July
7/30/2026.
Are you a crafter? Knitter? Painter? Potter? Textile fabric specialist? Sewing machine specialist?
You might laugh. I wrote about this before. I know how to use a sewing machine. When I moved to USA from Japan in 2001(!), I brought a mini handheld sewing machine from Japan.
Something like this product in a photo below.
Funny. Then after a while a part of it broke off. Since then I’m a no-sewing machine person. (I know I just should buy one.).
Since then I just do hand sew, that’s it. It has been no problem at all. It’s still no problem. Just funny.
I have several artistic friends (artist-friends) near and far. I admire them a lot always.
One of them gave me an info of Textiles and Fabrics store.
Silkroad Textiles
I was pleased to know that she teaches several sewing classes there in the store.
So I visited the store. It’s about 45 min driving distance from our town, Oxford. As soon as I entered into the store, I noticed a familiar face there! It was my music-teacher-friend in Oxford. (We did Japanese Taiko drum performance together before.)
And luckily it was my friend’s sewing class day. So there she was!
What a fantastic coincidence!!!! See? Oxford people together in this store.
We had a wonderful chatting time even with the store owner lady and one more Oxford crafter-lady. Note: I fell in love with this store. There are variety of Japanese textiles. You should go check it out.
7/30/2026.
Being a homeowner is sometimes "tough". Unbelievable strong gust winds made a branch down. It almost damaged roof but it didn't luckily. Wheeeew. But I need to take care of this mess. Hope your property is okay.
Entry#614. 7/29/2026. (Part 1 is on Entry#612. 7/23. Scroll down.).
Title: The reason I panicked at Heathrow Airport when we traveled to England.
Part 2.
Because he had to transfer from an aisle chair to his own manual wheelchair (sooner better) somewhere. I wanted to know where he could do it. It was a time-sensitive important issue/matter for his body system really.
But only thing we could do at that moment was just waiting for arrival of high-lift bus.
It came. Other 5 elder-passengers who needed assistance moved(walked) into a high-list bus first. (It took some time, you know. I understand.)
I checked and saw his wheelchair inside a high-lift bus(!) then I felt relieved anyway for a second. (Every time I see it, I get feeling better. That’s true.)
Note: If you are wondering about “how much serious concern about pressure sore”, it can be a life threatening (I mean it). Please watch/listen to this video (time: 3:00) This gentleman (C3-C7 quadriplegic), unfortunately, got pressure sore because he had to sit on an aisle chair longer. It could happen because of an aisle chair….. It is really scary to me, too.
When my husband’s turn (to move/transfer from an aircraft into a high-lift bus) came, nobody had an exact protocol to do it. Crews were trying to figure it out.
There was a gap between an aircraft and a moving-unit of high-lift bus.
A manual wheelchair couldn’t go through on that gap safely. It was kind of obvious to myself.
They brought a ramp and set it up. Because of the narrow width of a ramp, they had to carry my husband on an aisle chair.
Once he got into a high-lift bus, he did transfer from an aisle chair to his manual wheelchair. During this process, his special seating cushion had to be taken care of from his seat inside an airplane to his wheelchair in high-lift bus.
Once he settled on his wheelchair, I got relieved.
At the last part of process, the driver of high-lift bus had to secure my husband’s wheelchair using attachable seatbelts with hooks. Guess what? He tried setting it up again and again, harder and harder, however it didn’t click. It looked like it was too old or too no-updated. He took more time than we expected.
You know? When we all arrived at the building, got off from high-lift bus and entered the building, I felt so much better. Once I understood the whole vision/ whole process/ whole protocol, I was grateful for people who were involved in these processes.
Then it made me think about “How can we do better and quicker for our future air travels?”
I will think about that.
Entry#613. 7/28/2026.
Why do I feel so "busiest ever" in this month? I don't know why. Well, at least I bike with my husband. That's good. He reminded me that we biked 120 mile total in the last week. That was our record mileage, I assume.
Also I proudly report that I was able to attend Book-club in this month! Hurray. The last time I attended (and it was my first time attending ever in my life) was April. Check out again here on Entry#565 4/12/2026.
