Starry night on the prairie

I have spent most of the day attempting to make an appointment with an Endocrinologist. The lady I spoke with yesterday at the Topeka office never called me back. I finally found out this morning the Topeka office had never received the referral from the hospital. I called the hospital and spoke with the nursing supervisor. She called me back and assured me she had faxed it. I also called my primary doctor’s office and ask that they do so too.

After waiting a couple of hours I called the Endocrinologist office and ask to make an appointment. They had received the referral at last. However, the first available appointment is November 8 with a nurse. Really! Two months wait? I called my primary doctor’s office to see if they could get me in sooner and they said probably not. They told me I was welcome to attempt to find an earlier appointment with a different doctor in Wichita and they would fax a referral to them if needed.

Makes me wish I had gone to the emergency room in Topeka as they would have had an Endocrinologist consult with me while I was in the hospital.

I see my primary Doctor next Wednesday. His nurse said they will call then and see if they can get me on a list at the Endocrinologist doctor’s office so they will call me if they have a cancellation. The nurse told me this is normal and there is nothing they can do about it.

I don’t have a lot of trust and faith in the medical system anyways. This is making me have even less. Feeling a little discouraged right now.

Still having some blood pressure issues. It is bouncing from 155/80 down to 87/54. Hoping the medications will kick in and help it stabilize. Not sure I want to deal with these swings for at least two months. Wonder how long it will take to do a procedure if they decide I need one after the initial visit.

Oh the sorry state of medical care these days. It must be doing a great business if wait lines are that long. I have been surprised at the poor level of communication at the hospital. The doctor there seemed to think it was very important I see a specialist ASAP. Wonder if he knows about the delay and is OK with that.

It is what it is I guess. Trusting I can wait two months and not have a repeat of the thyroid storm.

Kathy and I went into Emporia this morning to get groceries so we can make food to take to Pioneer Bluffs tomorrow. Come see us for Jazz in the Barn at 7:30 and appetizers at 6:30. Cash bar available. Appetizers are $15. The weather should be beautiful for an evening of good folks and great music.

It felt good to walk while shopping this morning. I did OK and didn’t have a drop in my energy level or get a rapid heartbeat which I had been doing. I did have to go to bed last night at 8:15 as I was very tired. I slept off and on all night. Thinking it is going to take some time for my system to figure out what is my new normal.

My mentor called me this afternoon and did a healing on me. Maybe the specialist appointment is so far in the future to allow my mentor to help me heal myself without needing a specialist. I’ll take that option!

Enough with the depressing news! I have a better understanding as to what happened after talking to my mentor. Trusting things will resolve one way or the other and I can go about living my life healthier.

It is a beautiful day on the prairie again today. Love having the windows open so I can hear the insects singing and the chickens bragging about laying their egg for the day. All is well!

It was so good to be able to sit in my chair and watch the full corn moon last night. Just what I needed!

I took a nap after I got home yesterday. I was able to sleep five or six hours last night! Yes!

Got up this morning and went into town to get my new medications. I didn’t realize the pharmacies don’t open until 9:00 and I was in town by 8:00. Went up to the hospital to see Craig and Nicole and waited until 9:00 so I could go get my drugs and go home.

I spent the day mowing. I don’t think my grass has ever been this high before. At least it was easy to mow as I could tell where I had mowed. It is dry and dusty out there today.

Called the hospital to get my address and other information corrected. I didn’t do the normal registration process as they took me to a bed so fast. They still had my Twin Lakes address as well as other pieces of information that were no longer current.

I called the specialist’s office in Topeka to make sure they had received the referral from the hospital. Found out the doctor they referred me to no longer works there. The lady I spoke to is checking to see if the referral came in and promised she would call me so I know what I need to do from here.

Not sure why the nurse that called yesterday didn’t find out this information. With all the current technology you would think communications would go smoother. Guess not!

Last time I was referred to a specialist there was a problem getting an appointment. I had to find a different office that time and I was able to get right in. Maybe this is the universe way of telling me to find a different specialist. Anyone know a good Endocrinologist? I have to go to Topeka or Wichita as my insurance won’t let me go out-of-state or to Johnson County.

Nicole went back to KC mid-morning as Craig got to go home today. He is on restrictions until Sunday to let the heart cath groin sites heal. Trusting he will follow his doctor’s orders.

I have felt good all day. I did come in halfway through mowing to take a break so I could rest and not overdo it. My blood pressure has been good all day. I’ll be glad when I can get to the specialist and figure out how to deal with this long-term.

Still hoping I will get to go on my trip back east the 17th. I won’t know for sure until I find out when I can get to the doctor and find out what they say. Maybe they won’t have an opening until after the 26th.

Another beautiful day! Mid 80’s with lots of sunshine and bright blue skies with a light breeze. It could be like this year round.

All is well on the prairie!

Home sweet home! I was beginning to wonder if they were ever going to spring me loose but I finally got out around 2:30. They were trying to make an appointment for me with a thyroid doctor in Topeka and never did get that done. We had to ask them to remove the IV as they forgot I still had one in me.

I was impressed with the emergency room Doctor and his helper. I also liked the Doctor I saw yesterday. Not at all impressed with the doctor today. I wasn’t very impressed with much of the nursing care I received. They seemed to do only the basics and not sure even that got done most of the time.

Around noon today I didn’t feel very good. We struggled to get a nurse to come check me out. My blood pressure had jumped from 106/59 to 155/80. They didn’t seem concerned. Michelle made them come check my blood sugar and bring a blood pressure machine into the room so she could check it. My nurse never did come into my room to check me. Kathy finally found the Nurse practitioner and ask him about it. Kathy had been concerned my blood pressure was getting too low. He explained it is going to take several weeks before things level out and he expects me to have big jumps in my blood pressure up and down for a bit. I finally started feeling better and felt OK with leaving.

We went to my normal pharmacy to get the two new scripts filled. They don’t carry one of the drugs. We then went to another pharmacy. They said they had the drug the other pharmacy didn’t have. We dropped off the script and went to lunch. When we went back to pick it up after lunch we waited in the drive-thru lane for ten minutes and didn’t get waited on. I gave up. I will go to town tomorrow to pick them up. I was tired and wanted to come home.

Craig is having a heart cath this evening sometime. He looked better today then he did yesterday. Trusting things will go smoothly for him. The kids are taking turns being with him. I may go up tomorrow and sit with him if needed. I have to go to town anyways to get my meds.

So glad to be home. I am really tired. I did sleep some last night but I certainly can’t get much sleep in a hospital. Everytime I fell asleep someone would come in to do something to me. I took a shower when I got home to wash the hospital stink off of me. I put my pajamas on and am betting I will be in bed before the sun goes down tonight.

What an experience! Grateful I found out what has been going on. Trusting I will find a good long-term solution and will be able to manage it. So happy to be back home.

All is well on the beautiful prairie today!

Last night around 5:30 I started having bad chest pain that radiated up into my jaw. I decided I better go get checked out. I drove my car to find Kathy as she had taken Sophia for a walk. Kathy dropped off Sophia and drove me to the ER.

They took me right back to a bed and started drawing blood, started an IV and running tests. I really liked the ER Doctor and his assistant. It didn’t take very long before they figured out my thyroid was in over drive and causing me to be in what they called a thyroid storm. Luckily they caught it quickly and were able to quiet it down before I had a stroke or heart attack. My blood pressure was 214/120 and my heart rate jumped at times to 150.

They admitted me for observation.

I’m stuck in the hospital for at least one more night. My blood pressure is creeping up today and they want to make sure it doesn’t get out of control again. I am feeling much better. I’ve been up walking around several times today. The chest pain and shortness of breath is gone.

Nicole came down today as Craig got put in the hospital too. He is across the hall from me. Sometimes it takes an army to care for your parents. Kathy went to help Keith and Tammy out this afternoon. Jason will be up when he gets off work. Michelle came up and she and Nicole went to Craig’s house to get the dog and some stuff Craig needed. I walk over and check on Craig every thirty minutes or so. What a circus!

They have started me on some thyroid pills to calm my thyroid down as it is in over drive. I will have to go see a specialist to see what needs to be done long-term. Mom had her thyroid removed at some point. She then had to take pills the rest of her life. If the pills work to keep mine under control I may not need mine removed. However if I can’t keep it regulated they may have to remove it. Sometimes controlling it is hard – similar to controlling blood sugar. The level of activity you do can cause you to need different levels of medication. But unlike the glucose test for blood sugar there is no test I can do at home to help me determine how much to take. My body doesn’t always react to medication in an expected way. They gave me some Ativan to calm me down last night and I haven’t slept for a minute yet since I have been in the hospital. Maybe I need to try speed and see what it does.

I’m so grateful I have figured out what has been causing me to be so tired and have so much trouble sleeping which are other thyroid symptoms. I really struggled in Japan when I attempted to do the walk as my heart raced and I had trouble calming it down. I have sweated more this summer than I have ever done before and excessive sweating is yet another symptom. I knew something was up but didn’t know what. Grateful the ER Doctor figured it out rather quickly.

Trusting this is the end of the medical emergencies for me and my family. This is starting to get out of control.

Craig is having some heart issues. It may be a pulled muscle but they don’t want to take a chance.

Glad I am able to get up and walk around. I’m going a little stir crazy already. I have much sympathy for my brother who isn’t free to walk around easily. Grateful I am feeling better already and it is something that I can deal with. Grateful for my kids that have showed up and are helping out.

Thanks for all the prayers and good wishes. They are working!

All is getting better!

A bittersweet day as this is the 13th wedding anniversary for Nicole and Chris. Remembering the beautiful day that joined them together. Remembering a life that ended too soon.

This has not been one of my better days. I went downstairs to clean a bedroom. I didn’t feel really good but decided I couldn’t sit all day. I had trouble making it up the steps when I was done. My heart rate jumped and I was sucking air. Sat for a while and felt better. Went back downstairs and the same thing happened when I came back upstairs. What the hell? As long as I sit I do OK. May be time to call the doctor tomorrow. This sucks!

We had a wonderful time last night at a friend’s picnic. I ate way too much good food and then we sat outside and enjoyed the wonderful music. It was a jam session and so enjoyable. We enjoyed the almost full moon rise and shine on us. Some good friends drove us there and brought us home again. As my sister said in her Facebook post it was an evening of Kansas at it’s best.

Am working on washing linens for the third bedroom. Two down, one to go. Kathy cleaned most of the downstairs today. It feels so good to have a clean house. Over half way done thanks to Kathy’s help.

Trusting my day will get better. Think I will take a nap and start this day over.

Fixed some food this morning to take to my brother and his family. Keith is laid up for a bit and it will be hard for his wife to get out and go grocery shopping. Kathy gave her some advice on caring for Keith but Tammy is doing a great job. Life sure can change on a dime!

This evening Kathy and I are going to a picnic. Some friends are picking us up around 4:30. I went last year and had a really good time. It is a bit warm out today but there are shade trees and a nice breeze. I need to remember to put my jeans and tennis shoes on to reduce the exposed skin that the chiggers can find. I have the food I am taking fixed and ready to go.

Broke down and turned the A/C back on this morning. Sure glad I did as it was nice to walk into my cool house when we got back from Lebo. Looks like I’ll be able to turn it back off by Tuesday as a cold front is coming through and it will be back in the high 70’s then.

I have one bedroom completely done and the linens from another bedroom washed up. Tomorrow I want to get another bedroom cleaned and linens from the third bedroom washed up. I got the laundry room cleaned yesterday. Am taking a day of rest today and will get started cleaning tomorrow. If I can get two or three rooms a day done I will have the whole house detailed cleaned before I leave for the east coast.

Thursday I am going to KC to have lunch with some dear friends. I have a few things I need to get while I am there. Always good to spend times with friends.

Other than Thursday my calendar is clear all week. We may be going over to Lebo a couple of times this week to help out and give Tammy a break.

Reflecting on how things can happen and a normal routine gets thrown out the window. It can be tough to retain your center when shit hits the fan. My mentor calls it overwhelm. I feel like I have been in overwhelm again this summer. It seems to finally be starting to lift and I can find my center and hold it for longer periods of time again. Hard to find joy and happiness when one is in the middle of overwhelm. It helps to understand what is happening and to be able to recognize it when it does. Gentle self-care helps reduce the effects but sometimes I just have to ride it out.

Another hot day on the prairie. Summer is giving us one last blast of heat. Looking forward to Fall and the leaves changing and needing a sweat shirt when I do chores. All is well on the hot prairie today!

Oh what a night. I could not fall asleep last night until around 6:00 this morning. The good news is I got all the linens in one bedroom washed up including the mattress pads, bedspreads and blankets. Not sleeping is good for something I guess.

Kathy and I went into Emporia late morning so we could get some food to make lunch for tomorrow to take to someone who had an accident. I am going to make chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes, green beans and apple crisp.

We are going to a picnic tomorrow night so Kathy helped me make a potato salad to take to that. She is going to make green beans tomorrow and I will bake an apple crisp in the morning. It will be a beautiful day tomorrow and a nice evening to sit outside and enjoy good company and great food. I do need to remember to take bug spray.

Have been working on doing the linens from a second bedroom today. Still need to get the first one detailed cleaned and the beds made. Plan on doing that yet today and I might even get the second bedroom finished up. If I do one or two rooms a day I can get it all done before I leave for the east coast Sept 17.

It is warming back up again. One last blast of summer temperatures before the next cool down comes in on Tuesday. May have to turn the A/C on one last time. I got my electric bill and it was lower than the month before thanks to the cooler temperatures and being able to turn the air off.

Not much on my calendar for next week. I have something Saturday at Pioneer Bluffs to volunteer for and I want to go back to KC to visit some friends one day. Other than that I hope to get lots of housecleaning done. Trusting my mower will get to come home some time next week so I can get my mowing done. My grass is really getting tall. I still haven’t cleaned out the chicken coop so need to get that done soon.

I’m reading the nonfiction book “The Innocent Man” by John Grisham. It sure doesn’t instill much faith in our justice system. I cannot support the death penalty as I don’t trust that the system works in all cases.

Not sure what systems do work these days. Sure wish I was smart enough to know what the solutions are to some of the major issues our country faces these days. All seem so complicated. Guess if it was easy the solution would already be found. Greed and ego seem to be the root cause of a lot of the brokenness.

My friend who lives in Houston is volunteering at a Center they have turned into a store so displaced folks can get what they need. She said they have to stand in line for three hours to get a loaf of bread, some trash bags and a jug of Clorox. Maybe the solution is volunteering like my friend is doing. She is making a difference in the lives of the people who come to that center today. She was lucky in that her house did not receive any damage from the floods.

