April 6, 2025

Sunday - Rainy, cloudy and then rainy again. 

I stayed up late last night, so I just decided to sleep in this morning. I did. I woke up around 10:30 and then stayed in bed for a while.

F came in around 11:00 or so and asked if I wanted to go for lunch. He suggested one of our usual favourite restaurants and I said yes. I also suggested that he call them and make a reservation. After that, I was subjected to a bunch of crap from him. He said that we shouldn’t make reservations for small restaurants because what if someone went in the restaurant and took our table before we got there…stuff like that that didn’t make any sense. After about 10 minutes of him whining about not wanting to call and that he would rather go and have ramen, he left. Well, I checked the bus times, and if I left immediately I might make a bus, but I wasn’t quite ready. I decided to wait until the 1:20 bus.

F did leave and I have no idea where he went. I don’t care either if I’m honest. 

I got ready to go and then I left the house around 1:15 and walked to the bus stop. It was drizzling, but not pouring. I hadn’t grabbed an umbrella when I left, but my jacket was pretty good for rain I thought. I was standing at the bus stop when a woman ran up to me with an umbrella! She wanted me to have the umbrella because I didn’t have one. I tried to say no, but she really wanted to give it to me. Finally I did take it and thanked her. It was a fairly nice umbrella too. It looked like one from a conbini, but I have one of those and it is quite strong. It kept me dry!

I ended up waiting about 5 minutes for the bus. I got on and was surprised that it was quite busy. I debated with myself whether to get off at Foodever or S-Mall. I decided to leave at S-Mall.

When I got to S-Mall, I got off the bus and then went into the hotel. They still had lunch for about 40minutes and it was one that I could eat, so I went over to the restaurant and went in. They told me that they were closing at 2:30 and that was fine with me. I didn’t even need to look at the menu, I just ordered the weekly special and that was it.

Today I got a salad, chicken fricassee with some potatoes, pasta and some vegetables, a bun and a cup of tea. It was very good. I enjoyed my lunch a lot.  I paid and made to go back to the mall, but remembered that I had left my new umbrella in the restaurant. I went back for it. 

I went and did a little bit of window shopping around the mall. I didn’t buy anything. I found out that the MiniPla is going to close this month. Darn. I liked that store. I might see if I can get another parasol or something before it closes. 

I looked at the new, improved Daiso but didn’t think it was all that. They did seem to have more stuff though. 

I had thought about getting a drink at Doutor, but it was packed. Just then I noticed that F had sent me a text. He asked if I still wanted to go to see the Ume blooms in Yutagawa. I thought about ignoring his message as I was thinking of going back to the house. However, F had asked me to go on Friday and I had suggested Sunday as our Saturday was very busy. 

I texted him back and said okay. I asked if he’d pick me up and promise not to dump me off somewhere in the car. He said okay!

I went to the grocery store and bought us each a bottled drink. I got rooibos tea for me and green tea for F. I’m trying to get him to drink healthier things than cola. 

He did pick me up outside the mall and we drove to Yutagawa in almost silence. When we got to the small town, F parked the car and we walked back to the park. The park is basically on a hill, so we had to climb the hill. Unfortunately, my knees were bothering me. I’d walked quite a bit today already and I didn’t want to go too far up the hill. We went about half way up I think. At one point F asked if I’d go up higher but I begged off. Going up is a little easier for me than coming down and it was drizzling rather hard after that. I wasn’t sure what the point was. The flowers were pretty, but I didn’t think they were fully out yet. 

We walked back to the car and were a lot friendlier than we had been. I even told F how I got my umbrella. I don’t know if he believed me!

We drove back towards Tsuruoka (technically, Yutagawa is part of Tsuruoka, but it’s a suburb). We talked about getting groceries. I remembered that a coffee shop had opened nearby and suggested going there. 

We ended up going to Cafe Heart and Peace. It used to be quite near us and I used to bike there occasionally and have a drink and a snack. They moved over a year ago I think. 

We looked at the menu and decided to have more than just a drink. They have big fluffy pancakes, I think they are Dutch Babies, so we decided to each have one with a cup of cocoa. We ordered and waited a while. The pancakes were lovely. They came with butter and syrup. I enjoyed mine, but F found his to be too sweet and started to feel unwell. 

We left the restaurant and then drove to MaxValu to do our shopping. F wanted us to buy bentos for tonight. We got bentos and also some food for the next couple of days. 

We came back to the house and put away the groceries. F didn’t want to eat right away, so he took a nap and I spent time on my computer. 

We ended up having our dinner around 8:30. F got K up and we had our meal in the living room. They were watching horrible Japanese TV, so I read a book on my phone. 

