November 16, 2025

Sunday - Cloudy and cooler

I woke up around 10 am this morning. I had gone to bed late even for me last night. I had to send my sister a note as today is her birthday and she’s been having a rough time right now. 

I made a trip downstairs and then went back to bed. F got up and went downstairs to feed his mother. 

I dragged myself out of bed a bit later and then I got dressed. F and I talked about what to do for lunch and after a few minutes I suggested going to Naa. That is a farmer’s restaurant on the outskirts of the city. They have great veggie side dishes, but the main dishes are usually fish or pork. It is a nice place.

We were able to get a table right away and looked at the menu. We ordered and after a few minutes got our food. Now, unfortunately, F decided that it was a good idea for him to wear his earphones and listen to YouTube videos through the whole lunch. I was rather hurt as I had hoped we’d have a nice discussion. We did not.

After lunch, we ended up going over to Komeda for a drink and dessert. I had a decaf coffee and an apricot chocola cake, F had cafe au lait and a custard cake. We didn’t do much talking at the coffee shop either, but it didn’t upset me as much. I did get a lot of my book read, so that was good.

We went back to the house and I just came upstairs. I spent most of the rest of the afternoon on my computer. And why not?!

F got something for his mother and then he cooked  dinner for her. I was starting to wonder if we would ever do our shopping! F had asked if I’d like to go out with him to the shop, but I didn’t want to go yet.

He did suggest going out to dinner finally and we wanted ideas of where to go. I asked if it was okay to have Chinese food again and he said it was fine. We went to To-En again, the restaurant on the other side of the park. We were able to get in but they did say food would take a while to arrive as they were busy. 

We looked at the menu and ordered some food. F wanted fried rice, I wanted mapo-dofu and some kara-age. We decided to order all three and share. That’s what we did and it was good. We got some spare plates and shared our meals. My mapo-dofu came first and I gave F about half. His fried rice was next and he ladled out about half of that for me. We shared the kara-age. The food was good and we both enjoyed it.

Next up, I had wanted to go to a hundred yen shop to look for knitting needle caps. I’m going to be using DPN (double pointed needles) soon so I want to make sure the stitches won’t fall off the needles. I popped in to Daiso at PAL and got myself a couple of packets of them.

We drove out to Yunohama. F wanted to check somewhere that he will be driving tomorrow. I nearly fell asleep in the car, but it was okay. When F was satisfied that he knew where he was going, we came back to Tsuruoka. 

I asked that we go back to the PAL shopping area to do the grocery shopping. F took me there and gave me some money. I went into the store and did the shopping. I picked up food for the next couple of weeks. I was sad that they didn’t have the right kind of bread for me, I’ll have to get more later in the week. I got ingredients to make a stew and I’ll likely do that tomorrow. Yay for me. 

We came back to the house and for some reason F started putting all the groceries out on the kitchen table. I told him that I’d unpack the groceries. I’m going to use them so I’d like them to be where I need them! I went upstairs after I finished and changed into my PJ’s. I decided to watch something but couldn’t decide what. I started watching Monkey Man but I wasn’t watching it that much and the film was partially in Hindi so I couldn’t understand it. I stopped watching it and decided to watch another episode of Cardinal off the Fire Disk. It was good. The suspense is rising.

And that’s about it. Since I turned off the TV I’ve been watching YouTube and enjoying it. 

I’m not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow. I’ll likely start making my stew around noon and then I can leave it for the rest of the day in my slow cooker. I might do some laundry if I’m so moved. 

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

November 15, 2025

Saturday - Clear and sunny, cool

I woke up first around 7:30 but after a trip downstairs I went back to bed. I woke up a bit later when F came in the room and asked about going for lunch. Considering I was still in bed and in my pjs I wasn’t planning anything like that! We had a good discussion about where to go for lunch. F liked my idea, but when he called to make a reservation, they were too busy for us today. We went with F’s idea. He called and made a reservation. They often have pasta with tomato sauce, but I can’t have that. The chef has offered to make something else for me if he has notice.  

I got up, dressed and a few minutes later we headed out to the restaurant. We arrived and ordered. I made a mistake on the menu and ordered dessert and coffee with my meal. I thought I was just getting salad and soup, but I got it all. Oh well. The dessert was lovely so I didn’t mind! F was happy as he got to have ramen which he actually liked. Amazing!

F and I left when we were finished and drove back to Tsuruoka. We made a stop at Musashi, the hardware store. F wanted to buy shrimp for his fish tank (they clean it apparently) and I wanted to get masks. We both got what we wanted.

We went back to the house where F took care of the shrimp and then went outside to change the car tyres. It took him a while, but he managed. He also was downstairs to welcome his mother back to the house. 

