October
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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