December 21, 2025

Sunday - Cloudy and then rainy

Well, I did it folks. I got up before 8:00am this morning ( a SUNDAY!) I got dressed, and had a quick breakfast. After that, F and I left the house, very close to our scheduled time of 9:00 am.  We did make a quick stop at a convenience store to get drinks and something else to eat. We both got an onigiri. 

Then, we were off! We drove to Tendo and made really good time. We stopped on the way near Tendo and then got to the mall. We parked outside Aeon and then walked through the mall. I had wanted to have steak at Pepper Lunch and F said it sounded good. Of course, the restaurant was in the Food Court which was at the far end of the mall from Aeon! We both had the same main dish, but I added on a salad and a drink, F added on rice and a drink. The steak wasn’t fabulous, but it was decent and the price was right so that was good!

Then, it was time for F to leave the mall. I walked him back to Aeon and said goodbye at the door. Then, I went shopping. I went over to the Kaldi to look for my Christmas Pudding and mincemeat tarts but I didn’t find any. I bought some cookies, tea and an orange cake. 

I headed into Aeon and went shopping. I looked for things for F and I found a couple of things. I bought them later.  I picked out some socks for myself and then went over to the ladies clothing. I looked at stuff for myself and even tried some on. I decided to get myself a pyjama top. It’s much warmer than any of the ones I have now and it would be nice for me staying up late blogging. They had a couple of tops, I tried them both and decided on the over the head one, as it looked and felt more comfortable. 

Then, I went down the mall and did a bit of shopping. I found some half-price Christmas ornaments so I got myself another Saint Nicholas ornament and a couple of cute gnome ornaments. Of course, the next shop had even cuter ornaments, but they also looked more delicate so probably a good thing I didn’t buy them. 

I was getting thirsty but Doutor was really busy. I decided that I’d go back to the Aeon area and try Mr. Donuts. I got there and while it was lined up, I could see tables available. I bought a doughnut and ordered a cup of decaf cafe latte. I took a seat and ate and drank and saved my poor feet!

F called me all of a sudden to say that he was finished so I told him where I was and suggested that he join me. He did, after 20 minutes or so. He didn’t want any food or drink, but sat with me for a few minutes while we made plans. 

I strongly suggested to him that he buy me a present for Christmas! We went back into Aeon and looked at the ladies clothing. I found a couple of things that I liked so I tried them on. One wasn’t great, but two things worked well, so F got them for me. I won’t “get” them until Christmas so that’s good. 

After that, we headed out of the city. We did stop at Nishikawa for a restroom break and a little bit of leg stretching. We listened to some good tunes on my iPod and when we were getting near Tsuruoka we talked about dinner ideas. I came up with a few and I told F to pick the one he wanted. 

We ended up at the Udon chain restaurant, the one that does Tempura on the side. I never can remember the name of it! I had their new special, a duck/negi onion bowl. F had his usual plainish one. We both added on some tempura. I had a chicken tender and a piece of kabocha, F had a mixed veggie and a pork cutlet tempura. We enjoyed our meal.

We came back to the house and it was dark! We brought in the shopping, F woke his mother up and made sure she had eaten in the day. I went upstairs and turned on our heater.

We had a quiet evening in. I decided to fill up the heater’s tank with kerosene, but F nicely volunteered to do it. Unfortunately, the pump didn’t stop when it was supposed to and some of the kerosene spilled on the floor. F cleaned most of it up. I gave him some paper towels. Kerosene isn’t something that you want to wash in your machine. I took the tank upstairs and discovered that the kerosene was all over the tank. I wiped it off as best as I could and then went back downstairs to dispose of the tissues and to wash my hands. 

When I came back upstairs I decided to watch a movie or something. At first, I decided on A Quiet Place: Day One, but then F said he’d like to watch it sometime, but not tonight. Okay then. 

