November 23, 2025

Sunday - Warm and Sunny

I woke up this morning around 9 am I think and went downstairs. F went downstairs just after me and then he stayed to make breakfast for K. I went back up to the room and back to bed.

I got up a couple of hours later and got myself dressed. I noticed that F’s bottle of soy sauce had fallen over and was leaking on the precious tatami in the room. Luckily, there was a medicine envelope underneath the bottle that took most of the soy sauce. I took the tube that was in the envelope out and put the envelope in the garbage and then cleaned up the soy sauce. 

I went downstairs with the kerosene tank as it was empty. I tried to fill it up, but the pump started working before I put it in my tank. Yikes. I swore a bit! I filled up the tank and let F know after that we had a situation with the kerosene. He fixed it for me and then carried the full tank upstairs. Yay.

We talked about lunch and he suggested going to karaoke. I was a bit surprised but said it was okay. The karaoke box has a lunch special so we thought we’d take advantage of that. 

We arrived at the karaoke box and the parking lot was busy. The clerk inside said that we could come back at 1:30 and we decided not to do that. I knew that F isn’t that into karaoke and it was his birthday.  

We ended up having lunch at his favourite fish restaurant. We were able to get in right away. They didn’t have a lunch special today, but F had a tekka-don and I had a gindara set meal. We were both quite pleased with our meals.

After lunch we went to the Art Forum. They had a free display of school children’s art related to books that they had read. I didn’t mind some of the art, especially the older kids stuff. We decided to have a drink and dessert at the coffee corner place at the Forum. F had apple pie and coffee, I had a strawberry and blueberry cake and tea. F accidentally hit the table and spilled some of my tea, but it wasn’t a bad thing. 

After our drinks and cakestuff, F booked a nice bento for K. We went over to the shop and picked it up. We came back to the house and F gave the bento to her, I went upstairs and charged my phone.

Later on, F came upstairs and we talked about our dinner. He wanted to go to Fujishima to see the lights first, but I suggested finding a good dinner place before that. I suggested a couple of places, F suggested one as well. I liked his idea, but when he called to see if we could get in tonight, we couldn’t. Aww! I suggested Iskiya, the place that F took me for my birthday and F called them. They said they were busy, but we could come and wait outside and maybe get in if someone left. 

We drove over to the restaurant, F went in to say that we were waiting outside. He came right back outside and called me in. They had a table for us!

We chose to have a set meal and it was great. We told them that I can’t have tomatoes and they were very accommodating for me. Yay. We had some prosciutto and mozzarella, some butternut squash soup, bruschetta with red and yellow peppers instead of tomatoes for both of us. Then, we had some pizza. It was half Genovase (pesto) sauce with Italian sausage, half quatro-fromage (4 cheeses). That part came with some honey. The pizza was excellent and we both enjoyed it. Our last dish was pasta and they used a pesto sauce again. It was good, but not as good as the pizza! Finally, we had dessert and a drink. I had rooibos tea and F had coffee. We had a very nice angel food cake with ice cream and fresh fruit. Everything was very nice and it was worth the price. 

When we paid up, we told the staff that last time  we were there it was my birthday and this time it was F’s. They gave us each a brownie to take with us! Nice!

F asked that we go out to Fujishima to see the lights. I was afraid that it would end before we got there, but we got there quickly. We had about half an hour before the lights were going to be turned off. We walked around and took a few pictures. It was lovely. It was nice because when we come around Christmas it is very slippery and cold, but tonight was great. No snow yet and not cold. What a win!

Fujishima means Wisteria Island and these lights look like Wisteria. Beautiful!

This felt very Star Trekkie!

The Birthday Guy with me!

We came back to Tsuruoka before the lights were turned off in the park. F wanted to get some meat for K’s breakfast tomorrow so we made a quick stop at the grocery store.

Back at the house we came upstairs. I decided to watch a movie and since I couldn’t pick something contemporary, decided to go to one of the free apps on my Fire Disk and watch The Scarlet Pimpernel from 1982 or so. It had Anthony Andrews, Jane Seymour and an incredibly young looking Ian McKellen. It was great. I’d seen it on regular TV when I was much younger and it was a fun movie. Anthony Andrews was fantastic and Jane Seymour was so beautiful. 

