オランダ の はる が はじまりました ！

Remi














Cala and Bonnie














Poes









Here are 3 pictues of my ex-pets: I've told you below about the story behind my ex-dog, but here are 2 pictures of my ex-cats Remi and Poes: both of the animals died of old age a few years ago. In my current life (and with my current lifestyle) it is better (for me and also for the pets) for me *not* to have any pets in my house at this time. However, I look forward to the time when I will no longer be working full-time, and then I can become a better care-provider for my (future) pets.
I found out in my mid-30's that I was not fertile, and so caring for a pet is the closest feeling that I'm ever likely to have to looking after small children.

I went to the gym this afternoon; normally I go to the gym every Saturday and Sunday afternoon. For years I used to lift weights [in order to look "bigger" (!)], but for the past 2 years I've been spending most of my time in the gym on the different cardio-machines, in a desperate attempt to "control" ( = reduce !) my weight. During my visits, I spend 30 minutes on the cross-trainer, then 20 minutes on the rowing-machine, and then 5 minutes walking up the stairs on the escalator-machine. [If I have time I use the Power-Plate vibrating-machine (although I'm not sure if it's actually doing *anything* for my body !)]. And then I go to the sauna: I try to stay in the sauna for as long as I can - that is, for as long as I can stand it ! I start to feel really "uncomfortable" after 10 minutes.

I also bought 3 bottles of "aroma-therapy" oil-scent today; you add a few drops of the oil to some water and you heat the mixture over an aroma-burner. One of the scents was *Jasmine*, and this is my favourite scent *from a flower*, but I'm just getting used to the fact that the scent from the *oil* is different to that from a flower - well, to *my* nose at least.
The experiment is "ongoing" ....

I've not watched any television in the past week - I've spent my evenings reviewing my Japanese lessons from last year. I find that if I spend a *lot* of time on studying Japanese, then I find that I make some progress - but I find that if I *stop* with my "intensive" studies, then I start to forget things.
It must be *so* much easier to learn a language if your partner is a native-speaker in the language.