He made her some dinner and then it was our turn. We decided to go out to China House and then go out to Mikawa to see a movie. At China House I had Yurinchi, which is a battered fried chicken with a sour sauce with a lot of green onions!  I like it a lot. F had pork on rice which he complained a bit about. 

We headed out to Mikawa and went into the mall. We went up to the cinema and bought the tickets and then popcorn and drinks. We went to see Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere. I liked it and what surprised me was that F did too. He did ask me after the movie if it was a true story and if Springsteen was a real person. I just laughed at him. To be fair, F has always been more interested in Classical music and I’m not sure if Springsteen is that popular in Japan. 

We drove back to the house and I went upstairs and got on my computer. Same as usual then!

That’s about it for me for today. I’m not sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow. I will have to buy groceries as usual, but hopefully we can do something else as well. 

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

November 14, 2025

Friday - Sunny and warm

I woke up early again, around 7:30 am. F had left for work, but K wasn’t up yet. My alarm hadn’t gone off yet either. I went downstairs and then came back upstairs and went back to bed. I sorted out the clothes I was going to wear first.

I woke up a couple of hours later when my alarms went off. I looked at my clothes and decided to change them all. I ended up with a pair of pants and a long sleeve t-shirt with a fleece vest and my pink jacket. 

I was able to have a quick breakfast of a tuna salad sandwich and enjoyed that. I went downstairs at one point and checked K’s heater to make sure she had enough kerosene to last the whole day. It was fine.

I left the house around 11:25 and walked slowly to the bus stop. I checked on how late the bus was running and it was only a couple of minutes. I got on the bus when it arrived and it went on its merry way.

I got off the bus at the Sanno-machi stop, basically the one that I often get off at when I go to Machinaka Kinema. It’s also close to the Main post office. That’s where I was going. I went in and immediately took off my jacket. I’m not sure what it is about the Main Post Office but it is always too hot. I got into line for the mail section and brought out my cards and postcards to mail. The lady and I had a little conversation about how it was okay to send to Canada today and I said “Yay!”. She apologized to me, but honestly, it wasn’t her fault that we couldn’t send mail to Canada. She was really helpful and I was able to get some 40 yen stamps as well, so I can use my old 60 yen and thereabouts stamps if I want. I wasn’t sure that there were any if I’m honest, 40 yen stamps I mean.

That done, I went over to the bank section and made a 50 yen deposit. I’m presently out of completed rolls of coin. Woot. Yay me!! After that, I put my jacket back on and left the post office.

I walked down the street to the Shonai Bank and made a small withdrawal there. Then, I walked over to the Indian restaurant over there. I went in and had my lunch.

Lunch was okay. I had the chicken curry with naan, soup and salad and a lassi. The curry wasn’t that hot, both in temperature and in spiciness. The naan was very good though. When I finished my lunch I paid and went over to the drugstore that is in the same parking lot. 

I did a little shopping in the drugstore, both in the hundred yen section and the drugstore proper. I paid and then decided what to do. 

I could have walked down to S-Mall, but decided that I’d just as soon go back to the house. There was a bus a bit down the road in a few minutes, so I decided to walk to the nearest bus stop. It took me about 10 minutes and I got there in enough time to have a seat for a few minutes.

I caught the bus back to the house and got off the bus. I walked from the stop back to the house and went in. I grabbed a drink from the fridge and went upstairs to relax. A few minutes later F called me, I think to offer me a lift back to the house, but I told him I just got back to the house. He was sweet to think of me. 

I watched the news, some YouTube and just relaxed a bit. F called again around 5:30 to say that he’d done his shopping and was going to be driving back to the house. I was a tad surprised, but that’s okay. I went downstairs a few moments later and started thinking about dinner! I knew what I was going to make, but I didn’t have anything to do in the kitchen at first.

F came back and we had a nice meet up. He did me the favour of taking the filled kerosene tank upstairs for me. I’d brought it down earlier and filled it up, but I wasn’t ready to go upstairs yet.

Tonight I did my usual pasta with a lemony sauce, some sliced ham and a salad. It was good and there wasn’t any leftovers for a change. 

After dinner I did the dishes and it didn’t take that long. I went back upstairs afterwards and changed into my pyjamas. It wasn’t that late, but I wanted to relax. Around 10:30 I went downstairs and took a shower. F was in the living room so I said hello. 

I went back upstairs and watched another episode of Down Cemetery Road with Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson. It was quite good tonight. I’ve been enjoying most of it. 

And that’s about it. F went to bed around midnight and I’m still up, but planning to go to bed soon. I’m not sure what we’ll get up to this weekend. F is planning to change the tyres on the car soon as snow is forecast for next week. Yikes. 

