May 25, 2018

Friday - Hot, sunny, muggy, cloudy, rainy…all the weather in one day!

A good day!

This morning F got up and cut the bread he’d made overnight.  The best thing from my point of view is that he cleaned up after himself too!  Woot.  I usually get gifted that treat.  He went off to the doctor, I stayed here and watched my telly.  He came back fairly soon after.

We had an okay morning. F asked if I’d like to go and see the parade. I said no at first but then said if we could get me some sunscreen I’d go.  I’m allergic to almost everything, so it’s hard to find good stuff.  We went over to a big drugstore near the MaxValu and I found some that I’ve used successfully before.  We bought a tube. It isn’t cheap, but it is better than burning. 

We went over to the Chido Museum and looked at some of the exhibits.  They had one room of drawings of foreign-style buildings in Tohoku and Hokkaido. I said to F afterwards that they were mostly the same. F suggested lunch so we left the car in the parking lot of the museum and walked over to Sukaze, a restaurant I like. 

I had a lovely lunch of cold shabu-shabu, vegetables, rice, soup, dessert and coffee. F had a plate of carpaccio plus dessert and coffee. We both enjoyed our meals.  

From lunch, we walked to Ginza-dori to watch the parade.  We found a place under cover and spent our time chatting and taking pictures.  Many of the Bakemono wanted us to drink sake or something, I took some of the “somethings” as did F. He was driving so couldn’t drink of course.

The parade was fun, but there were too many children-oriented groups in it.  I’ve seen it in other years where it was mostly adults and that was more fun for me.  

We walked back to the car afterwards. I was surprised it was still there and hadn’t been towed or ticketed! We drove to Doutor and had a drink and used some of the free wifi. When we were done, we bought a couple of things for K in the grocery store and then delivered them to her.

F and I went out for dinner to Udon-ichi.  At the moment, it’s one of the few things he can eat. He didn’t have udon though, he had a rice gruel thing that hopefully will work for him.  

We took in The Post at Machinaka Kinema tonight and quite enjoyed it.  Meryl Streep was good, as was Tom Hanks…but you almost expect that. Has Meryl ever been bad in a movie? 

After the movie, we came back to the house where we relaxed and watched some TV. We both took showers and F went to bed a while ago, I’m going soon.

Tomorrow we have an appointment and then I’m not sure what we’ll do for the rest of the day. Come on back and find out!  Until tomorrow….

May 24, 2018

Thursday - Muggy, then clear and warm

A good day.

I got up this morning on time to watch the news but had a hard time getting out of bed. I was tired.  I had woken up around 6 this morning. I found out later that F had woken up earlier and I probably heard him and woke up.  Sigh.

I had a very quiet morning and afternoon to be honest.  I had a hard time getting out of bed properly, I stayed in bed and watched the news and later some of my drama too.  Finally I got up and went downstairs and cleaned up in the kitchen. Yes, F had made bread again overnight and had left a bit of a mess. It wasn’t too bad, to be honest, but it still needed to be tidied.  I washed everything and then grabbed breakfast and went upstairs.  

I ate and then was thinking about doing some postcrossings, but didn’t. Instead, I saw my last craft project nearly done so decided to finish it up. It took a tiny bit longer than I thought, but I finally got my simple slouchy hat finished. Yay me.  I probably can’t wear it for a while because it’s too hot right now.

The simple slouchy hat!

F popped in a couple of times today, no big deal really.  He had forgotten to take his medicine to work.  

F had to work late so wasn’t able to come back on time.  He got back here around 7 pm. I had asked him to bring a bento back for his mother which he did.  F and I went out after a bit of negotiation. I suggested Hyakkenbori, he suggested Nagomi. Nagomi was fine with me, but when we got there, it was closed. We ended up in Hyakkenbori and had a very nice meal.  F had an udon dinner, and I had a beef dish with a bun on the side. Mine was nice but small.  However, I did get to eat some of the stuff that F wasn’t able to eat. I had his salad and some of his tempura.  

