June

Our past June are here.  2025.  2024.  2023.  2022.

England trip story started 
on Entry#595. 6/15/2026. 
Scroll down and find it. 

Note to myself. I love watching this video. See the view numbers?? 10M??!

6/30/2026.  
It's HOT here. The weather channel says "Extreme Heat warning". Feels like over 100F.  How about your cities?  But Sun is so shining. We went for pedaling anyway. At least cycling makes "wind". It feels good. 

I don't have photos of myself biking usually. I have photos of me carrying an ice cream usually. Funny. 

6/28/2026.  
Did you know how much important daily routine (= standing-frame time and handcycle pedaling time) is to my husband (paraplegic = spinal cord injury body system)?  It was obvious because his spasms occurred more right after England trip. 
Therefore we resumed all routine activities right away. 

6/27/26. 
When I stayed in England, the first thing I noticed was “the Sun rises very early”. I didn’t know sunrise in London is around 4:45am this time of year.  Did you know that?  
So around the summer solstice, London gets about 16 hours 38 minutes of daylight, with sunset after 9:20pm.  
Then my husband showed me a map to re-check England’s latitude. It was a fun surprise to me. I’m from Sapporo, Japan. When I was young, I felt early sunrise often. I remember it very well. Then compared to latitudes here:

See a photo below? A difference between Ohio latitude and London latitude? Kind of a new realization.

6/27/2026.  
Note to myself. My husband's one of "apprentices" defended his master’s thesis. Then we celebrated at our house. Guess what I baked? 
See Entry#604 below. I tried "Rhubarb & Custard" from a scratch. You should have seen my smile face. It was delicious. Believe me, it was. I think I presented "England" pretty well to my husband's crews. It was fun. 

6/24/2026. 
How are your Beebalms doing?? My larkspurs reached their peak already. I'm fondly awaiting "harvesting seeds" time. 

How about a newborn fawn? Does he visit you?

Entry#607.  6/24/2026. England Trip #13
Things I needed to pack for my husband’s wheelchair on England trip.  
Front-wheel  
Extra tubes (for wheelchair’s tires). 
Tire levers. 
Bike tools (a small compact one). 
Hand-pump. 
Electric pump. 
(Electric outlet adapter = International wall plug adapter = UK version)

Road trips are convenient for us because I can put all necessary items into our van and just let them be until it’s needed.
On the other hand, an air travel makes me think more.  Which items are okay as carry-on items on board. Which items must be with me all the time. And so on.
It’d be critical if we don’t have an extra tube for a wheelchair wheel/tire in case of flat tire (puncture) in a foreign country.  Well, you might say “you could find a bike shop there”. That’s true. During transition periods from home to a hotel, I prefer to have them with me. It’s safer.   
We always need to have a “plan B”.  I always think about “what if” situations. It makes me do “overthinking” though. Well, that’s me anyway.  
A flat tire (puncture) didn’t happen. I didn’t need to use most of them on the list above. Even so, I will pack them again for our future air travels.  We always need a plan B. 

Entry#606. 6/22/2026.   England Trip #12
We took two flights on the way there and two flights on the way back.  
(on the way) CVG to DTW.    DTW to LHR  
(on the way back) LHR to DTW.     DTW to CVG

After all, we experienced both the way of a domestic flight and the way of an international flight. It was a good lesson for myself. Understanding both small size and big size of aircraft was necessary as well for the future use.    
Here is a fun/surprise part.  
What are the odds that a flight attendant who worked on our flight from Detroit to London would also be on our return flight from London to Detroit?  Hmmm.  
We met and chatted with a sweet flight attendant lady on the way to London. She told us she was a climber. My husband told her about our trip. He got invited to the conference and will give a talk there.  
On the way back, when we waited for our boarding time at the gate, we heard a voice “How was your conference?”    
Who knew you were coming back from the conference at London airport??! It was HER, that sweet flight attendant lady who was a climber!!  What a coincidence. She made my day so joyful indeed.  
It was so wonderful that she remembered about my husband’s conference.  
I made it to take a photo of them together.  Now we can remember her forever.  Too bad we didn’t exchange contact info. Just one picture. I loved the moment we smiled each other. Precious. How do you like it, that rare coincidence?

