Quiet Rainy Days That Ended in a Heavy Heart |

This post is linked to Sunday Post, Staking the Shelves, Sunday Salon, and #IMWAYR

October was pretty quiet. I got to hang out with my buddy while his family was away for the month. I’ve been watching him and his late brother since moving to Japan over 5 years ago. I spent a lot of rainy days this past month cuddling on the couch with him while I read. Unfortunately, shortly after his family returned last week, he stopped eating, and passed away. So, this week has been pretty hard on me. I’ve cried just about every day, but I don’t know if it’s truly hit me that I will no longer go to his house to hang out with him while his family is away.

I also got ready for my mom to come and visit for the month of November. We’ve been out here for over 5 years with no visitors, so the spare bedroom sort of turned into a huge closet for all the things I don’t know where to put. So it’s been a fun couple of weeks going through everything and either finding it a more permanent home, or donating it. It’s totally worth it though. My mom has never been to Japan and I haven’t seen her in a couple of years. So, I’m really excited for her trip.

This month has been pretty good for my reading and blogging. I feel like I’m finally starting to get into the grove of things again. Unfortunately, I think I threw away my blogging planner binder. I got it over a decade ago when I started blogging. I’m a visual person, and digital calendars just don’t stick with me. So I had a physical one that I wrote upcoming review posts, and tour posts on so that I could quickly glance at my planner and see if I had any missing dates for the month, or if I was about to double book myself. Because I hadn’t been active in blogging for a few years after moving out here, I worry that my lack of being able to find it means that I threw it away.