We came back to the house which was a bit disappointing for me, but had a quiet evening in.  F and I chatted for a bit, I watched more TV and F watched along with me too.

F has taken tomorrow off work, but he has a few plans for the day. However, it is also the Tenjin Matsuri in Tsuruoka, so parts of the city may be blocked off or busy tomorrow.  Come back later and see what we get up to.  Until tomorrow….

May 23, 2018

Wednesday - Muggy with a bit of rain

A good day.

I went to bed early last night and slept a little later than usual. Funny how that happens. I got up and turned on the TV, then came back to bed and watched the news from there.  When the English news was over, I think I snoozed a little more!

I got my breakfast at my usual time and ate it upstairs. I watched a bit of telly and then at 12 I did something unusual for me. I went outside.  I wore a hat too.  I took the solar pathway lights and put them beside our car parking area. K came out to “help” me, but she didn’t know what I was doing, so didn’t help. I put three lights up along the parking space, the other I put in a planter at the back of the space. We’ll likely move that one sometime soon.  

F came back to the house to get something for his lunch and then left again. He wasn’t doing well. Around 2 I had my lunch and I was just getting into an episode of Reign when he phoned me again to say he had taken the rest of the day off so he could go to the doctor. 

He asked if I wanted to go with him or if I would like to be dropped off somewhere. I said I’d think about it and while he was on the way back to the house I finished watching Reign, and did my dishes from lunch.  

I decided to go to the doctor’s office with him in case he needed support or something.  We drove over there and I did some colouring. That was quite fun for a change.  F didn’t take as long this week, but he has to get a test done next week.  

We picked up his medicine and then at my request went to S-Mall for a while.  F and I looked around the hundred yen shop and I got a few things.  Then, we had coffees in Doutor.  I had an iced soy latte, F had a coffee.  We bought a few groceries for his mother and then delivered them to her.

For our meal, I suggested a fairly cheap Japanese chain and we went there.  It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible either.  I had a chicken cutlet, F had udon and a chawanmushi.  We picked up a few groceries for tomorrow and then came back to the house. 

I watched a little telly again, F went to bed fairly early and seems to be quite asleep now.  That’s about it for me.  Tomorrow I’m not sure what I’ll get up to.  I have a few things to do like finish my hat or do more postcrossings, but I haven’t decided which one to pick yet. Come back later and see which I pick. Until tomorrow….

May 22, 2018

Tuesday - Hot and Sunny

A good day.

I had a good day today for the most part.  I got up fairly early, watched the news and then some of my telly.  Breakfast was good, and I even did a couple of loads of laundry today. I also wrote up a few postcards for Postcrossing.  

Lunch was a little more problematic as K had visitors over when I wanted to bring my food upstairs. I didn’t really want to spend time in the kitchen when they were around, so I waited until they left.  

I finally got my lunch around 3, ate it and around 4 did my dishes.  F had popped back to the house earlier and said he wasn’t feeling that well.  He’d been trying to eat things that he should I think. 

When he came back to the house after work tonight, he didn’t really feel like eating.  We went out to get his mother a bento and me some supplies for tomorrow, then we went to the onsen.

I had dinner at the onsen while F was taking his bath.  When he’d finished, he came and joined me and he had something to eat too.  I had a yakiniku set meal with oolong tea, F had udon.  We drove back to Tsuruoka and made a quick stop at a convenience store and got a few things.  Then, we came back to the house.

I took a shower and watched Suits, F went to bed.  I hope he is feeling better soon.  

I’m not sure what I’ll do tomorrow. I might write a few more postcards, or I might go out and try to arrange the new solar lights that we bought at Costco the last time we went.  We charged some of them up today and now we need to place them properly.  

Come back later and see what I get up to.  Until tomorrow….

May 21, 2018

Monday - Warm and Sunny

A good day.

