October 15, 2024

 Tuesday - Sunny and warm

I got up this morning quite early. I went downstairs and then came back to the room. I gave myself 5 more minutes in bed and then got up and got dressed to go out. I had a quick snack and then gathered my stuff and left the house. I did try to tell K where I was going, but I wasn’t sure that she understood me. I don’t think she did, honestly. I did make sure she had food first though. 

I did a fast walk to the bus stop. One of my shoes became untied on the way so I had to stop and tie it at the bus stop. The bus came and was only a couple of minutes late. I was the first passenger but over the next few stops more people got on. Many of these people were elderly and took a long time to get on the bus. 

When we arrived at the final stop, the bus station, I thought I would have about 9 minutes to wait for the bus. Nope. I had just gotten off the mini-bus when the bus to Mikawa drove by. I made it, but not by much!

The ride out to Mikawa was fine. The fields were lovely and I even saw a few swans overhead. It must be time for them to fly south. We arrived at the mall and I paid and got off. 

I made a quick stop at the post office to make a deposit and then a withdrawal, then I headed to Doutor. I had a quick drink and a cheese toast for a mini breakfast. After that, I headed upstairs to the cinema.

I bought my ticket and some popcorn and a drink and went to see Civil War. I didn’t know too much about it, but I heard it was good. I did enjoy it, it was thought-provoking. It basically was about America at war with itself. The protagonists were photojournalists. 

After the film was over, I turned on my phone and went over to the Food Court in the other end of the mall. I was planning to make burgers for dinner so I went to KFC and had a chicken burger. That was quite good, but not made to order, so it wasn’t as hot as I would like. 

I did a bit of texting with F during lunch. He decided that he’d take the afternoon off work to go to the doctor. I told him it was fine, but to remember that he would have to come back to Mikawa to pick me up afterwards. He said he would.

I went back to the cinema and bought my ticket to see Joker: Folie à Deux. I had seen the original Joker film when it came out here and I hated it. I loathed it. It was depressing, violent and just a rotten experience. Folie à Deux wasn’t quite as bad, but it wasn’t a good film in my opinion. It was a bit of a struggle to stay awake!

After the film, I went out and turned on my phone. F texted me to say that he still hadn’t seen the doctor yet. He said he’d come back to get me after he had seen the doctor. I texted him not to worry. I’d do some shopping and maybe have a drink or something. I didn’t worry about anything. I was in a mall and it didn’t close for a few hours.

I went to Doutor after a little bit of shopping in Seria. I had planned to have a sandwich, but they were completely sold out today. Sigh.

F phoned me a few minutes later. When he called, I was sitting down with a cup of rooibos tea. He was finished and on his way back to get me. A few minutes later, he came into the coffee shop. I got him a drink and then we relaxed for a few minutes and chatted.

K tried calling F but the problem with that is she can’t hear what he says to her. I was a bit worried that she might be hungry, but F was sure she was okay. It was around 7 pm or so by now.

We decided to go and have dinner in Tsuruoka. Our first choice was closed so I suggested going to a gyudon shop. F was good with that, so we drove to one. I had chicken and curry with a salad and miso soup, and F had gyudon with a raw egg and miso soup. Dinner was good. We even ordered a take-out bento for K. 

We drove back to the house and F gave K her meal. She seemed happy to see it, but there still was food in the fridge for her. If F hadn’t been so late tonight, I was planning to come back and cook. However, starting cooking dinner after 7 pm is a bit difficult when we generally eat at 7pm.

I had a quiet evening in. I took a shower and watched tonight’s episode of FBI: International. It looks like a team member is leaving. I don’t think his character actually gelled with the rest of the team.

And…that’s about it. In all honesty, I’m looking forward to a little house time! I need to do some laundry again and clean a few things. I hope I don’t have to go out tomorrow.

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

October 14, 2024

Monday - Sunny and warm

I woke up this morning when my alarm went off. I got up a few minutes later and went downstairs. I came back upstairs and got dressed.

F came upstairs a few minutes later and asked if I was ready to go. I was, basically. I threw my shirt on and went downstairs to use the washroom and comb my hair.

We drove down to the Aquarium but when we got there it was really busy. We wouldn’t be able to get a parking place near the entrance. We decided to go somewhere else. I wasn’t too upset because I warned F it would be busy and I didn’t really want sashimi for brunch. 

