in future and that totally fits us as Colorado 14ers Lovers.
I put photos here, from our Colorado trip in 2021. His accident happened after this trip. I know his new goals will be not so easy but I admire his thoughts. I will follow him wherever he goes.
Entry#314. 10/17/2024.
I graduated from Hokkaido University 北海道大学(ほっかいどう だいがく) in 1997. I moved out from Sapporo then got married in 1999.
I was in the lab in senior year to do a tiny research project using frog eggs (xenopus). Most of the time, I injected mRNA into frog eggs under a microscope. Observation after was the main task to watch how they developed. Are you getting curious about this? Yes, I took care of many frogs, both female and male. There were many water tanks/ aquarium tanks which had to be cleaned and refilled frequently. Are you familiar with these images below?? In case you wonder, I observed eggs' development. However we didn't make them grow to adult frogs. We didn't try.
Japanese University systems (undergraduate programs) are different from American/Europe systems, I believe. (Of course each university is different.)
Lab time was only one year in senior at that time in my department. (All have changed these days, I believe.)
I was a bad student (I can say that.) Because I don’t know university fight song nor Alma mater song. I don’t know which year it was built. I dont know much about the history. Yes, it sounds I was a bad student.
I noticed they built a great museum on campus in 1999. I didn’t know that. Our son visits my parents in Sapporo by himself when he traveled to Mongolia in 2023. He had a chance to visit this museum, Hokkaido University Museum then. https://www.museum.hokudai.ac.jp/english/
It is a bit strange that he visited the Museum where I never visited, but it was a museum about my Alma mater.
In fact, I brought my son to my college when he was 2 years old. There is no chance he remembered.
It’s all good memories by now. My husband’s research started for the first time at Hokkaido University.
When my husband attended the meeting in Atlanta this summer, he reunited with his first mentor-professor from Japan. It was so wonderful, meaningful and joyful to meet him again. You wonder? Yes, he was also my professor at that time (for a short time period). I had another instructor-professor for my research. But he was the head professor in the lab at that time. Here he is in the photo below.
10/16/2024.
She is my forever-mentor in Ohio. I visited her today and we chatted about many stuffs around each others. I have several wonderful friends and I always feel that I want to tell my parents about them, introduce them to my parents. Only if my parents live nearby....
Entry#313. 10/15/2024.
This story is the part2 of Entry.#296 (August 2024). We attended the annual Biology department picnic at the farmhouse of one of the professors. We were happy and excited to be there with my husband's off-road wheelchair. It is a bit hard to wheel for his daily wheelchair on grassy fields/ grounds. I am grateful that he has several options to pick for different ground surface conditions for his wheels at any occasions. Otherwise, he has to give up attending many events because of the wheelchair.
This time, I write about "Fun games on the fields using farm fresh eggs. Raw eggs!" Our annual biology picnic has had Traditions for a long time. (As long as I remember, we have had them since we started attending in 2008.) The host professor family is always generous and thoughtful, they always provide plenty of fresh eggs from their farm everyone there at the picnic. Because we have two games to play. I didn't know these egg games were so popular and common until I did google search this time. So everyone in the States should know how to play? (Maybe in the world?? I am not sure about Japan though.) Looks like that. (Whoa). I love both games even though I am BAD to play both.
Game #1: Egg Spoon race in the mouth. https://www.wikihow.com/Have-an-Egg-Race
It says; Having each player put the handle of the spoon in their mouth, balancing the egg as they walk. This will take extra balancing skills and more focus than carrying eggs in the hands.
Game #2: Egg tossing game (The farthest throwing pair will win).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e-8KKRU2rc
(England)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwNTIJkbLlw
(New Zealand)
Both games are always fun for everyone including youngsters, you know. However I haven't thought deeply about games until my husband said "I'm gonna join to play!". In fact, my eyes were wide open at that moment. Wait, what? Oh, you are gonna play with them in your wheelchair! on the grassy ground. "How" are you gonna do? Can you imagine that?
Basically wheelchair users would be able to play these kinds of games if only they play inside the gym or concrete surface places with sports-type wheelchairs (like wheelchair basketball). Not much worrying about falls or crushes. I am still not sure about the possibilities though.
However, this time, my husband was in an off-road wheelchair. It was on the grassy grounds. My mind went "How can you balance with a raw egg? How can you catch a raw egg from a distance?" How???
