I arrived at the forest house in the afternoon.
The wind was strong, and heavy clouds that looked ready to bring snow
were draped over the mountains.

The small plastic greenhouse I had placed over the potted roses in the garden
had been blown away again.
It had happened once before on a windy day,
so this time I added two or three more bricks to weigh it down.
Please don’t blow away again.
I want to believe this will be enough.

It wasn’t as cold as I had expected.
At this temperature, it didn’t seem likely to turn into snow.
It might rain…
or so I thought,
but in the end, not even rain fell.

“There’s a saying that dinner becomes more elaborate when your son comes home.”
That might actually be true.
At my son’s request, we had sukiyaki tonight.
How many years had it been since the last time?
Before I knew it, all 600 grams of meat were gone.
The sukiyaki, after such a long time, was truly delicious.

Nights like that.