I am grateful to have a house to clean and to have a washer and dryer to make the job easier. My electricity works, my water is clean, I have food in the house, a working car and gas is available. Compared to the people in southern Texas I am very blessed.

All is well!

Spent the morning with a friend riding through her pastures on a four-wheeler looking at her horses. It was a beautiful day to be out in the pastures and connect with nature. I also saw the house they are going to remodel and move in to. I’m glad I got to see the before so I can really appreciate the after look. I’m sure it will be beautiful when they are done.

Stopped by Pioneer Bluffs to see Kathy before I headed home. While Kathy is gone I may fill in for her and needed to know where stuff like light switches are at. Seven hours in am empty house makes for a long day. May have to dig out some knitting to do if I cover a shift or two.

Found a house sitter for ten days in September! I so appreciate her being able to do so. She even has a friend that will come down and take care of the weekend the house sitter needed to go back to KC for. I am so lucky to have friends like this.

Now Kathy and I can put together our plans for our drive back east. My Facebook friend is busy both weekends I was going to be back so will have to plan another trip some time so we can meet.

John Deere called me yesterday and told me they figured out what was causing my oil leak. It will take a $25 part but $425 labor to fix plus $200 more for the other work they did to the mower. They have to pull the engine to get to the part that is broken. He said it might be done Tuesday. Dang! I just spent over $400 getting my car fixed and now this. Doing my best to keep the economy floating.

Need to do some deep house cleaning soon. It has been a while since I cleaned the woodwork and detailed cleaned each room. It is time to wash all the bedding up in each room too. If I do a room a day it will take me the rest of September to get it all done since I’m going to be gone for ten days. I have a group coming in the last weekend of September who I need to clean for. It would be nice if I can get a bunch done so the house is nice and clean for my house sitter too.

If I get real ambitious I need to wax my wood floors upstairs again. I will have to use a scrub brush and remove the old wax first. Last time I did that I got blisters on my knees. I love the look when I am done though. Times like this I wish I had a much smaller house.

Two weeks of empty space on my calendar at last. I have missed it. Trusting I can get some things done around the house. Winter feels like it will be here before I know it and I need to get some work done outside before it comes.

Down time. Rest time. Stepping back into my empty space. All is well!

Cooked a frozen pizza last night and blistered my outer lower lip when I took my first bite. Ouch! Not sure I have ever done that before. Usually I burn the inside of my mouth or my tongue. It is a bit sore this morning but not too bad.

Cleaned my dining room and kitchen floor so far today. I mixed up two loaves of banana nut bread to bake and had to clean the floor again. I am a messy cook.

Am working on putting together plans to make a trip back east in September. If I can find a house sitter Kathy will ride out with me and then fly back later. She may fly out if I can’t find a house sitter. I want to visit some friends in Maine and then meet a dear Facebook friend in NY if our schedules work out. Any one want to come stay at my house for ten days in September? We don’t have any definite dates locked in yet but looking at Sept 11 – 20. The dogs don’t bite, the cats ignore you unless you forget to feed them and there is a stick in the chicken coop in case the rooster doesn’t like you. It is a beautiful time to visit the Flint Hills.

August sure flew by fast. Today is only the fourth day all month I didn’t have something on my calendar to do. No wonder I am tired. I usually take three to four days a week of being by myself to refill and refresh. Looking forward to a slower pace for part of September.

I called John Deere this morning and they told me they had stopped working on my mower as they had some emergency repairs come in. He said they were hoping to get back to it today. Not sure I am impressed with their customer service or believe what they tell me. Trusting they will call when it is ready to come home but last time they forgot to call. My grass is getting tall.

My Face book memory for today reminded me that I was walking the Camino de Santiago two years ago today. In the fun of the eclipse the anniversary of starting the trip passed me by. I will enjoy my blog from two years ago that I turned into a hard back book and read about my days two years ago. Walking the Camino was one of the best things I have ever done in my life.

I put a chicken in the crock pot this morning. Between that and the smell of the banana bread baking my house smells wonderful. It is making me hungry.

Sitting with a quiet mind today and appreciating a day free of responsibility and commitments. It is wonderful to have a day where I can be and not do.

What a beautiful day on the prairie today. Fall is in the air! All is well!

Finished the mailing for Pioneer Bluffs this morning around 9:00. Kathy helped me glue shut the last two hundred of them. I worked on them off and on all night as sleep was hard to find. Good to get that project done.

I am not sure I am a fan of a bra that fits. My others were so big on me I couldn’t tell I had them on. This new one has felt tight all day. No wonder women can’t wait till they get home to take off their bras. I have never felt I needed to before.

I did notice that my shirt doesn’t gap like it did before. Guess when they are up north where they belong they help make a shirt fit better. Kathy said I looked perky! Feel like I have chosen pain to be perky. I’ll see what I choose tomorrow.

Can you tell I am not a fashion-minded gal? You will know I have really gone over the deep end if you ever see me in a cute pair of shoes. I gave cute shoes up years ago when my feet started hurting. Now that I have had my feet fixed I may try a pair of cute shoes to see if I can wear them now. I am more of a comfort first type of gal. We will see what happens!

Took my car to town to get the new filter put on it. They did it in less than an hour. I had fallen asleep in one of their waiting room chairs. I slept all of five minutes but it felt like I had slept longer. The guy felt bad he had to wake me up. At least FOX News wasn’t on the TV in the waiting room today.

Stopped and got some groceries after my car was done and then headed home. I forgot lettuce for my chickens and Epsom Salts. Need to remember to write things down as I can’t trust much of anything to my memory any more.

I did remember to take the back pack I had forgotten to take to Nicole to Michelle. Michelle is going to go see Nicole tomorrow. That worked!

This was going to be a week I had nothing to do. So far it hasn’t turned into that. Maybe the rest of the week and weekend will quiet down enough I can get bored. So far I only have a picnic on Sunday evening on my calendar for the rest of the week.

Tomorrow I hope to get the chicken house cleaned out. With the rain we had it got wet and smells more than normal. The chickens always enjoy fresh linens. They gave me 14 eggs so far today.

Another beautiful day on the prairie. Low 80’s with lots of blue skies and sunshine. Loving the fact that my windows are open.

My heart feels a bit heavy with all the stuff happening around me. I have two loved ones that have experienced major medical issues. My news feed is full of tragic situations unfolding in Texas as a result of the hurricane. The political stuff seems to continue to keep getting crazier by the day. Yet I know there is lots of good stuff happening around me too. Sometimes it is hard to keep it all in perspective and balance. May be time to step away from the news for a couple of days and reground myself. I want to be a positive force in this cray world and stay out of the muck pond. It sure seems easy to fall into it these days.

All is well on the prairie and in the world. Even when it doesn’t feel like it is. All IS well!

Made a fast trip up and back to KC today. I had lunch with Nicole at Chipolte. We then went to Victoria’s Secret so I could be fitted for the proper size bra. I don’t think I have ever been in that store before. I was wearing a bra size that is four inches too big around and several cup sizes too small. Oh my! I got those puppies back up north where they belong.

Nicole and I made a quick trip to Costco. After that I took Nicole to her house and then I drove home. One of two reasons to go to KC was to take Nicole the new back pack I had bought to use on the Camino in Spain and decided not to use. Of course I forgot it. Am going to have to figure out a way to get it to her by mid-week next week. If I only had a brain!

Came home to find the envelopes to the Pioneer Bluffs Newsletter had arrived. Kathy was already working on stuffing them. We are half way done and have stopped for a bit to take a break. I want to do one more box tonight and then I will only have one box to do in the morning. Sure helps to have a helper.

What a beautiful day outside today. Kathy had turned the air off today and opened the windows. There was a nice breeze blowing in while we were stuffing envelopes. I much prefer the windows open to having the A/C on when it is cool enough to do so. I have gotten used to the dust that blows in when the windows are open.

Need to get back to stuffing. At least when I do the Newsletter I feel like I have accomplished something. Most days I can’t seem to figure out what I did all day.

It is a beautiful day on the prairie today. All is well.

Not a good night for sleeping last night. For some reason my feet hurt and my skin felt like something was crawling on it all night. I didn’t fall asleep until after the sun came up this morning. Today I have felt like I have a bad hangover.

Took my car to the Toyota dealer to find out why the check engine light won’t stay off. I have a filter of some sort that needs replaced. When I ask what would happen if I didn’t replace it he told me at some point I will have trouble putting gas in the car. That is already happening. They didn’t have the part so I will have to take the car back Wednesday. I waited for over two hours today to find this out. The guy told me it will take an hour to fix it and I ask him if it was an hour like today. He had told me when I dropped the car off it would take an hour. He looked at his watch and seemed surprised it have been well over two hours. He told me it would cost almost $500. For a filter?

I haven’t heard if my mower is fixed. They called me this morning to ask some questions. I tried calling them this afternoon to ask if they were done but they didn’t answer the phone. Last time they worked on it they forgot to call and tell me it was done.

The Pioneer Bluffs Newsletter is being printed this week. I picked up what they had done this afternoon to get started folding and collating. Kathy helped me get half of them done this afternoon. We are taking a break and will do the other half this evening. I hope to finish the whole project Wednesday.

I’m going to KC tomorrow to go bra shopping with Nicole. That will be an adventure!

A friend came and picked up five dozen eggs while I was in town. Cleaned out my stash of eggs. Love when that happens.

Did some more push mowing last night so I could move my body. I sure got hot quick doing so. May go back out tonight and mow some more. It does feel good to move my body.

Sure wish I felt better today. I want to take my head off and shake it out to clear out the cob webs in it. I am really tired but know that doesn’t alway mean I will be able to sleep.

While at the car dealer I sat in a waiting room that had FOX news on. Over two hours of that gave me a headache! It seemed like they just repeated every 30 minutes the same stuff. Sure glad I don’t have a TV any more. I don’t think I am missing much.

Trusting tomorrow will be a better day. All is well on the prairie today – well except for my hangover. Next time I will get drunk and at least get some fun out of having a hangover!

My weekend guest just left. We had a fun weekend. She takes care of her elderly parents and needed a break. We really didn’t do much but had a relaxing time visiting. Sat outside and watched the sunset and then went back out to gaze at the stars after dark.

We had lunch at Ad Astra and dinner in Emporia. I did fix waffles and eggs for breakfast. It sure makes a more relaxing weekend for me when I have guests if we eat out.

We were going to go to Matfield to visit a mutual friend and see her new house this morning but the weather didn’t cooperate as we had a heavy thunderstorm move through about the time we were going to head south. I got 3/4 inch of rain in about 45 minutes. The ground is really soggy now.

I didn’t sleep much last night so may go take a nap. Have a bit of a brain fog today. All I want to do is eat and I know I am not hungry. Thinking going to bed is the best thing I can do for my body right now.

I have been seeing pictures of the flooding in Texas. I can’t imagine living through something like that. Holding them in my heart and sending healing energy their way.

Tomorrow I am taking my car to the Toyota dealer in Emporia to see if they can fix whatever is causing the check engine light to stay on. I have had the light reset several times but it keeps coming back on. Trusting they won’t try to fix something that doesn’t need fixed.

Hoping my mower will get fixed tomorrow. My grass really needs mowed. After the rain this morning it is going to grow even more. I did mow a path to the chicken coop using the little push mower so I didn’t have to high step it through the tall grass to feed my chickens.

Looking forward to some empty space this week. It has been a month since I have had more than one day at a time of empty space. After I take my car in Monday I have nothing else on my calendar all week. May try to get up to KC one day but other than that I want to stay home and enjoy the empty space.

I can barely keep my eyes open so think I will go lay down. All is well on the soggy prairie today.

We had a nice dinner last night. Michelle and Tim and their kids, Craig, Kathy and I had cream chicken and biscuits. Tim loaded up my mower and dropped it off at John Deere. Craig took the key to the mower to John Deere this morning. Craig told me it would be at least Monday before they can work on it. Trusting it isn’t too serious and it will be an easy and cheap fix.

Got up around 2:00 this morning after sleeping for three hours and did some laundry and cleaning. Never did go back to sleep so I am sleepy today. Finished five loads of laundry and got the guest room cleaned. Still need to make up my bed with the fresh sheets I washed. Got both upstairs bathrooms cleaned. Ready for my guest this weekend.

I sure am having trouble going off sugar again. Didn’t help myself make it easy as I made Eclairs for dessert last night. I sent most of the left overs home with Michelle and Craig. I couldn’t resist having a piece today though. Maybe I will start going sugar-free again tomorrow. I don’t like how I feel when I eat sugar but that doesn’t seem to help me resist it. I am a true addict!

Sure hope my mower comes back early next week. My yard really needs mowed. I had gotten the front yard done but not the back. I have to high-step when I go down to feed the chickens to step over the tall weeds.

I may go out and do some push mowing this afternoon. I really need to start moving my body again. Maybe that would help me feel better and give me some more energy. My ass is dragging today again.

After Sunday I have a whole week with nothing on my calendar. Looking forward to that as it has been a while since that has happened. Need to figure out something productive to do next week. I do want to go to KC for a day and go bra shopping. Nicole has convinced me I need a serious upgrade to the quality of my bras. She said she would go with me and make sure I got the right size and fit. I hate shopping but this almost sounds fun. I can’t remember the last time I bought a new bra. Thinking I am way overdue as mine are pretty stretched out.

I probably should care more about how I dress and present myself to the public but I can’t seem to muster much enthusiasm for that. I did notice when I was in Japan how nice the women dressed. Rarely did I see anyone in jeans or sloppy clothes like I wear. I had gotten a skirt a month or so ago and I have been surprised how much I have enjoyed wearing it. Maybe there is hope for me yet.

I need to remember to take my car to Toyota and fix whatever causes the check engine light to stay on. My local mechanic tells me it isn’t serious but I’m concerned if a second problem develops and I continue to ignore the light I will do serious damage to my car. Wish I trusted the local Toyota dealer better.

It is another beautiful day on the prairie today. It is to get up in the mid 80’s. I still have the air turned off as the nights are so cool. The forecast is calling for a gradual warm up so may have to turn the air back on. I sure like having the windows open better. I heard lots of coyotes yelling during the night. My dogs barked very loudly in response. The coyotes sounded really close but their bark carries over the hills and it is hard to tell how close they really were.

Time to get my ass moving. I need to get outside and get some Vitamin D. All is well!

I had two delightful guests last night. They enjoyed sitting in the swings to watch the beautiful sunset. They went outside after dark to gaze at the wonderful night sky. The moon wasn’t out so they could clearly see the Milky Way.