Well, my husband went off to the Egg Tossing Game with his student as a team, with much to my unease. It was very interesting to watch how he tried in his wheelchair.
You know? An off-road wheelchair is heavier and has not-much quick movement. If you want to catch a raw egg chasing the momentum, a wheelchair user could fall easily following that momentum. Right? It is surely a harder tusk than we imagine. So I was simply happy and grateful that he tried to play with them.
He didn't play the Egg spoon race though. We need to imagine how hard it would be if you were in a wheelchair, you need to carry a raw egg on a spoon in your month. Can you do it??? Of course, you need to push wheels to run/walk for the race. Don't forget "using your both arms" to wheel!
I can say it's always interesting to think "Wheelchair user Perspective". You would not know until you think that seriously. I am learning more. Are you?
10/15/2024.
This bike jersey says "Life is a Beautiful Ride". I love my fall bike jersey. You know? Bike jerseys have backside pockets (3 compartments) which are very practical and useful for cycling especially for long rides. Did you know that?
10/13/2024.
When you see fall colors during cycling, you have to stop and take photos.
10/12/2024.
When I see familiar faces on bike trails, I get super excited. Especially on the trail which is far from Oxford. It was an awesome coincidence. They made me smile more.
It was such a beautiful fall cycling indeed.
Entry#312. 10/12/2024.
It started like this. My husband got an email from the Bridge adaptive sports and rec. They are connected with the Great Parks. The Great Parks crews are building an adaptive Mountain Bike trail right now. They need a test rider to check the completion of the new trail. They want to know whether it is good to go or there are still sections to fix. So here he is, my husband showed up at the trailhead to be a test-rider for them. The FIRST test-rider of adaptive trail handcyclists. Fun.
It was much more fun pedaling on the brand new trail to my husband, more than we expected.
I imagine they expected having a real adaptive mountain bike rider like "Bowhead" or "Lasher".
Unfortunately, my husband doesn't own them. (You know, these are way too expensive.) My husband was lucky enough to try out to ride on them several times before through the programs provided by the Bridge and the Catalyst sports https://www.catalystsports.org/
You can see the "machines" atEntry#147 (August 2023) andEntry#65 (July 2022).
But we tried our best anyway. We brought 2 handcycles and tried both on the new trail. They built a wider trail and they aimed for "beginner-middle level". It has a section with up-and-down. We discussed several ground surface conditions and handcycle mechanisms. It was a nice discussion indeed. We were pretty sure that Bowhead/Lasher adaptive Mountain Bikes perfectly fit to this trail. They said this adaptive trail would open officially at the end of November 2024(!). That sounds exciting. My husband was so pleased that he was the first adaptive test-rider. We are grateful for knowing about Trail builders who try to build adaptive trails in the Cincinnati area. Sounds wonderful, don't you think?
P.S. You would be amazed (?!) by the fact that I loaded two big handcycles into our minivan. You know? I load his wheelchair with them as well. Did you say "Wow."??
Entry#311. 10/11/2024.
Do you have Monkshood in your garden? I do. I wrote about it last Octoberhere. I fell in love with their flower looks very much. It surely looks like a Monk's hood. I had an interesting incident about my Monkshood this year though. I learned the fact of "Monkshood is toxic". I was no-guard about Monkshood from deer. It is toxic and there is no chance that they munch them. Yes??
Then one morning, I noticed that all the leaves of Monkshood were GONE, so sadly. I was in shock. I was surprised. How? They were desperate to eat "anything" this summer because of dryness, I guess.
https://www.spnanyc.org/monkshood/. This website says:The roots and tubers of monkshood are particularly toxic and contain aconitine and related alkaloids. When touched, numbness occurs. When ingested or absorbed into the skin, diarrhea, convulsions, ventricular arrhythmia, and other symptoms develop, eventually leading to death.
https://www.poison.org/articles/why-is-monkshood-considered-a-poison--174#:~:text=Aconitum%20napellus%20(A.,most%20dangerous%20of%20these%20toxins. This one says: All parts of the plant, especially the roots, contain toxins. Aconitine is the most dangerous of these toxins. It is most noted as a heart poison but is also a potent nerve poison. Raw aconite plants are very poisonous.
