Nostos Naughtiness Proves There’s No Place Like Home

26 August 2025

Dino, our ailing rosy faced lovebird, has returned from the better part of a month in the hospital, and instead of it being a hospice-like homecoming, she’s immediately gotten back into her typically mischievous mode.

Dino loves the warmth of my keyboards and has hung out near my computers since returning home on the weekend.

She also chewed the rubber off my glasses while I wasn’t looking, showing that she’s lost little of her trademark cheekiness despite still not being in the best of states.

Dino can’t poop, which is a critical condition for birds, and only the care of the Yokohama Bird Clinic and now Mrs. Kangaeroo in extracting her wastes has kept our little bird alive. Dino came back late on Saturday night and appeared out of sorts then and through Sunday.

She’s wearing a ruffle to prevent her from pecking her infected bum, which is what is stopping her from pooping. She hates it. But it’s a necessary evil at the moment. Dino showed a very hearty appetite on Monday, eating quite a bit and drinking some of her medicine; both crucial acts if she is to have any chance of making a recovery. She also got hours of neck scratches in which she clearly delighted.

No amount of scratchies is ever enough….even in a ruffle

This morning, she jumped onto an old decoration to look out of the window of my office as she used to love to do. She has also gutsed down a pretty good feed and had enough energy to bite me for encroaching on her territory to clean her cage.

Getting stuck into my glasses while I wasn’t watching (properly)

Dino’s clearly a smart cookie and remembers her home, where she well and truly rules the roost. It’s pretty clear that she is more at ease being here. Now I just pray that this will lead toward some kind of recovery.

Survived I was hospitalized. My brother and sister dropped everything to come and help. They took me to meetings. I have stopped. I will be all right. I can’t give up....
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Sweat Is Simply Fat Having A Cry Cycling has been one of my later life joys, and even though one of my original goals of weight control through riding bikes has failed spectacularly, it has brought me immense pleasure, with rides like this week’s explaining why. I was limited by life circumstances in how much I could...
A Second Bite of Biwaichi Fatigue, muscle soreness and endurance were going to be the order of the day on the Kangaeroo crew’s second leg of Biwaichi, the circumnavigation of Biwa, Japan’s largest lake. Mrs. Kangaeroo had completed the 70-plus kilometer first leg with barely a hint of trouble, but not being used to cycling, it...
Putting The Limp Into Olympics Japan did the most amazing job of hosting the Olympic Games under the mostr trying of circumstances, and I would argue there probably isn’t a country on earth that could have done it nearly as well. But the big question is: Why? We held the Games behind closed doors. Only...
Tokyo’s Strange Socceroos Japan has a strange affinity when it comes to using Australian animals for its advertising. A number of major Japanese corporations use koalas and roos to plug their products and services. One with a difference is Hayashi Corporation, a construction company with a history of over 100 years and based...
Kicking Off 2023 With Central Tokyo Loop And Super Sunshine If nothing else, 2023 sure started far better than the awful year of 2022 did, and eventually led to a wonderful ride focused on a central Tokyo loop. Just as had happened 12 months ago, Kangaeroo headed off on the first day of the year before the dawn. Unlike 2022,...
Walking Like An Egyptian…In Yokohama Blessed with a rare shared holiday for Marine Day, Mrs. Kangaeroo and I headed off to her much-loved Yokohama to enjoy a day of walking like Egyptians. We didn’t really walk like that, but I needed a snappy line for the blog title and lede, so that’s how it turned...
Saying It With Flowers Running out of time with a busy schedule ahead, but a flourishing garden at hand, what better way to say anything than to do it with flowers? So that’s what we’ll do, courtesy of Kangaeroo Corner’s enduring grevillea....
Bonzer Bonsai! Given that this site started with the intent of spreading information about Japan and Australia and matters related to these countries, including languages, and then how much focus I have placed on gardening over the past couple of years, it’s surprising that I haven’t had much to say about bonsai....
Foo, Gee! May is, for me, the most delightful time of the year in Tokyo, and I was doubly blessed this morning when greeted by the sight not only of Mount Fuji, but with snow on top. Fujisan, that iconic symbol of Japan, is notoriously camera shy and it’s a rare day...
Mondayitis….Every Day! Monday is gloomy and depressing in my soul-sucking job, with today being particularly so because I am the sole native English speaker working and we are inundated with work and every effort I make berated for its shortcomings. I woke feeling painfully gloomy, was shortly greeted by a Zodiac reading...
Bowie And Balaclavas Our new years started off with the amazing David Bowie Is exhibition in Tennozu Isle, an saw me doffing the balaclava to ride my bike in the bloody cold. Bowie loved Japan and had a home in Australia, so he linked both countries. I’m enjoying going to distant places, and...
The Day of the Chicken Today, February 8, is The Day of the Chicken in Japan, according to the Japan Anniversary Association. The anniversary was chosen because of one phonetic reading for the date. In Japanese, phrasing today’s date would be 2月8日, which is literally the “second month and eighth day” if rendered in English....
Open Up Your Eyes, An Everlasting Bud! Kangaeroo’s Aussie seed experiment is moving forward, and today resulted in its first buds. Seedling growth came from an everlasting, a pink, yellow and white flower native to Western Australia. I potted everlasting seeds last weekend in humidity pods. They’ve been growing under lights daily ever since, except for Tuesday...