I went upstairs and got back to my computer. I also grabbed my hexagon sweater again and started working on it again. I watched last night’s episode of The Day of the Jackal and did one row of crochet and started another one too. 

When it was over, I went over to the bed to check on F. He was lying there again and watching videos. He’s still feeling dizzy. I hope he’ll feel better overnight. 

I ended up having a better day today, but it really wasn’t a great day. I’m rather tired as I did walk a lot today. 

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

April 5, 2025

Saturday - Sunny and warm

I slept in this morning and it was nice! F got up to feed his mother and then take her to the Day Service. From there he took himself off to one of his doctor’s offices. F did wake me up around 8:30 or so (not on purpose) so I ended up having to go downstairs before 9. 

When F came back from the doctor’s office he was rather chipper. He asked me if I’d like to go to Sakata and go to an Italian/French restaurant for lunch. I said yes, of course, if he thought we had enough time to get back before my appointment in the afternoon. He said we did, so he actually phoned them and made a reservation.

We drove over to Sakata and got to the restaurant just a couple of minutes before we said that we would. We got the last parking space in the lot! We went in and were shown to our table. We looked at the menu and decided to have the Australian Beef set meal. We had it with bread and butter, and later on with some tea. We got a lovely salad, then some potato soup that was very nice. Our buns came at the same time as the soup and we had the option to dunk our bread into the soup. That was nice!  We got our beef, it was cooked rather rare I thought. It came with a mixture of vegetables, both steamed and roasted that were delicious. When we finished our main course, we were served our dessert. We had a chocolate tart with some frozen yogurt I think, and our tea. All in all it was a very nice meal.  F paid and we headed back towards Tsuruoka. 

We decided that we needed a washroom in Tsuruoka and I wanted some cough candies, so we went to a conbini. We went in and bought a few things, then headed to the house. It was 2:11 when we arrived and my appointment was at 2:30. Yikes. I headed into the bathroom and flossed, then brushed my teeth. We got back in the car and arrived at my dentist’s office at 2:31 or so. 

We went in and after a couple of minutes wait, I was shown into an office. Today I got a temporary crown put on the tooth that broke back in January. It wasn’t a very pleasant time for me, but it didn’t hurt for the most part. Her philosophy is that dentistry shouldn’t hurt. I’m good with that!

We paid when I was done for today. We headed back to the house, but I suggested that we get something for K’s dinner. Around the same time, we realized that we needed a washroom, so we ended up at another conbini! We came back to the grocery store and picked up a few things to eat for K.

We came back to the house. I went upstairs and spent time on my computer, F stayed downstairs and did something with his fish tank. His mother came back and after a bit he came upstairs. He announced that he was going to go downstairs to give his mother her bento. He came back up a few minutes later a bit nonplussed! His mother had already eaten her bento, she was finishing it up when he went downstairs!

We decided that we’d go to the mall and have bibinba at the restaurant near the cinema. We left the house around 7 I think and drove out to the mall. We bought our movie tickets which was rather complicated by having to renew our movie cards. It didn’t make any sense, so we ended up having to buy our tickets separately. I got a free movie, and F had to pay for his and our movie renewal fee. 

We went over to the Bibinba place and ordered our food. I had the negi-shio bibinba (onion-salt) and F had a spicy miso one. He complained that it was salty, mine was supposed to be, but was okay. 

We went to see Mickey 17 tonight and it was okay. It wasn’t great, but it did have its moments. I liked what it was going for, but it didn’t quite make it. 

After the movie, we drove back to Tsuruoka and to the house. It was too late to watch the Saturday night’s drama, so I just watched my computer. 

Anyway, that’s about it for me. I had a reasonably good day, considering I had to go to the dentist! Come back later if you like and hear all about my Sunday. Until tomorrow….

April 4, 2025

Friday - Cloudy and cool

I woke up this morning after my alarm went off. I didn’t get up for a few minutes, then I did. I went downstairs and then came back to the room. I went back to bed for a while. I watched a few videos and then snoozed a bit longer.

I got up later, went downstairs and made my breakfast. I brought it back up to the room to eat. A bit later, I took some laundry downstairs and put it in the washing machine. I ended up doing two loads and that was a good thing!

When my second load was done, I made my lunch and then brought the whole kit and kaboodle upstairs. I hung up my laundry while watching The Walking Dead. It was a good episode. The revolution is coming I think. 

F called around 5:30 and said that he was on his way, but would stop at a store first. After a bit I went downstairs and got a start on dinner. Tonight was pasta and carbonara with salad and ham and shrimp on the side. It was very nice. But…getting people to come and eat was a problem! I went out to the hall and called F the way I usually do. No answer. I sent him a text! No answer. I called him on his phone. No answer. I ended up having to go upstairs and see what had happened. He was sitting up in bed with his computer and was wondering why I came upstairs! He was a little embarrassed. K was much easier to get to come to the table tonight, I just called her a few times!