I am not sure if leaves are toxic or not. At least, I didn't find any dead-body of deer in my yard. So they survived anyway. That was good. After I lost all the leaves of Monkshood, I gave up on seeing any blooming of them. However, guess what?? Yes, they bloomed without the leaves. I was amazed and I was happy to see the flowers that look just like Monk's hoods. Yipeeee.
Entry#310. 10/10/2024.
My husband is a T9-T10 paraplegic biology professor & handcyclist. I think this description is pretty accurate and my preferred/favorite description about him. I wrote before in Entry#38 April 2022 (here) about other paraplegics who inspire many people in the world. I still remember one of them strongly and I am following some news sometimes. It's Camby Nelson. Her husband is Zach Nelson. They are a very famous Youtuber couple now. I was very excited when I saw the front page picture of the magazine "NM New Mobility magazine" because Cambry and Zach Nelson were on it!
More exciting part was they were talking about a $999 manual wheelchair. They are making and doing business with them. That surprised me a lot and made me curious a lot. I started digging for information about it.
Then I nodded more and more reading their thoughts and their visions about the manual wheelchair business. Their actions and what they do are so brave and thoughtful. I admire them and I am grateful for knowing about them. You might not be interested in any info about manual wheelchairs. But to me, the fact that we could purchase a manual wheelchair for only $999 is a BIG NEWS really. The most important part would be "how accurate FITTING to an individual can be". His daily manual wheelchair works for him anyway (right now) because he did several adjustments by himself at the very beginning.
Replaced front casters (to bigger size).
Replaced brake system.
Changed the camber angle of wheels. (This adjustment needed to be done at the special shop.)
Replaced the footplate.
Changed the footplate height.
I was very uncomfortable, stressed and disappointed during these processes because he wouldn't need any extra adjustments if the FITTING was right. It is a bit complicated, I understand. I keep thinking and hoping "his next manual wheelchair should be the right size/angle perfectly".
So now there is a great chance/opportunity coming up. I know I still need to learn more about this Camby/Zach Nelson's $999 manual wheelchair. But you know? My eyes are twinkling and my mind gets excited enough anyway. Hopefully my tiny wish would come true.
Entry#309. 10/08/2024.
It feels the real fall weather arrived here in town (finally!). How's your weather? We keep pedaling as long as my husband can have spare time in sunny days. Only one condition bothers him though. Can you guess what? Leaves on the roads/trails! Since his racer-handcycle seat setting is too low, his face and whole body are too close to the ground. Leaves, pebbles, dirt, dust and puddles are all flying onto his face. Can you imagine? Even so, he still loves to pedal in nice cooler fall weather.
As you could compare, his upright-style handcycle is better than a racer on this condition.
I found a t-shirt and love it. Only cyclist can understand and chuckle reading the words on this shirt. Do you get it?
10/06/2024.
Our son @Idaho update:
He shared a video with us. He said he created it for fun. I’m so jealous looking at many tall trees surrounding him in Idaho. You would like his video as well.
10/06/2024.
I still want to thank all music directors (percussion instructors and more) at TMS/THS (current and former) who introduced my son and me "what marching band is" in year 2016 and 2017. I had no idea because I'm originally from Japan. I was too curious and I couldn't stop getting involved with this awesome program. Even I steeped into an indoor drumline world a bit thanks to the cool awesome percussionists.
Last night was wonderful. I made it to be at the marching band competition in Hamilton. It's been a while since I watched the real shows. Of course, our local high school band team performed there. I was simply happy to be there feeling whole atmosphere. The bonus was finding my previous school-library-"mini boss" there, coincidentally.
I admire all performers to create their shows with huge effort and dedication no matter what the team-sizes are. I think I LOVE production-shows, from marching band shows to Musical theater shows. I love them. Do you?
10/05/2024.
After I had a terrible awful experience of “wrong installation of gutter covers” (by Lowe’s contractor), I had a lesson and I do check and clean up roof and gutters quite often these days.
Just one problem. The front side of roof is too steep to climb on. I have to use a ladder to do a work. Sometimes my heavy ladder is too heavy to handle to me. Then I was struggling.
My husband was here to rescue(!). He ordered the extension tools for me. Have you seen these? Or do you use these at your house? We were excited to receive it from delivery. So I jumped in to try it with a dress. I need to practice a bit more but it worked out. We are happy to have it.
