July 25, 2017

Tuesday - Muggy but cooler

A quiet day.

I got up this morning and said a sleepy goodbye to my husband.  I watched the news and also a bit of Desperate Housewives in the morning before going downstairs for breakfast.  K and I ate together, I did the dishes before coming back upstairs.  My suitcase had arrived so I brought it upstairs, and also my water pot too. 

I unpacked, caught up on email and blogs and relaxed a bit too.  I also did up a couple of Postcrossings and watched a few programs off the DVR.  

I had lunch and offered K some as well, but she didn’t want any today.  I had a rather nice one, shrimp in mayonnaise, salad, soup….all the more for me.  

F came home around 6 today and we went out for dinner.  We invited K, but she didn’t want to come.  

We had an okay dinner at Gusto.  We each had chicken, but different dishes.  I had a spicy Hawaiian chicken, except it wasn’t spicy at all.  F had grilled chicken on bean sprouts.  We shared an order of fries.  We ordered take-out for K and brought it back for her.  

Before we left the restaurant parking lot,  F received a call from his uncle and he talked for ages.  It was all very boring and I didn’t understand it at all.  

When we got back to the house, I came upstairs and watched some TV, then F came up too.  I took a shower before 11 and then I watched Suits.  I am enjoying that show, but I worry they have written themselves into a corner!

That basically was my day. I wrote a couple of emails, booked a hotel room for when I’m in Canada and just got caught up on “stuff”!  Come back later and see what I get up to on Wednesday.  Until tomorrow….

July 24, 2017

Monday - Rainy and humid

A great weekend away.  

I’m a little sad to be back if I’m honest, I had such a great time in Niigata despite the terrible weather.   I met up with friends yesterday, I ate some great food and decided over-all to eat things that I normally wouldn’t be able to get in Tsuruoka.  I did a little shopping, some sightseeing and movie watching.  In short, I had a good time!

Rather than spend my time going through the days, I’ll mention a few highlights of my trip. 

Checking into my hotel and not being asked for my passport.

Going to the mall by bus and finding clothes that I liked enough to buy…on sale.

Eating in restaurants that I hadn’t eaten in before and eating foods (for the most part) that I can’t find in Tsuruoka.  

Seeing a couple of movies, one of which was in a theatre that I’ve been trying to visit for the past 20 years…but it never worked out for me before.

Going to the “Sake Museum” and trying five different types of sake…next time I hope to have the vocabulary to describe them properly.

Taking a loop bus to some of the sights in Niigata and doing it all by myself…

Just enjoying myself and not worrying about anything.  

I can’t show you pictures from our party, but I can show off some of the interesting foods that I had…talk more to you later.  Until tomorrow….

This was a gorgeous iced coffee that was blended with chocolate.  I had it in an Italian place. So good.

Vietnamese coffee.  I've never had this before, not sure how authentic it is.  Yum.

An actual Hamburger.  It was good!

At the Mexican restaurant.  Chipotle Chicken tacos, refried beans and Mexican rice.  I'm drinking Agua de Jamaica.

A rice and quinoa pudding.  So nice

I went to the Hotel's restaurant here. I had steak with rice, corn soup, salad, grilled vegetables and rice.  I really liked the steak and the vegetables.

Chopped salad with everything in it!  It had some meat, broccoli, avocado, celery,  and the bit on top is mashed potato!

This was in a new place to me...a farm restaurant.  I had quiche, eggplant soup and salad, plus some vegetables and a big hunk of great bread.  It was good.  

The last thing I had today that was interesting was a fruit juice ice bar.  This one is raspberry.  It was so good!

I'm quite glad that I decided to try new restaurants and things.  I have the tendency to go to the same places and that gets old fast!

I'll be back properly soon!  Night....

July 19, 2017

Wednesday - Hot and sunny

A good day.

I got up this morning and did my usual things. I watched the news, went downstairs and had breakfast with K, then came back upstairs.  Oh, before breakfast I grabbed my dry laundry from the garage and brought it back.  After breakfast today I did some vacuuming.  I’ve been meaning to do it for a while.  I just did the stairs and a bit of the room up here, but it looks better.  Yay me.