And that’s about it. Tomorrow is a national holiday so F is off work again. We’ll have to do the shopping as usual and hopefully will build in a few fun things to the day too.

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

November 22, 2025

Saturday - Sunny and warmish

I woke up this morning around 8 am. I looked around and at first didn’t realize that it was Saturday morning and thought F had gone to work. He had in a way. He was making breakfast for K.

I went back upstairs and went back to sleep for a while. I woke up a couple of times, but didn’t really wake up until after 11! F came into the room around 11:30 and asked if I was ready to go for lunch. Considering I was still in bed in my pyjamas, the answer was no! We talked about where to go for lunch and we went with my idea, Fujinori in Fujishima. F called and instead of giving me time to get dressed and get ready to go, he called and said we’d be over in 30 minutes. It wasn’t enough time!

We drove to the restaurant and were a little late, but they still had our table for us. We found our seats and we looked at the menu. I decided to have their pork sauté, which is a western style meal. It came with a very interesting looking soup, salad and rice. It was good. F had his usual, the ginger pork meal. It’s good, I’ve had it before. 

This purple soup was made from sweet potatoes. I liked it!

We had a nice meal there. I didn’t get to look at the lovely garden as my seat had my back to it. Sigh. It was nice though. 

We drove around Fujishima to see the park. They are having illuminations again. The park wasn’t lit up as it was daytime, but it was nice for us to take a quick peek at it.

We drove back to Tsuruoka and went to Yamazawa, a hardware store. F needed some things for his project, I wanted some stuff too. I used to go there all the time when I first came to Japan. We got our stuff and then left.

We decided to go to Cafe B-Flat for a drink before going back to the house. We drove over and parked. We both had coffees, cafe lattes. The coffee was good, but…temperature-wise it was only lukewarm. I rarely drink coffee so I was sad that my one caffeine splurge wasn’t great.

We went back to the house and I went upstairs. F worked on a project downstairs and waited for his mother to be delivered back to us.

I decided that since it was still light out and I had the time, I would fix my winter coat. Last year I ripped the seam and I never got around to fixing it. Well, today I did! It was a little tricky but I think I got it done. I also darned in some of the loose threads. It looks pretty good now. Yay for me. 

F made his mother dinner and then stayed downstairs for her. It got to be 8pm and I was getting hungry. We ate around 12:30 after all. I looked for restaurants on my phone and found one that sounded interesting.  I texted F and asked if we could go out soon. He said sure and asked if I had any ideas of where to go. I sent him a link to the restaurant and he was all in!

I went downstairs and a few minutes later we left the house and went to the restaurant. We think it is a new one, a Taiwanese place. It wasn’t too busy, but was clean and the menu was interesting. We got a table and looked at the menu. I ordered mapo-dofu set meal. It came with rice, soup, salad, pickles, mapo-dofu, a piece of kara-age and a dessert. F had the other thing I was interested in, the yurinchi. He got rice, tofu, soup, salad, pickles and dessert too, along with his deep-fried chicken. It wasn’t sour like usual, but it was nice. 

We liked the place and hopefully will go again. We might even go for lunch sometime as lunch is quite cheap too. 

On the way back to the house we stopped in to Mina to get a few munchies. F and I had a look around the store but didn’t get too much. 

We came back to the house and relaxed for a bit. F made rice for his mother’s breakfast. I watched Criminal Minds: Evolution and finished knitting my little hat. I even sewed in the loose ends so it is done. It is still slightly too loose, but it feels much better than it did before. I’m debating putting a pompon on the top, as I have a lot of yarn left. I could do a tiny one which would be cute.

And that was my day. It turned out quite well. Sunday is F’s birthday and I haven’t got him anything. I haven’t been out for a while to do any shopping. I was hoping to take him out for a nice dinner or something but who knows if we’ll be able to find a good place.

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

November 21, 2025

Friday - Rainy, cloudy and clear at times

I woke up for the first time around 5:30. F wasn’t in bed and I wasn’t sure if he was still in the house or not. I went downstairs and he was taking a shower. 

I went back upstairs to bed and a few minutes later, so did F. He got back into bed with me. I fell asleep and when I woke up later, he was already gone. He said later that he just hadn’t been able to sleep. 

I woke up a bit late and made a trip downstairs then went back to bed again and watched a few videos. I fell asleep and overslept. 