I put on the first episode of Lie to Me and enjoyed it. I’ve never seen it before. Then, I followed that up with Apple TV’s The Big Door Prize. It was a good episode and I enjoyed it. 

F went to bed fairly early tonight. He was up earlier than me today and he couldn’t snooze in the car. He also has to go to work tomorrow.

I’m going to go to bed in a bit. It was a good day and it was really nice to get out of Tsuruoka for a few hours. I like my city, but I like travelling more. F and I didn’t fight and we enjoyed our time together and apart, so that made it an enjoyable day.

So, that’s it for me. Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

December 20, 2025

Saturday - Warm and Sunny

Today was a pretty good day. I slept in, F and I had lunch at the newish Taiwanese restaurant that we like and it was nice.  We did some shopping at Yamaya for Christmas and New Years, then went back to the house. 

K fell at the Day Service today but seems to be fine. The workers kept an eye on her and F said she seemed okay tonight too.

F made her dinner and then we went out to the place in Kushibiki for dinner. 

After dinner, we went to the grocery store. On the way in, F went in before me and I noticed that there was a large coin on the floor just inside the door. I thought maybe F had dropped it, so I asked him. He hadn’t. We decided to turn it in to Customer Service in case someone comes back for it. They took it, made a note of it and then we went off and did our shopping. We paid and went out of the store…but I saw yet another coin! It was the same denomination, a 500 yen coin. I picked it up and looked at F. We took it back into the store and gave it to Customer Service.

The clerk that was taking care of us seemed a little new so she called their head office or something and asked what to do. They suggested that we take the money to the nearest police station. 

So, that’s what we did! We drove to the nearest Koban and turned in the money. For some reason, F’s name was put on it, but I don’t really care too much. If no-one claims it in a few months I should get the money back. Yay for me!

The rest of the evening was quiet. We came back to the house, put away the groceries and took showers. At 11pm I watched Criminal Minds: Evolution and it was quite good.

And that’s about it. Tomorrow morning early we’re off to Tendo so F can renew his license. I’ll spend some time in the mall so I’m looking forward to that. 

Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

December 19, 2025

Friday - Sunny and warm

I woke up this morning around 8:30. I went downstairs and as soon as I left the room nearly gagged on the stench of the fish that F was cooking for his mother. It was horrible!

I came back upstairs and went to bed for a little. I had many alarms set and didn’t really sleep anymore. I got up around 10 and got dressed. I had set out my clothes last night so I didn’t have to think about anything! I had a quick breakfast of F’s uneaten sandwiches from yesterday and then it was about time to leave. 

We left to go to City Hall. We went in and F went up to the counter but couldn’t find the stupid card that was the whole reason we were at City Hall in the first place! He had to go out to the car, but did find his card! We spent a bit of time in the building. F got his new card and set it up with the clerk. For my turn, I had my cards handy and the clerk took my picture and now I have to wait for the card in the mail that tells me my actual card is ready. Yay. F also had to ask the clerk about how to get his mother a card as she’ll need it for medical stuff.

After we left City Hall F suggested going to his eel restaurant for lunch. I like the food, it’s just there is too much of it. We drove over and parked. We crossed the street but halfway over F had to go back to the car. He forgot his wallet. We were seated in the restaurant and F ordered. Then, he went back to his car to get his phone. Eye Roll! He forgets everything. 

Lunch was good, but as I said, huge. There was a sautéd pork chop, some bean sprouts and salad, plus a fried egg, rice, sashimi, and miso soup. F ate his really fast, I took a little longer.

After lunch, we had to go back to City Hall as the clerk had called F. We went in and talked to her, then went on our way.

We went to a drugstore to pick up a few things and then picked up some kerosene and gasoline. We were down to being able to drive 28km and F was going to leave the gas station after buying the kerosene! I made him buy gas!