When it was lunch time again, I went downstairs, but K didn’t want to eat.  Oh dear.  Well, I did. I had   salad with some chicken breast on it, plus a cold soup too.  That was nice.  I ate up here in the room, and I heated up the water pot too and made myself some tea.  Good grief have I missed being able to do that!

I wrote up three postcards and also a sympathy card for a friend who just lost her husband.  I had a bit of mail for another friend who had a baby last month…it was a bit “Circle of Life-y”.  I could have gone out and mailed them at the post office, but got a bit lazy and just decided to stay put! I also repacked my suitcase…changed from my little pink one, to my bigger silver one.  I am going for 4 days after all. 

F didn’t get back tonight until almost 6 pm, poor thing.  We decided to take K out for dinner since neither of us will be around tomorrow.  We were going to go for Chinese food, but decided to go for fish donburi instead. F and K had tuna and chopped tuna, I had salmon and salmon eggs.  Yum.  K said she didn’t want to buy any food at the grocery store afterwards, so we brought her to the house.  F on the other hand, did want to get her some food.  

We went to McDonald for a coffee and a bit of free wifi, then hit up the grocery store.  The only thing that I wanted was a drink for the evening, which I bought.  F got his mother some food, probably a bit too much since she doesn’t want to eat too much right now.  

I watched a bit of telly, and now I’m doing this.  I keep thinking that K is wandering around the house…earlier when I took a shower, she was doing that.  I could hear the floorboards creak, but I couldn’t see her, so it was a bit spooky when she appeared!  We had a little laugh about it. 

Tomorrow morning I am off to Niigata for a few days.  I’m hoping to eat Mexican food, see a movie or something fun, do a bit of shopping and meet up with some of the ladies from my women’s group.  I am really looking forward to this trip.  F is having a medical check and it is an overnight one.  I booked this trip before we moved in as I was worried about spending time with K on my own.  It wouldn’t have been too bad, but I’m happy that I have had this trip to look forward to.

I probably won’t blog from my trip unless something momentous happens. Please check back in a few days and see how everything went.  Talk to you later….night!

July 18, 2017

Tuesday - Cooler and a little cloudy

An okay day.

I got up this morning and did my usual things like watch the news.  It was rather nice.  I went downstairs and had breakfast with K, then did some laundry.  I also did a little dusting in some of the common areas of the house.

I offered to make K lunch, but she wasn’t having any.  I was a little sad as I had bought stuff specially, but that’s up to her.  I put some things in the fridge for tomorrow and made my own lunch for today.

In the afternoon I set up my water pot in the room so that I could make myself tea.  I have been sorely missing not having tea in the morning or whenever I want.  Now I can have it. Yay.  I had a couple of cups as I watched TV and worked on my computer.

When F came home he was in a bit of a mood.  I’m not sure why.  We had a spat over him not understanding me and he hurt my feelings quite a bit.  We finally went out for dinner…it was just to Coco Ichibanya but it was good.  I had the soup curry with chicken and that was great.  

We picked up a few things for F’s mum for dinner and then came back to the house.  I was miffed at him from the grocery store so came upstairs and closed off my part of the room from him.  That in turn made him mad because he wasn’t mad at me…?

I also made a change for my hotel reservation for tomorrow night.  I changed the hotel.  I wasn’t going to, but the new hotel works out to be about 7000 yen cheaper, so I decided that I would rather have the money to spend.  I hope it wasn’t a bad decision.  I have stayed at this hotel before too, but a long time ago.  It is also very convenient for the station so I’m sure it’ll be fine.  

And that’s about it.  Tomorrow I have to do my last bit of packing.  I’m thinking about packing my larger suitcase.  I’ve got my overnight case full, but I’m going to be away for 4 nights so I think I need more space in it.

So, it’s been a bit of an odd day really. It was so nice that it was cooler though. I felt like a human being again to be honest.  Come back later and see how my Wednesday goes.  Until tomorrow…. 

  

July 17, 2017

Monday -  Hot but overcast

A good day.

