Weather: Sunny and warm!Last night, upon arriving at Ikebukuro station, we went into the Tobu department store that is annexed to the subway station. “Depa-chika” is the word that describe the Japanese department store basement, where all …

Weather: too dark to know in Massachusett, snowy in Detroit, cloudy in Tokyo Lunch: Tendon @ Detroit Air port Airline food Dinner: Chawan mushi, Chirashi lunch box After a long contemplation, I decided not to take my Mac to Tokyo; it was a…

“You are fixed,” were the words of my surgeon after my 6-month check-up at BWH on Monday. If I had heard these words at another time, I could have been offended, thinking, “ I am not a machine, Doc!” However, this phrase by the surgeon was…

It was a bit crazy, but I went to Maine again on Monday (after coming back from there on Sunday night) with my art teacher. I am very fortunate to have a personal watercolor teacher, who is actively creating art and constantly having shows…

On Friday 3/30, I left for Maine with my girl friend J, whom I met when I was a graduate student at Ohio University in 1978, to celebrate our 51st Birthday together: mine on 3/31, hers on 4/8. She is the only friend I have maintained conta…

The insurance adjuster came at 9:00 for the toilet leak yesterday. He was quite generous with his calculations, and gave us money to replace the ceilings, plastering, painting, cleaning the rugs, etc. The amount was much more than what I e…

I was completely snowed in last weekend. What I did not know was that snow gets hard as rock if you do not clean it right away; Mark always cleaned the snow right away, and I never faced this problem. Oddly I never learned this simple fact…

Trying to get out of the bed this morning, I touched my hipbone by chance, and was startled to find how protruded it is. I looked at my whole figure in the mirror and had a good look at it. The good news is that my legs look much longer th…

On Thursday (3/8) I saw my radiology oncologist and regular oncologist, then went tothe PFT (pulmonary function test) on Friday. Lots of visits with doctors. As I feared, my oncologist pointed to my weight - just 100 pounds, including thec…

It is very difficult to resume a blog after a long break. After coming back from England on March 2, life has been quite busy. Mark left for Japan yesterday while nursing jetlag, and he would be gone three months this time. Also, I had to …

Weather: Cold but Clear Lunch: soup at a sandwich stand near St. Paul cathedral Dinner: The Mekong, Vietnamese/Thai/Chinese restaurant near the hotel Stayed at Luna and Simone Hotel Today was the last day and only clear day in London. We p…

Weather: Cloudy in the morning then rainy in the afternoon Lunch: Albert (pub) Dinner: Pub near the station (I forgot the name) Stayed at Luna and Simone Hotel, Westminster We took a bus to the Westminster Abby, and spent quite a bit of ti…

Weather: Rainy Lunch: The real food company (sandwich stand) on Regent St. Dinner: a cafe in theater district (Stockpot West Ltd.) Stayed at Luna and Simone Hotel In order to get our bearings in London, we took an “original bus tour”, whic…

Weather: Cloudy with occasional sunshine Lunch: Fish and chips at Edinburgh Airport Dinner: Marquis of Westminster, a pub near Victoria station Stayed at Luna and Simone Hotel, Westminster Because our plane left shortly after 1:00, we had …

Weather: Rainy Lunch: Castle Cafe Dinner: Advocate (pub in Royal Mile) Stayed at Ard-Na-Said B&B, Edinburgh, Scotland It was a very rainy day, but we spent most of our time at Edinburgh castle. Stories of Mary Stewart, Henry VII, VIII, and…

Weather: cloudy No lunch Coffee at Queen Anne Caf? in Scottish National Portrait Gallery Dinner: Henderson’s Stayed at Ard-Na-Said B&B, Edinburgh, Scotland In the morning we left St. Andrews to Edinburgh with our son by bus. Even though I …

Weather: cloudy with some sun shine Lunch: Villa Italia Pub Dinner: Pizza Express Stayed at Annandale B&B, St Andrews, Scotland I loved the breakfast at Annandale B&B, particularly the Scottish smoked salmon, even though I could eat only a…

Weather: rainy Lunch: Hawie’s Dinner: Oak room Stayed at Annandale B&B, St Andrews, Scotland Mark and I left for Scotland at about 7:30PM on 2/21 and arrived at Heathrow in the morning. We made a connecting flight to Edinburgh, and then to…

（日本語は明日いれます）After all, I could not leave home last Sunday to spend the night at the hotel in Boston. Probably because of my posture while writing pages of translation on the computer throughout the week, compounded by fatigue, …

（日本語は後からいれます）It has been a very busy, but productive week. On Sunday, Mark came back from Japan safely with souvenirs; I asked him to buy brushes, pens, and water color paints, in addition to the regular food items from Japan.…

Old habits are difficult to kick. I received a phone call last Friday from one of my clients, asking about availability for a weeklong job on the west coast. Instead of saying, “sorry I cannot do it,” I asked her to give me a weekend to mu…

(写真はこの寒空に我が家の柊を食べにくるコマドリたち。我が家の猫たちは一日中眺めています。） In a way my biggest problem is my round face and olive colored skin. Everyone who saw me recently exclaimed, “Oh, you look so healthy. Did you gain…

（日本語は後に続きます）This week I worked one and a half days, and felt that this may be the appropriate amount of work for a while. I have been trying to find the right routine, find the best time to get up, to go to bed, and so forth, b…

A full 10days have passed since the intimate party with my friends, with which I opened the next chapter of my life, and many “new things” have happened since then. I started taking watercolor lessons from an artist last Friday, and I work…

I am working every other day this week, and have no energy left for anything else. I will write a new entry during the weekend.

Just before starting chemotherapy and radiation treatments in June (June 25 entry,) I invited four couples to come to my house, who are our very important friends. Rachel Naomi Remen, the author of “Kitchen Table Wisdom,” wrote about the r…

(日本語は書かなくても大丈夫だと確信しています）Today is the New Year’s Eve. This has been a wonderful and focused year, despite and because of the cancer. This year I discovered:Blog,That I have a loving family,That I have many friends,Tha…

（日本語は後に続きます）For the past two weeks I have been trying to decide whether I still have a stricture even after the dilation. I am not throwing up like before, but I still have a slight discomfort and spit out the remnants of food …

My Santa Claus came in the morning. My neighbor, Manik, an Indian woman, came over in her red jacket with a bag of Christmas cookies. I visited her a few days ago with a few stems of flowers as an offering for her gods, along with a can of…

(日本語は後に続きます）The only thing on my calendar was to go to the Christmas Eve church service at 5:30 p.m. Since the afternoon was bright and warm, I took a walk before going to the service, and ate a whole Klondike bar (!) to repleni…