May 8, 2026

Friday - Sunny then lots of rain from the afternoon on.

I woke up around 7 am. F was getting up and deciding what to do with himself. I don’t think he woke me up, but I did wake up. I had to go downstairs, and then I came back up to the room as well. I did go back to bed, but didn’t really sleep. 

F went off to his doctor to reserve a time slot, I tried to nap but didn’t. I ended up getting up and dressing before 8:30. F came back and decided to do some planting in the garden before he left again. 

I left a couple of minutes after F left. I walked to the bus stop and waited. The bus was late as usual, but not too much. Probably around 3 minutes. When the bus came I got on and rode the bus to the end of the line. I got off at S-Mall and went into the mall. It had just turned 10 am so the store clerks were waiting in the aisle and bowed me into the building! I bought myself a sandwich and some tea then went to the bus station and grabbed a corner seat and ate my breakfast. 

When my next bus came, I got on the bus and found a seat in the back. I had a quiet ride over to Mikawa. 

At Mikawa Mall, I walked down the mall. I popped into the post office to get some stamps for mailing my bestie. Then, I went over to the cinema and bought my ticket and some popcorn and a drink to go and see Now You See Me: Now You Don’t. It was silly but fun. It had plot holes but if you just want to watch a film that is mildly entertaining and you don’t have to think hard about…this one works-ish!

After the movie, I went over to the grocery store, bought a few things for myself including some garlic powder. I like this store’s garlic better than my usual store’s. 

I went to the food court by the movie theatre and had some pasta for lunch. It was okay, a tad expensive but decent. When I finished, I sat and read part of my book on my phone. When it was a bit after 4 pm, I went over to the movie cinema and bought a new ticket to go and see The Sheep Detectives. I just got myself a drink this time. How was it? Really fun. I would put it in my favourite films of the year so far. I got a lot more emotional at this film than I did at Hamnet! My eyes were very moist at the end of The Sheep Detectives, completely dry at the end of Hamnet. 

After the film I used the washroom and then headed out to the mall. I had planned to meet F at the door near the cinema, but I saw him off in the distance coming towards the cinema. I waved and he saw me too!

We met somewhere in the middle and chatted for a minute. We talked about our day and then he told me that his mother had already eaten dinner and asked if I wanted to go for tonkatsu in Tsuruoka. I was really surprised! I had planned to cook if necessary…thought we might get in a pizza or two and a salad…something quick and easy…but F was offering real food. Woot! 

We drove back to Tsuruoka and went to Hirata-Bokujo, the famous around here tonkatsu restaurant. We both had the same thing, a thick cut cutlet. It came, as usually they do, with rice, miso soup, cabbage and pickles. We could have extras on the miso soup and cabbage for free. We both had miso soup refills and I had more cabbage. It was very nice and I missed my big lunch salad today. 

After our lovely dinner, we drove over to Mina where F wanted to get something for K’s breakfast. She’s off to the Day Service tomorrow so he needs to feed her first. F picked up a few things, I picked up a treat for myself!

We came back to the house and I went upstairs. I tried to catch up on my computer stuff, wrote a couple of reviews on Letterbox’d and around 11pm started to wonder what happened with my husband! He still hadn’t come upstairs!

I went down to check on him. He’d been watching Kiki’s Delivery Service on TV and it had just finished. He said he’d come upstairs soon after, and did. I watched episode three of Margo’s Got Money Troubles. It’s quite an interesting show. Elle Fanning has her top off quite a lot in the show…Michelle Pfeiffer has a really hard edge to her, whereas she’s usually a lot nicer of a character. I’m enjoying it!

Since midnight I’ve been watching YouTube and working on my stuff. I nearly fell asleep a couple of times. I didn’t get as much sleep as usual plus I did a lot of walking today. 

I’m not sure what F and I will get up to tomorrow. I hope that we are able to have a good time together. I’m not sure what he thinks of me swanning off by myself, but when he declares that he isn’t going to go to a movie, and it’s one that I really want to see, what choice do I have?

Anyway, that’s it for me for today. Your mission is to come back later to find out how my Saturday went. Until tomorrow….

May 7, 2026

Thursday - warm and sunny

I woke up this morning when F got up. He was sitting at the bottom of the bed and then he got a call from his co-worker. F left to go downstairs…I did have the chance to ask him to make rice for dinner and he did. F had forgotten to turn off his alarm, so I did that for him and then I went downstairs. I came upstairs to bed and stayed awake until F left. 

I did wake up a bit later when my alarm went off, I got up and dressed. I went downstairs and then came back to the room to sort my laundry. I got it done and took the loaded basket downstairs to the machine. I started a load and then checked mail. I got a Postcrossing and also a letter from my bestie. I brought both up to the room with my breakfast. 

I ate my breakfast and then went downstairs for the first of the two loads of laundry. I hung up my clothes and then I relaxed with some tea. I repeated with the second load of laundry. This one was towels and they are in my room. 