It was so much fun again with these biology-related ladies. I'm still figuring out how to express my thoughts about a book. Because of my English language skills and knowledge, it is a little bit tricky to "discuss". But I had a good time anyway. I want to write about "how they pick a book" and "how they share info about books they already read" later.
Do you have your own Book-clubs?
7/24/2026.
When you see the sweetest news on Facebook, you gotta look up old photos of "the future bride and me". I found several. Congratulations!!! on her engagement. (I know the future groom as well. Do I have a photo of him with myself? Hmmm.)
At the almost same timing, she got engaged, too! Congratulations.
Entry#612. 7/23/2026.
Title: Why did I panic at Heathrow Airport? (Part 1)
He wheeled through passenger boarding bridge with extra pushing (because it was steep). I think nobody doesn’t notice much about the steepness except for manual wheelchair users.
It was a good learning process for myself, going through passenger boarding bridge, you know?
When our airplane landed in London, the captain announced. I panicked at this moment.
Our aircraft was parked at a remote stand, so passengers were transferred to the terminal by bus! Yes, by bus! No passenger boarding bridge, no. I panicked because I didn’t expect this transfer at all.
At this flight, we missed the priority entering time as a manual wheelchair user, so my husband’s wheelchair was not on board (not in a cabin closet). His wheelchair was carried into a cargo compartment from the airplane entrance door.
I was expecting to see his wheelchair at the door of the connection with passenger boarding bridge.
My mind was rushing and my brain was working hard to try to understand the situation.
Additionally there were 5 other passengers who needed “assistance” for on and off boarding. It seemed those people had some difficulties to walk/ get-up/ step stairs. (However they were not fulltime manual wheelchair users.) They are able to “stand up”, “walk slowly” and “step up/down carefully on one gap step.” That means they don’t need to use an aisle wheelchair (aisle chair) at all.
Only my husband needed an aisle chair.
But all of them cannot go down stairs from the aircraft to a bus. There is a special way for them to get off the airplane. Of course there is. They call it “high-lift bus”. Airline crews told us “We need to wait for a high-lift bus coming and docking to this aircraft.”
Okay.
It took a long time more than we expected. During this waiting time, my husband transferred on an aisle chair (which was stored inside an airplane). It was very old, bulky, not-updated design. He worried about the time length because it was very risky for getting pressure sore. He explained about it to airline crews.
I found videos on YouTube. Let’s check them out.
Besides the concerns of pressure sore, it was good to see and learn about high-lift bus. I understood how it works and it’s helpful for people who need assistance.
However there was an uneasy moment when my husband’s turn came.
Entry#611. 7/21/2026. 5th!
It was very shocking and it was like a “Oh, no!” moment to myself when I realized my husband’s injury-anniversary already passed this year 2026. Can you believe it? In the past 4 years, I didn’t miss it at all. I wrote about it before. We didn’t treat the day 7/16 as a special big day but we reflected it as a meaningful day each other (kind of separately).
I felt bad this time. But we talked about it anyway. I am proud of him each year, everyday, always. I know he has many thoughts in his mind. Of course, he does.
Injury-anniversary 5th. 5 years passed since he got spinal cord injury. T-9. He is a paraplegic biology professor. He is a handcyclist.
Right now, in my mind, there are 2 things as my top reflections on our 5 years.
1. We have made great wonderful connections with paraplegic people. It’s expanding still. (Also we found wonderful people who really care about disability community.)
2. We finally stepped out of our comfort zone. = We did air travel as a manual wheelchair user.
These two things are very meaningful to me and will be forever.
I looked at my photo collection finding photos of us “my husband and me”. You know? There are not many.
Oct 2021
Mar 2022
Apr 2023
Jun 2024
Aug 2024
Jul 2025
Jan 2026
You know? It is a bit hard to find photos of our no-cycling. Because we do cycling a lot together all year long. Funny. Then I noticed there was no photos of us (just two of us) together in England (!?) None.
I need a latest photo of us in this month. I'll work on it.
These two photos are our latest. July 2026. See? Always with bike/handcycle. That's US.
Entry#610. 7/19/2026.