I fed them breakfast before they left this morning. They have done lots of International travel and it was fun to talk about places we had both been at.

I have another guest coming Saturday. This has turned into a busy week for the Center as I will have guests three different nights. I also sold a gift certificate today for a two-night stay and got an email from a guest requesting a two-night stay in September. I haven’t done much business this year and all of a sudden guests are coming. I haven’t had many one night guests before and rarely do I accept only one guest at a time. Maybe the Universe is wanting me to do a different type of business.

I had thought only having one guest at a time wasn’t worth it. It takes as much work to get the house cleaned for one guest as it does a house full. It sure is easier though only fixing one meal for them instead of five that I do over a weekend retreat.

I guess I will accept what ever business comes my way and see where this path leads me to.

Tim is coming out tonight to check out my mower. He may end up loading it up and dropping it off at John Deere. I bribed him to come out with a dinner invitation. I am going to fix creamed chicken and biscuits. One of my favorite meals so a bonus for me too. Kathy said she really likes them too.

After my guests left this morning Kathy and I went into Emporia to get groceries so I can fix dinner.

It is another beautiful day on the prairie today. The windows are open and I love hearing my rooster crowing and the hens celebrating when they lay an egg. It was so nice sleeping last night with the windows open and the cool air coming in. I almost got cold for a bit last night.

This has been a busy week for me. I don’t usually have more than one or two things on my calendar for a week. This week I only have one or two days with nothing on my calendar. Things will quiet down starting next week as I only have one thing on my calendar so far for it.

Trying to figure out when I can get back east to visit my friends at their camp in Maine. Not sure what Kathy is doing for sure yet so waiting to plan until she knows what she needs to do. If she leaves I will need to find a house sitter if I go on a vacation. We may go back east together and I drive home alone if she decides to stay. No rush to make plans so I will wait and see how this develops.

Still waiting to decide what to do about Fiji. Not sure I can handle their summer temperatures if they are like the temperatures in Japan. So far I don’t feel like committing to going. That may change but for now I am not doing so. Way back when I was considering it I felt like I had a caution and was to not commit too quickly. Glad I listened to it as once I sign up I can’t get my money back.

Sitting with lots of upcoming empty space. Right now that sounds delightful but guessing when I have a couple of weeks of it I will start getting restless. Sure wish I could find a good balance for myself.

Beautiful day on the prairie. Bright blue skies and no wind. I could get used to days like this! All is well!

What a beautiful day. Only 80 degrees with bright blue skies and very little wind. There is a hint of fall in the air. Windows are open and sun and fresh air is pouring inside my house.

I have two guests coming tonight. They ask me to fix them breakfast before they leave in the morning. I made some banana bread today and the house smells wonderful.

I have my house almost cleaned. A few last-minute touch ups to do and I will be ready for my guests. They haven’t been here before. Trusting they will enjoy their time here.

I mowed part of the yard last night. When I was done with the front yard I took the mower to the garage to fill it up with gas. I noticed it smelt hot. After I added gas I looked around and noticed there was oil on the garage floor underneath where I had parked the mower. I checked the oil level and it was very low. I have never had to add oil to it before. Sure hope I didn’t damage the motor by mowing with it when it was so low on oil.

I sent a message to my brother and son-in-law to ask them what I needed to do. Tim said he would come check it out for me and Keith said to take it in. Wondering if I hit the plug to the oil pan mowing last time I mowed. When Tim gets a chance he is going to come out and if he can’t figure out what is wrong will take to John Deere for me to get it fixed. It needs the blades balanced anyways as it is not mowing even. I don’t have any oil for it as I have never had to put any in it before.

I had never had trouble with this mower until this year. Not sure what is up with that.

A friend came today and got two dozen eggs. I had cleared my stash out Monday and gave each of my guests a dozen as a birthday party favor. I already had two more dozen and almost three. They sure add up quick when you get over a dozen a day.

Still haven’t recovered 100% from the trip to Japan. The brain fog has finally lifted but am still struggling with my energy level not being as high as I like. Maybe it is the effect of the sugar I had been eating. I am going back to being sugar-free and will see if that helps. I don’t like being tired and low energy all the time. I also need to do a better job of eating more regularly. I don’t think my stomach has recovered from the different schedule and the different foods I fed it while in Japan.

Enjoying this beautiful day. It doesn’t get much better than today. All is well on the prairie.

Mother Nature continued putting on a show after I got home yesterday. We had a strong thunderstorm roll through. Sure made me grateful for the gentle rain we had received during the eclipse. After the thunderstorm there was the most beautiful sunset complete with rainbows. Got another strong storm during the night with an incredible light show.

Woke up in the middle of the night due to the storm. My clock said it was 12:05 pm which really confused me as the last time I had looked it said 3:15. Finally figured out the power had gone off and come back on and when it does that my clock resets to 12:00 pm. Had a time warp thing going on for a bit.

My rain gauge has almost two inches in it from the rain I received yesterday and early morning today. Grateful for every drop as it was really dry out on the prairie again. I will need to mow again when it dries out enough for me to do so.

My heart is still full from all the ways people reached out to me to wish me a happy birthday yesterday. I got two cards that each had an eclipse stamp on them. How cool is that? It will definitely be a birthday I will remember for a long time.

Star continues to recover nicely from her surgery. I was given some pills to give her for pain. I have given them to her but not sure she needs them. Sure can’t tell by looking at her she had surgery last Friday.

I have two guests coming to spend the night tomorrow night and they requested breakfast Thursday morning. Kathy and I went into Emporia to get groceries this afternoon. I need to make some banana bread this afternoon or evening. I had gotten some bananas to take yesterday and forgot about them and didn’t offer them to my guests. They sat in the back of the hot bus and ripen nicely.

I finally slept last night. As is normal for me when I get more sleep than is normal for me I am more tired today than normal. May still take a nap. Having trouble keeping my eyes open.

I had started eating sugar again while I was in Japan. Not a lot but it sneaked in. Sure having trouble giving it up again since I have been home. Decided to wait to go off of it again after my birthday as I wanted to eat a piece of birthday cake. Realized this morning I have been having headaches again and am hungry all the time again. Now I have to find the motivation to give it up again. I did it for over seven months so I’m sure I can do it again. That first step is sure hard though. Wish I could eat it in moderation but I can’t seem to do that. I have to not have any as if I have just a bit I start craving it all the time.

Have lots of empty space coming up. Sure stirs up old habits and thoughts. This has been one of the harder habits to break – sitting with empty space and being OK with it. I am enough! I don’t have to prove that to anyone! Writing these words to remind myself.

All is well on the wet prairie today. Sitting and appreciating the beauty of Mother Nature. All is well.

OH what a day! This will certainly be a birthday I won’t ever forget.

14 of us loaded in a bus at 8:00 this morning. Casey, our bus driver, drove us to Atchison, KS. We didn’t hit traffic until about 12 miles away from our destination. Casey was able to find a parking spot for us that was close to the restrooms and close to where we spent the rest of the day at.

Thankfully where we were at was not very crowded. We had a big open green space to spread out on. There were other groups of people around us but everyone was in a wonderful, festive mood.

I had packed a picnic lunch for us so we didn’t have to wait in the very long line to get a hot dog. After lunch we had birthday cake. The groups around us joined in singing me happy birthday.

It rained off and on most of the time we were there but it was a gentle, cleansing rain. We all got pretty wet but no one complained.

During the eclipse it was pretty cloudy and when the clouds would pass and the sun would come out everyone cheered. As the total eclipse got close the temperature started dropping. It didn’t get as dark as I though it would but it was definitely dark. It was too cloudy to see stars.

We hung around a bit after the total eclipse and then starting packing up and headed home.

The drive home took much longer as traffic was bumper to bumper until almost Topeka. The traffic was moving but very slowly. We made two bathroom stops on the way home. We were back to my house a little before 5:00.

I couldn’t have ask for a more perfect birthday. The rain actually added to the day as we celebrated every time the sun came out. It kept the temperatures down so we weren’t so hot. We didn’t get to see the reflection of the eclipse on the ground but there was a change in the color of the grass for a bit. We noticed on the ride home how the grass and trees looked refreshed.

I so appreciate those that rode along with me today. I will cherish this day and remember it for a long time.

Something shifted inside me today during the eclipse. Not sure what or how it will play out but I feel different somehow. I feel very grounded and refreshed today. Lighter somehow too.

Perfect day. Time spent with dear friends. All is well!

Finally fell asleep around 6:00 this morning. Thinking it is time I go see my Doctor and see if I can find something to help me sleep. I’m tired of being tired all the time.

Kathy helped me fix the veggie and fruit baggies for tomorrow’s lunch. We decided to wait until the morning to make the sandwiches. It shouldn’t take the two of us very long to put them together.

Star is recovering nicely. Sure couldn’t tell she had surgery Friday.

Feeling a bit like I am drugged today. Probably from lack of sleep. I don’t like this feeling.

Still need to finish cleaning my house. Have most of the floors done so all I have left to do is dust and clean the toilets. Having trouble finding the energy to do much today but I am out of time and will push through and get it done.

Need to remember to stop and get some ice on the way home from Ad Astra tonight. Kathy and I are meeting one of our guests there and having dinner and then bringing her to my house to spend the night.

So excited about the total solar eclipse party tomorrow. Any day I can spend the day with 14 of my dear friends is a good day. It will be an adventure I’m sure! Still have one more seat on the bus if anyone wants to join us. Leaving from my house at 8:00 tomorrow morning.

Slowly adjusting to life without Legend. I swear I heard him barking last night. I sure miss him when I go down to take care of the chickens. I don’t think the chickens miss him though as he would chase them in their pen everytime he went close to it. He kept hoping one would fly over the fence so he could have it for dinner. He managed to get two to do that before I finally got some fence put over the top of the pen so they couldn’t fly out.

Trusting the eclipse will clear some of this heavy energy I have been feeling. It will be a beautiful reminder that even when the light gets covered it is only temporary. The light always returns.

All is well!

Thanks for all the love you are sharing with me over the death of my big dog Legend. It makes a hard time easier!

Kathy went in to Emporia this morning to help me bring Star home from the Vet. It was a good thing Kathy went with me as Star was pretty stressed and didn’t want to move. Kathy pulled and I pushed and we finally got Star to the car. We had to pick her up to put her in the car. Star sure was happy to see Roxy and Sophia when we got home.

I kept Star in the garage with the other two dogs for a while but finally turned them loose. Star is much less stressed being outside than she was in the garage. Trusting she will take good care of herself and heal quickly from her surgery.

I have been cleaning house today. Almost done with the upstairs. I’m going to wait to dust until Sunday afternoon. It seems to not last very long when I dust even with the windows closed.

Going back into town later. I need to pick up my forgotten groceries and then am meeting Jason for dinner. It will be nice to see him. We go way too long between face to face visits sometimes.

Still a bit tired today but the brain fog appears to be slowly lifting. I got sleep in sections last night but at least I got some. Thinking by tomorrow the jet lag will be over completely.

What happened to the mid to low 80 temperatures I heard you all had while I was in Japan. I am so ready for the fall temperatures to arrive so I can open my windows and let fresh air in. I love fall and picking apples, turning the fire pit on, sweat shirts, and beautiful colors. My favorite time of the year.

A familiar restlessness is trying to creep back inside me. I know some major changes are coming and am thinking it is a reaction to that. Keep reminding myself all is well. It feels like I recognized it sooner than I normally do so I will take that as a sign of progress. I need to remember to move my body more and move this unsettling feeling on through me.

Beautiful late summer day on the prairie. All is well.

Finally got some sleep last night. I didn’t sleep all night but certainly more than I have been.

A neighbor delivered 10 bales of straw this morning at 7:20. My chickens appreciate the fresh linen.

I took Star to the Vet to get fixed this morning. She had to be there before 8:30. I had put her in the pen in the garage yesterday afternoon and she managed to get the doors to the pen open and get out of it. Kathy helped me get a choke collar on her and get her in the garage. We put Sophia in the garage with her and closed the garage doors. Star and Sophia are good buddies. Star did not want to get in or out of my car this morning. I had to drag her into the Vet office. She weighs 82 pounds. I can pick her up in the morning sometime before noon.

Went back into Emporia this afternoon to buy groceries for the eclipse event Monday. I had made a list and still managed to forget a few things.

On my way home I remembered I had promised Tagen I would meet him at his bus stop this afternoon. It was his first time coming home from school on a bus. I unloaded the groceries from my car and went back into town to meet him. I stopped and got him a milkshake. He did really good and didn’t really need me but he said he appreciated me being there. He has grown up and acts so mature most of the time now.

Three trips into town today. I hate making one trip a day. I ordered a cake for Monday and wasn’t thinking when I told them I would pick it up at 4:00. I have to go to town in the morning to pick up Star. So tomorrow I get to make two trips. Maybe Sunday I can stay home all day.

My jet lag is much better today. Have had more energy and less of a foggy brain. I’m still not 100% but sure closer than I have been. Nicole said she had slept a bit more last night too. Maybe by tomorrow it will be completely cleared up.

I had to buy a new ice tea maker today. My other one must have been over ten years old if not older. The tea basket spring broke and it wouldn’t hold water to brew the tea in any more. Hope the new one lasts as long as the old one did. I make a batch of tea at least every other day if not every day.

I have two spots on the solar eclipse trip bus now. Another person had to drop out. If anyone wants to ride to Atchison with us Monday to see the total solar eclipse let me know. You are welcome to join us. We are leaving from my house at 8:00 Monday morning and hope to be back around 5:00.

The Chase County Sheriff called me. He saw my post that said I looking for Legend on Facebook. The Sheriff had found Legend’s body on the side of the highway last week. I appreciated the Sheriff letting me know for sure what happened to him. Legend was my favorite dog of all times. We had a special connection. It is hard to walk down and feed the chickens now as that was our time together. I sure will miss him.

Some how I knew that was what happened to him. I could tell his energy was gone from this dimension. One disadvantage to Great Pyrenees dogs is that they roam. They are very hard to keep in. They are so smart they figure out how to open gates and they are strong jumpers. I will miss his protectiveness. I had never experienced that with another dog.

Sure feeling change is in the air. May be the effect of the eclipse but things feel very unsettled and that major change is coming. It will be interesting to see where this all goes. Knowing my job is to stay grounded and to remember that change is always happening and I need to embrace it and not resist it. I also need to stay out of anticipation and stay present with each moment.

All is well on the prairie.

I was awake and dressed before 6:30 this morning so went into Emporia to pick Ellexia up so Michelle didn’t have to drive her out after dropping Tagen off for school.