We went back to the house and unloaded the car. I went upstairs, F stayed downstairs. I reminded him that I needed to be downtown by 3pm. I spent a bit of time on my computer then went downstairs around 2:45. F was making his mother some cup ramen. I’m not sure why. Then, I saw him eating ramen. I was disgusted. I was still stuffed from lunch and he was eating ramen. I went outside and waited for him. He did come out right away…he said he’d just been tasting his mother’s noodles to make sure they were okay. I don’t know if I believe him!

He drove me to my hairdresser and to do him credit, we did get there 2 minutes before my appointment! He said he’d come and pick me up afterwards and I went in. 

I got my usual excellent hair cut from my stylist. She’s really cool and we chatted a little bit. She asked about my Christmas plans, I asked about her New Years plans.  I heard F’s car as it backed into the parking place. (It’s a hybrid, but it makes a funny noise when it backs up, quiet but I recognize it). She said that she should hurry up, but I told her not to! I said it is my time and he knows that I could be up to an hour, so she could relax a bit!

When we finished, she gave me a new calendar and some fruitcake that her husband’s relative sent from Alaska! That was funny. I gave her some money too!

She walked me out to the car and F and I said goodbye. We drove away.

We ended up going to S-Mall and having a cup of coffee (decaf for me) at Doutor. We had a quiet time and just relaxed for a bit. 

After an hour or so we drove over to Mina and went in. F did his shopping for dinner and then we went back to the house. F went into the kitchen and I went upstairs. What a treat to not have to make dinner tonight!

F called me down around 6:45. Of course, he hadn’t put out the drinks on the table and of course the little conro didn’t have any gas in it and we had to search for the spares. Dinner was okay. As usual, the nabe was good, but not great. F doesn’t put any flavouring in it. I find that his soup is just boring. I added some sriracha and it was a bit better. 

After dinner I watched TV with the others for a few minutes and then I went upstairs. For the record, I did ask F if he wanted any help so at least I asked!

I watched some YouTube and had a cup of pistachio latte. Yum. F came upstairs around 9:30 and said he had been watching skating on TV. He was excited to tell me that there was a new skater called Mao. I didn’t know if he meant Mao Asada or Chairman Mao, but he said he had no idea who Chairman Mao was. I even showed him a picture but he didn’t get it. I was laughing really hard at the “mix-up”. 

I decided I’d watch a movie tonight since I had some time. I found a movie I’d recorded on my DVR and played that. It was called Censor and was quite a movie. It was about a woman who worked for the British censors in the 80’s. She had to decide where to make cuts in video nasties…the schlocky films of the time. Over time, I can imagine it would have an effect on a person. It certainly had an effect on her! I’m not a horror movie person usually so I wouldn’t watch it again, but I’m not sad that I did watch it once.

And…that’s about it. I’m not sure what we’re going to get up to tomorrow…. K has her Day Service so F and I may be out by ourselves for the day. Oh, we’re going on a road trip on Sunday and leaving early so I may not update tomorrow night. I’ll try, but it could be brief!

Come back later if you like and hear all about my days. Until tomorrow…. 

December 18, 2025

Thursday - Sunny but cold

I woke up before my alarm again this morning. I went downstairs and then came back up to the room. I sorted my laundry and then went back to bed. I did watch a few videos and then I had a snooze. I managed to get up a little earlier than yesterday. I got dressed and then I went downstairs and took the kerosene tank with me. I filled it, filled K’s as well and then took mine upstairs with me. I came downstairs a few minutes later to get my breakfast. I brought it back upstairs to the room.

After I ate my brekkie, I checked the movie schedule on NHK. Today’s movie was Notting Hill. I had to watch it! I started to do some printing as well and I printed all of my nengajo today. Now I have to write them! That should be fun.

The movie was wonderful and I just love it. Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant….so much fun. 

After the movie I was a bit late for my lunch, but it was worth it. I went downstairs and made lunch, then came back upstairs and watched an episode of The Big Bang Theory because I didn’t have time for anything else. 