My old friends from childhood in Japan cannot believe that I’m a cyclist (on a road bike) now at age 52 in Ohio, USA. (Still an amateur biker though.) Very funny. I guess I wasn’t a type of girl who did cycling back then. I wasn’t a runner, a swimmer, any ball player at all.
But right now I’m proud of myself cycling with my handcyclist husband.
At first, I just used my casual bikes. I just needed to follow him in case of emergency on the road. I didn’t have any fancy cycling gears at all.
See? Such an unusual bicycle and that helmet. (Feb 2022.) I even carried a big backpack in case of emergency.
I switched to another bicycle which was my husband’s. That means the size was too big to me, obviously. I didn’t care about it much.
I was given a real road bicycle. I was afraid to use breaks and shifters. Can you believe it? (Spring 2023)
Then I got a real helmet. Looks much better, yes?
Next step, I got a brand new road bicycle. Got a bike jersey. (I hated bike pants back then.) (Spring 2024)
Next step, I got my own bike computer to see my speed, cadence, heart rate and more. I fell in love with bike pants.
Each year, I learn something more about cycling. At first, it was just a casual exercise. I didn’t have any goal. I didn’t have any races to compete. I didn’t need any races at all.
My husband shared some knowledge about bicycles (mechanical parts, engineering parts) and physical training stuffs. He taught me more and more.
Evolution of my cycling average speed is like:
9mi/hr
12mi/hr
14mi/hr
15mi/hr
Evolution of my riding distance is like:
7 mile
20 mile
26 mile
30 mile
32-35 mile
45 mile
If you don’t bike at all, you have no idea about these numbers. (I had no idea at all before.) It is now good measurement for myself to do cycling. And again I am proud of myself to keep pedaling as much as I can.
I now need to learn about the balance of cycling and other house chores (like “how to manage time of daily life”). Will you give me some tips on that? (I want to do cleaning stuffs, garden stuffs, cooking stuffs, visiting friends, and cycling. See?)
7/17/2026.
Have you seen a shrew before? We have. Once in July 2020.
Then last week. I'll explain more later.
7/14/2026.
My Bee balms are almost done (sadly). How about yours? Your garden?
And cycling lately.
Entry#609. 7/13/2026. England Trip #14 (If you want to read England stories #1-#13, go to June page.)
There were several opportunities to travel with my husband when his research conferences happened before.
Before his injury, when our son was tiny, we traveled to Chicago and Washington DC (at Fly/Drosophila meeting) together. I took our son to walk around the city and go on adventures with him (son) because my husband was busy with a conference all day long literally. I took advantage of the trip, although my husband didn’t do any sightseeing at all.
After his injury, I still follow him and I still have opportunities to travel with him. It is a part of caregiver tasks now. I just need to be with him at a certain time during the day. (Mainly morning routine and evening bath time.)
And that’s what happened this time to travel to England last month.
You know? I don’t need to “attend” a conference because I am not a scientist. Sometimes I ask my husband “Am I allowed to be there at the conference place?” I need to be careful about their rules and security. I don’t want to be in trouble at all. I can stay away from their official conference event if it’s needed.
I’m grateful when the officials (organizer members) made my own name tag (name plate) at a conference. They graciously made me stay there during a conference.
Usually I pick sessions to watch based on speakers and topics. And usually I have plenty of free time to be alone (to wander around the places). I just want to watch some researchers whom my husband knows or has some connections with. It’s always great to learn about them.
At the conference/workshop in England last month, I looked through the program carefully. Fortunately (unfortunately??) each every session had at least one researcher as a speaker (presenter) who I wanted to watch. That meant I had to attend every session. See? That’s why I said “Somehow it turned out that I attended whole sessions”. Yes, it was not easy for me to “understand” their research stories. It was difficult. And I didn’t need to understand them anyway. My curiosity goes towards “which model animals they use” “how they use model animals” “what they see visually during their experiments” and things like that.
I need to focus on “listening to” English conversation/ discussion as well. My brain always aches, you know?
A good part is I can watch/observe their personalities pretty well. That part is what I love and I enjoy.
This workshop was a small sized, (kind of) closed one. About 30 participants. The tables in the conference/meeting room were arranged in a (like) U-shape, with 30 participants seated facing in the middle (and to watch presentations at the front side of the room).