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

November 13, 2025

Thursday - Rainy and cooler

I went to bed at my usual time but woke up around 8 am this morning. That was before my alarm time. I went downstairs and then a little later I went back to bed. I turned off my alarms and fell asleep. F came in the room unexpectedly a while later and saw me in bed. He was surprised I was in bed, I was surprised he was in our room! He left soon after that.

I got up a bit later and got dressed. I went downstairs and put our meat for dinner in a marinade that I made. Then, I put my breakfast together and took it upstairs. 

I ate and had a quiet morning and afternoon, with one exception. I checked the Japan Post website and starting tomorrow they are going to accept mail to Canada! Woot. And ack! I had to write up the cards to Canada today and that was a bit of a thing. I’ve been doing a couple a day and today I had to do 6! Oh well.

I got my lunch and brought it up to the room. I watched probably my last episode of NCIS: Los Angeles. I skipped ahead and watched the wedding of two of the characters in the show. It was chaos as usual, but fun. I followed that up with the news and then some more YouTube.

F called a little after 5:15 to say he was on his way back. I finished up on my computer and then went downstairs to get started on dinner. 

Tonight’s dinner was garlic pork sauté, chichime (tiny & from the store!), steamed kabocha, salad, kimchi, and rice. It was good. F didn’t have seconds again, but K and I did! 

I did the dishes and then said goodnight to K. I went upstairs and checked on F. He wasn’t feeling great again today. He was okay to go out, so I changed and then we went over to Mina. I went in and did the shopping. I didn’t get too much, but I got enough for breakfasts and dinner. 

When I came back to the car I asked F if we could go to Starbucks for its birthday. Seven years ago our Starbucks opened. He thought I meant to go to Starbucks for HIS birthday, which isn’t for a couple of weeks yet. He was surprised that I wanted to go tonight!

We went over to the coffee shop, but F took a very weird route in my opinion. He drove down a road with a lot of pedestrians who have been drinking and he didn’t have to do that. Oh well. 

We got to Starbucks and we both had the same thing, a chamomile tea latte. We got our seats and relaxed with our nice drinks. We were there for about an hour, maybe a little more. It was lovely just to be out of the house and out in public at night.

We came back to the house after a bit and I came upstairs. I watched The Rookie which was cute tonight and a little creepy. I also wrote my last two cards during the show. No knitting tonight. Boo!

Since midnight I’ve been relaxing and watching YouTube. I’ve also been blogging of course.

So, tomorrow I’m hopefully going to catch a bus downtown and go to the post office. I’ll mail my Christmas cards and Postcrossings so that will be good. I plan to go to lunch after that, but I’m not sure exactly where to go! I’ll see how I feel tomorrow. Wish me luck!

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

November 12, 2025

Wednesday - Cool but sunny

I woke up in the middle of the night and had to go downstairs. That was odd. Unfortunately I woke F up too. He told me tonight that he couldn’t get back to sleep after that.

I went back to bed and fell asleep soon after. I did wake up when my alarm went off but turned it off and fell back asleep. I ended up getting up around 10. It was a complete oversleep. Oh well. I went downstairs and then came back to the room and got dressed.

I got my breakfast and brought it upstairs to the room. I ate and relaxed. It was nice. I had my tea and watched a bit of YouTube. Yay for me. 

In the afternoon, I started thinking about going to the post office later this week and how cool it would be to take some postcards with me. So, I signed back into Postcrossing and requested not one but two addresses to send postcards too! I’ve been off the site for 4 years basically and just thought I’d try it again. I used to love doing it at the apartment, but here in the house there isn’t a convenient mailbox or post office like before. I’m sending cards to Indonesia and the Netherlands. 

F came back from work early today so he could go to the doctor. He’s been having stomach problems again. He came back to the house, changed and went off to the doctor. I got on with my stuff, had lunch, watched NCIS: Los Angeles….happily the storyline finished….

F came back to the house after 5 and went to his bed. I don’t blame him, he was tired. At my usual time, I went downstairs and got started on dinner. 

Tonight I did chicken drumsticks in the air fryer plus an onion and mushroom stir-fry thing. We also had salad and the German potato salad. Dinner was good. K and F ate, but didn’t have seconds. 

After dinner, I cleared the table and then got stuck in on washing dishes. I listened to my podcasts afterwards and enjoyed them. When I finished the dishes, I gathered up the garbage in the kitchen and bathroom. I got F to help me with K’s garbage too and put it all in the genkan for later. 

I went upstairs for a while and scanned the cards that I wrote earlier. I haven’t used my scanner with this new computer so I had to figure out how to do it all.  Eventually I finished and I went downstairs to take a shower. I was going downstairs when F was about to come  upstairs! 

I took a quick shower and then I went upstairs and watched Wild Cards. It was a little bit of a Rear Window situation. It was a fun episode as they usually are. I also got about 4 rows of my knitting done. I think I’m going to start doing the decrease on it next time as I’d really like to finish it soonish.