Entry#605. 6/21/2026. England Trip #11
I surely do have tons of things to tell you about England trip. There are still more. You might get bored. Are you bored?  I’m smiling.  
I showed this photo before. 

It’s my husband’s must-item for exploring not-paved places (gravel roads or grass fields). It’s called “FrontWheel”. It is useful and helpful for his maneuverability. But it’s not e-assisted. So he still needs to push harder if he goes for a walk into a woods. (He just needs to be carful for his shoulders.).
The conference place this time was Buxted Park Hotel. It is surrounded by beautiful nature and fields. Most of attendees did go for a walk every night after gorgeous dinner.  We did walk daytimes.  One night, we joined our friends. We were grateful for walking together, chatting together and enjoying night time outside.  
Sometimes he needs to “give up” things because of the limitations of movements. Even though he has powers and good upper body strength, hilly uneven grassy ground gave him tough hard time to move around.  
It was a good try anyway. We had a fun time together.

6/21/2026.  
Happy Father's Day. This photo was when I visited my parents in Japan a long ago. (Which year was it?) 

Entry#604. 6/21/2026.    
You know? I absolutely fell in love with British English (the sound itself. the tones and the tempo.)  Also I fell in love with everything in England. You might laugh.  
One of them is “old-fashioned Rhubarb & custard sweets”.  It seems a very traditional one. Is it? You see candies with pink and orange colors? Those are Rhubarb & custard sweets. 

Now I discovered something new. There is "Rhubarb and Custard" as a dessert in England!  I didn't know. 
https://www.christinascucina.com/rhubarb-and-custard/

Did you know that? I wish I knew it during my trip. Now I really want to try it somehow. 

See a pouch/purse on a table? That's my souvenir from England (in fact from London Heathrow Airport). I love it. 
I am still learning about UK, England, British stuffs and more after we got home. It's been fun. It's still continuing. 

Entry#603.  6/20/2026. England Trip #10
“What is exactly my task when my husband is boarding /getting off an airplane?”  
Can you come up with some ideas about it?  

There are 2 tasks mainly.  
1. His own manual wheelchair = I need to take care of it until it’s stored properly into a right place in an aircraft.   
Once he transfers onto an aisle chair, his manual wheelchair itself is left behind. His wheelchair has to be loaded into an aircraft.    
There are 2 ways (I learned this info from our experience at this trip.)  
A) There is a closet in the cabin.  Airline crews let us use it for a wheelchair.  But ‘first come first serve’ rule is applied. **I encountered this rule unfortunately. I’ll explain later.  
B) There is a cargo hold (luggage hold) where isn’t in the cabin. A crew member takes care of a manual wheelchair from a connection area between an airplane door and boarding platform.  
In this case, there might be a risk of damage (by mishandling a wheelchair). We just need to be aware of the possibility.  

Since there are 2 ways to store (2 different places) a manual wheelchair, I need to do prep for each scenario at the last minute of boarding time. 

2. Carry-on luggage  
After he gets on an aisle chair, he cannot carry a heavy bag because of a size of an aisle chair. He does carry a cushion or light weight stuff.  
If we both have carry-on luggage, I need to carry all of them by myself. That’s my task indeed. 

It was my very first lesson for this process during our trip to England. Now I’m thinking back on all steps, I feel much better to understand “what to do” as a wife of paraplegic husband.  Until I got this mental phase, it was overwhelming to me.    
Later, I will tell you about what I did for each flight (4 times).  You’d be surprised because each flight was different and it was definitely like “play by ear” situation for everyone, all of us.  I can tell now that I’d be just fine from now on because I experienced almost every possible situation. It was “whoa, are you serious?” moment to me, though. I believe I looked so panicky and awkward to people around me. As usual, my husband was calmer.  
I wanted to document every each step taking photos. However it didn’t happen because I was too busy to manage my own situation.  
Here are photos of “a closet in the cabin”.  It was good to know about the existence of a closet. We loved using a closet to store a manual wheelchair. We felt safer knowing all parts of wheelchair were there without any damage in the cabin of an aircraft. We can say “Using a closet is our most preferred way” for a manual wheelchair. 