In fact, it was a very new setting for myself. I’ve never seen anything like this before at a conference. (Yes, it was actually a workshop.) (Of course, my husband knew it.)
I got nervous and I even thought “I shouldn’t be here”.
Then the next moment, one of the host company crews told me “You are welcome to sit at the table with other participants.” with a big smile. My eyes widened (with nervousness). I told him politely that I preferred to observe at the back corner of the room. I cannot imagine sitting at the table(!) Never.
You might wonder about 30 participants’ thoughts. (I wondered, too.) I was pretty sure that they were thinking “Why is she here?” “Does she know science? Researching?” “Can she understand?”
That is very natural. I looked like an oddball very much. But I made it until the final day of the workshop. Wooo hoooo. I was proud of myself.
On the final day, there was a closing announcement by two wonderful organizers. Dr. James Hombrai and Dr. Antónia Monteiro. Everyone smiled, shared satisfaction feelings and clapped hands. So I did. At the very end, I didn't notice at all but Dr. Hombrai mentioned something and brought something toward me(!) I was keeping clapping hands with others. My husband told me later "I looked funny" because everyone clapped hands for me. (What?)
Dr. Hombrai shared his happy feeling with everyone about my husband and I, our air travel to England from the US. How sweet! How thoughtful. What a kindness. After the dismissal, I opened the gift bag. It was a beautiful shawl inside. I fell in love with it suddenly. I wanted to ask him about the name of it and the details of it. He gave me the name. "Mantón de Manila"
He wrote to me later about the details, too. I was touched very much.
I believe he doesn't mind that I share his words here with my friends who read my blog. He wrote to me "I brought the Mantón de Manila in a shop in Seville. It has a perfect symbolism: it has a strong root with Asia where it originated (as both of you have) and has travelled West (as you two did), in this case to Spain where it is now a fundamental piece of female clothing for our famous Feria de Abril in Seville."
See? I love everything he thought, he explained and he did for us. I love the shawl. Now it is my forever treasure. It is very meaningful to both of us, my husband and me. Thank you, Dr. Hombrai. Thank you to all the scientists/professors and host crews whom I met in England! Whoa, what a trip we did!
Dr. Hombrai and my husband. (Now I want to make photo collages of everyone at the workshop.)
Entry#608. 7/09/2026.
My husband organized an event in October 2025. The event title was "Adaptive Nature Walk on wheels." It was his first event ever for wheelchair users who can ride on handcycles. It was a bit specific target to participants just because he wanted people with disabilities (especially handcycle users) to enjoy natures as much as possible.
I mentioned about the event on Entry#465. 10/05/2025.
Seems I didn't write about the details afterward. Forgive me.
Now my husband started thinking/planning about the possibility of the next version of Adaptive Nature Walk.
You might be amazed knowing there are many things to discuss beforehand. The locations. The best seasons or dates, timings.
This time, he asked two wonderful biologist-friends to walk with him at Metamora area. (You know? They are birds-specialists and nature-specialists. Dr. Russell is a great beetles-specialist as well!)
My husband needs to finalize the idea later on. But it was a great meet-up walk through the trail with them. Fun! (Stay tuned if you are interested in joining.)
You might laugh. We knew this trail already. However we didn't notice the latest updates and upgrades. We noticed a portable restroom with the label "wheelchair accessible"! We shouted "Yay!" in front of the bathroom. Funny? But we were happy really.
7/03/2026.
Sometimes Sun light, angle and timing all together help my photography. That happened this evening. It was hot/humid day today again. But some clouds worked pretty well for our easy cruising at Oxford bike trail. Look at this photo! Love it. Do you?
7/03/2026.
Did you know about this? I didn't know that. And I feel so guilty and bad about my poor knowledge. Now I learned about it and I try to be able to explain it in future. I borrowed this image from a social media post.
7/03/2026.
We saw HER munching my coneflower. Did you know that groundhogs eat it???
7/02/2026.
I mentioned about photos of myself at cycling. I don't have much photos of me pedaling. But I do have photos of me holding ice creams. Here are proofs for that. Funny, yes?
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