Summer Vacation!

I'm on 2 weeks of summer vacation though I'm not planning on going anywhere far. I'm planning to stay home and putter around and organize etc. It is super hot and humid here so basically I have no desire to do anything that involves not being in air conditioning. I've been having trouble with "natsubate" or ....I guess something similar to heat exhaustion. I have no appetite-the thought of meat (my favorite food) makes me want to gag so I've been eating a lot of salads when I do finally eat or some of my homemade sesame and almond flour crackers with some cream cheese. I can't wait until this horrible weather is over. It was 37 degrees Celsius (not including the humidity) the other day so ....you can imagine.

So I'm taking this vacation to purge. I'm purging the things I don't need, want or use. The first day, my honey and I carried down to the office a huge dish cupboard (thankfully it was in 2 pieces) to just give me more space in my office/relaxing/reading room upstairs in our apartment. The place was a huge mess as I piled items into the "garbage" or "give away" piles. I carted down all kinds of things to the office where I will box them up and give them to family members who love all things Japanese. We are using the huge dish cupboard to store some of the vintage items we have for sale in our vintage store and now upstairs feels so light and inviting! I can't wait till fall comes and I can roll up the "hurricane" shutters (we need to keep them closed now to block the hot afternoon sun or we would be able to bake bread in this room) and enjoy the fresh air and enjoy this new open space! Today I went through about a year's worth of paper stuff-feels good to have that done! I'm going through books, dishes, bags...everything! It just feels so good to get rid of these things.

Last year we went back to Canada and I have to say....I'm a little homesick. I really would love to be at my mom's (Southampton, Ontario .....she lives about a 5 minute walk from Lake Huron) hanging out at the beach or in her hot tub. I remember at night it was sometimes only 15 degrees (Celsius) so it was heaven sitting in the hot tub and looking at the stars! Eating "Canadian" food (you know....just things different from Japanese food) was fabulous (and we still talk about some of them yummy things we ate)! We are hoping to go back next year so that is what I will think about as I step out into the "hot wet blanket" feeling that is this hell aka summer.

I thought I would end this post with some pictures . These pictures are from different festivals that have taken place around Japan. They LOVE summer festivals!!