Ellexia was in a much better mood this morning and played nicely all morning. Around noon time we went back into Emporia. We stopped to get chicken feed at Bluestem and then went to Freddie’s for lunch. Michelle picked up Tagen and then met us at Freddie’s. We had lunch and then I brought the two kids out here for the rest of the day.

Ellexia missed Tagen all morning but then fought with him all afternoon. Sibling love! Gotta love it.

I managed to get my bedroom and bathroom floors cleaned today. Still need to dust and clean the toilet but am almost done with those two rooms. At least I got something done today. Still didn’t sleep much last night and haven’t felt very good today.

The lady I get straw from is finally going to deliver some tomorrow. I had ask her two months ago for some more and she had forgotten about it. I pay her a little extra to deliver it and stack it for me. It would take several trips in my little car for me to get 10 bales homes.

One of my guests that was going on the eclipse bus ride decided not to go. I only have one person on the wait list. I sent her an email to see if she still wanted to go with us. If not, I will have one open spot if anyone wants to join us. We are leaving from my house at 8:00 am Monday, August 21 and are going to Atchison, KS. Planning on being back here around 5:00 but hard to tell as it depends on traffic. Cost is $50 which includes lunch, snacks and the bus ride.

I am taking Star in to get fixed in the morning. Trusting I can get her penned up this evening. She is not leash trained so this may be fun in the morning. Hoping once she is fixed she won’t run so far away.

The kids both have school tomorrow so after I take Star to the vet I will have a free day. After three days in a row of grandkids I am ready for a free day. My age is showing I think. I don’t handle them as well as I used to. We managed to have three good days for the most part though.

Still struggling to get rid of my jet lag. I talked to Nicole yesterday and she is having the same issues. I had a spurt of energy today so maybe by tomorrow I will be good for more of the day.

My heart is a bit heavy with all that is happening in the world. Legend is gone. A loved one is fighting for her life. The world events seem mighty heavy. Jet lag. Doing my best to refill my self with light and love and send it out to the world.

Times like this calls all of us to be gentle with each other and with ourselves. All is well even when it doesn’t feel like it is. Going to take some time and breathe deeply and release what I no longer need. This too shall pass. All IS well!

Three hours of sleep last night. That is more than I have been getting.

I had both grandkids today. Ellexia was grumpy this morning. Not sure what her problem was other than she looked really tired. We got through the day without screaming at each other so I guess it was a good day. Tagen is nervous about starting middle school tomorrow so he was a bit impatient with her. Glad this day is over!

Not sure if I have them tomorrow or not. Trusting if I do it will be a better day. Tagen has school until 12:30 so I may need to go to town to pick him up.

Didn’t get anything done today but keep peace with the grandkids today. Good thing there was nothing I needed to do. I took the kids into town at 3:00 and then stopped and got dog and cat food. I was going to get chicken feed but forgot to get it. So if I have to go to town tomorrow I will get it then.

About ready to go to bed. It is only 5:15 but feeling like I could fall asleep. I don’t want to get a second wind and not be able to fall asleep. I will take sleep when ever I can find it these days.

Got almost an inch of rain this morning. May get some more this evening. I welcome every drop. Sure am enjoying these cooler August temperatures. Makes me think of fall which is my favorite season of the year.

Looking forward to getting my energy back and getting something done. This week has certainly turned into a recovery week. I didn’t think it would take this long since I was only gone two weeks. Feeling my age this week.

I have guests coming next week so need to get the house ready for them. Maybe tomorrow I can start cleaning. Still need to make my grocery list for the birthday event. Four days and counting!

All is well on the prairie today.

Jet lag sucks! I haven’t slept for over three hours at a time since I have been home. My body doesn’t seem to know when to sleep.

Feeling a bit nauseated today. Thinking it is due to little sleep. Maybe tonight is the night for sleep. Nicole is having the same issues.

Ellexia came and played today. She spent much of the day entertaining Kathy. They went into Cottonwood to go to the park so I could rest. Thanks Kathy! Ellexia said the day was too short.

Other than watching Ellexia I have done very little today. Guess it is another recovery day for me. Good thing I had nothing I had to do.

Got my two things I brought back from Japan hung up. I like them. I had brought a Japanese doll back for Ellexia but she didn’t like it. She took one of my fans instead. The doll happened to match the cloth I bought so it worked out good for both of us as I had three fans.

Need to give some thought to my birthday event next Monday. I had made a list before I went to Japan but need to make some final decisions and get things ready. Haven’t felt like I have had the brain power to do so yet. I’m excited about the eclipse. Trusting the weather will cooperate and we will be able to see the full effects of it. Someone posted on Facebook how to made a reflector thing using a pinhole in a piece of cardboard. There was an eclipse when I was a kid and that is how we watched it then. It must not have been a total eclipse as I don’t remember it getting completely dark out back then.

Sure sounds like traffic may be an issue that day. We are planning on getting to our intended destination over three hours early. Trusting that we allowed enough time and won’t have to view the eclipse from a traffic jam on the highway.

Trusting tonight is the night I will crash and sleep. Feeling very sleep deprived. No wonder they use it as a torture device. My body feels tortured!

All is well on the prairie. Sleep or no sleep!

This has definitely been a recovery day. I did get my mowing done and bought a few groceries. I have managed not to take a nap all day but sure am tired now. I slept really good for about four hours last night and then couldn’t sleep much more.

Finished unpacking my suitcase and did my laundry. Put away all the goodies I brought home. Still need to hang two things I bought. May wait to do that until I have less brain fog.

Stopped at Craig’s on my way home from Emporia to see the grandkids. He was babysitting today. Wish I would have had the energy to take them today but just didn’t.

Felt good to get outside and ride the mower today. I finally feel grounded again. Think I will take a shower when I get done writing and put on my pajamas and set the intention I will sleep for a long time tonight.

My ankles are still a bit swollen today although they are better than they were yesterday. Sitting for twelve hours doesn’t agree with me.

Legend has been gone for five days now. I am clinging to hope that he will return. I gave my first Great Pyrenees to a friend and they told me the male had disappeared for over two weeks and came back home.

Pondering life and the many twists and turns it offers. It is feeling very fragile to me today. My heart feels a bit heavy as I was reading the news and catching up with world events. Love, that is what the world needs more of!

All is well today even though my heart is heavy.

Home sweet home!

Woke up at 5:30 this morning in Osaka, Japan. Back home it was 3:30 in the afternoon the day before. We checked out of our hotel a little before 6:00 and walked over to the airport. Just a short line and not so many people around the airport this morning. Checked into United and got all three boarding passes. Proceeded to our gate for our first flight of the day to Tokyo.

The flight left on time and arrived a few minutes early in Tokyo. We departed and had to ride a bus for about 20 minutes to the international terminal. We went through Immigrations and then went to our gate. I had purchased a small pair of scissors to cut our medical tape and my bag got pulled so they could find them. I had to hand them over. Luckily I had put them in the zip lock bag with my liquids in case they were too big to go through the security screening so they were easy to find. We didn’t have to pull our liquids out of our bags. We only had 90 minutes between flights and made it to our gate with five minutes to spare.

The flight from Tokyo to Chicago was almost twelve hours long. Another almost full airplane. We hadn’t upgraded this leg but we had two seats together. Nicole had the aisle seat and I had the window seat with no seat between us. Neither one of was able to sleep very long the whole flight. We both watched a couple of movies. Since I had a window seat I looked for meteors. I think I saw three small ones. I could see the Big Dipper for quite a while. I was able to watch the sunrise. It was beautiful!

Finally landed in Chicago at 8:30 US time this morning. We made it through Customs and Immigrations with no delays. My bag got pulled when we went through security. I had a souvenir in it that was a solid piece of stone and it triggered a hand inspection. The lady that did it was incompetent. She seemed to be a new employee and her trainer didn’t seem to correct her.

She opened my bag and started taking my clothes out of it. She picked up a swap strip and ran it along the inside of my bag. She put the swap strip in her machine and then proceeded to take more things out of my bag. When she found the souvenir she took it out of its box. She picked up the old swap strip and ran it over the piece. When she put the swap strip in the machine she put it in backwards and the machine never did run the test on it.

She ask if I wanted to repackage my bag or if I wanted her to. I told I would and she moved my bag to a bench. I repacked it and we left the area.

It must have taken her four or five minutes to do my bag. By then there were several other bags waiting for her. Guess I was lucky I was only the second bag when mine was pulled. There were several other workers just standing around watching her slowly go through my bag.

I don’t mind inspections for safety reasons. I do mind inspections when they are handled poorly.

Our flight to KC wasn’t until after noon so we had a three-hour wait. We went into a restaurant to order lunch and discovered it was still breakfast time. Not what we were hungry for so we left. We found a little kiosk and Nicole got a pizza and I had a hot dog. Nicole walked down and got us iced tea from the McDonald’s in the airport. By the time she walked back neither one had any ice left in them. I went to the little coffee shop close to our gate and they gave me a free glass of ice. I was disappointed in the tea. Oh well, it was better than what I had gotten in Japan.

I fell asleep on the plane from Chicago to KC. It felt like I had slept for hours. When I woke up I was impressed the plane was flying so quietly. Finally figured out we were still sitting on the runway and I had only slept for ten or fifteen minutes.

We finally made it to the KC airport around 2:15. Kathy was there waiting for us to give us a big hug and welcome us home. As we had hand carried our luggage we were able to leve the airport immediately. We drove Nicole home and dropped her off. We went to Chipolte for lunch and then headed home. After stopping to get my car from Craig I drove home. Oh so sweet to finally get home.

It took over 25 hours of travel time to get here. Next time I need to remember to pack my ruby-red slippers and fly home that way.

Found out Legend has been missing for four days. Sure trusting he will find his way back home again. He has been gone for two days before but never four. Maybe he has a new lady friend in the neighborhood and will still return.

I took a soaker bath and went to bed. I slept for four hours but am now wired and ready to be up. This time lag thing is real! Good thing I don’t have anything I have to do this week so I can sleep whenever I can find it.

May do some mowing tomorrow so I can get outside and ground myself to home again. Other than doing laundry and putting away the stuff from my bag I don’t have anything else to do. Maybe sleep will find me again soon.

Oh such a wonderful adventure I had. But it is so very good to be home!

When ever I go to a foreign to me country I like to record my random observations of the country.

1. Japanese are short for the most part. Nicole hung over their futon and beds.

2. They eat food I have never heard of before and some I hope I never see again.

3. They have lots and lots and lots of restaurants everywhere you go.

4. For being such quiet people their TV is loud and crazy.

5. Train stations are like bee hives where it is super quiet but everyone knows what they are doing and where they are going.

6. It must be considered rude to talk in public. It is so quiet even when there are lots of people. The exception was the airport today.

7. A bow can mean hi, bye, thank you, I see you. It made me think of Namaste. It felt like a bow was an acknowledgment that they saw me.

8. Japan has a well-developed public transportation system that runs on time and is very clean.

9. Cleanliness must be very important to this culture.

10. In general they are very kind and humble. I see a bit of a difference in the teens.

11. Nicole felt some judgement about her tattoos at times, especially from the elderly.

12. We saw lots of babies and toddlers but not many school aged children.

13. Many of them speak at least some English.

14. Their sign translations were funny at times. I.e. Danger Walk Smart Phone.

15. They love stairs. As Nicole puts it there was a lot of fucking stairs everywhere!

16. Slippers and shoes! Slippers for in the room, different slippers for the toilet room, and yet different slippers for the laundry room. And no, the slippers were not cleaned between uses and everyone used the same ones. We had to go barefoot to go into the temples.

17. Many of them fell asleep on the buses and trains. They seem tired.

18. They don’t like to show they are sweating. They carry sweat cloths to wipe their sweat away.

19. We didn’t see many over weight Japanese people. Most are very thin.

20. All ages ride bicycles. Everywhere. Lots of small motorcycles too.

21. Some wear blue jeans but not many. They dress up when they are out and about.

22. The ladies wear elbow length gloves so they don’t get sun tanned.

23. Most cover their mouths when they laugh.

24. If I spoke to them, they responded and we could have a fun conversation. However, I only remember one of them initiating a conversation.

25. No top sheet on the beds. Just a duvet.

26. They recycle most things. There are not many trash cans available, just recycling cans by the vending machines. When you dump your trash at a restaurant you dump the liquids and then there is a paper and a plastic bin.

27. There are vending machines everywhere. You can get juice, cold teas, and water from them.

28. They must like green tea flavor they call Matcha. We tried it. Not a fan. They put it on everything – ice cream, cookies, candy, cakes, jams,

29. There were seldom any hand dryers or paper towels in the bathrooms.

30. Very few wore sun glasses.

31. Most men carried a handbag of some sort.

31. Their paper money comes in 10,000, 5,000 and 1,000 yen. They use coins for 500 and 100 and less. If you take two zero’s off that is about what our money is. So they don’t have paper for less than a $10.

32. We saw some of them wearing their traditional Kimono – both men and women.

33. Squat toilets. Enough said!

34. The cars on the roads looked new and all were very clean.

35. The stores seemed to have lots more staff than we are used too at home. All the staff we dealt with were very pleasant and helpful.

36. The country is very clean. We rarely saw any litter on the streets.

37. They seem to be a very passive people. I didn’t hear any arguments or loud voices. When we dealt with the typhoon and trying to decide what to do they wouldn’t give us their opinion of what we should do.

38. The cost of eating, shopping and hotels seems to be pretty comparable to prices at home. Just like at home the bigger cities cost more.

39. I had no idea how old people were. I had trouble at times determining if they were female or male.

40. I wonder how many tons of rice is consumed daily here? It is served with every meal. We saw lots of rice fields.

41. Smoking is limited to select areas. Every once in a while their would be a smoking place on the sidewalks. It is prohibited inside most buildings and on the buses and trains.

42. Japan can teach us a lot about space and utility conservation.

43. One can buy a cup of ice at the 7/11 stores. It is called party ice and comes with a little expandable straw. Perfect for ice loving folks like me!

Nicole found the best place to have dinner in Kyoto. We ate at Hamberg & Steak. We had the best hamburger I have ever had. I don’t like pink in my hamburger and this one was cooked through but was very juicy. We had a banana, ice cream, chocolate sauce and pancake that was like a crepe thing for dessert. Absolutely a wonderful way to end our time in Kyoto. We walked and took a bus to the restaurant and then again back to our hotel. It was a pleasant evening to be out walking. Ended the day walking over seven miles.

We had breakfatst in our hotel this morning. Decided to go ahead and take our bags shopping with us so we didn’t have to walk another mile plus to go back to the hotel to get them. We didn’t find many good places to go shopping at on our way to the bus station. We waited until the bus station shops opened at 10:00 and found a few things.

