Cleaning

SUNDAY, AUGUST 15

My plan for today had been to bike to Hikone, but I woke up to an absolute downpour. I got up, and started my day. As the weather has now cleared out some, it looks quite hot and sunny. I may bike this afternoon, but I also have plenty of chores to do around the house, so we'll see. Plus, evening sounds better than mid-day heat for biking.

The weather has been nice enough that I hung my futon and comforter outside to air in the sun. I have swept the house and wiped off the tatami mats in my bedroom. Cleaning tatami takes me longer than it probably should. Perhaps I'm more meticulous, but also because of hair. I have long hair. My mother has complained for years about my hair getting everywhere. And now, I understand better than ever. (Mommy, no gloating.) I use a dishrag to wipe down the mats, using a sauce pan to hold my water. It's amazing how murky that water gets. It also gets hair in it when my cloth picks it up. Which tangles in the cloth and I certainly don't want to accidentally put hair BACK on the tatami.

I have laundry in the machine. It is my sincere hope that the weather doesn't turn once it's time for me to hang it to dry.

I really should organize the second tatami room. It only gets worse by the week. I might take a trip to pick up a bookshelf this afternoon. Such shopping on bicycle is always fun.

Went grocery shopping in the evening and picked up some items from the 100 yen shop. Despite not leaving my house long at all, I did see one face mask. Also, while swiffer-like items are available, I can't find anything like a mop. I also priced bookshelves. I did find one on sale for about $20, but it is a huge box that 1) won't fit on my bike and 2) requires assembly, using tools I don't have. Otherwise, it's perfect.

I don't think I've talked about bread yet. Let me talk about bread. Bread here comes in one type: white. There is no wheat bread, no whole wheat bread, no sourdough, no rye, no pumpernickel. Nothing but white. Now it's possible there's some hidden somewhere in a specialty shop or a health food store, but I haven't found it yet. In the grocery stores, bread is white. There are still decisions, though! All loaves are the same size and each is labeled brightly with a number. This number is the number of slices the loaf has been cut into. The smaller the number, the thicker the slices. I always get six, which, until tonight, was the largest number I'd seen. (I'd rather have my bread last longer, thank you, than have 2 inch thick peanut butter sandwiches.) Tonight, I did see one loaf of 10 slices, but, as such they were ridiculously thin. I haven't seen any non-white flour, either. I checked.

Finished all of How I Met Your Mother that I have with me. I got up to season 5, episode 16. I know I've seen a few more, but I didn't quite watch them in order, as I watched them with Lonn, who didn't always wait to watch them with me.