Later on I watched some of the news and then a little while later some YouTube. After F called, I relaxed for a few minutes then changed and went downstairs.

Today, I turned on the heater in the living room as it was really cold in there. I also noticed that “GASP” F hadn’t made rice last night. I asked him twice! I knew if he came back soonish he could still make it and that’s what happened.

He came back to the house, we had a nice reunion and then I asked him to make rice. He did, so I let him have the sink and the kitchen space for a minute or two. He put it on to cook and then he relaxed.

Tonight I made chicken drumsticks and steamed some broccoli and shimegi mushrooms. We had a salad and the fresh rice. Dinner was good but there was a little bit of food left. I packaged it up, so F might be able to give it to K if she needs a meal.

After dinner, I did the dishes and then headed upstairs. I watched a bit of YouTube for a while and then headed downstairs for a shower. When I came back to the room, F was in bed and so I turned off his lights. I watched another episode of Lazarus. It’s a very twisty show and I like it, I think. 

Since midnight or thereabouts, I’ve been doing the YouTube thing and blogging, getting ready to go to bed. F is off work tomorrow and we are going to city hall. I’m also planning to get my hair cut, so that should be nice. F is supposed to be making nabé for dinner too, so I guess I should look forward to that. (But I don’t really!)

So, that’s it for me. Come back later if you like and hear all about my Friday. Until tomorrow….

December 17, 2025

Wednesday - Rainy and cloudy

I woke up this morning before my alarm, but after F had left for work. I made my usual trip downstairs and then came back to the room. I went back to bed and watched videos for a while and then I fell asleep. I did not wake up when I expected! I completely overslept. Oops. 

I got up in a hurry, dressed and went downstairs. I made my breakfast and brought it upstairs. I ate and then watched a few videos while I relaxed. 

Lunch was a little close to breakfast today, but it was okay. I had my usual, plus a little bit of the stew. That was lovely! I watched an episode of The Good Fight and it was a good one. 

I did get another Christmas card today, from my friend in Britain. It was a lovely newsy one with pictures of her sons. She even labeled the picture for us so we knew who was who!

F called me after 5:30 or so to say he was on his way back, but via the grocery store. I went back downstairs a bit later to get a start on dinner. Tonight I did a simple one, just premade burgers with fries and a salad. I added on a spicy cabbage dish that got good reviews too. 

After dinner I did the dishes as usual and then I did up the garbage. F gave me a hand with his mother’s stuff. That woman makes more garbage than anyone else in the house. Yuck!

I came upstairs and relaxed. I made a few more nengajo designs from the Post Office website and then F helped me with my renewal form for the MyNumber card. We’re going in on Friday to start the process. F has to pick his up. The cards are tied to our birthdays which is why we couldn’t do ours together. 

I watched tonight’s episode of WildCards. They showed quite a bit of Vancouver from the outside and it was beautiful. I’m getting a bit homesick. A few years ago I flew back to Canada around now to have Christmas in Canada…actually that was around 2019, just before the big C hit the world. 

I digress. As usual. But, I’m pretty much done. Tomorrow I should do some laundry and hopefully I can print out a few nengajo too. I’m going to need ink I think. I hope I can get some if I need it. 

Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

 

December 16, 2025

 Tuesday - Rainy but warmish

I woke up this morning a bit late. I’d woken up earlier around 5:30 and went downstairs so I was able to sleep in a bit. Of course I ended up oversleeping again. Oh well.

I got up finally and went downstairs and grabbed my breakfast. I brought it upstairs and ate. I watched a lot of YouTube and I’m a tad embarrassed to say this but I fell asleep at my computer for some of it! Oh dear.

Around 3pm I went downstairs and made my lunch. It was just my usual open sandwiches and salad, but it was good. Today I watched an episode of Elspeth and it was good. It was one where she was on a jury and her real-life husband was the judge. It was quite cute….even though he was the baddie. At 4 I watched some of the news and also did my usual computer stuff.

