Much ado about nothing

As the summer days go by, my family is staying home. My husband continues to work from our bedroom. Our son does his summer school work in the morning and plays with the neighbor kids in the afternoons. I spend my days reading, cooking, and doing random tasks. It is nothing like I dreamed our summer would look like.

We watch the Olympics on television, just like the rest of the world. We've enjoyed watching the games, including tonight's equestrian jumping event (we loved the fun Japanese themed jumps). I feel bad for the athletes that have come all this way to compete, but are not able to experience Japan. I heard about 2 athletes that decided to sneak out of their hotel. They were caught and had their Olympic IDs revoked as punishment. It is such a shame.

I realized earlier this week that I have only left the house 2 times in the past week, both times to go to the grocery store. While I have most of my produce delivered, I still need to grab other ingredients periodically. Even after living here for almost 4 years, I still feel like my fridge is incredibly small! While most Japanese people shop daily or every other day, I still prefer to go to the shops only once or twice a week. It is just something that I don't think I will ever get used to. The only type of shopping that I want to do every single day is gathering items from a garden.

Speaking of the garden, my pots are miserable in the heat. Many of my plants, just like in years past, have bolted or keeled over even though I've been religious about watering them. My tomatoes seem to be the only thing happy out there right now. We're getting a good bowl full of cherry tomatoes every other day. Oh, and the sage is ready to harvest. I will most likely make my beloved brown butter sage pesto tomorrow after my best friend inspired me to do so by mentioning it today.

My big excitement this week was being able to order plain Cheerios from a website called iHerb.com (they specialize in herbal supplements). I'd been hearing about the website for a while, but my husband was hesitant to open another online account. Luckily, my neighbor orders from them and told me I could add to her order anytime. It might seem strange to be excited about getting a box of Cheerios, but familiar tastes of home really provide a lifeline at times. I still recall special packages sent to us over the years with peanut butter, graham crackers, spices, apple chips, pretzels, my beloved Puffs tissues, and more. Every package has meant so much and left us feeling elated beyond belief!

As summer continues to pass us by, I wonder if we will get to do anything special. It is looking like a resounding no. That realization makes both the US and Japan feel even further away than they have been for the past year and a half.