Rode the bus for 90 minutes from Kyoto to the airport in Osaka. We bought our ticket at a machine and when we were on the train the ticket person charged us more. Not sure why that happened as it didn’t before. I had noticed the ticket price seemed small so don’t think he cheated us.

When we got to the airport we dropped our bags off at the hotel. Our room wasn’t ready so we went back to the airport to get lunch. We did some more shopping and finally found lunch. We came back to the airport hotel and got checked into our room a little after 2:00. Not sure what we are going to do this afternoon. The airport was so crowded we are both a bit drained.

Have had quite a time trying to get checked in for our flights tomorrow. I called the airlines this morning but they weren’t much help. We finally have two of our three boarding passes. The last flight is on United but they won’t issue a boarding pass to me as the first two flights are on All Nippon Airlines, their Japanese partner. Guess we will get it in the morning when we go over to the airport. The line was too long this afternoon to attempt to get it.

We may have to run through the Tokyo airport as we don’t have a lot of time between flights. We will have to change to the international terminal. Thinking we may have to clear customs on the way out. Fingers crossed we can make our flight to Chicago. We have over three hours in Chicago to clear immigrations and customs there.

When I bought something at one of the airport shops they needed my passport and they attached a form to it. Not sure why that happened unless they are a tax-free shop. May have to pony up the tax on the way out of the country.

According to our flight schedule we leave Tokyo at 10:50am on August 13 and arrive in Chicago at 8:40 am on August 13. We get to do the time warp thing!

Need to repackage my bags one last time and make sure the things I bought are protected so they don’t break. We are hand carrying our luggage on the airplane so that should reduce the chance that something will break.

Discovered the reason the airport is so busy today is that this is a National Holiday. It is Celebrate Mountain Holiday. 70% of Japan is mountain area and the holiday is to celebrate the blessings the mountains give Japan. Love it!

Ready to go home. Not ready for a 20 hour plus travel day. Trusting it will go smoothly.

Knowing the learnings I have gained from this trip will revel themselves to me when the time is right. It has been a very rich experience on many levels.

It rained last night around the time we wanted to eat dinner so Nicole ordered pizza. We went down to the front desk to get the information we needed to do so. We went back up to our room to wait a bit and then went down to wait for the delivery man. We stepped off the elevator to the lobby just as he walked in the front door. We ordered from Domino’s and it was the best Domino’s I have ever had. Nicole was a happy camper to get pizza that actually tasted like pizza from home.

This morning we had the Western breakfast at the hotel restaurant. We had weird shaped eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage, ham, orange juice, really good bread and some side dishes we didn’t know what they were. It was good – especially the warm croissant. The sausage reminded me of little smokies. They don’t crisp their bacon. – it looks raw. They must cook their eggs in a special pan like our muffin tins. They are an oblong shape.

After breakfast we headed out for the day. Our first stop was the two temples that are close to us. Both were beautiful, peaceful and full of spiritual energy. They are huge! Lots of open rooms for people to come kneel and pray. When I left one of them there was a serious looking security guard. I motioned to him in sign language that my heart was full and I loved the temple. He broke into a big smile and waved and bowed at me.

Nicole noticed a sign that Japan has increased the amount of security guards on duty as they are in high alert for a terrorist attack. Thinking it might have to do with the North Korea and USA situation.

After the second one we walked towards the main train and bus station we had arrived in Kyoto at yesterday. On the way we stopped at a Starbuck’s to cool off and have a drink. We discovered we were right by the observation deck that we wanted to go up. We rode an elevator up 100 meters to the top. There was a beautiful view of this huge city from the top. We saw a huge Buddha in the distance through the free telescope and decided to go see it.

After we got down the elevator we stopped at the visitor’s center to get a bus and subway pass that was good all day. They gave us some good maps and showed us on the map where the Buddha was.

We walked to the main bus station and got on our first bus of the day. We rode to the nearest stop to the Harley Davidson dealer. We had to walk a little over a half mile to get to the dealership. Nicole ended up buying herself a Harley T-Shirt that has Kyoto, Japan on it. What she was looking for they didn’t have.

We walked back to the bus stop and headed to the Buddah. When we got where we were headed we found out they had pointed us in the wrong direction and the Buddha we were looking for wasn’t there. We toured the Temple but it wasn’t impressive.

After we left there we found a little restaurant on the way to our bus stop and stopped and had lunch. We shared some sort of pasta dish that was OK. After we cooled down we headed to another Temple. From there we took the subway to a Castle.

This castle was better than the one in Osaka but it wasn’t air-conditioned and it was packed full of sweating people. We cut out early and left.

At all the temples and at the castle you have to take your shoes off at the front door. You can either put them in a shoe rack or they provide a plastic bag for you to carry them with you.

By the time we took the subway back home it was 4:00 and we had left before 8:00 this morning. We walked over 6 miles and took 14 flights of stairs. It was another hot and humid day. It sprinkled on us briefly at one point. It was humid enough it felt like we were walking in rain all day without the cool relief of rain.

A shower has never felt so good!

My Verizon international phone service has been disappointing. I can’t text or use the Internet while I am out and about. The reason I got the service was so Nicole and I could text each other if we got lost. I called Verizon from the Starbuck’s. We got disconnected and about 45 minutes later I got a text from them saying they would call me shortly. They haven’t called me yet. After a bit I may try to call them but at this point it seems pointless. I’ll call when I get home and see if I can get a refund.

Tomorrow we head to the Osaka Airport Hotel sometime in the afternoon. There is a luggage service that will send our bags ahead and we can claim them when we get to the hotel. Not sure yet if we will do that or ask this hotel to hold them for us so we can go out tomorrow morning for one last sight-seeing adventure. Not sure yet what Nicole wants to do. I want to do a little souvenir shopping. We have picked up a few things but I haven’t found what I have been looking for. Not sure what that is yet but I will know it when I see it. What I have found I liked was pretty expensive and I have passed on things so far.

Not looking forward to the 12 hour flight plus two smaller flights on Sunday. But I am ready to go home.

We didn’t see many people who looked like us today again. I did talk to a lady from MN briefly on the bus. She said it was 70 degrees back home. That sounds cold to me right now! I don’t think it has been below 90 since we got here except for a couple of hours during the typhoon.

We have not had a bad experience yet with anybody we have interacted with. All have been helpful, speak some English and are very polite. Japan is certainly a country I would come back to but in a different season. I bet their spring time is especially beautiful.

Happy birthday to my baby brother Keith. Hard to believe all five of us Krause kids are now 60 and over.

We skipped breakfast at our hotel this morning. We were both afraid the owner would force feed us again. I decided to wear my boots instead of packing them so I could honor their system of no shoes in the rooms.

We walked to our first bus stop and only had to wait about 20 minutes for our bus. It took us to our first train ride of the day. The first ride was almost four hours long. It was a pretty ride as we were near the coast for part of the ride. The waves were not near as strong as they were last week when we went by them. Their buses are very clean and comfortable. We didn’t have reserved seats today but we didn’t need them. Our car of the train was not very crowded.

The second bus ride was only 25 minutes long. We were at the right track but it didn’t feel right to Nicole so we went upstairs. When we put our ticket in the machine at the gate the ticket person told us we were headed in the wrong direction and sent us back to where we had been. We only had a 15 minute lay over but we made it with time to spare. The train was three minutes late – the first delay of any sort so far. Impressive!

When we got to Kyoto station Nicole got us out of the huge train and bus station and headed in the right direction to our hotel. We found a McDonald’s and decided to try it. We both had a chicken sandwich, fries and iced tea. The chicken sandwich was wonderful, the fries OK and the tea was icky. We were both getting hungry as it was early afternoon and we hadn’t eaten anything today.

We walked about a mile from the train station to our hotel. It is a nice place – not as luxurious as the one we stayed in at Osaka but very nice compared to the Guesthouses we stayed in on the trail. We have our own private bathroom and shower and western beds so we don’t have to sleep on the floor. It does have a community bath on another level if we want to experience that. No swimming suits allowed.

It is another very hot and humid day in Japan. We were both drenched with sweat by the time we got to the hotel after pulling our luggage through the crowded streets. We walked by a huge temple that we want to go back and go in later. There are several others near by to go see tomorrow.

This town feels busier than Osaka did. We picked a hotel right in the middle of the city and close to the subway line and a bus stop out in front. Nicole is getting very good at reading Japanese maps and figuring out bus and train schedules. She is figuring out where we are going tomorrow now.

The forecast had called for rain today but so far it hasn’t rained. Almost feels like it is raining as it is so humid out though. The heat index is 107 today.

After we cool down we will probably head out and do something later this afternoon. After a long day of travel it feels good to sit in the quiet and coolness of our room.

Hard to believe we only have two full days left in Japan and one of those will involve travel from this hotel to the airport. It should only take about an hour though so we will have most of the day to do something.

In some ways I am ready to go home but in other ways I wish we could stay longer. It has been a wonderful adventure! It certainly has been different from I expected but we have made the most of it and created some wonderful memories anyways. So there Typhoon Nora! She couldn’t keep two girls from Kansas down.

This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder!

I went down to take a shower and it became a community event. Five other women came in just as I was about done. This hotel only has room for three to shower at a time so two stood outside in the changing room waiting. The door to the part of the shower where you get dressed was left open and all that was covering the door was a half curtain. The hall in front of the shower was rather busy. Oh well, we are leaving in the morning and I won’t see them again.

Our bags finally showed up. We went down to dinner and saw they were by the front door. We carried them up to our room to find clean underwear as we only had our robes on. We felt a little exposed!

Dinner was another interesting event. Not sure what we were served. Nicole had a bug as some extra protein on top of her raw fish. It crawled around and entertained her. Good thing she doesn’t eat raw fish. One of the workers finally noticed it at the end of our dinner and got it.

The owner of the hotel is a little – shall we say – my way or the highway type of person. She came up to Nicole and dumped Nicole’s eggplant into her rice and loaded up Nicole’s chop sticks and handed them to her. She almost shoved them in her mouth.

She then came over to my side of the table and dumped the noodles out of my soup and did the same thing to me with my chop sticks.

Nicole took a bite of her prawn and immediately broke out into a sweat all over her body. Her face turned bright red. She thought it was because the room suddenly got hot so a few minutes later took another bite and the same thing happened. Thinking she had an allergic reaction and grateful it wasn’t worse.

The variety of toilets in Japan is impressive. This hotel only has one bidet and the rest are squatters. When one has walked lots of stairs in a day it seems a bit of a cosmic joke to have to use a squatter toilet. We are on the second floor and the bidet is on the first floor. Plenty of squatters on our floor though. Guess I will get to work my thigh muscles one way or the other.

I have had quite a time learning how to use a bidet. I have ended up with the back of my shirt wet more times than I can count. Oh the joys of international traveling.

Nicole and I were trying to decide what we would eat if we could. She wants pizza and I want cream cheese on oat bread toast.

We didn’t get turn down service that was to happen during dinner so now we get to figure out how to make up our futons. They are folded up against the wall and that is all we have had to sit on this afternoon.

You have to take your shoes off at the front door and put on one-size fits most slippers. When you go into the bathroom you have to change to toilet slippers. I want to wear different shoes tomorrow then what I had on today so I tried to carry my boots up to my room. The owner stopped me. She put them in a bag but wouldn’t let me carry them to my room. Not sure how I am going to get them packed in the morning. Maybe I’ll go down and sneak them up to my room during the night. The owner has to sleep sometime – right?

What a day! Certainly different from we had planned.

Grateful for rice! Never thought I would say that as I don’t usually eat rice. Last night’s dinner was interesting. Raw fish, cooked fish, beef, soup, and mystery vegetables. I poured the broth from the soup over the rice and ate that and the beef. I gave my raw fish to our table mates.

Dinner conversation was so different from on the Camino. There were only two other young couples eating with us. All four were from other countries. We did very little conversation. They spoke English but I got the feeling conversation wasn’t welcomed. On the Camino we shared stories during meal times.

I miss welcoming other pilgrims with Buen Camino. To my knowledge they don’t have anything like that on this walk.

I was grateful for rice again at breakfast. Again I poured my soup over the rice. I didn’t recognize what else was served except for a scrambled egg-shaped weirdly. We were given our picnic lunch which is three rice balls wrapped in seed weed. I tried to give mine to the walkers but they didn’t want the extra weight as the trail is very difficult and steep today.

We left the hotel at 7:30 and walked to the nearest bus stop. We were there about five minutes and Nicole said it didn’t feel right. She walked down the road a bit and found the right stop. Not sure how she does that but I am grateful for her.

We took three different buses to the waterfall. Mother Nature at her best. We walked up to the observation deck and enjoyed the view. Lots of stairs up and down. The waterfall is 110 meters tall.

When we returned to the bus stop I finally convinced Nicole to walk by herself. There are several shrines she wants to see and she wanted to walk part of the trail. It is too hot for me again today. I was nauseated by the time we got back to the bus station and dripping wet.

I took a bus to where I need to walk to our hotel for the night from. Nicole was concerned I would get lost. It was the first stop so no worries. I need to figure out how to get to the hotel from here but I’m sure I can ask directions and find it. Nicole needed our only map more than I did.

The buses in the bigger cities translate the stops into English but these smaller rural areas do not. I pick out a simple symbol from the stop I want and look for that.

While I was waiting for the bus the kindest Japanese couple gifted me with a fan. They helped me get on the right bus and waved goodbye as if I was an old friend.

Sure disappointed in myself I can’t do much of this walk. Grateful Nicole went by herself so she can experience a brief time on the trail. It feels like that needed to happen but I don’t like it.

Nothing about this walk has been easy. The trail is not well-marked. You can tell they are still developing it for foreigners to walk it. The Camino is much better marked and the locals there seemed to watch out for the pilgrims more. I’m sure it is a cultural difference that makes the Japanese feel less helpful. They seem to mind their own business and not offer help. However when we have a reason to have a personal interaction with them they are very helpful and kind.

Nicole returned from her adventure around noon. We can’t check into the hotel until 3:00. We walked up towards the shrine but didn’t go all the way. Nicole had already done 48 flights of stairs. We did 16 more flights just killing time.

We ate at a little place. We had rice with chicken and eggs. We ask for hard eggs and they were very runny. The rice was good and if I was careful the chicken was good. We had an ice cream cone for dessert.

Long day of waiting today. Another very hot and humid day. I’m sure having second thoughts about going to Fiji. They have no A/C and thinking the temps are like Japan

We finally checked into our room. The A/C was off. Nicole finally figured out how to turn it on kinda. It runs for a moment then stops. We are on the second floor in an oven! Showers aren’t available until 4:30. We haven’t figured out how to claim our luggage yet.

