I couldn’t visit my parents’ house last week, so I went there for the first time in two weeks. As usual, I busied myself with farm work and my hobbies. After waking up, I helped with the early morning shipments, made a little progress on a tool I’m building, and then spent the rest of the day puttering around their house and the surrounding area.
Saturday Morning
Normally, this would be the peak season for corn, but at my mom and dad’s house, it’s already winding down. After finishing up the corn shipments, I first checked on the lemons and the vegetables in the backyard.
Unfortunately, three out of the five lemons that had been growing fell off, leaving only two. Many factors can affect them, such as climate, soil, and diseases. Furthermore, it’s apparently not uncommon for young lemon trees to drop fruit during their growth process, which is called “physiological fruit drop.” I learned another new term.
In just two weeks, the weeds in our family’s little vegetable patch in the backyard had grown wild. This is where my wife wanted me to plant perilla and basil. Actually, both failed to sprout the first time, but a second attempt at basil, which I sowed just to see, was finally showing sprouts. I pulled out the weeds, which seemed to be ten times tougher than the vegetables, and then went into the shade of the shed to absentmindedly gaze at the grapes my dad grows in the backyard. This was apparently before 9 AM (laughs). The occasional breeze felt incredibly pleasant. It makes you think that if someone told you, “The country air has special ingredients mixed in,” it wouldn’t be surprising if you believed them.
After that, I secluded myself in my workspace and started modifying an electric drill to work on the simple lathe I’m building, which had been on hold. I got partway through and then started pondering the next steps alone, debating this and that. I even thought to myself, “Why don’t you draw up the plans first?” As I was still debating this and that, 11 o’clock arrived, so I took a break and went out to do some shopping my wife had asked for, and to get ingredients for my mom and dad’s meals.
Saturday Afternoon
After making and cleaning up lunch, I returned to my workspace for a smoke break. It was getting hot, so I decided to clean the air conditioner, which I had been putting off, so I could turn it on. That being said, it was just a lazy cleaning: I started the compressor and blew out the dust inside with air. I ran it as a test, along with the fan, and it felt just right. I got so comfortable that I ended up falling asleep.
When I woke up, it was past 3 PM, so I started preparing my mom and dad’s dinner. I boiled two chicken thighs that I bought at the supermarket and then made teriyaki. I used the remaining thigh and the boiling liquid to make seasoned rice. It was all chicken, but it was cheap (laughs). I also made stir-fried green chilies with miso as a bonus, and dinner preparations were complete a little after 4 PM.
Time to go home (laughs).
Before heading home, I wanted to tell my mom and dad about dinner, so I walked around looking for them in the fields. I found my dad working and told him about the chicken rice. He told me to take some cucumbers, tomatoes, and eggplants, so I gratefully took a good amount home.
A little distance from my dad, who was working in the field, I spotted my mom weeding in the rice paddies. From the way she was dressed, it was clear she wasn’t dressed for going into a rice paddy, so I figured she must have been told to “sit down and rest.” Thinking about my mom and dad’s life together, as their son, I can’t help but feel a little anxious and have mixed feelings about only being able to help them a little.
I’ll help them again next week.