F went to bed a bit after midnight and I’m still up blogging now. 

Tomorrow I’m not sure what I’ll get up to. I should try to do a bit of laundry and I also want to look at my movie list to start on my column. Sigh.

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

November 11, 2025

Tuesday - Cloudy and cold

I woke up before my alarm again, F had already left for work. I went downstairs and then came back to the room. I sorted my laundry before I went back to bed for a bit of a snooze.  I fell asleep watching videos again…I woke up to one of them repeating for the nth time!

I dragged myself out of bed and got dressed. I took my laundry basket downstairs and started the first wash of the day. I made my breakfast too and brought it upstairs to my room. 

I did two loads of laundry today and hung them up in the room. I hope they’ll dry soonish. I had a fairly quiet afternoon. I did manage to write one more Christmas card. I think my overseas ones are done….excepting the Canada ones of course. Sob. 

I went downstairs a little early to make my lunch. I had some leftovers from yesterday and I heated them up. I came upstairs to the room and ate while I watched another episode of NCIS: Los Angeles. I think it was the last one of the storyline I’ve been following. Unfortunately it was left on a cliffhanger so of course I’ll have to watch it tomorrow!

I watched the news again and then F called around 5:25 and said he was on his way back. I went downstairs a bit before 6 pm and got a start on dinner. Tonight I did coro-coro steak in the air fryer along with some mushrooms and onions in a miso/sake dressing foil wrap thing. It was good. We also had some German potato salad and salad and of course some rice. It was good. F even said it was good but he didn’t have seconds. 

I did the dishes after dinner. It didn’t take that long tonight as I didn’t have any pots, just the air fryer. When I finished I went upstairs and changed so that F and I could go out. We went over to Mina and I went in and did the shopping. I think I got most of the stuff I needed, this time!

We came back to the house and I put away the groceries. I went upstairs and relaxed for a bit before watching FBI: Most Wanted at 11pm. It was a little bit sad tonight, it was about foster children.

Since midnight I’ve been watching a bit of YouTube and doing my end of day things. I’m not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow. I might actually have a look at my column! I need one by the end of the month. 

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

November 10, 2025

Monday - Cloudy and colder, rainy at night

I woke up this morning when my alarm went off. I hadn’t heard F leave at all, nor the phone that rang at 8:10 from an unknown caller! I got up and went downstairs.

I came back to the room and went back to bed for a while. I watched a few videos before I fell asleep again. My alarms woke me up later. I didn’t want to get up, but I eventually did, so yay for me. I dressed and went downstairs with the nearly empty kerosene tank. I filled it up and brought it back up to the room. I went right back downstairs again, washed my hands and made my breakfast. I took it upstairs to eat.

I had a fairly quiet afternoon. I wrote another couple of Christmas cards, to my family in Hawaii. Unfortunately, Japan still isn’t accepting mail to Canada, so for the second year in a row, I may not get to send cards to family this year.

I went downstairs to get my lunch around 3 pm. I made it and then brought it upstairs again. I watched another episode of NCIS: Los Angeles while I was eating. I’ve only got a few days left before this season leaves WOWOW. I’m a bit sad as I’m enjoying it a lot.

I watched the news at 4 pm and it was annoying. I zoned out of some of it as it sounds just the same as every other day. 

F called after 5:30 so I went downstairs after a bit and got ready to start cooking dinner. F came in but instead of visiting with me, he went into the living room and spent time with his mother. I don’t mind that part of it, I just wanted a couple of minutes of chat and a welcome back hug. 

Anyway, dinner tonight was pretty darn good. I roasted some potatoes in the air fryer (parboiled them first), steamed some veggies, salad from the store and the pork stir-fry with seaweed, chikuwa (fish paste in tubes—better than it sounds) and cabbage. Dinner got good reviews. F didn’t have more, but K did. She had more potatoes! She finished them off for us. 

After dinner I cleared off the table and then I got stuck into washing dishes. It took a while, but it got done. Whew. I listened to my podcasts and the time passed. 

When I finished, I put the pink garbage bag (plastics) in the genkan and told F it was there. I said I was going upstairs. 

I watched some YouTube and then went downstairs to take a shower. While I was downstairs I asked F to make some rice for dinner tomorrow. I’d forgotten to ask him earlier. He came down and set up the cooker for us. 

After my shower I went upstairs and watched the first episode of the second season of Gen V. It was good, basically. It’s almost as shocking as The Boys is. I did a few rounds of knitting while I watched. F kept bringing me snacks which was fun, but not necessary!

And that’s my day. F is sleeping I think and I’m about ready to go to bed. Tomorrow I have an exciting day of Christmas cards and laundry. Ooh, what fun!

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