We ended up at a nearby pasta restaurant. We were there before it opened, so we waited a few minutes. When we were seated, we had a lovely seat by the window. We could see the ocean and the coastline for kilometres. Unfortunately for me, the menu wasn’t great. Almost everything had tomato in it, but the waiter checked for me and there was one dish I could have. I had the Pescatore, with lots of seafood. I hate to admit this, but I’m not a big seafood eater. I like fish, crab and lobster is fine, but I’m not a huge fan of the rest of it. So, the pasta was fine, but I didn’t really enjoy my lunch. It’s a shame as it was not a budget restaurant. F had linguini with crab. He liked his but didn’t love it I think. His had tomato paste in it, which is why I didn’t have it.

After lunch, we went driving. I thought we were going to go back to Tsuruoka, but we ended up in Sakata for coffee. I used my iPhone to find us a coffee shop. Between it and F’s map on the GPS, we ended up in this very old-style cafe. We were the only customers! It smelt like people had been smoking in there for years, but it was clean and neat. The furniture was old fashioned but the view from the window was lovely. We were looking out on the river and a golf course. We could see all the way to Mount Chokai too. The coffee was quite good, she made it with a siphon. It was quite cool to watch. 

We drank our coffee and then left. We ended up at a Daiso to use washrooms and pick up a few things. F wanted earphones and I wanted some corn nuts! We picked up our stuff and then went back to Tsuruoka.

In Tsuruoka we did our grocery shop first. I picked up a bento for K’s dinner and then a few things for dinner for the next couple of days. F wasn’t too helpful but he tried!

After the grocery store, I went into Gyomu Supa. I picked up a few things for the freezer and snacks and a few things for dinner. They have nice mayonnaise-based salads in bags for meals, it helps my meal planning. 

We came back to the house and unpacked the groceries. I headed upstairs and spent time on my favourite websites. F tried to give his mother some dinner later on, but she didn’t want it. 

We talked about where to go and since I’d had seafood for lunch, and a very small amount of meat for dinner last night, I wanted something meaty. F also wanted protein. I found a yakitori-ya on my computer and thought we could try it. The problem is that today is a national holiday so we didn’t know if it was open. We drove by but it was closed. Sigh. 

We decided to go to Togashi Yakiniku and that was a good choice. We had a little discussion about costs and decided to get a lower-cost mixed plate and then add on a couple of side dishes and drinks. We ordered the cheaper mixed plate which was still nice, an order of gyutan and a bowl of vegetable soup to share. We both had oolong tea to drink. Dinner was so nice and we were both full afterwards. 

F needed to mail something off and I wanted a drugstore, so we ended up at the Pal shopping area. He mailed his envelope and I headed into the drugstore.

We bought a few things in the drugstore and then came back to the house. F headed to bed fairly early as I think he is tired. He’s also back to work tomorrow. I watched The Batman off the DVR and enjoyed it. It’s a long movie, but I enjoyed it again. I saw it when it came out, so it was nice to see it on the smaller screen.

I’m planning to go off to Mikawa tomorrow. Since we didn’t go to any movies this weekend and there are two playing at Mikawa that I haven’t seen, I plan to go and see them both! It’s part of my duty as a movie reviewer I think! It does depend if I can get up early enough to catch my bus tomorrow though! F will bring me back after work.

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

October 13, 2024

Sunday - Sunny and warm

Well, today did not get off to a good start. I woke up before 11 and got up. F came into the room and demanded that I tell him if he should make a lunch reservation. He didn’t tell me to what or where. I was confused and let him know. He was angry at me again and said he was going to go and eat by himself. I said, “Goodbye!” He kept ranting at me so I kept saying,"Goodbye!” to him and he left. 

I looked at the bus schedule and realized that if I hustled my bustle, I could catch the bus downtown. I did. I got dressed, grabbed a mask and my sunhat and went off to the bus stop. I made it about 5 minutes before the bus. I was the only passenger for a while, but people did get on soon after. There was a Matsuri down by the hospital. It looked like fun, but grumpy guts would never think about going to something like that. 

I got off the bus at S-Mall and went into the Hotel. I checked their menu for today and their cheaper lunch was something that I could eat. I went to the hotel and had lunch there. It was very nice. I had a nice salad, pork saute with a mustard sauce and a bread crumb topping. That was nice. I also got coffee with it. Because I have a membership card from the hotel, I also got a small discount when I paid. Woot.

I did a little shopping in the mall and even bought myself a bento for tonight’s dinner in case F continued being a pain. I went to Doutor and had a decaf iced coffee and then left for the bus station. The bus was a little late I think, but I waited. There were a few people on the bus with me. 

At the stop before mine, a young man got on with a bunch of boxes and he put them right in the doorway. That meant when I tried to get off the bus I had to squeeze around them. Oh well, I did manage.

