OBACHAN'S SCRIBBLES

In California, hot humid weather is called earthquake weather -especially if there are clouds. That type of weather is very unusual, especially in the summer when it is usually so dry. It really puts people on edge (the weather -not the possibility of earthquakes). I am going to have to look for earthquake clouds.

As for the emailing someone everyday... I do wonder why you made the point that they are younger than your parents... hopefully something good.

Nosy me but do those conversations have any thing to do with the trip you are planning to take?
On another note I'm from S.F. and love that I live in a part of Calif. not known for earthquakes. I remember a stay in Osaka when I heard an earthquake coming down the hill and then it got to our house and shook us and went on down the hill. A short time later the Kobe earthquake hit but by then we had returned to Ca.
Good to hear about your life.

Nicole;
Yeah, I can imagine how people in California feel about earthquakes. That reminds me... There was a really nice woman who came to help us as a volunteer right after the Kobe earthquake. She was so sweet and I wonder how she is doing now...

I just tried a google picture search with "earthquake clouds" but to me many of them look like airplane track.

About the emails. I have had almost no social life since I moved into my parents house, which made me feel like a zombie because my parents had been the only people I communicate with--well, almost. And the conversation is repetitive and confusing and often consists of too many demonstrative pronouns... So I thought I would be overjoyed to communicate with someone younger than them. But I learned a lesson... It really depends on who the person is--not how old the person is. The conversation with him turned out more stressful, to be perfectly honest. :O

tototro kaiwa;
Yep. It has a lot to do with the trip that I HAVE TO take... Oh well, if there's no way to escape, all I can do is to try to enjoy it as much as possible, right? I will.

You are lucky that you were back home before the Kobe earthquake, it caused some damage to certain places in Osaka, too.

Hi Obachan,

I stumbled upon your blog last week when looking for a recipe and spent the last few days slowly reading through the past entries. I'm amazed and impressed by your blog and your wonderful pictures, and my heart goes out to you for having made such a big transition moving back with your parents.

Your parents are very lucky to have someone like you to take care of them. I understand that it is sometimes difficult to be a caretaker, but you are doing such an important, and often underestimated task. Now that my parents are getting older my sister and I are beginning to have conversations about what we should do to provide for them. Neither of us even live in the same country as my parents anymore, though thanks to cheap internet phones we call each other often. However, I sometimes wish that we were closer together so we could all care for each other, yet maintain our own social lives. Such a thing seems impossible right now though. I envy those who have family close by in a major metropolitan area, where it is easy to see friends and also mutually care for parents and children.

On a less serious note, I tried out your daikon wrapped gyoza last night. It was very tasty although after it was cooked a lot of the filling slipped out of the daikon wrappers. Perhaps I should have sprinkled more corn starch?

Please keep on writing and posting your beautiful pictures.