Entry#602. 6/20/2026. England Trip #9
There were processes which were harder than I expected during the trip to England.  Before the trip to England, I did “image training” for boarding and getting off a plane (sometimes social media videos give you ideas and images. It would be helpful sometime.)  
First of all, you should know these facts of a manual wheelchair user.  
1. A manual wheelchair cannot pass through an aircraft aisle.  
(note: Have you thought about it?  I’ve not.)  
2. In front of the entrance door (on the side of boarding bridge), a manual wheelchair user has to transfer on an Aisle chair (aisle wheelchair) from his own wheelchair.  
3. Then he is taken to a seat inside an airplane by two assistant crews. Then he transfers to a seat from an aisle chair.

My husband did a good job to transfer from his wheelchair to an “aisle chair = aisle wheelchair”.  
Airline workers are really eager to “help” my husband for transitioning/ transferring from his manual wheelchair into aisle chair (and from aisle chair into his manual wheelchair). It was really nice of them. We were grateful.  I will make another section about this theme. It’s a good learning. My husband still has a good upper body strength. So he was fine once he got the idea about the actual size and shape of aisle chair.  
Here are some videos for you to watch. They are from YouTube.  Because I didn’t take any videos of my husband with an aisle chair. None. Do you know why?  I was really focusing on “my task” and I was pretty nervous. That’s why. This theme is gonna be my next writing. 

These two photos below are mine. I was glad that I took them at our last flight. I wanted to document each flight. I didn't take any from our 3 flights. I couldn't. 

This photo is the only one that I was able to capture him on an aisle chair. This was on our last flight of "from Detroit to Cincinnati".  Funny though because I finally got used to it a little bit about the processes at my 4th flight. I managed to take a photo, only one photo, at the very last minute. 
Coming up: What is exactly "my task" on boarding on/getting off an airplane??  As a wife of a full-time manual wheelchair user husband. (Paraplegic husband). Are you getting curious?

6/20/2026. England Trip #8
The BONUS photo in England. There is a behind-a-scene story about this shot. Every time I look at this photo, I do smile and giggle. It is precious and meaningful to me indeed. 

6/19/2026.    
Let’s take a break from “The series of Trip to England” stories. I’ll resume tomorrow.  
My husband and I were away from home for whole 6 days. What do you think was the first thing I did when I got home? 
The answer = mowing!  I felt comfortable after I finished mowing. It seemed our town, Oxford had really good rain (there was a heavy storm one night). I was surprised almost everything had grown well. Yes, including lawns. Here you go, my colorful yards.  
How about your yard/garden?? Are they happy in these days? 

Here is a one photo of my backyard & my mower. Do you see it? 

Entry#601.  6/18/2026. England Trip #7
We met a wonderful thoughtful Englishman during the trip in England. We used a taxi service to transport from the London Heathrow Airport to the Buxted Park Hotel. Because it was about 1 hour and 40 minutes driving distance (when it’s not a rush hour). Since we had many luggage, it was a wonderful service indeed. The driver gentleman was the sweetest kindest person and we became good friends right away. We were grateful for everything he provided. All bags plus wheelchair did fit into his car. (It was his own car, and it’s a very fancy nice one. I tried to be extra careful not to make any scratches by wheelchair.)  
My husband preferred to ride on a passenger side (not a backseat).  Did you know Cars drive on the left in the UK, just like in Japan?? So, in the UK, cars have the steering wheel on the right.  That says my husband rode on a passenger seat = the left side of the car which was the same side of his own Sienna van. It was easy. That was good. We really enjoyed the England scenery on the way to the hotel.  
He picked us up on the last day to the hotel near the airport, too. (We stayed at the hotel one night because the flight was early morning.)  We were really grateful for his hospitality and service. It was so smooth enough to arrive the hotel, even though there was a traffic jam.  
HOWEVER(!).  Yes, I have to say “however”. 

This photo below was from the day we arrived. See how much we were happy there.