F called me after 5:15 to say he was on the way back. I went downstairs a bit later to get busy with dinner. He tried to help me by doing the dishes but I made him stop as he wasn’t doing it right. He was using cool water and a yucky sponge so I told him I’d just rewash everything he did anyway!

Tonight’s dinner was the rest of the stew from yesterday. I heated it up in the oven tonight and used some frozen pastry to turn it into a cottage pie kind of thing. It turned out well and F seemed to be quite impressed! We also had potato salad and regular salad, and finished up the kimchi in the fridge. Dinner got good reviews!

I did the dishes afterwards and then went upstairs to change my clothes. F and I went out to the grocery store. I made him stay in the car as I usually have a better time finding stuff than I do when I’m with him. 

I bought groceries and stuff for breakfasts as well. I paid and then went back to the car. We came back to the house and F and I put away the shopping. He went upstairs and I followed a few minutes later.

I had a look at the Post Office website and looked at their New Year Cards forms. You can use their cards for free, so that is cool. Usually I buy a book in the store, but today I’m trying to keep the costs down. If this doesn’t work, I can always try to get a book at a bookstore with patterns for cards.

At 11pm I watched today’s episode of FBI: Most Wanted. It was okay. After it finished WOWOW showed a bunch of shows that will be on their On Demand system in the new year and there are a few that I’ll probably try to see. One of them is Cardinal, the Canadian show I watched the first bit of on Prime. Another is Lynley. I’ve read a lot of the books so I’ll be quite interested in that one, although the reviews were a bit meh. 

Anyway, that’s about it for me. Oh, before I forget, I’m going to get a hair cut on Friday. My hair is getting shaggy again. I’m rather happy about it if I’m honest!

So, come back later if you like and hear all about my Wednesday. Until tomorrow….

December 15, 2025

Monday - Cold and rainy

I had to go to bed a little bit early (for me) last night as we didn’t have anymore kerosene in the room. I was in bed a good 30 minutes earlier than usual.  This morning, I woke up when F was still in the house. I went downstairs but K was in the washroom and F was coming up the stairs. We chatted a bit, but he left soon enough. 

I ended up going back to bed and changing my alarms wake up time to later. I watched videos for a bit and then went back to sleep. And then….F arrived and came in the room. I’m not sure what he was doing and why he was there. He turned on the lights which really annoyed me as I was trying to sleep.

I ended up getting up and going downstairs to get kerosene. A few minutes later he left and I was still up.

I sorted my laundry and then went downstairs to get my breakfast. Although I was going to make stew, I wanted to eat first. I brought breakfast upstairs and ate. I also watched a video on YouTube and stayed upstairs a bit too long.

I went downstairs and started working on my stew. I did all the veggie prep and then parboiled some of them. They got dumped in the slow cooker. After that, I sautéd the ground pork and added it to the slow cooker. I was done, and it only took two hours. Bah!

I had my lunch next. I didn’t have time to watch a programme so I just watched a little YouTube for a few minutes and then watched the news. 

F called after 5:30 and said he was on the way back. I went downstairs around 6 pm as I had already done a lot of prep for dinner obviously! I washed the babyleaf lettuce and some dishes and F came back from work. He wasn’t feeling that great, poor guy. 

Around 7 pm I got F to put rice in the dishes and then I added the stew on top. Dinner was nice and we all seemed to enjoy the stew. The best thing is that there is enough for tomorrow night’s dinner. Yay.

After dinner I washed the dishes and put them away. I went upstairs afterwards and F followed me soon after. Around 10:30 I went downstairs to take a shower and then came back up to the room. I watched the last episode of season one of Cardinal and it was really good. I think WOWOW is going to get the show soon so I’ll hopefully get to watch the rest there.

And, that’s about it for my day. It was a pretty good day. I got my laundry done while I was making the stew so that was a very good thing!

So, come back later if you like and hear all about my Tuesday activities! Until tomorrow….