Sept. 29 - The 62-year-old Boy

I live in the countryside where there are many rice fields.  While I was having my morning walk, I noticed some farmers checking their rice fields.

 

 

 

 

The red spider lily was in full bloom.
 

It is getting close to harvest time.

A black-colored rice variety is planted.  

The taste of black rice seems interesting!  

The sunflower is still in bloom. 

They have already harvested the rice in some parts of the field.

 

  

It is still September, but I've already bought a planner for 2016. 

I thought the red cover was attractive and that it would be out of stock soon,

so I bought it right away.

 

 

I like making my schedules in advance.  I don’t work at the moment, and I don't have a lot of activities to do.  Even so, I like organizing my daily activities. 

These are the things that I usually do:

Planning meals for lunch and supper

Buying the groceries
Doing the laundries
Cleaning the house
Taking care of our garden

These are the activities that I sometimes do:

Going to shopping malls
Walking in the parks
Going to hot springs


I live with my 62-year-old husband who retired from his work last spring.  He survived cerebral infarction, a heart attack, and high blood pressure.  He stays at home 24/7, and he doesn't help in any house chores. 

He graduated from a national university which has a good reputation in our area.  I noticed that his mind works quickly.  I would say that  he is a very proud man.   He thinks that cooking meals, cleaning the house, and doing the laundry would be the ladies' chores.  These simple tasks are not suited for him.  He always needs a wife who serves him, and he doesn't want his wife, me to work outside.  He also considers that I am responsible for taking care of all the house chores.  He is a very impulsive person who doesn't make his schedules at all.  Once he decides to do something, he does it right away.

He's the boss!

The center is Tanu chan.

The picture was taken at Tatsuno Parade held in April 2014. 

 

I enjoyed wild-bird watching a few days ago.  I finally found a blue-and-white flycatcher for the first time in my life.  Many Japanese bird watchers dream of seeing this bird.

I went back home and told him that I was able to take the picture of the blue-and-white flycatcher.  I was so excited to report it to him, and I was also thirsty after a 60-minute walk. 

I took this picture of the blue-and-white flycatcher that day.  
The size of the bird is just about the same as a sparrow's.

 

 

He asked me to add the pictures into his memory stick immediately.  I told him that I was too thirsty to do that at that time.  Then, I had a glass of water and I went upstairs to feed my pet birds.  I guessed that they must have been hungry.  When I descended, Tanu-chan who must have been impatiently waiting for me, handed me his memory stick saying "Please do it right away."  He must have decided to upload those pictures in his blogs.  

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He has been growing approx. 500 pots of Christmas roses for the past 10 years.  Due to his health condition, he doesn't take care of his plants anymore, so I take care of them instead.   

He can drive a car.  I can be considered as "a paper driver", which means that I have a driver's license but cannot actually drive.

He sometimes takes me to botanical gardens to take pictures.  We both love visiting gardens and taking pictures.  I like visiting with him because it gives me chances to exercise. 
 

* * * * * * * * * *

He likes to go to hot springs, and he always asks me to accompany him.  All of the hot springs that we have visited are located in the countryside which are not accessible to any public transportation.

Tanu chan was reading a magazine while

holding an ice cream in his hand.

However, he stays in the resting place of the hot springs for 3 hours or more because he usually takes a nap.   Most of the customers stay in the resting place less than 30 minutes and go home.  I don't really enjoy spending my time that way.  I used to bring 5 or 6 books to the hot springs to kill time.  
 

Tanu chan was occupying the resting place at the hot spring. 

The green scenery from the big window was great!

If I don't wake him up, I can't go home because there is no public transportation available in this area.  If I disturb him while he is taking a nap, he will wake up in a bad mood.  

If he asks me, I should say: "I don't want to go today because I already have something planned."   However, the problem is that I am basically a person who loves to stay outdoors so when he says: "Let's go now," it's hard for me to say "no." to him.  I leave our place without finishing my task. 

For example, last week I told him: "How about visiting the Hyogo Flower center next week because dahlia will bloom around that time?"  

He replied "Let's go now.  How soon can you prepare to leave?  If is it possible, can you make it in 30 minutes?"

I told him again: "Dahlias will be in full bloom next week so let's wait until then."  But then, he said "We can visit there today and once again next week."

In the end, we went there 30 minutes after we talked about it.  I should not tell him anything in advance.  Thus I write down my schedules in the planner to clarify the activities.      

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I was amazed when he went to see his doctor complaining about his wife, yours truly, could not finish the house chores and our house has been messy.  It became the main cause of his stress.  Ouch!!!