This morning we slept in quite late, which was lovely.  We don’t get the chance to do that these days.  Around 10 we went downstairs and I washed some of the blueberries and put out some cereal and milk or yogurt for all of us.  We all got our bowl topped with blueberries, which was a lovely treat.  

After I did the dishes, F and I went for a walk.  We went to the local shrine where we said a prayer for my relative that just died.  Since I couldn’t go to the funeral, that and the little tribute I wrote to her on Facebook are the next best thing really.  

F and I walked a little further, then came back with some drinks from a vending machine.  We decided to go to Hyakkenbori for lunch, and to take F’s mother with us.  We changed our clothes a little and then drove over.  They were a bit busy, so we had to sit outside for a change.  F and I had the same thing, the Hana Noodle dish which I loved, and he didn’t. K had the lunch special which was sashimi.  She liked it a lot.  

We took K for a quick grocery trip and then dropped her back at the house.  F and I went off to Mikawa to buy him some jeans.

When we got to the mall, we went to Seattle’s Best Coffee for a chocomint java kula, but the one we got didn’t seem to have any mint in it.  And to make it worse, F had put cinnamon on top of both of them, because he was trying to be nice.  It didn’t really work.  All I could taste was cinnamon.  

We walked along the mall and went to a clothing store and found F a pair of jeans.  He wanted a pair of Japanese ones, but I didn’t like the way they fitted.  I got him to try on a pair of Wranglers and he ended up getting those. I hope I didn’t make a bad suggestion to him!  He had some time to wait until the jeans were ready as they were being shortened, so we hacked the craft shop and then looked at the ladies clothing department.  Despite swearing that I didn’t need anything, I ended up getting a nice summer shirt.  It’s a light blue and white striped shirt, supposed to be cool biz or something.  

We picked up F’s jeans and then had a cup of coffee at Mr. Donut.  We ended up having two cups of coffee and had a brief chat with the guy that used to run the Egyptian restaurant in town.  

We were mostly done in the mall, so I suggested a quick trip around Don Quihote.  It is never a quick trip though.  We bought a few things, but kept it low cost and simple.  

F wanted dinner after shopping and asked for okonomiyaki.  It was fine with me.  We went to the shop and had a good time.  We got a table this time, rather than a floor table and then ate a couple of kinds of food.  We also had some potatoes which were very good.  

We picked up a few groceries and dinner for K at the store in the mall, and then drove back to Tsuruoka.  We were close to the city when K phoned us to see where we were.  

When we got back, F gave his mother the food, I put some of the stuff away, and then came upstairs.  I watched a little TV and did a little crochet.  

Tomorrow I have to get ready for my trip.  I need to do laundry and pack my suitcase, get to the bank if I can, and perhaps find time to do a postcrossing?! Wish me luck with that.

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

July 16, 2017

Sunday - Rainy and cooler

A good day.

We slept in this morning and it was lovely.  F and I were both able to stay in bed longer than usual. Hurray. When we went downstairs, we decided to have breakfast at home.  I washed some of the blueberries that we got in Yamagata and we doled out three portions of bread pudding.  It was all rather nice! I did the dishes afterwards and then came upstairs.

F and I decided to go out for lunch a bit later, K didn’t want to go.  We tried a new to us place in the neighbourhood that was okay.  It was a little restaurant in a house…the garden was gorgeous, but the food was only so-so in my opinion.  F had pilaf that was spicy, I had carbonara. It was fine, but really big and quite bland.  We might go again though as the decor was interesting. 

We tried to go to the Internet Cafe, but it was busy.  It was pouring, so we drove around for a while. Finally we ended up at McDonald, where F got to use wifi and I didn’t really.  Not sure why my phone isn’t picking it up at the moment.  Maybe too many other people doing the same thing?

Around 3:30 we were able to get into the Internet Cafe, but not in massaging chairs.  We asked if we could be given the next available ones, so they said it was okay.  F didn’t have to wait long at all, I was in a regular room for about an hour and a half before one came available for me.  Of course, I was watching a movie (Forrest Gump) and it was right at the end when I could switch so I missed the end.  That always happens!