Entry#600.  6/17/2026. England Trip #6
Speaking of “A core part of Trip to England” = an air travel as a full time manual wheelchair user, I still need to break this topic down into several parts.  
Just because there are many situations, there are many processes, there are many “what if?” scenarios and there are many “improvisations” during this trip to England.  
I need to rephrase this, as well.  As usual, I admire paraplegic solo travelers in the world a lot.  I’m impressed and amazed by them. I respect them a lot.  There are many of them in the world, you know? They manage any situation by themselves.  I was in a panic mode at some point, you know? I freaked out at a moment, you know?  It was our first try literally. There are so many things I cannot control and I can’t predict.    
No matter how carefully I prepare, it can all end up being for nothing.  
Well, I have tons of things to tell you, as you can see. But, yes, I will break them down into several parts.  
The most important part was “We made it!!” Yes, we made it to FLY to England. That matters. Isn’t it? (with a British English tone).  
Here are photos of our luggage on the way to London. 

My husband's very useful gadget (wheelchair attachment) called "Front Wheel".  "Just in case" we had it as a carry-on stuff.

And the photo below is "on the way back to Detroit". Also I need to explain about a special cushion. I had to carry it with me all the time because he needed to use it on a plain (also in a taxi). Did you know "If you bring an air-inflated cushion that you blow up by mouth or a hand-pump onto an airplane, it will expand and become very FIRM as the plane climbs to cruising high altitude."???  The special cushion has to be "soft" for my husband body condition. So we had to adjust the softness as we went up high. 

Entrt#599. 6/17/2026. England Trip #5
Also I want to show you “What a closed Workshop looks like”.  It was organized by The Company of Biologists.  In fact, it was the first time to observe this type of workshop in person to myself.  It was all NEW to me and it felt so fresh. 

Entry#598.  6/17/2026.   England Trip #4
Before I get to the most important topic (which is an air travel / actual flight process as a full time manual wheelchair user), I’d love to share some more random casual topics.  
Writing about “hard core part” is taking more time than writing about casual topics.  
You might wonder “What did you do in England?”  After all, actually I attended whole sessions at the conference. It was not my exact original plan, but I ended up I observed all of them, surprisingly. I am pretty sure that all of attendees (all scientists) wondered and were surprised about my presence. (I’ll write about this theme more later.)  
So I’ll show you “What I wore each day for pretending to be an amateur scientist”.  Day1 to Day4. Did I do a good job? Funny.

Entry#597. 6/16/2026. England Trip #3
Of course, I want to add to write something about “Hotel & accessibility”. The hotel we stayed is Buxted Park Hotel. It’s a very historical gorgeous beautiful old building. At the same time, the old building might be a bit tricky for accessibility sometimes.  
But every time I notice disability signs (handicap signs), I feel grateful anyway.  
You might not realize so much about ramps, lifts, door width and so on.    
I have to say this. People are always generous and kind showing their eagerness to help my husband, anywhere.  I’m thankful for that.  
On the other hand, building setting itself, equipment itself, mechanical stuff itself are sometimes not updated (sadly).  
This time, he managed well enough. We were grateful. 

Entry#596. 6/16/2016. England Trip #2
First of all, I want to put my very first impression of England here. I fell in love with East Sussex (Buxted Park Hotel). Even only 5 nights stay made my experience special and unforgettable. Love hotel people very much. Love every single scientists around the world at the conference.  
You might wonder if I did sightseeing in London or not. I was not able to do that, unfortunately. Because the conference place was far from London. The London Heathrow Airport is also not near the center of London (unfortunately).  
Even so, if you ask me “How was your London trip?”, I’d answer “I loved everything in England where I stayed.”  I was in an only country side, not in a real London as a busy big city. But my mind is full of joy.  

You should laugh. You need to laugh. I love talking to hotel people. Talking subjects are anything, language, foods, sweets, weather, hotel structures and so on. 

Now I love British English (sounds itself, tones and speed).  I love British English “terms” compared with American English. Actually I loved “Fish and Chips”.  I can write about these stuffs endlessly. 

The hotel is very historical and beautiful/very old.  As my understanding, the hotel is very popular as a wedding venue. I nod a lot about that. 

See the photo below? Yes, they are various types/sizes of rain boots (!). Of course, I asked hotel person about it. Can you guess why there are rain boots there?

Those are rain boots that Hotel owns. In rain/wet season, people (costumers) can borrow and use them to walk around the hotel, in the beautiful country side fields. It’s muddy a lot in the wet season all the time.  What a great system! I was impressed. I love the idea. 