We met up with two very fit 20 somethings that walked the trail today. We saw them last night as they stayed at our hotel too. They said the trail was brutal! So glad I didn’t attempt it.

Tomorrow we head for Kyoto. It will take five to six hours to get there. We will spend two nights there then go to the airport hotel for one last night before we fly home Sunday. What an adventure this has been.

We survived the typhoon! It wasn’t as bad as I expected. There were brief times of high winds but not as bad as I have seen on the prairie. If we understand Japanese TV there were parts of Japan that got hit very hard.

Yesterday after our morning trip to the Visitor’s Center we stayed in. Michelle saved the day for Nicole as Michelle let Nicole log on to her Netflix account. Nicole watched four movies and I took a nap. We went out looking for dinner during a break in the rain but nothing was open. We stopped at the grocery store and got a Haagen-Dazs ice cream bar and Pringle’s.

We woke up to bright blue skies and sunshine. We went out for breakfast. I wanted another rice and ketchup omelet but they weren’t serving those yet. I had some sort of egg salad, cucumber and mystery meat sandwich with half of a boiled egg. It also came with salad greens and a small scoop of potato salad. Nicole had pancakes.

I ask the waitress for the other menu that had what I wanted on it and she pointed to the Japanese menu and ask if I wanted more Japanese? She laughed at her own joke.

An older man across from us ask us where we were from and how long we were going to be in Japan. His English was fairly good. I’m always impressed when someone can converse in more than one language. I sure can’t.

We came back to our room and packed up. We had a two-hour wait for the first of three buses we need to take today.

I took the lady that was so helpful at the Visitor’s Center a little package of cookies to say thank you. She almost cried when I gave them to her. Not sure what we would have done without her help.

Rode our first bus and then had a two-hour layover. We walked to two different shrines during that time – well actually I walked to one and Nicole did the 110 stairs to the second one. It was a beautiful little town. We had a strawberry ice cream cone for lunch that was delicious but it wasn’t what I call ice cream. I saw a Camino Santiago sign post. It is only 17,566 kilometers to Santiago, Spain from here.

We went to the bus stop for our second bus of the day. There was an older gentleman that talked to us for about thirty minutes. He had learned English from a Mormon missionary years ago. His English was fairly good. He recited all 50 states to us. He offered to drive us to our final destination of the day but we graciously refused. I think he was honorable but it seemed silly to get in his car.

We had two more bus rides through very curvy roads to get to our final destination. The last ride was especially curvy and a very narrow road. We pushed the bell to get off but the driver had us stay on and delivered us closer to our guesthouse.

The guesthouse is our first experience in a traditional Japanese Guesthouse. The shower room is interesting. You remove your clothing in your room and put on a robe they furnish. You walk down a rather long hall to the bathing room. You unrobe and place your towel, slippers and robe in a basket outside the shower room. The shower room had about eight open stations. There is a little stool you sit on with a bowl you can use. Each station has a shower head on a handle. You bathe yourself and then rinse off. There is a shallow tub you can get it as an option but you have to wash off first. I skipped the community tub. When you are done you dry off, put on your robe and slippers and walk back to your room to get dressed.

The room has two mats on the floor for us to sleep on. You have to pay for the A/C in the room. 100 yen for two hours or about $1.00. They also have coin washers and dryers so we are doing a load of laundry. Internet is only available in the hotel lobby. Not sure what we will do when we wake up in the middle of the night tonight.

We have dinner at 6:00 tonight and breakfast at 7:00 am.

Tomorrow is the hardest part of the trail we have been told. It is rated five out of five on the difficulty rating. We were told it takes at least eight hours to walk it – would probably take me twice that long. I decided not to attempt it so we got bus information at the visitor’s center after our first bus stop. Nicole has decided not to walk it either. We are going to ride the bus to the waterfall and shrine in the morning and will find something else to do until we can check into our room at 3:00. We may walk some of the trail depending on how hot it is. Thankfully our luggage will be transferred for us tomorrow so we don’t have to deal with it tomorrow like we did today. We found a coin storage box to put it in while we were walking around for two hours waiting for our second bus.

The humidity was lower today but the heat was still intense. Neither one of us felt very good this afternoon. It may have been motion sickness from the curvy highway.

Yesterday the river was very low and at times hard to see because it was so low. Today it was raging and full of water.

Tonight will be our first real Japanese meal. Not any options around so trusting it will be something we can eat. We didn’t have lunch other than the strawberry cone. Both of us are hungry.

Nicole has figured out these complicated bus schedules. We haven’t taken a wrong bus yet. Thursday morning we will take buses and trains and head to Kyoto for two nights. We will then have one last night at the airport hotel before we fly home Sunday. The trip has gone by very quickly.

I would come back to Japan anytime. It is a beautiful country full of peaceful, quiet people.

I’m disappointed I haven’t been able to walk much. The heat, a typhoon, and my lack of training didn’t make for a good chance of success. We have enjoyed the trip anyways and are finding ways to see this beautiful country without doing the actual walk. We have made many wonderful memories!

We went to the Kumano booking companies office this morning at 9:00. I received my refund in cash. It then took us over an hour to figure out how to get our luggage to where we are staying tomorrow night. The best option they could come up with was for us to send our luggage this morning but they were concerned they might not make it due to the weather conditions. We decided to take a bus sometime tomorrow to go where we are to stay tomorrow night and take our bags with us.

There is a 6:35 bus if the buses are running. They cancelled all trains and buses after noon today and can’t tell us when they might be back running. There is a bus about noon that may work better. We had hoped to get in early enough to do some walking backwards on the trail but not sure if that will work.

The weather is to start clearing around noon tomorrow so if we can get to where we want to walk from we can do some walking. The challenge is to get there from here as where we want to get to is in the mountains and in the middle of the island. There is concern about the roads being open due to mudslides.

We discovered the very kind people we have worked with will not tell us if they think it is safe to walk or not. They had a big look of relief on their face though when we decided to go with our plan to carry our bags on the bus and not try to walk the 13K trail we had hoped to walk tomorrow. They are concerned about the trail having a mudslide on it due to the high amounts of rain and high winds we will be getting this afternoon. There is no exit point on the trail so once you go you either have to walk all the way or turnaround and go back to where you started.

The rain so far has been fairly light although since we are in the city with tall buildings around us I’m not sure that is what is happening in the open areas. The strongest rain and wind hasn’t gotten here yet. There were some pretty strong gusts already when we were out walking to the Kumano Companies office. We were soaked by the time we walked back to our hotel.

Nicole found an ATM machine and got some more cash for us. We didn’t expect to need so much cash for the buses and food we have needed due to not walking as expected. We do need to get the bigger bills broke down before we head to the more rural area again. The rural areas and buses don’t take credit cards.

We found a restaurant that was open on the way back to our rooms. We each had a rice omelet that had ketchup in it and on it. We hadn’t eaten a good meal since breakfast yesterday so it was good to get a good meal. Not sure if anything will be open later today when the strongest part of the typhoon hits.

The locals don’t seem too concerned about the typhoon. They told me they were used to them and know the typhoon can change directions and they don’t worry until they need to. Guess it is the same with our tornadoes back home.

Not sure what we will do to entertain ourselves this afternoon. Not a good day to go sightseeing for sure. It has been very disappointing to not get to walk the trail much. One disadvantage of this trail over the Camino is that this one is so short you don’t get lots of other days to walk.

We saw several other walkers in the office today doing what we are doing and changing their plans. I’m sure there are other walkers that didn’t and they are walking today. Betting if I wasn’t here Nicole would have walked today. I feel bad about holding her back yet my mother’s heart is glad she didn’t walk.

I can sit outside during a tornado warning and feel very safe as I know what to look for. I don’t know how a typhoon behaves and I hate to take chances. The trail is very hard on a dry day. I can’t imagine how hard it would be today in 50 mph plus winds and strong rain.

I was impressed with the people who helped us today. They helped us with our bus schedule for tomorrow and showed us many different options. No one can tell us what will be running when yet so we will have to stay flexible and figure it out tomorrow.

In some ways this has become a bigger adventure than planned. We are both disappointed we haven’t been able to do what we came for. But I think we are both still glad we came. Japan is a beautiful country with nice people.

May be naps for us this afternoon. Maybe if we take a nap we can stay up past 8:00 at night and be able to sleep in a bit tomorrow morning.

We are tucked into a safe and dry hotel room waiting for this typhoon to move on out. We are entertaining ourselves watching Japanese television and attempting to understand what they are saying. Some of the commercials are hilarious.

What a day! Not sure much went as planned but we made the best of it and had some adventures.

During the middle of the night we were both awake so checked the progress of the typhoon. It wasn’t good news. Although this area is not in the direct path the forecast is for lots and lots of wind and rain. We decided we didn’t want to be out in the middle of nowhere on a mountain with no escape route.

We bounced around several options but couldn’t seem to decide on how we wanted to proceed. Nicole walked down to the ocean at sunrise to take some pictures. When she came back she decided to see if we could stay at the hotel we spent last night in. That way we could still walk the path today but return by bus to this hotel instead of the one on the path.

We went down for breakfast at 7:00 and through a translator app asked our hotel owner if we could stay two more nights. She was busy serving breakfast but finally checked her papers and talked to us. She doesn’t speak English and we don’t speak Japanese so we weren’t 100% sure she said yes. We decided to leave our bags in the room but packed so if she didn’t say yes all she had to do was take our bags to the lobby and we would figure out where to stay when we came home for the day.

We walked to the bus station and a very nice man had my name on a sign. He was waiting for our bags so he could transport our luggage to where we had planned to stay. After using the translator app again we informed him we didn’t need his services today. He gave us each a fan and a little jar of honey for energy on our walk.

We took the bus about 40 minutes to where the trail starts. The bus was very comfortable and it was a pleasant ride. We drove through some beautiful mountain scenery. The mountains are not Rockie Mountains but more like what the east coast calls mountains.

When we got to the starting point of the Kumano Kodo a man was waiting for us. Evidently the luggage guy had called the people who made our reservations and they wanted to speak to me. They had called a guy that has a little souvenir shop near the visitor’s center and he was waiting for me at the bus stop. He called the booking company so I could speak with them. They confirmed that our hotel owner had agreed to let us stay two more nights. He told me he would call the two hotels we had booked to cancel our reservations along with the luggage pickups.

I need to go to his office sometime tomorrow and he will refund part of my money as well as arrange a luggage transfer to where we will pick up the trail on Tuesday. I was surprised when he said he could refund some money as I understood they don’t usually do that.

It was so nice that he found a way to talk to me. Although I am to have phone and text service it doesn’t work very well. It sure lifted our spirits to know that we had a room for tonight and tomorrow night and that they will work with us to get us back on track. The company is closed on the weekends and he had called me from his home.

We went into the welcome building to get our passports to collect our stamps for the walk. The lady was very nice and helped us with a bus schedule so we knew how to get back to our hotel at the end of the day.

We walked across the street and started our Kumano Kodo. It was another very hot and humid day. The humidity was over 80% today and the heat index was 105. The trail is full of tree roots and rocks. There are some natural steps and some man-made steps. It was hard to pick out the trail. We immediately started uphill at a rather steep incline. Some of the steps were really tall and I struggled early.

I only walked less than a mile and knew I couldn’t go on. I have never been so wet from sweating before. I was getting light-headed and nauseated. I told Nicole I needed to go back. It was a seven mile walk today with no place to opt out. I was concerned if I continued I would get stuck and not be able to finish.

It was hard on this mom’s heart to watch Nicole walk on alone. I really felt like I failed her. I walked back to the visitor’s center and sat and drank a bottle of water and cooled down. I was there about 30 minutes waiting for the bus and Nicole walked in. She had kept getting lost on the trail and had to keep doubling back. She got frustrated and decided to not go on either so she wouldn’t get lost.

We sat at the visitor’s center about an hour to catch a bus. We decided to go to where there are two statues and stamps to collect on the trail and walk to see them. After that short bus ride further down the trail we walked about a half mile up a path that was much easier to follow. I sat on a bench and Nicole walked the last 500 meters to the two sites.

While I was waiting for her to return it started raining. I had been enjoying a chorus of insects singing and didn’t notice the rain coming in. It was a cleansing rain and helped cool me down. When Nicole returned we walked back down the path. The rain had stopped before we got all the way down the path. It did make the down hill path a bit slippery.

We didn’t see many other hikers on the trail today. While I was waiting for Nicole I saw seven others hiking but all had done the short hike we were doing. We did see two hikers that had been on our first bus come into the second Visitor’s Center. They had managed to walk the path we attempted. Both looked to be in their mid 20’s and very physically fit.

We had to wait for a bus and then came back to our hotel. It has been relaxing to sit in our cool room this afternoon and recover from our attempted walk. This trip is not going as we had hoped it might but we are doing our best to make the best of it and get at least a taste of walking the Kumano Kodo.

When we got to the room I took a shower. The bathtub is very deep, narrow and very short. I put the plug in the tub and threw my dirty clothes on the bottom of the tub. I put some laundry soap in with them and stomped on them while I took my shower. I take quick showers so the water wasn’t deep enough when I was done. I couldn’t reach the bottom of the tub from the outside of it so I sat down in the tub to finish washing my clothes out. I drained the dirty water and filled it again with fresh water and used the shower head on a rope to rinse the clothes out. I put them in the sink as I finished each one. Then I had to get out of the bathtub. I thought for a minute I was going to have to have Nicole come pulled me out. There was nothing to grab hold of to pull myself up. Sure reminded me of some of my bathtub adventures on the Camino.

Tomorrow may be a long day if we lose power. Keeping our fingers crossed that won’t happen as it will be very hot and humid. We are expected to get 12 plus inches of rain. There have been some reported deaths in Japan due to this storm already and it hasn’t hit a very populated part of Japan yet. Lots of flights have been cancelled and we are hearing that the trains and buses may not be running tomorrow.

We need to go out later and find some dinner. The streets close up during the afternoon and we couldn’t find anywhere to eat yesterday afternoon. We ended up going to the grocery store and getting Pringles, Cuties and an ice cream bar. Hoping we can find some good food yet today before the storm comes in. While we are out we will stop at the grocery store and stock up for tomorrow in case we don’t want to get out.

What an adventure! Almost half way through. Making some incredible memories. Hunkering down for the storm. May not be able to communicate if we lose power. We will touch base as soon as we can if that happens. Our first typhoon. I ask for rain so I didn’t have to walk the 12 mile day. Guess I need to be more careful about what I ask for!