I got up later, dressed and went downstairs with my laundry and put it in the machine. I made my breakfast and then brought it upstairs to eat. I did a total of two loads of laundry which are now hung up in my room. 

I did work on my column and got quite a bit of it done. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to work on it this weekend, but there isn’t too much more to do on it.

I had lunch a few minutes early and didn’t see K at all this afternoon. I watched an episode of School Spirits while I ate. I enjoyed that. 

I watched the news at 4 pm and after 5:30 F gave me a call to say he had finished work. Eventually I went downstairs and started to get ready to make dinner. F came back just before I started to do the dishes. 

I got on with cooking. Tonight I did pasta as usual for Friday with a salad and mini-tomatoes for F and K. We also had some bacon which I sautéd and then the pasta sauce was carbonara. I used up a carbonara sauce packet that I had been keeping for a while and mixed that with another type that I bought earlier this week. The pasta was nice and sauce-y, just how I like it.

Dinner was a success and everything disappeared. I guess that’s a good thing, but I was hoping I’d have leftovers for lunch next week! Even K had seconds and she doesn’t usually.

I did the dishes while I listened to my podcasts. I was surprised to hear that there had been a grizzly bear attack in Canada. It was rather bad. We’ve been having a lot of bear attacks here in Japan. The Canadian bears (grizzlies) are much meaner than the Asiatic bears, but this year, the Japanese bears have killed 12 people and injured rather a lot more. 

When I finished I was really tired. I told F that I was going upstairs and that I’d take a shower later. He came upstairs around 10 pm and I went downstairs a few minutes later for my shower. When I came  upstairs again, I put on the next episode of Down Cemetary Road. It was good and the plot is thickening!

That’s about it. Since midnight I’ve been hanging out with YouTube and doing my internet stuff. Tomorrow K goes to her Day Service thing and F and I are on our own until the late afternoon. It’s also F’s birthday this weekend and I have no idea what to do for him. I haven’t been out to get him a present so I’m not sure about what I can give him!

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

November 20, 2025

Thursday - Cool but clear

I woke up this morning around 7:30. I wasn’t sure if F was still in the house or not. I got up to go downstairs and I saw F’s wallet on the table. Oops.  I went downstairs and saw that F was still downstairs. Whew! He knew that he didn’t have his wallet so that was good. He went upstairs to get it and then left a few minutes later.

I went back upstairs and watched some videos before falling asleep again. I woke up later and dressed. I went downstairs to make my breakfast and then brought it upstairs to eat. 

I had a fairly quiet day. I did a bit of emailing and planning for a group activity. I even got stuck into my column and wrote quite a bit of it so yay for me. 

Today while I ate my lunch I watched last Saturday’s episode of Criminal Minds: Evolution. This show is just so dark! I think I want to keep watching, at least for now, but there isn’t much to keep the story lighter at all. 

F called me around 5:20 today to say that he was on his way back. I spent a few more minutes on my computer and then went downstairs. When F arrived he basically just waved hello to me and then went into the living room. I was busy, but had wanted to see him first. 

Tonight I did pre-made hamburgers from the store with some steamed mushrooms, fries, salad and macaroni salad. I also cut up some pickles so we had smaller pickles. Almost everything disappeared tonight. Dinner was good!  We finished quite early and then I did the dishes. It didn’t take too long tonight so I was able to go upstairs and change to go out. 

F and I went out to the Mina shopping centre. I went into the store and bought the groceries. We came back to the house and I put them away. 

I went upstairs and relaxed for a bit. I watched The Rookie at 11pm and it was quite a good one. The show has really improved in my opinion. It’s more of a drama now than a comedy. 

Since midnight I’ve been watching YouTube and working on my end of day things. 

Tomorrow, I hope to do laundry and then work on my column again. I’d really like to get it done early. 

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

November 19, 2025

 Wednesday - Snowy in the AM, sunny later on

I woke up this morning around 7:30. F had already left for work. It was cold in the room and my bed was warm. I went downstairs and then got back into bed and watched a few videos before falling asleep. I woke up later with the last video repeating for the nth time…I don’t know how many! I got up and dressed. Then, I took the kerosene tank downstairs with me and filled it. I brought it back up to the room and then went downstairs again. 

I washed my hands and then I went and made my breakfast. I took it upstairs and ate.

