The dude at the fertilizer place was super friendly and helpful. He had my 10 bags of fertilizer totaling 150 kilograms all set on a forklift pallet when I arrived. I backed my car in and he moved the pallet up near the back of the car and we loaded up that fertilizer in 90 seconds flat.
He asked me where I’m from and how long I’ve lived in Japan. There was a cat wandering around the warehouse. I forgot to ask the guy about that. I was curious if the cat lives there. She probably does. It’s a great place for a cat. Probably lots of rodents around.
There are several places around Sendai to pick up this free fertilizer. We live on the edge of Sendai, so if you drive 10 to 15 minutes away from my house you are out in the Miyagi countryside, and that is where my local publicly subsidized fertilizer dispensary is.
I was the first customer of the day. I think I got there right after they opened because there was no one else around and it was drizzling rain and it’s the middle of nowhere. There are two guys that work in the office that you check in at first. They had my fax order sitting on the counter and I got the feeling they had been looking forward to me showing up for the entire month since I submitted it. It was pretty clear that not a lot of non-Japanese people show up there to pick up a load of fertilizer.
Then I set about delivering it to the necessary locations for the upcoming neighborhood association flower planting event, one fifteen kilogram bag at a time. In the rain.
Eri went with Osamu to kindergarten today on the bus because it was his open house day. So I dropped them off because I needed the car to go pick up the fertilizer. I stopped off at WinMart and did some quick grocery shopping because we needed milk and I ended up getting a few other things because shopping at the little neighborhood market at 8:15 in the morning is wonderfully peaceful. One of the old ladies who works there was in the back chatting with the fishmonger. They said good morning to me and it was just nice to wander around that little old fashioned market . It has a weird feeling, like The Andy Griffith Show or something. Except in Japan. And in the 21st-century.
I fell asleep on the carpet in the boys' room last night. I was so exhausted I can barely remember. We did bath time and it was a Osamu’s choice for bedtime story and he chose Fiona Flamingo, which is one of our current favorites. I talked to them about the story a little bit, especially the part about how the other flamingos made fun of Fiona for being different. After that Eri and the boys and I all went upstairs to go pee and get tucked in and then Eri went back downstairs to take a bath and I stayed behind to talk with the boys a little bit as they started to fall asleep and it turns out I just conked out right there on the carpet next to the bunk bed. I woke up around 2:30 and noticed Eri had put a blanket over me.
Today was a short schedule at school and all the kids got out at 1 o’clock. Kenzo and our neighbor Rinka-chan, who is in sixth grade, came to the front door and called to me in my office upstairs. I came downstairs and Kenzo asked if he could put his backpack and stuff down in the front entranceway and go out and play with Rinka-chan and the other kids. I thought about what Eri was going to say because we’ve been working on setting expectations for the conditions for him to go out and play when mama and papa aren’t with him. I figured it was a special day since school got out early so I told him, and Rinka-chan too since she’s the most responsible kid in the neighborhood, that it’s okay to go out and play of course, but stay close to the house.
A few minutes later I looked out the window and I saw that they were down the street looking for bugs so I grabbed Kenzo‘s watch and I walked down and gave it to him and told him to watch the time and be back by 2 o'clock.
Well 2:10 rolled around and I looked out the window and he was in Eito's garden playing with lizards. Then Eri texted me to find out what the situation was and I ended up having to go down to Eito's house to apologize to his mom for letting Kenzo just run amok and invite himself to their house. She said no way it’s totally fine.
Eri and I are working on how to deal with this stuff. She's very cautious with Kenzo's free-range play ways, especially when it comes to imposing on our neighbors. I'm more of the mind that it's okay for him to wander about and visit with friends as long as their parents are okay with it, and in turn I am completely good with Kenzo's friends coming to play over at our house.
Before dinner Kenzo got a hold of a love letter that Osamu got from a little girl in his class and read it out loud for us. Later on Osamu got help from mama in writing a nice thank you letter back to his friend.
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