Back at the house, I put my bento in the fridge and then I went upstairs. F was upstairs on the bed and I didn’t say anything to him, I just went over to my computer and spent a while there. 

Around 7 pm F actually talked to me and asked if I wanted to go for dinner. I said sure. At first I thought he wanted to go with me, but he’d already eaten and was having stomach issues again. I asked for Gusto as they have a nice pasta dish at the moment. For some reason, F took me over to the far Gusto and when we got there, the parking lot was busy and even worse, there was a big group of teenage boys waiting outside. I went in the entryway and there were a lot of people inside as well, and not just the teenage boys. I went back to the car.

I asked F to take me to the other Gusto and he obliged. When we got there, the parking lot was busy, but there was a space for him. I went in again and there was no line-up. The waitress pointed out a few tables I could take and I took one of them. 

I had a nice meal. They have a mushroom pasta dish that I like, so I had that with a side salad, drink bar and a small order of fries and mayonnaise. It was nice. I read my book and got close to finishing it. 

I paid, which is a whole procedure these days, and went out to the car. We drove back towards the house and when we were two-thirds of the way, F asked if I’d like to go for a drink! I was fine with that, so we turned around and went back to Komeda Coffee. It’s close to Gusto!

We went in and both of us had a cup of decaf hot coffee. F spent time on his phone, me on mine. I even finished one of the books I was reading on mine. It was a historical romance, but the heroine was interested in chemistry and it had a lot to do with the British silk industry which made it rather interesting. It also was unusual in that the heroine didn’t want to get married either. 

We came back to the house afterwards. I did up the garbage in the kitchen and that was fun. F had done a not-very-thorough job of it last week.  When I finished I went upstairs and I changed into my PJs. I bagged up my stuff and F took it downstairs and out to the garbage station. I took a shower after 10:30 and then watched an episode of Elsbeth on WOWOW on Demand. It was fun. 

That’s about it. Despite F claiming that he couldn’t sleep, he seems to be sleeping. He’s asked that we go to the aquarium restaurant tomorrow for lunch. I’m okay with it, but not thrilled. Since we’ve had troubles with lunch the last couple of days I will try and make it work tomorrow. 

It’s a long weekend here, which is why F has the day off. Hopefully, things will go well. Fingers crossed since I don’t want the entire weekend to be a dud.

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

October 12, 2024

Saturday - Sunny and warm looking

Well, today was a not-very-good day. I spent most of the day in bed. My cold got worse today so when I got up, I didn’t feel that well. F started in on me almost immediately about going for lunch. It was 11am. I didn’t want to think about lunch yet. He suggested a place in the mountains. I thought it was okay, but was pretty sure that we needed reservations or to call first. He asked me how long it would take to get ready. I tried to find the restaurant’s website and it took a while. All of a sudden, F stormed off and said that he wasn’t going to take me anywhere now. He would go for ramen instead. I told him that was fine. 

He went downstairs and I found the website finally and told him the website of the restaurant said we could go but we had to call first. He said he wouldn’t go anyway. I went back to bed. I think he made his own lunch, I’m not sure.

I slept for quite a few hours. I got up in the afternoon and had some food F bought at a bakery this morning. I opened up my computer and spent a bit of time on it. F was downstairs to welcome his mother and to have a meeting with a City Hall worker. I was supposed to go, but I went back to bed.

I went downstairs to use the washroom and saw F and K have dinner together. F must have cooked. Good for him. A little while later he came back upstairs and started talking about going for ramen again. He has a one-track mind. I told him to go. He refused to drop me somewhere else and we had another argument again that didn’t make sense to me.

I went downstairs after he came back to the room and heated up the leftovers from last night. I also defrosted and then toasted a bagel for myself. I brought my food upstairs and ate. It was very nice. I took some cold medicine, some old stuff I had lying around!

F announced he was going to get groceries and to be fair, he did ask if I wanted to go. I didn’t. A few minutes after he left I went downstairs to wash my dishes and then came back upstairs. I watched CSI: Las Vegas. F returned in the middle of it. He did offer me some sashimi, but I had already eaten and didn’t feel like fish tonight. 

He’s gone to bed now and is sleeping. I think my medicine is wearing off, sad to say. I can’t take more because I have to eat first. Sigh. 

Anyway, that’s it for me. I hope F starts acting a bit better tomorrow or I’ll be leaving on my own and spending the day out. I might just do that!

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

October 11, 2024

Friday - Cloudy and warm in the daytime

I went to bed a little early last night, it was around 2, so that was good. I had purposely not set an early alarm, but I did wake up and made a trip downstairs. After that, I went back to bed and slept for another couple of hours. Yay me. 