Dinner was good. I did the dishes afterwards and was able to go back upstairs when I was done. I relaxed and watched a bit of YouTube.  F came upstairs after a bit and later I went downstairs and took a shower. 

When I came back to the bedroom I watched a couple of episodes of the new Kevin Bacon show The Bondsman. It was a bit gruesome and a bit funny. I’ll probably watch some more since it is rather short.

And that was about it for my day. Tomorrow looks like it could be a busy day. F plans to go to his doctor after he takes K to the Day Service. I have a dental appointment in the afternoon and we hope to go to a movie in the evening. 

Come back later if you like to hear what happens. Until tomorrow….

April 3, 2025

Thursday - Cloudy and cool, rainy at night

I woke up this morning when my alarm went off. I got up and went downstairs, then came back upstairs and went back to bed for a bit. I did have a bit of trouble dragging myself out of bed, but I finally did it. I got dressed and started to go downstairs. I was planning to grab my breakfast before I left. However, K was bouncing around downstairs. She was in the washroom, in the kitchen, and then in the living room and then back to the washroom. It was annoying. I just gave up on that idea. I went back upstairs and just did what I needed to do upstairs. I did have a sandwich upstairs so it wasn’t all bad.

Finally, it was about 20 after 11 so I went downstairs, used the ‘loo, checked a couple of things in the kitchen and then put my shoes on and left the house. I walked to the bus stop.

I checked the on-line schedule and the bus was a couple of minutes behind schedule. No worries. It finally arrived and I got on. The guy in the left front seat kept putting his jacket on the seat across the aisle from him, basically blocking it from use. I sat in the front seat behind the driver. No big deal, but some people are quite rude about things like that. 

I got off at my stop and walked back to the post office. I made a small deposit of coins and then left. I crossed the street and then walked to the drugstore near the cinema. I went in and bought a few things including another sandwich and an onigiri and a bottle of tea.

I walked to the cinema, and sat in the foyer and ate my onigiri. Then, I went into the movie part and bought my ticket to go and see Arthur’s Whisky. I went into the cinema, found my seat and watched the movie. How was the movie? Well, not great. It could have been a lot better, but it wasn’t. The cast was game, the story had possibilities but it just didn’t gel properly. 

After the movie, I left the cinema and walked out to the main road. I waited a few minutes for the bus and rode it until it got to my stop. I was the last passenger and the driver still had about half of the route to go. I hope she picked up other people on the way.

I walked back to the house and went in. I went upstairs, changed my clothes and went down to the kitchen. I marinated the meat for tonight’s dinner and I made my lunch. I went back upstairs and watched an episode of Major Crimes while I ate. I wanted something fun and light. 

F called after 5:30 and said that he was on his way back to the house. I went downstairs after a while and started working on dinner. Tonight I kept things very simple. We had coro-coro steak, green beans and salad, plus rice from yesterday. It was quite nice I thought.

I did the dishes after dinner and then went upstairs and changed my clothes to go out. We drove over to Mina and I went in and bought some groceries. I was saddened to see that they were out of a lot of things that I wanted to buy. I got enough food for dinner tomorrow night and something for K’s breakfast. They didn’t have enough stuff for F’s breakfast. When I went back out to the car I asked F if we could stop at 7-11. I needed to recharge my Suica card (the card I use to pay for my bus trips) and I thought he could buy himself something for his breakfast. He very nicely gave me some money to put on my card. I hadn’t asked him for any, it was a nice surprise. I charged my card in the conbini and F bought his breakfast food. 

We came back to the house and F hid himself in the washroom while I put away the groceries. I went upstairs and changed into my pj’s. I relaxed for a while and then at 11 I watched tonight’s episode of DOC. I am really enjoying the show.

After it finished, F asked me to help him put on the sticky plasters on his back and shoulder, so I did that. We had a couple of minutes of couple time and then I came back to my computer.

Tomorrow I’m going to be in the house again, no plans to go out. I’m actually looking forward to do a few things around the house like laundry or maybe a bit of picking up in this room. Maybe!

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

April 2, 2025

Wednesday - Rainy and drizzly

I woke up quite early this morning. Dear F had left for work and left his alarm on again. I sleepily turned it off and tried to sleep longer. I ended up going downstairs around 7:30. I went back to bed after a bit and slept longer. My alarms went off later and I thought about getting up and didn’t. Finally, I really had to get up.