Love from Japan!

Ended up eating at the British Pub again last night as nothing else sounded good. It was not as good as it was the night before. We both went to bed again early but neither one of us slept all night. We were both up and dressed before 6:30 again. They don’t have daylight savings time here so the sun is up by 6:00.

We returned to the really good restaurant for breakfast this morning and it was every bit as good as it was yesterday. We decided we wanted one last good meal before we started the Kumano Kodo.

After breakfast we checked out and walked almost a mile to the train station. We have reservations for a 10:15 train but took an earlier one. They don’t check your tickets so it didn’t matter which train we took.

It took us a while to figure out which train we needed to take for our long ride of the day. We had reserved seats for this one so had to wait over two hours at the station. We found some chairs and did our best to stay cool. It is another very hot and humid day here. Heat index is 105 today.

The long train ride was very quiet and comfortable with nice A/C. Beautiful mountains and then a sea-shore to look at. We noticed the waves are very high and strong.

After the two-hour bus ride we went to the Kumano Kodo tourist center to find out where our hotel for the night is located. When we walked in we noticed a typhoon warning sign. We decided we better get bus schedules in case it does hit and the rain and wind is too strong to walk in. We got bus schedules for every day. It is to be at its peak on Monday and Tuesday. Hoping we can get a little walking in either before or after it hits.

We picked up our books to collect our stamps along the trail. I was given a special book since I walked the Camino. There is some special certificate and ceremony that happens at the end of the Kumano Kodo for dual pilgrims. Not sure I will be able to collect all the stamps needed to get the certificate though due to the weather.

I ask if the bus will run during the typhoon and the lady at the desk said maybe. Trusting the hotels will help us out and allow us to stay longer if needed.

The hotel we are in tonight is certainly not elegant like the last two have been. It reminds me of the hotels I stayed at on the Camino. Thankfully it has A/C so we can cool down.

The last hotel we stayed at was very fancy. The door men dressed in top hats and the women in beautiful kimonos at night and gave each guest a deep bow. We felt a bit under dressed at night as most of the guests were dressed up in the evenings. We had twin beds that were more like double beds. The room had a white leather couch and a big screen TV. The bathroom had a deep soaking tub with a separate shower.

This room has narrow twin beds. The tub is a half-size one with a shower above it that has the hand-held shower head. I had so much trouble with those in Spain. They would get away from me and I would get lots of water on the floor. You step up to go in the very small bathroom. Nicole barely fits through the door as she is so tall and her head almost hits the roof of the shower. We get to share the one bath towel. There is almost enough extra space in the room to open both of our suitcases and still have room to walk around them to get out the door.

Since we are here early we are going to go walk around Tanabe and visit some of the shrines. Might as well get out and about before the rain hits.

I gave Nicole the option of taking a bus back to the city and skipping the Kumano Kodo but she said that isn’t an option. Fingers crossed we will stay safe. Sounds like it will be an even bigger adventure than we had originally planned. Perhaps it will miss us though. We will stay informed and not take chances if we can help it.

Day one of the Kumano Kodo successfully completed. The bigger adventure begins tomorrow.

We had dinner last night in a British pub. I had fish and chips that were the best I have ever had.

Went to bed early again last night. I woke up at midnight again and then went back to sleep for another hour or so. We were both up before 6:00 again. We watched the sunrise from a west view. The sunlight placed shadows on the city and it was beautiful to watch.

We had a wonderful breakfast at our hotel. A bit pricey but worth it. We had a green salad, vegetable soup, yogurt, eggs, bacon, juice and a warm croissant. Service was excellent and we enjoyed it. There was an American man in the restaurant that took a phone call at his table. It made us realize how quiet the Japanese people are and his loud call was disturbing.

After breakfast we headed out for the day before 8:00. Our first destination was the Osaka Castle Museum. Nicole figured out how to get us there by train. We purchased a day pass for each of us and off we went. As we were at the train station during rush hour it was very crowded. It was also very quiet. People were rushing around but everyone was very polite. No one talks much so there were no loud words or angry voices to be heard. We had to change trains several times but never got lost. The mile walk after the last train to the castle was brutal as it was very high humidity and in the 90’s today.

I was disappointed in the Castle. It was the first temple building we had seen and the outside was amazing. Inside was a museum. I was hoping to see the rooms as they might have looked years ago but that wasn’t how they had it displayed. I had to sit on the floor for a bit at one point as I got too hot. We had to walk lots of steps to get to the castle and lots more steps inside it as it had eight floors.

After the castle we headed to the aquarium. It too involved lots of trains and lots of walking to get to the right train. When we got to the aquarium the line to get tickets was estimated to take over an hour just to get inside. We both decided to pass. We rode another very tall Ferris Wheel instead. The Ferris Wheel has 86 cars on it. We saw over the river and out into the ocean from the top. Luckily the cars are air-conditioned.

We headed back to the train station and decided to get lunch. The aquarium mall was too busy so we headed to the train station. We stopped at the cutest little store run by the cutest couple. We both had a teriyaki chicken crepe that was amazing. We were so hot we couldn’t eat anything heavy and that was perfect. After lunch we got back on the trains.

Nicole wanted to go to the Harley Dealer but after two tries to figure out which train to take gave up. We didn’t know how far we were going to have to walk if we got there and it is brutally hot out today. The heat index today was 107.

We made it back to our hotel around 2:00. It took us a while before we stopped sweating enough to take showers. I took a nap after my shower but Nicole stayed awake. We went out looking for dinner. We walked around a bit but didn’t find anything that looked good so ended up going back to the British Pub. It wasn’t as good as last night. Nicole stopped on the way back to our room and got an ice cream bar as her dinner wasn’t good at all.

Tomorrow morning we have over a two-hour train ride to the city where we will start our Kumano Kodo. We will have to drag our suitcases with us until we get to our hotel. So glad we each only brought a day pack and a carry on bag.

After my nap we watched a big thunderstorm move in. The rain never reached us but it was fun watching it from afar. It didn’t help lower the temperature much though as it was still very hot and sticky when we went out for dinner.

Both of us are tired again tonight. We are both nursing some aching body parts tonight as a result of our long day of sight-seeing. Nicole’s Fitbit tells her she did over 39 flights of stairs and over 17,000 steps today. It was a very hot and humid day.

More rain is in the forecast for the next four days. Time will tell how much walking we can do. Maybe the rain would be cooler to walk in then the extreme high heat.

Heat. Walking. Tired. All is well in Japan.

We ate at the hotel restaurant last night. It was OK. Although the iced tea is a barley tea and I didn’t care for it.

We were asleep by 8:00. Both of us woke up around midnight but went back to sleep. We woke up again around 3:00 and finally got up a little after 5:30. We ate at the breakfast buffet at the hotel then walked to the train station to purchase our train tickets to get into the city and for our trip Saturday to the starting point of the Kumano Kodo.

We got on the 7:20 train into Osaka. We managed to get on and off the train with no issue. A nice gentleman across the aisle helped us figure out the seat and the driver of the train confirmed we were on the right train. It was about a one and one half hour ride into the city with stops every five minutes or so. The train was very clean. It was very quiet even when it got crowded. Most of the other riders were on their iPhones and no one spoke. The train would get crowded and then a couple stops later would clear out and then get crowded again.

The older gentleman that helped us wished us a safe journey when he got off. Another gentleman did the same at the next stop. We were the only foreigners on the train that we could see.

When we got to Osaka we walked with our luggage about a half mile to our hotel. The hotel agreed to check our luggage for us so we didn’t have to drag it around town until it was time to check into our room. We went walking around Osaka. Lots of shopping places in this area with lots of brand name stores. Lots of young ladies walking around shopping. We didn’t see many men of any age or women my age.

We tried an ice cream cone in a green tea flavor with crumbled chocolate on it. Not a fan. Neither one of us could eat much of it. Had to try it though.

We rode a huge Ferris wheel that gave us a wonderful view of the city.

We had lunch at a KFC. The menu said the iced tea was Lipton but it tasted like the barley tea from last night. Think I will just be drinking water for the next two weeks.

It is over 90 degrees here today so very warm and humid. Lots of blue skies with puffy clouds.

We came back to the hotel around 1:00 and they were able to let us in our room early. The room is wonderful! It even has a charging station for our phones. The lady that brought our luggage up to our room showed us how to work all the fancy switches for the curtains and lights.

So far all the toilets are bidets. I finally got brave and used the wash and rinse buttons. They work! Most of the time the water is even nice and warm. Bit of a surprise when it is cold water though. I love the privacy button that plays music to hide the sound of farts.

We are most impressed with how helpful and friendly the people are here. We have not had a bad experience with any worker yet. Some speak fairly good English and even if they don’t we have managed to get our needs met.

Both of us have a bit of jet leg this afternoon. We are going to try not to take a nap so we can sleep tonight. It feels good right now to relax in our room and enjoy the beautiful view of the river with the mountains in the back ground.

Tomorrow we are going to the Osaka Castle and possibly take the aqua bus on a tour around the area. We may go back out later this afternoon after we cool down.

Nicole is a good navigator. She found a map of the city and has managed to get us where we need to go. The streets are not laid out in an easy grid to follow and street name signs are not on every corner so it is a bit of a challenge to get around. There are lots of people out and about but not as crowded as I feared it might be. Most are friendly although most are on their cell phones and not always paying attention to others around them.

Feels good to have gotten to our different hotel with no issues. We are having fun! Trusting by tomorrow our jet lag will quiet down. Glad we have these two days before our Kumano to adjust to the 14 hour time difference.

A bit nervous about walking in this heat on the trail. The forecast is calling for rain starting Sunday so maybe that will help break the heat a bit. Maybe the mountains will be cooler and have more shade. I need to let go of anticipating and allow it to be what it is.

All is well in Japan! What a beautiful country and friendly people.

We made it to Osaka. It was a very long flight! It went on and on and on just like the energizer bunny. I was ready to shoot the fucker!

We had a slight delay in our departure time. A passenger had left their passport on Another airplane and we had to wait until it could be found and returned to the passenger. The pilot made up for the one hour delay and we arrived on time.

We had the easiest trip through immigrations and customs I have ever experienced. The workers are very friendly and helpful. So far I am most impressed with how clean the country is. It is 92 degrees with a heat index of 102. Makes a girl from KS feel like she is home.

I had the most interesting conversation with my seat mate. He is probably in his late 30’s and has a PH.D. In science. He works at a science lab in Chicago and teaches at a college. He grew up in Japan and was returning to visit his aging parents. He gave me lots of tips on what to eat and things to do. We talked about a wide range of topics from Trump to living a minimalist lifestyle and lots of other things. He shared some of his understanding of how Japan and the USA are alike and how they are different. He works too hard and rarely makes time for himself. It sure made the time go by faster while we were talking.

They kept the airplane dark after they served us dinner about an hour after we took off. They passed water bottles out about every hour but didn’t feed us again or turn the lights back on until about two hours before we landed. Neither one of us was able to sleep much on the plane.

Most of the passengers on the plane were citizens of Japan. There were several babies and small children aboard but we rarely heard them cry.

We are going to take showers and put on fresh clothes then go walk around and find some dinner. It is mid afternoon here and we need to stay awake until at least 8:00 so we can start adjusting to the time difference.

Tomorrow we will take the train into the city and change hotels. Not sure what we will find to do but I’m sure it will be fun!

We signed papers yesterday on the sell of Nicole’s old house. The buyer isn’t signing papers until Wednesday. If all goes as planned the funds will be automatically deposited in Nicole’s account this week sometime.

Some friends of Nicole’s drove us to the airport hotel last night. We were up at 4:00 this morning to catch a 4:30 shuttle to the airport. Our flight to San Francisco departed on time and we arrived early. We have over a three-hour lay over as we wait for our Osaka flight.

This time thing is giving me a headache. We get on the flight in San Francisco at 11:25 which is 1:25 pm back home but it is 3:25 am tomorrow in Osaka. Good thing I only have to deal with current time where ever I am.

No problem getting my hiking sticks through security. They did pat down my ass after I went through the scanner. Not sure what triggered that.

Nicole and I are getting a little slap happy already. Wonder if Japan is ready for us? No telling what mood we will be in after another fourteen hours of traveling.

Sitting. Waiting for our next step in this adventure. Trusting this next leg will be as smooth as what we have experienced so far. All is well!

All my bags are packed. I’m ready to go! Going to KC this afternoon to sign papers on the sell of Nicole’s old house. We will have dinner and then head to the airport hotel. Trusting we will get some sleep tonight. We have to be at the airport before 5 AM for our 6:01 AM flight to San Francisco. We have over a three-hour layover in San Francisco before our 11 1/2 hour flight to Osaka, Japan. With the 14 hour time difference we arrive in Osaka around 3:00 their time on Wednesday afternoon. We have a room at a hotel right by the airport for our first night in Japan. We have a different hotel near downtown Osaka for the next two nights and will start our Kumano Kodo on Saturday with a day of travel.

Both of us are feeling a bit nervous today. It is a big day, especially for Nicole, as she has to say goodbye to the house she and Chris lived in for 12 years. Add a trip to Japan on top of that and I think she has reason to be nervous!

I went into Wal-Mart for one last time last night. I decided to buy a cheap purse that is soft enough to squeeze into my day pack for the time on the trail. It is just big enough to hold my phone, credit cards and cash. I also picked up a book to read on the airplane. I would take some knitting but don’t have room for it on the trail. Since I have my iPad with me I will load a couple more books on it in case I finish reading the book I got last night. On the trip home from Iceland several years ago I read a book about the Camino and decided to walk it. Wonder what this trip will inspire me to do.

Fingers crossed all flights will be smooth and on time. I’ll check in when I have time and access to the Internet. Ready for this adventure to begin!

Japan! Here we come!

I woke up in a fog this morning after another rough night of little sleep. I made my normal breakfast of toast with cream cheese. Without thinking, I put a light layer of the peach jam I made yesterday on top of the cream cheese. It was good but about 20 minutes later I felt like shit. I haven’t had sugar for over seven months and my body reacted badly to it. I finally went back to bed to sleep off the sugar head ache. Feeling better now. Think I will stay off sugar again. Not worth the pain!

Made seven more pints of peach jam last night and finished working up the box of peaches I had bought. I love hearing the jar lids pop when they seal. Only had one that didn’t seal. I had bought an off brand case of jars a year ago and although the rings are supposed to be universal they didn’t fit tight enough to made the lid seal.

Only one more sleep in my own bed for two weeks. I am going to unpack my suitcase this afternoon and double-check that I have everything I want to take. I need to make sure the liquids are easy to get to so I can make it through airport security without an issue. Trusting they will allow my walking sticks to go through. If not I may need to check my bag.