Today I had a Zoom meeting at 1 pm, so I made my computer charge itself up, then I made a cup of tea for myself and joined the meeting. At first it was just me and another person, but over the next couple of hours a few more people either joined or popped in for a visit. It was nice and I enjoyed meeting a new person.

When I left the meeting I went downstairs and grabbed my lunch. K came out of her room and I asked her if she would like her lunch heated up. She said yes. I did it for her and then took it to the living room for her. F and I think she’s forgotten how to use the microwave. I wish she had said something earlier. I’m not going to chase her down to see if she wants her food hot, but if I see her out of bed I’ll ask. 

I came back upstairs with my lunch. I had planned to watch something but again this week I ran out of time. Oh dear. I watched the news and then some YouTube, but not too much!

F called me about 5:30 and said he was on his way. I went downstairs and was just going to start washing dishes when he arrived. We had a nice reunion and then he went into the living room. 

Tonight I made some chicken drumsticks in the air fryer, some okra with garlic and soy sauce, salad, and macaroni salad. When I asked F to put the rice out for us, he checked the cooker and it had hardened and he wouldn’t serve it out. We had some bachelor packs of precooked rice so I heated two up and we used that instead. F had one to himself, I split one with K. Dinner was good and everything got eaten. Luckily, I had put away K’s lunch for tomorrow first. 

I did the dishes after dinner and then I had to do up the burnable garbage too. I got that done, some of it with F’s help and put the bag in the genkan for him to take out later. I headed upstairs too.

I relaxed for an hour or so and then went downstairs again to take a shower. It was darn cold today too. Still, the water was warm and I didn’t get a cold shower like last time so that’s good!

I came back up to the room and watched Wild Cards again. It was a good one with another con artist/friend of Max’s. I did a few rounds of my knitting while I watched. I’m now on the double pointed needles so it takes a minute to get used to using them again. 

And that was my day. I didn’t get any of my column written but I have been thinking about it. Hopefully I’ll write a bit of it tomorrow. Not much time left!

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

November 18, 2025

Tuesday - Rainy and gloomy all day

I woke up this morning before 7:30. F was still here, but he left soon after. I went downstairs and then came back to the room after he left. I sorted my laundry and then went back to bed for a while. I watched videos for a bit and then I fell asleep.

I woke up a bit later and went downstairs. I started the washing machine and then went and made my breakfast. I took it back upstairs to eat.

I only did one load of laundry today and when it finished I brought it upstairs and hung it up. Then, I went and spent a bit of time with YouTube. I actually fell asleep on it which surprised me a lot. 

I went downstairs around 3 pm and made my lunch. I noted that K still hadn’t eaten her lunch so I decided if I saw her up I would ask her if she wanted me to heat it up for her. She wasn’t up then. I took my lunch upstairs and ate. I watched an episode of Elspeth. It was rather cute, and was a Christmas episode.

I went downstairs just before 5 pm and K was sitting up in the living room. I asked her if she wanted me to heat up her lunch and she said yes. I microwaved a bowl of stew and took it out to her. Yay me. 

I watched the news and then turned off the TV later. I got a call from F around 5:30 and he said that he was already in Tsuruoka. Yikes. I waited a few minutes and then changed to go downstairs. 

I got started on the dishes and a few minutes later F came back. We had a nice reunion and then he went to the living room and I got busy again. Tonight I did toaster oven chicken plus potato salad, salad, broccoli and some radishes from the store. F had made rice so we had that with the chicken too. Dinner was good. We also finished up the kimchi tonight too.

I did the dishes, they didn’t take long tonight. When I was done, I checked if F wanted to change his clothes before we went out but he didn’t. I did. I went upstairs, put on some warmer clothes and then went back downstairs again.

We went over to the Mina Shopping area and I went in the grocery store. I bought food for the next couple of days. F had said not to get him anything for his breakfasts so I didn’t. I paid and then went out to the car.

We came back to the house and F and I went in the house. I put away the groceries again and then went upstairs. At 11pm I watched FBI: Most Wanted and then turned off the TV. I had done some knitting during the show and have taken the knitting off the circular needles and put it on double pointed needles. I got about 6 rounds done tonight, so it has decreased by quite a few stitches now. 

And that’s about it. F has to leave early for work tomorrow and has a long driving trip. I’m a tad worried as there is going to be snow on the road to where he is going. It’s the first snow of the season. 

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