I got dressed and when it was nearly time for my friend to arrive, I went downstairs to meet her. She arrived and off we went. We talked about different places to meet but finally decided to go to La Naturalite near S-Mall. It’s a place I go sometimes when I’m having a splurge day. We had a lovely meal. They started us off with a big plate of starters of various types of vegetables, some pickled. They were lovely. For our main dishes, I had roasted local pork and my friend had a huge roasted mushroom. It looked lovely! We got a salad and a roll with our meal. They followed it up with an apple dessert and we both had tea. I had rooibos, my friend had regular tea. We paid and left. It really was a lovely meal there. We were nearly the only customers too, which was a bit sad.

We went into the mall afterwards and went to Jupiter the import store. My friend bought a few things for her children and then we went to the Doutor. I got us iced decaf cafe lattes each and they were very nice. We had a lot of great conversations too.

Finally, my friend treated me to some ice cream courtesy of Baskin-Robbins. We had some nice treats and then we had to go back to our homes. She drove me back to the house and we snapped a picture and then went our separate ways. 

I came inside and went upstairs. I forgot to set the heater in the kitchen which was a bit dumb. Upstairs I watched the news and spent some time on my computer. 

F called after 5 to say he was finished and was on his way back to the house. I went down a bit later and started working in the kitchen. When F arrived, I asked him about rice. I had asked him last night to make more rice if we needed it, but he didn’t! He checked and we didn’t have enough, so he very nicely made us some tonight. Tonight’s menu was air-fried chicken drumsticks, salad, cabbage salad, leftover potato salad and a bit of kimchi too. Oh, and the rice that F made as well.

After dinner I did the dishes of course. I listened to a couple of podcasts so the time passed fairly pleasantly. When I was done the dishes, I did up the garbage in the kitchen and the bathroom. Then, I asked F if there was any garbage in the living room. He checked K’s stuff and there was a lot of stuff. Happily, he got rid of a lot of it and that should be good for her too. She tries sneaking her stuff into the kitchen garbage which annoys me a lot! The kitchen garbage always gets full without her stuff. 

Anyway, I put the garbage back in the genkan for F to take out later and went upstairs. I did up my big garbage bag in the corner of the room and left it for F to add to if he needed too. 

Around 10 I went downstairs to take a shower. When I finished, I made some popcorn and then came upstairs to watch a new programme on WOWOW. It was called The Irrational. I liked it and will probably watch at least another episode next week. 

And that was it. F stayed up a bit late but has finally gone to bed now. 

Tomorrow if I can rouse myself again, I’ll get up and go to a daytime movie at the local cinema. I’ll have to leave here around 11:30 to catch the bus so wish me luck with that!

Oh, I didn’t do any work on this today, but I thought I’d let you see what it looks like now. Enjoy!

Rainbow Hexagon Cardigan

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

April 1, 2025

Tuesday - Rainy, Cold and finally clear

I woke up early this morning. I found out tonight that I woke up just after F left this morning. I made a trip downstairs and then I went back to bed and slept quite late again. Sigh. I shouldn’t do that, but I did!

I got up and dressed, made my breakfast and ate. I decided later on that I would do some laundry, so I loaded up my basket and took things downstairs. I ended up doing two loads and they are hanging up in my room. 

I brought my lunch upstairs around 3 pm and I watched an episode of The Walking Dead while I ate. It was a good episode, all about the Commonwealth and most of my favourite characters were in it. 

F called after 5 and said he was on his way back from work. I went downstairs with the kerosene tank and filled it. Then, I brought it upstairs because I remembered that I hadn’t changed the towels downstairs. So, I brought it up and grabbed some towels for the kitchen and bathroom. Yay me.

Tonight’s dinner was a new one. I had found a spice packet on sale that I thought I could cook, so I did. It was a spicy pork stirfry with Nila, which I think is garlic chives or something similar. It had a bit of a kick, but it was very nice. We also had some potato salad, broccoli and salad.

I did the dishes afterwards and put them all away. I  said “Hey” to F and then I went upstairs and got changed. We went over to Mina to buy some groceries. I got a few things for dinners and breakfasts there. 

I asked F if we could stop at the nearby drugstore for a few things, and he agreed. I picked up a few munchies and some decaf coffee. F got some things as well and then we paid and left. 

Back at the house I put away the groceries and then went upstairs, F took a lot longer. I watched FBI: International at 11pm. It has a new cast member, I’m not sure if I like him or not. Does this mean that they got rid of the other cast members? Hmm. 

And that’s it for me for today. Tomorrow I’m booked to have lunch with a good friend and I haven’t seen her in 4 months, so I’m really looking forward to seeing her. I’m not sure where we’ll go for lunch!

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