It’s hard to be a house owner but we are working on it, I mean “I am” working on it. Are you laughing??
Entry#308. 10/03/2024.
Our son seems to work hard with his team crews in the forest in Idaho as his very first job after he graduated from Miami University. (It is related to the Montana Conservation Corps. MCC) I feel I am a proud mom. With not-much cellular service, receiving some photos from him makes me happy.
Seems he has been enjoying his Off-work time as well, traveling around. It is definitely an advantage of youth. I am jealous.
He sent us two photos of the "Museum of Glass" in Seattle. Seems he loved this place. Sounds like it became one of his favorite places. I looked it up. It is called "Chihuly Garden and Glass".
https://www.chihulygardenandglass.com/
It reminded me of several things.
First, he had a try-it experience in Japan when he was tiny. Blowing glass. I wonder if he remembered it or not. (Maybe not.)
Then it reminded me of the KSU art museum. Kansas State University Beach Museum of Art. Have you been there? We lived in Manhattan, KS from 2001 to July 2008. I visited the Beach Art museum. Only one thing I remember vividly is the huge glass chandelier with color of fire(!). Do you know about it?
https://blogs.k-state.edu/beach/selected-works-from-the-marianna-kistler-beach-museum-of-art/
The photo in the Seattle’s Glass Museum website looks very similar to the glass chandelier. I thought so.
And yes, of course, it’s “similar” indeed because the chandelier was made by Chihuly himself!
My Manhattan friends, do you know this connection?? What fun.
I have to tell this story to my son. I have to tell him “You were there under the chandelier when you were a little. The same glass artist in Seattle museum!” He would be happy, maybe? I should tell him “You should visit KSU Art museum to see it by himself!”
I was very pleased to discover this coincidental connection. Hope my son felt similarly.
photos below: Our son sent them to us.
Entry#307. 10/02/2024.
My husband and I got married at the shrine in Okazaki city in Japan. It was at Tatsuki shrine. 岡崎城本丸 龍城神社 It was in 1999. “10.2.1999” were carved inside our wedding rings.
You can just click and see some photos in these websites. You might be interested in it. You would like it. It’s so Japanese.
https://www.tatsukijinja.or.jp/
https://www.tatsukiwedding.com/
My mother texted me this early morning to say happy 25th anniversary. She added “It is a Silver anniversary!” How much popular is this traditional anniversary name in the State? Do you know?
I found the list of them, from the 1st anniversary to the 60th anniversary. Lots of names! Did you know that?
My mother is always on top of any topics and she never miss family members’ special dates. I’m always impressed and amazed. I’m thankful for her tremendous kindness.
I wonder “How does she know these kind of information? Even before internet era, she always knew plenty of information.”
I asked her about it. Her answer surprised me. “Oh, you know. I can search with Google. It’s not my knowledge at all.”
Wait, mom, do you use Google?? I didn’t think you would. My mother is surely following the fashion of the day. I am impressed.
P.S. It was super sunny gorgeous day today. I mowed and cleaned up leaves and branches (finally) from the wind storm. I was smiling looking at my shiny backyard. Funny. We had a tiny celebration with Japanese meals (fish!) and sweets. Laughed a lot. We are not interested in "real silver" at all.
P.P.S. The website says; Silver is associated with the 25th wedding anniversary because it is a metal that represents durability, strength, and beauty. It is also believed to represent the strong sense of stability and warmth that a couple has developed after being together for 25 years of marriage. Just like silver, after 25 years of marriage, your relationship has stood the test of time and will last for many more years to come.
(Good to know.)
10/01/2024.
My husband traveled to Portugal for the conference a while ago before his injury. He got the apron and kitchen mitten for me as a souvenir at that time. I've never been to Portugal. As I wrote about our wonderful ballerina friend (teenager) who started an exchange program at Portugal Ballet school recently (she traveled from Japan alone.), these apron and mitten make me think of her often these days. Then I gotta search about the rooster!! Did you know about it?
I don't purchase event-shirts that I don't attend to. So I don't have any shirts from Frying Pig marathon and Air Force Marathon. But I bought one for me this time. Because I wanted to show off my shirt like "I am a proud wife!!"
Go back to last month,here.
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