I woke up early but stayed in bed after F got up for work.  I got up, watched some of the news, but it wasn’t very good…not the usual broadcast, and then watched my morning drama.  I grabbed breakfast and came upstairs to eat.  

I had a quiet day today. I did do a couple of good things.  I put away my winter coats and I filed away my Postcrossing postcards.  I had to open a box to do the latter, but I ended up sealing it again afterwards so dust wouldn’t get in it. I also swapped some books out of the bookcase so that I could put the ones I’ve read recently in there.  Yay me.  there’s still a lot to do, but I was surprised how much my 20 minutes of tidying let me do.  

I had a nice lunch later on and then I did my dishes followed by a bit of a wait for F to come back to the house.  When he got here he was in a bit of a state about dinner. I finally suggested going to Gusto since he could get noodles or a rice dish, or something easy to digest. I could get something I liked and it would be fine. I even said we could ask his mother, but F decided not to.

We picked up a bento for his mother and also a drink and some other things for me, then came back to the house and delivered them.

F and I went to Gusto and had an okay time. We both had chicken. He had miso chicken and I had a Chicken Tatsuta plate with chicken fried rice and an egg on top. I gave F the egg. We both had drink bar too. I quite liked my meal, I’m not sure about F.

When we got back to the house I suggested getting some of the new solar lights for the driveway out and ready for tomorrow. They have to be charged up for 12 hours and there would be no way that I would get up in time for doing that. All F has to do in the morning is take out the strips to activate the batteries and put them in the sun outside. I hope he remembers!

He had planned to go to the onsen, but it was quite late when we finished that so he wasn’t able to go. Oh dear. There is a free shower downstairs, don’t know why he doesn’t like it!

We watched Friday’s episode of The Good Doctor and quite enjoyed it. The show is growing on me. Freddie Highmore is a good actor. WOWOW is just going to start showing the latest (last?) season of Bates Motel so I’ll probably see him twice a week then!

I went over to F’s side of the bed for a chat around midnight.  It was nice.  We don’t do enough chatting these days.  

Tomorrow I’m hoping to do a bit of laundry and maybe some Postcrossings, fingers crossed!  Come back in a bit and find out what I get up to. Until tomorrow….

May 20, 2018

Sunday - Warmish and sunny

A good day.

This morning, F and I slept in. Very late!  I did get semi-dressed around 10am but went back to bed for a snooze.  F suggested going to a gyudon place for lunch, but I didn’t think his stomach was ready for that. Of course, he was planning to have fish there, but the rice might have been a bit hard on him.  When we finally did get up, he asked his mother if she’d like to join us. She said yes, and that she wanted udon.  Well, that solved everything!

We went to an udon restaurant that we went to once before and had an okay lunch.  It wasn’t great today, but it wasn’t bad either.  Afterwards, we dropped K back at the house and F and I went out.  We had planned to go to the ocean or an ashi-yu but weren’t sure where. K asked us to pick up some veggies for her, so we decided to do that first.  Rather than go to the regular grocery store, we went to the Komagihara market.  They didn’t have exactly what she wanted, but F bought her a few things. He dropped them at the house and we were off.  

We ended up in Atsumi-Onsen, which was rather a surprise.  I hadn’t expected to go so far away.  F even took the (free) highway to get there. We drove around the town and parked.  We went to a little cafe there that has a foot-bath in front of it and went into the cafe.  We each had a raspberry cappuccino. I loved it, but there wasn’t very much of it in the cup for the price!  

When we finished, we paid, I bought a few postcards and then we went outside, took off our socks and dunked our feet in the water.  It was really nice.  We walked off a few minutes later.  We tried to find another foot-bath, but couldn’t.  

A river in Atsumi-Onsen

We drove back towards Tsuruoka along the coast at first. It was beautiful. The sea was gorgeous in the sun. Then, F took the highway, thinking it would get him closer to the beach he wanted to take me to.  It didn’t.  We got off the highway and drove back to the beach.  