I need to decide it I want to take my purse or just put things in my pockets. I took a purse to Spain and ended up ditching it after the first couple of days on the trail. It just added weight to carry. I’ll see if I can fit my purse in my suitcase so I don’t have to carry it on the trail. I don’t want to ditch this purse if it doesn’t fit.

Kathy is cleaning today and maybe that will give me some motivation to do so to. I still haven’t cleaned my main floor. I hate to leave it dirty for Kathy to do while I am gone. Maybe my guilt will motivate me – nothing else seems to.

Only got three eggs this morning from my girls. I gave them a lecture and trust they will get after it and lay more eggs. It has cooled down some so they can’t blame the heat. Seems every once in a while they have a day or two of slacking off and then they get busy laying again. Maybe they take after me!

It is nice to be able to leave and not have to find a house sitter. Thanks Kathy! I know my critters will be in good hands.

Read about the meteor shower that is happening August 12. It is to be one of the biggest shows in years. Hoping I will be able to see it from the airplane on my way home. Not sure how the whole time thing works and if I will be in daylight or night skies on the way home. When I came home from Iceland two years ago I saw the sunset the entire flight home. Kinda made up for the very little sun we saw for the week we were there as we only had four hours of daylight each day.

I’m sure I will see some meteors the night after the 12th If I can stay awake and watch for them that night. I’ll see how bad jet lag is.

What a beautiful day out today. It is only 83 degrees and no wind. Maybe I will go out and weed my flower beds and get some fresh air to finish clearing my head. I still feel a bit of that sugar from the peach jam in my system and need to work it out.

My big adventure finally begins tomorrow. I’m getting excited! Seems appropriate that Nicole gets to sign papers to sell her house the day before we leave. A new adventure awaits! All is well.

Made seven more pints of peach jam this morning. I made three pints and one half pint yesterday. I have enough peaches to make seven more pints but I may need to get some more jars first. I tasted just a little taste of it this morning and liked it. I don’t use as much sugar as the recipe calls for as I think peaches are sweet enough without lots of extra sugar.

Found out Craig and I have to go to KC Monday to sign closing papers on the sale of Nicole’s house. I forgot we had co-signed on her loan when she bought the house. I’m going to ride to KC with Craig Monday and then Kathy will have to come get me when I fly in to KC August 13. We will drop Nicole off at her house then come home.

Had another rough night trying to sleep last night. Bedtime is quickly becoming my least favorite part of the day.

The chickens have been enjoying the peach scraps. I don’t give them the pits as I think I remember reading some where those aren’t good for them. I cleaned the refrigerator out yesterday and the dogs enjoyed the left overs from it.

Still can’t quite wrap my head around the fact that on Tuesday I am flying to Japan. I am ready to get out of my comfort box and experience something very new for me. Still a bit terrified about the walk but trying to remember not to anticipate and allow it to be what it is.

Need to run into town and see the grandkids one last time before I leave. I need to check how many jars I have and pick up some more while I am in town if I need them and get my third batch of jam made.

Bags are packed. I’m ready to go. Come on Tuesday!

Went into Emporia this morning to get some cash for my trip and some greens for my girls. I had lunch with Michelle while I was in town. I rarely get a chance to talk to her without the kiddos around so it was nice to catch up with her. I told her I would go into Emporia sometime this weekend to see the grandkids before I leave.

I got a box of peaches while I was in town. I want to make a few batches of peach jam this weekend. Michelle had given us some peaches earlier this week and both Kathy and I have really been enjoying them.

Need to touch base with Jason before I leave Monday. He is hard to get hold of sometimes as he goes to work at 4:00 in the morning and has been working 10 – 12 hour days six days a week.

Enjoying the cooler temperatures. I sure like mid 80’s much better than mid 90’s and above. I have very little energy when it gets that hot.

Doing a final check of what is in my bag and making sure I haven’t forgotten something. I need to keep reminding myself if I forget something I can get it in Japan.

Finally have a quiet head today. I have been on overload the last couple of weeks and have had trouble quieting my mind. I can remember when I had a busy mind all the time and didn’t know what it was like to have a quiet mind. No wonder I was depressed back then.

Grateful for the cooler weather. Loving the smell of fresh peaches. Enjoying connecting with my family before I leave. All is well on the prairie.

Another night of not much sleep. So frustrating to lay in bed and be tired but can’t sleep.

Some dear friends came to town to see me today. We had a long lunch at the Grand Hotel in Cottonwood and then continued our conversation at my house. It is always good to see them and I love our deep conversations.

I realized I have way too many food items in my suitcase and need to take most of them out. I not only have food items in my carry on bag but my day pack is full of them too. When I am on the trail I don’t want any extra weight in my day pack. I have no where to put the extra snacks I now have in my day pack as I don’t think we can eat that many before the walk. It isn’t like Japan doesn’t have any food to eat! I must have an obsession with food!

So nice to have a cooler day today. KC got lots of rain over night. Sure wished I could have gotten that here. Seems like a waste to have that much rain over a city when the prairie is so dry.

Nothing on my calendar for tomorrow or the weekend. Trusting I will be able to get some good sleep and will be well rested before I leave for KC on Monday and then Japan early Tuesday morning.

Nicole signs her closing papers on her house next Monday. The title company will deposit her proceeds for her while we are in Japan. I have never had a house sell in two weeks. It sure feels like it was meant to be and that Nicole had some behind the scenes help in getting this deal done so quickly.

Still having trouble believing I will be in Japan next week. Not sure how I prepare myself at this point. I am glad I realized I was once more living in fear through anticipating what might happen. I need to stay in the present moment and allow it to unfold without my worry or concern.

Getting excited. Staying present. All is well on the cooler prairie today!

We had a very brief shower mid morning. It was enough to knock the cobwebs out of the rain gauge and to lay the dust down for a bit. Have my request in for a couple of inches in the next couple of days.

Did some more hard mowing last night after it finally cooled down some. I came in covered with dirt and dust. I took a bath and the tub water was so dirty I couldn’t see the bottom of the tub. I had to clean the ring around the tub off when I got out. Reminded me of a time when I was a kid and there was a bad drought. We only took baths once a week on Saturday nights. The first kid got one inch of clean water. Each kid afterwards could add one inch of water. You got to choose between very little clean water or five inches deep of dirty water. No wonder I like a deep tub of clean water now!

Did a trial packing last night. Everything I wanted to take fits and the bags aren’t too heavy. I do have extra snacks that don’t fit but I will take some of the extras to Nicole and see what she can fit in. Kathy was impressed I am going to be gone for two weeks and only have a carry on bag and a day pack. Sure makes traveling easier when you don’t check luggage.

Not feeling very motivated today to do anything. I still haven’t cleaned house and need to do that before I leave. I did get a note out to the folks joining me for the solar eclipse adventure. We are moving up our start time by thirty minutes due to expected traffic jams. One of the guests responded that she has a port-a-potty she can bring along. May be a good idea! When you get a certain age being close to a bathroom becomes more important!

Notified my banks and credit card companies that I will be in Japan and ask that they allow me to use my cards there. I always carry two debit cards and two different credit cards just in case one of the companies has a communications issue and denies me use of my card. Nicole was going to do the same so trusting between us we will have access to an ATM machine and a credit card will work. I have found the easiest way to get foreign currency is to use my debit card at an ATM machine. The exchange rates are better than at the airport booths. Sometimes breaking the larger bills is a bit tricky though. I noticed the travel guide-book recommended we not bring big bills on the trail as the small places don’t have access to lots of cash to break them for us. I found that to be an issue on the Camino in Spain too. Luckily in the city most places accept credit cards and that is the easiest way to pay for things. They don’t take credit cards on the trail though.

Thankful it is to cool down after today and only be in the mid 80’s over the next five or six days. Maybe my energy will return with the cool down. I have some outdoor work I want to do and it has been too hot to do it lately.

My neighbor was working cattle yesterday afternoon when it was 100 degrees. I felt sorry for the horses they were riding and the cattle. Guess it needs to be done but sure didn’t seem wise to do it in the heat of the day.

Realized yesterday I need to let go of my concern about this upcoming trip. I want it to be a really good experience for Nicole and have been worried I will screw it up for her somehow by not being able to keep up with her on the walk. I need to let that go and allow the trip to unfold without my worry. Easier said than done but now that I am aware of what I have been holding I can allow it to release. I’m sure it will unfold and be in the best and highest interest of each of us. If it is as good as the trip to Spain was it will be a very good trip.

Grounding. Releasing my fears and expectations. Enjoying the cooler prairie today. All is well!

Next Tuesday I will be on my way to Japan! Not sure I am looking forward to being in an airplane for over eleven hours but I am looking forward to the Camino Kumano Kodo. I will admit to being a bit terrified about the walk though. I have not trained for it and walking up and down mountains scares me.

Went into Emporia this morning to get my haircut. I met a friend for lunch afterwards and then met another friend to return some art pieces to her. I stopped at Wal-Mart to get a few things and at Bluestem to get chicken feed. After buying gas I headed home. I got a lot done in town on this trip.

Need to go out and mow for an hour but it is almost 100 degrees out right now and I am having trouble making myself go outside. It is to be cooler later this week so may skip today and do some inside chores instead.

Nicole got her electricity back a little after midnight last night. She lost most of what was in her refrigerator and freezer. She was thankful it came back on and she could get her house cooled down from 93 degrees. Trusting she got some sleep after the house cooled down last night. Not sure which is worse – no electricity or no water.

Made some hotel reservations yesterday. Still need reservations for two more nights in Osaka but we decided to wait and make them after we get there and before we leave for the Camino. If we like the place I have booked us for before the Camino we might stay there after the walk for two nights. We will return to the airport hotel for our last night in Japan as we have an early return flight on Sunday, August 13.

Tomorrow I want to do a packing trial to see where I am at in what I want to take and decide what I need to take out if necessary. The obvious thing to take out will be the snacks I purchased. I’m sure I have way too many of those. I made the same mistake on the Camino and ended up taking a lot of them out and leaving them in hotels my first couple of days on the trail. My carry on bag was too heavy to carry up three or four flights of stairs with all the bars I had in it. I also dumped other items that I found I wasn’t using.

I took eggs to town to try to sell and forgot about them. Anyone need eggs? I have five dozen extra. $3 a dozen.

Figured out I can print with my new printer using my phone but not my iPad. Things like this drive me crazy as I can’t figure out why I can’t print from my iPad. Thankful I figured out I can print from my iPhone.

Another hot day on the prairie. The official count down has begun. Japan are you ready for us in one week? All is well on the prairie.

Just came inside from mowing the tall grass for over an hour. I sat for a bit and thought I was done sweating and then took a shower. I started sweating again after my shower. This is the hard mowing each year I do not like. The grass is over my head as I sit on the mower and there are millions of insects in the grass that fly in my face. Lots of hidden rocks to watch for too. I am over half way done so will have to go back out again tomorrow and Wednesday. I can only take about an hour a day of this type of mowing. It is hot again out there today.

Had a beautiful morning of healings. Five of us gathered for rich conversation and to lay hands on each other. This is how the world will be changed and healed!

After I cool down I need to do some more house cleaning. I did some yesterday but have lots more to do. Mowing takes my energy away but trusting it will return so I can tend to the inside of my house later.

One of my friends brought me some home grown tomatoes out of her garden. I had a BLT for lunch. I added some avacado as I realized I have not been getting enough good fats. Trusting it will help me not get hungry so fast. The tomatoes were so good! Can’t beat home grown.

Last I knew Nicole is still out of power. KPL had estimated she would have it back by noon today. She is still at work so don’t know if it will be on when she gets home or not. She had a very warm night last night with no fan or A/C.

Slowly working my way to being ready for Japan. I leave a week from today. We are spending the first night at a hotel near the airport as we have a 6:00 am flight Tuesday. Have most everything gathered up and on a kitchen table. Need to do a trial packing to see how much will fit and what I might need to take out. Only taking a day pack and a carry on bag. Nicole thought she may have some extra room so will take over flow to her to see if she can fit it in if I need to.

Still need to make some more hotel room reservations. I found a hotel I liked but my internet decided to act up and my attempted reservation didn’t process. Maybe we weren’t supposed to stay there. I’ll try again when I cool down and can find some patience. Not sure what we want to do so am not sure what part of town to look at. Most hotels mention being close to a public transportation system so guess we can get around once we learn how it works. Trusting it will be as easy as the one in Paris is.

I didn’t sleep very much again last night. It is so frustrating to be tired but unable to fall asleep or to wake up 15 minutes after I fall asleep.

Packing. Cleaning. Making my lists and checking them twice. All is well on the hot prairie today.

Relief from the heat at last! Only got 1/4 inch of rain last night and I welcomed every drop. Everyone on my corner of the prairie is much happier today – including all the critters. It is only to be 93 today – feels like a cool day compared to what we have had the last few days.

KC caught the biggest part of the storm last night. They had wind gusts of over 70 mph and side ways rain. Nicole doesn’t have power and has a big tree branch down in her back yard at her rental house. Luckily she doesn’t have any trees down at her old house. Her neighbors at the old house have lots of big trees down. She sure got lucky. It is about time she caught a break.

Nicole got two offers on her old house yesterday. One was really good and she accepted it. They want to close August 2. They have five days to do inspections if they want to do any so Nicole won’t know until the end of the week if the deal will go through. Her realtor was optimistic it would go through as it is an investor who is buying her house and he knows what he is buying. Fingers crossed this deal will work and she will be done with this house.

May do some mowing this afternoon and take advantage of the cooler day. My yard was mowed and hay put up last week. I like to mow the rest of the tall grass so when they burn next spring the grass is an even height. It is hard and dirty mowing though. I have lots of hidden rocks in my yard. I have already had two oops with my mower this year so trusting I won’t have three.

Kathy put up a tarp on the chicken coop so they have more shade. We may have to take it down when the wind blows too hard so it won’t damage the fence. I need to remember to put a permanent shade of some sorts on my wish list. The chickens looked much happier this morning and are spending time in their yard today. I have already gotten more eggs today than I did all day yesterday.

I have some friends coming over in the morning so need to do some house cleaning today. I haven’t cleaned much since the retreat a month ago. Kathy has done some for me thank heavens, but it is time to do a deep clean. I always feel better when my house is really clean.

Finally feeling like I have some energy today. Maybe I will put some of it to good use and get a few things done around here. Seems like there is always something that needs done.

Cooler day on the prairie today. I so appreciate the break from the intense heat. All is well and refreshed on the prairie today.