One more about the hotel. My husband informed me that one room looked like a library. It was used as a dining room for us. Then it got my attention. I asked hotel person about it. I entered the room several times to check bookshelves. Yes, I did! Just because I love any library. I couldn’t resist, you know? It was quite interesting collections they had.  
Now you see how much I fell in love with England, don't you?

Entry#595. 6/15/2026. England Trip #1
Breaking news!  We 'flew' to England!!

6/14/2026.  
You'd be surprised. Where are we? How long? What for?  Stay tuned. 

6/11/2026.  
Summer time on campus.  (Oh please teach me "English". Is it "on campus" or "in the campus" or "at the campus"??)   (I know I can ask AI about it.) 

6/11/2026.  
You gotta laugh. I have two kinds of flowers that I let deer munch early spring every year in my yard. I just did let them eat it up. Of course, I felt sad because I never saw flowers' buds, never ever. 
So guess what?  Remember? I have now a "mighty" spray.  It works, I told you that? 
Ta-da!!!!

You should know how much I was happy and delighted. It's like a special bonus in this season. My very first time observing of these blooms. Hurray.  Of course, my husband laughed (even a bit rolling his eyes). I guess I need to purchase this brand spray every year from now on. 
It is a tiny joy, but it is a big thing to myself. Fun. 
P.S. Please know this. We let deer be around our yard. They munch mulberries on driveway every morning, every evening. So I guess they are still happy staying in our yard. Right?

Aaaaaaaaaand here, it is up finally in my yard. 

Entrt#594. 6/09/2026.  
My husband and I started USA life in 2001. It was in Manhattan, KS. It’s because of KSU (Kansas State University) where he found the Tribolium (Red flour beetles) lab for research. Interesting to you?  At that time, we made our friends in Japan confused a little bit because of the town name we moved in. “Manhattan, KS”!
You know? People in Manhattan, Kansas call the town “Little Apple”. Did you know that?  I like that very much.
Most of people in Japan think “Manhattan = NYC (New York City)” automatically. So most of our friends thought we moved and lived in NYC (the BIG city, oh my).  No way to me though. I liked Manhattan, KS.  (Then our son was born there after one year, in 2002.)   
Back then, my husband took me to several cities around Manhattan. Topeka, Wamego, Kansas City, Junction City, Omaha, and so on.
Every Summer, we drove on I-70 through Hays to Colorado. It was good days, we were young, too.    
Recently I had an interesting conversation with my dear-contractor-friend about Kansas. He had his relatives in Alma, KS. He told me “The city is very famous for Cheese! You should know that. It’s even close to Manhattan, KS.”
Wait, which city?  Alma!?
I was embarrassed. I’ve lived in Manhattan, KS for 7 years and I had no clue about Alma at all.
I had to google search about it right away. And I found out something cool about Alma, KS. So you know about it? Is it very popular and famous to everyone around the States?  

https://almacheese.com/our-story

Now I really want to taste Alma cheese by myself. The problem is how. Does Jangle Jim’s supermarket have it?  
Manhattan people can buy some at grocery store in Manhattan?? 

A photo below is an interesting one that was taken in 2021 in Manhattan, KS. I wore a t-shirt with MHK logo design. See? MHK = ManHattan Kansas. 

Whoa, Alma cheese is made as Kansas State shape one? That's cool. 

6/09/2026.  
My endless battle with deer/rabbits update. 
Well, surprisingly a deer/rabbits spray worked well enough so far!  My eyes widen. Only thing I need to figure out is "how much and how often". One bottle is quickly emptied. It smells a bit. But I'd say it's worth it for a good defense system. 
My Olsburg gardener friend says "she puts a radio on in her garden for scaring deer off". I haven't try that her method yet. 

My yards today. Come on over to watch my flowers anytime. Fingers crossed about my zinnias to survive and grow. 

Entrt#593. 6/08/2026.  
Several topics are in my head, but the time just passed by so quickly. (I know I simply make excuses.) How’s your life going? 

1. My fireflies  
They started blinking here in my yard. It was not much though.  After a nice rain, they appeared more and more. Even they start blinking around dusk which is nice because we still catch them by our hands.  
Did you know “American” fireflies blink up high around tree branches?  Japanese fireflies don’t go up high and blink. It’s so different. To me, personally, their blinking at the top of the tree is such a treasure. I love it.  
I tried to catch and capture them into a photo. It was harder than I expected. 