We parked in Yunohama near the beach and went for a walk along the shore.  It was lovely.  I had sandals on, and no socks, so I took off my sandals, rolled up my jeans and got my feet wet.  It was lovely! It was really cold at first, but once I was used to it, I liked it a lot.  I walked along the shore barefoot for a while, but I started to get nervous about glass or sharp shells and put my sandals back on.  

Getting my feet wet!

Sunset at the beach.

We drove back to Tsuruoka, trying to stop at a couple of places for a coffee, but they had always just closed! Eventually, I said to F that if we were really going to go to the Internet Cafe, we could just get coffee there for free.  He agreed, and that’s what we did.  We had our dinner there too.

We each got a massaging chair tonight and spent 3 hours doing what we liked.  I did a very little bit of loom knitting and watched some TV and also had a very unhealthy dinner of French Fries and chicken nuggets.  F said he had udon, but I really think he had yakisoba!  

After our 3 hours was up, we went to the grocery shop for a quick shop. I needed some things for me to eat tomorrow.  We came back to the house where showers were in order for both of us.  I watched The Mentalist with Henry Thomas in it, he played Lisbon’s brother. 

F went to bed. He has to go back to work tomorrow and I hope he’ll be okay.  His stomach is still painful but he does seem to be in a better condition today. I do hope he takes it easy on hard to digest food for a while.  

That’s all for me for today.  Tomorrow I am not really sure what I’ll get up to. I’d like to do some laundry and maybe work on my Postcrossing…or I could try and tidy up my room.  Or catch up on sleep or…. Come back later and find out! Until tomorrow….

May 19, 2018

Saturday - Rainy and cold

A good day.  

The big news of the day is, of course, the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.  We watched it tonight on NHK and quite enjoyed ourselves.  Well, I did anyway!  I liked celeb watching and pointing out to F who everyone was! They really do seem to be in love and I hope that all goes well for them. 

This morning, F and I stayed in bed rather late.  He’d woken up quite early, but napped a bit and so did I.  Finally, around 12 I suggested food as I was getting quite hungry.  I wasn’t sure if F would be able to eat or not, but he wanted to try.  He had a brainwave and suggested going to Foodever because he could have udon and I could have something else.  I thought it was a good idea.

We picked up a bento and a few things for us at the grocery store.  The bento was for K, so we delivered it to her before going for lunch.

We got to Foodever and were really surprised at how busy it was. Apparently, there was a sake tasting going on and a lot of people were around for that.  We found a table for ourselves, F ordered his food and then mine and we had a nice lunch.  I had gapao rice again, and F had udon.  They were both good.

After lunch I suggested coffee and we decided to go to a coffee shop that we haven’t been in ages, Aurora.  We went and were the only people there!  I had coffee from Malawi and F had Irish Breakfast Tea.  Both drinks were good.  We chatted a bit and made use of the free wifi.  F suggested a movie and I checked out the times. We could get one at Mikawa at 4:20.  F didn’t want to go back to the house first, so we zoomed off to the mall and saw Rampage, a movie with Dwayne Johnson.  I liked it a lot, mostly because it was so good-natured.

After the movie, we had our dinner in the mall.  We both went to the udon shop. I had an udon salad, F had plain udon.  

When we finished dinner we walked along to the grocery shop in the mall and bought a couple of things for K’s dinner and also a few things for me.  

We came back to the house and gave K her food, then F and I watched the Royal Wedding upstairs.  I enjoyed it, thought it was interesting too.  There were some very famous people there. I’m not sure how real it was, but they do seem to be very much in love with each other. 

And that, more or less, was my day.  F isn’t cured, but he’s perking up quite a bit.  He is still in a bit of pain, but he’s eating and drinking, so an upgrade from Friday.

We don’t have plans yet for Friday. Come on back and see what we get up to. Until tomorrow….