I did a little crochet and watched a little TV.  F wanted to leave long before I did, so off we went.  He also wanted dinner and I didn’t, think it was ironic considering how that was reversed last night!  We tried a couple of places but they were busy, so ended up at a Yakiniku place near the post office.  We had a pretty good meal, but had to wait ages to get a table.  

After dinner we bought a few groceries and then brought them back to the house.  Most were for K’s dinner but a few were just for her.  

And that’s it.  It was a good but quiet day.  Tomorrow I’m not sure what we’ll get up to.  Come back and find out!  Until tomorrow….

July 15, 2017

Saturday - Hot and mostly sunny, muggy

A good couple of days!

Friday was a good, but busy sort of day.  I left the house with F in the morning.  My friend in the next city was having car trouble so I volunteered to go and visit her, so went out to the Internet Cafe for a bit.  Around 10:30 I left, went to the train station and then caught a train to Sakata.  We had lunch at Starbucks and then we went shopping.  I was able to help take care of her baby while she did a little shopping.  

She dropped me off at the train station again in time for my train back to Tsuruoka.  When I got off the train I explored the new fancy tourist area, had a coffee and then walked to the mall.  In the mall, I wandered around a bit and then went to Doutor and had an iced tea.  F called to say he’d be late and I didn’t see him until 6:45-ish. He asked me to buy some food for his mother, which I tried to do!  I bumped into F’s sister and her husband in the grocery store so there was a bit of a family reunion when F showed up.  

F and I got a lot of food for K and then took it back to the house.  We got ready to go out on our trip.  We drove to Yamagata and stayed in a pretty decent hotel.  We went out for dinner, ended up in a bar which had great food and okay drinks.  After a bit we went back to the hotel and basically fell asleep.

This morning, we got up and had breakfast at the hotel.  It was nice.  We checked out at 10:00 am and drove to Costco and did a lot of shopping there.  We did different things there than usual though.  I didn’t buy bagels, no roast chicken either.  Just didn’t know when I would be able to eat them.  We did get a Ukrainian Sausage from Edmonton (yay!), but not the perogies that I wanted.  The box was huge and it would never fit in our freezer.  I didn’t get avocados as they were much too soft. I got some cereal, some blueberries, and a few things to make having lunch with K a little easier.  

We put the stuff in the car and then had lunch there.  We both had a hotdog and drink, plus a black cherry sundae.  That was rather yum.  We left and drove to the nearest mall.  F was looking for shirts for work.  We got some in Aeon, and also got some underwear and socks.  We picked up some small things in Kaldi and then had a cold drink. 

We started out on the way home.  I was getting hungry.  Lunch was 4-5 hours ago, but F wasn’t hungry and didn’t even think about stopping for food.  We stopped in Cherryland to get souvenirs for his family, but they closed soon afterwards.  No food for us.  The next roadside stop closed as soon as we got there. Sigh. No food. This was now about 5 hours after lunch and I needed food, but F wasn’t hungry.  I told him that I’d get something at the next convenience store, which turned out to be almost in Tsuruoka.  Gah.  I had sandwiches and an onigiri.  He had an onigiri.

When we got to the house, K had already gone to bed.  It was just after 7 pm.  Sigh.  We unloaded the car and put things away.  F and I went out to Gusto to have dinner and get some wifi.  I was quite unhappy about the house situation.  K had come into our rooms and closed the windows on Friday, so it was incredibly hot in our rooms.  I told F that I really didn’t think I could survive in his house in summer. He told me to use the air conditioner.  Summer is horrid, but winter is going to be just as bad, in the opposite direction.  March just about killed me, it was so cold up here. 

When we came back from dinner, I watched Sherlock and did some crochet.  Another band of colour finished. Yay.  It’s getting a bit too hot to crochet. 

That’s about it for today.  This is a long weekend in Japan, not sure what we’ll get up to for the rest of it.  I’m also off to Niigata next week, so I have to prepare for that soon too.  

Come back later and find out what happens on Sunday!  Until tomorrow….