2. My special BarnQuilt update  
You have to re-read my old stories back in November 2025.  Scroll down and find them. Entry#485. 11/08/2025.  Entry#489. 11/22/2025.  
I was super excited and happy about my own hand painted BarnQuilt “assisted by my Olsburg, KS friend” with FaceTime. You know? My wonderful BQ (BarnQuilt) painter, she sent me hook screws also with DIY kit. How thoughtful she was. However I got lazy. That’s why it took so long time for me to take care of my board to put/hang somewhere somehow. At last!! 

6/05/2026.  
My garden update.  Milkweed is almost blooming. Larkspur is about 50%. Torch lilies are fun. 

I planted a tall pink zinnia. I was so excited about it. Next morning, I saw this and was so sad. 
I purchased a deer/rabbit spray!! We will see how it works. 

6/04/2026.  
My husband found a video that stole my heart right away. It's a hummingbird. I've never seen this much close up before. I love it very much. I could keep watching these forever and ever. 
How are your hummingbirds doing? I have two (!) They are drinking well, flying well and moving fast well. 

6/03/2026.  
Do you remember about CMC joint pain I have? See Entry#502. 12/14/2025.  
What do you feel if there might be indications of Rheumatic Arthritis? My husband gave me several types of supporters so that I could play with them. Eventually I would see my doctor to ask her advice about it. Hopefully it's nothing serious. 

Entry#592. 6/03/2026.  
Stories about people’s passing are not so easy for myself, especially in English.  In these days, I’ve thought about the differences of “obituary/ funeral service/ visitation” between in Japan and in the States. I need to write about details later. Basically, from my perspective, there is no obituary system in Japan. It sounds odd but I like reading obituary. Getting to know about the people who passed, from the obituary, is good to me.   
In Japan, there are different customs for someone’s passing. For example, they do the first-anniversary tribute of the person’s passing. 一周忌　(いっしゅうき)  
The family will gather at certain number’s of years, as well.  
My uncle passed 1 year ago. My aunt, my mother and several family members gathered together for the first-anniversary tribute for him.  My mother and aunt informed me about it. I was grateful for hearing about it. Too bad I couldn’t visit them. But my husband and I talked about our old memories about my uncle here at home. I need to dig up photos of him from the past.  
Meanwhile I put my favorite shot of three of us, my aunt, my mother and me.  Also I put a song video from YouTube.  My aunt and mother are choir members together.  My aunt told me the song title she worked on last month. I searched the title.  I’m glad that they are singing together for fun. Hope they keep singing as long as possible. Think of them often. 

Entry#591. 6/03/2026 
Times have changed a lot in many fields. Of course, musics and fashions are very recognizable.  How about “weight lifting”?  Funny?  I notice there are many Yoga stuffs, Pilates stuffs, gym things around us and they are getting very popular (?)
Were they so popular in 1990s??
How about weight lifting? Was it popular in 90s, too?? I don’t think it was.
It is getting very interesting now because many people in this town do yoga and pilates. There are several yoga studios in town as well.
Speaking of weight lifting, I don’t do it and I don’t know much about it.
The time I started hearing cross country female runners saying “I do weight lifting” was 9-10 years ago.  I was surprised at that time thinking “Wow, do you? How do you lift heavy weight?”
In these days, it is very popular and common that weight lifting training is good for people at any age.  It looks it’s very true.  I still feel curious because it was not popular at all in 90s, not at all. Then it turned into the most popular thing in 2020s.  What do you think about it?
Nowadays I still don’t do weight training by myself. My husband says he needs to start going to a gym somehow for weight training (for his upper body and arms).
Cycling is a great exercise pretty much to me. But I need to know the good causes of weight training as well.  Without any specific training, somehow my biceps are built up well enough. Funny though. I don’t need it that much. I need leg muscles for pedaling. A strange mystery. Oh, do you weight lifting?    
(Note. My husband and son always tease me and laugh at me pointing at my biceps.) 

Do your fireflies blink now? Not yet here on 6/1.

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