I got up, grabbed my breakfast and came upstairs to eat. I relaxed a lot and was a tad surprised when I got a text from F saying that he would take the afternoon off work so he could go to the doctor. I remembered that I had planned to do some laundry, so I took some downstairs and did a load. 

F came by the house and changed and then went off to the doctor’s office. He called me a few minutes later to tell me that the office was closed both today and tomorrow. Oh no! He came back to the house. He went to bed, I watched the news on TV.

I ended up going downstairs to start dinner around 6pm. Tonight I made a veggie roast with wieners again. We had the spicy wieners with potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, and onions. I had some potato salad in the fridge so we got that too, plus a local greens salad. F had bought eggplant pickles yesterday so I served them as well.

Dinner was good and we enjoyed it. F had to have rice with his, I’m not sure why! K and I had seconds of everything so that was good. I think she enjoyed dinner.

I did the dishes and listened to my podcasts and when I was done, I went upstairs. K had gone to bed, and I wasn’t going to say anything to F, but I decided I should. I’m glad I did. He isn’t feeling that well. 

I had a quiet evening. I did take a shower and then I came upstairs and watched the Tuesday’s show that I didn’t see. It was quite good. I’m talking about FBI: International of course. 

F went to bed fairly early. I’m not sure if he’s sleeping, he might be. I should get to bed soon. I think I picked up a cold while I was in Yamagata. There were probably too many changes in temperature and too much air conditioning. There were a lot of rainy days too so it was hard for my body to adjust. 

Anyway, I have very little idea what will happen tomorrow. F has to take K to her daycare and I think there is a meeting afterwards today. I’m not sure how that will go. It’s with a city worker apparently. 

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

October 10, 2024

Thursday - Cloudy and cooler

Well, I’m back at my desk in Tsuruoka. I’m not sure that I want to be back, but I am. I had a very odd day, but it was quiet, which was good.

I woke up this morning, showered and then did a last-minute pack. I had bought myself something for breakfast, so I ate in my room and then got ready to leave.

I checked out just a couple of minutes past 11:00am. I took my suitcase and my backpack over to the other side of the station and found a locker big enough for them all. I went back into the station and went to the train waiting room and just waited for a while! 

Eventually, I did go for a walk in the building. I thought about going for lunch, but the restaurant was busy. I went to Starbucks instead and spent about 30 minutes there. When I finished there, I went back to the restaurant and I went in. 

I had a lovely lunch at Capricciosa today. I had one of their lunch sets so I had a nice salad, Carbonara and dessert. There was also a drink bar, but I didn’t really take advantage of it. 

When I finished lunch I had about 40 minutes to get my stuff and get over to the bus stop. It wasn’t too bad really. I found a washroom, used it, and then went downstairs and got my stuff out of my locker. I walked slowly over to the bus stop and got into line. 

It was a bit daunting because the Tsuruoka/Sakata stop is the same one as the Sendai stop, so there were two buses at almost the same time. I knew which bus to take, of course, I just didn’t know which line to be in! In the end, the Sendai bus came first and most of the people got on that one. My bus came next and I brought my suitcase to the cargo hold and a worker put it in for me. 

I got on the bus and found a seat. I relaxed and read for a little while, then closed my eyes to relax more. I woke up about an hour later when the bus stopped at one of the stops. I woke up again when I realized that F was phoning me! I couldn’t answer him on the bus, so I texted him and let him know where the bus was.

We arrived at S-Mall and I got off. I got my suitcase. I didn’t see F so I toddled off to the ladies room and when I came out, F was there. He had just finished work, so I wasn’t upset with him at all. 

We went shopping at the grocery store and I bought things for dinner tomorrow, and my lunch tomorrow too. F picked up something for his mother’s dinner and then we headed back to the house.

He gave his mother her dinner, I put some of our stuff away and then I took some of my stuff upstairs. F brought my suitcase upstairs, bless him! He changed into normal clothes and then we left for dinner.

We headed towards a soba restaurant, but it was closed today. We went to Cocos instead. F had beef curry and rice and I had a hamburger steak with a bun and drink bar. We also used one of my coupons to get a small order of fries for free. We shared those. 

After dinner, we came back to the house. I watched a couple of TV programmes that were on tonight. I watched Wild Cards and then Yellowjackets. I enjoyed both of them, although Yellowjackets got highly weird. It’s an interesting series!

And that’s about it. F is sleeping away. He said that he hadn’t been sleeping very well when I was away. On the other hand, I slept really well, except I didn’t sleep enough!

Anyway, that’s me for tonight. I’m back. I had a great time and spent a bit too much money, but did get some things I needed, so that was good.

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