I relaxed for a bit, read my friend’s letter and registered my postcard. Then, it was time to go downstairs and get my lunch together. Today I had a couple of bagels with cheese and ham on them. Yum. I brought them upstairs and ate while watching another episode of Breaking Bad. Some of it is really funny and then something horrible happens. 

After the news F called after 5pm and said he was on his way back. I went downstairs and then did dishes and such. F came back to the house and I got on with cooking. Tonight I opened the big pack of chicken drumsticks. I put half of them in the freezer and prepared the others tonight. I got them in the air fryer. Woot. We had rice, chicken drumsticks, salad, leftover curry and K and F had mini tomatoes. Dinner was good. I had hoped to do another side dish, but honestly, I don’t think we needed it. 

After eating, I cleared the table and gave us each a doughnut that F had brought for us. It was very nice really. We relaxed and then I had to go and wash dishes.

I did the dishes, and also made a jug of mugi-cha. I listened to my podcasts too. When I was finished I said good night to the living room crowd and then went upstairs for a bit. 

I watched some YouTube and then after F came upstairs I went downstairs and took a shower. 

When I came back up to the room I watched tonight’s episode of The Rainmaker. That show is really growing on me. I watched it and then turned off the TV afterwards. 

When F came upstairs earlier I had asked him if he’d like to go to the movie in the afternoon. The mall’s cinema is showing The Sheep Detectives in English in the afternoon. I thought it would be a fun time for us, but F said that he wouldn’t go. I asked him if he’d pick me up afterwards if I go. He did say he would, but I’m not completely convinced. I’m planning to catch a bus in the morning and go out to the mall. I’ll spend the day there, which might be a bit hard as the mall doesn’t have as much stuff as it used to, but hopefully it’ll be okay. 

So, that’s about it for me. Hopefully I can get myself up and out of bed early enough to go out to the mall. And double hopefully, F will come back to the mall and pick me up afterwards!

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

May 6, 2026

Wednesday - Hot and sunny

I woke up reasonably early this morning. I got up and had a chat with F. I asked him how he was and he said he was feeling better. He said that he’d like to go on the road trip that we talked about going on the weekend. The weather was gorgeous and there was no reason not to go!

We got dressed, F popped out to the store to get something for K’s lunch and then we left. F wanted to be on the road by 10 am and we were. We started out before 10!  We did stop at a convenience store so I could get something for my breakfast and we could both get drinks for the car. 

We drove to a place called Takahata, but stopped for a break at Sagae. We had lunch at a roadside stop in Takahata. I had kara-age and F had niku soba. We liked our meals. Yay.

We ended up at an old quarry in Takahata. We walked around and saw a few places where the stone was taken out of the mountain. I asked F what kind of stone it was and he had to translate it. He said it was tuff and I’d never heard of it. I had to look it up and apparently it is stone that comes from volcanic ash. It looked a bit like sandstone, but more porous. 

Marks on a wall that show the cutting measurements.

Close up of the stone. Some people had put coins in the holes!

After visiting the quarry, we went looking for the old railway station building as it was built out of the quarry’s stone. It took a little bit of driving around to find it, but finally we did. There was a lovely park next to it so F parked the car and we walked around the building. The building wasn’t open, and neither were the trains that were outside, but we enjoyed walking around and having a little look in the windows.

The Old Takahata Railway station

We left and F took us to one more place. We went up to a temple. I have no idea what the name of the temple was, but he drove part of the way up the mountain and parked. We walked up to the temple. I wasn’t sure that I could do it. I did it, but I had to send F on ahead as I couldn’t climb at his speed. It was a lovely little temple in the woods on a hill. I don't know why, but I didn't take any photos of it!

On our way down the mountain, we stopped into a little resting room and had drinks. There was a lovely room with air conditioning, vending machines and tables and chairs. Oh, and clean washrooms! F and I sat for a while and just relaxed before going back to the car. We each had a drink in the building and then bought another drink for the car ride back. Honestly, I still had some of my morning drink left, but it wasn’t cold anymore so I wanted a new drink. 

We drove back to Tsuruoka but stopped in Sagae again for a break. We bought some stuff from their bakery, a treat for both of us and then one to bring back for K. I had a custard pie stick and it was lovely. 

On the way back, we talked about dinner and what to do. I suggested checking the restaurant that we go to in Kushibiki, F agreed. When we got there, it was closed.They’d taken today off by the look of it. No worries. I suggested a couple more places to F, one of which was the Chinese restaurant on the other side of the park. We tried it, they were open and we went in. 

Today we shared 3 dishes and it was nice. We had some fried rice with 5 things in it, some gyoza and a pork/egg/wood ear fungus stir-fry thing. It was very good. We left after our meal and then headed to the grocery store.

At Mina we went in and did our shopping. I’m going to do chicken drumsticks tomorrow and have them with salad and a vegetable. I’m not sure if F made rice. I think I mentioned it to him, but he might have forgotten. Oh dear!

We came back to the house and I put away the groceries and then headed upstairs. I had to change my clothes and then I went downstairs and did up the garbage. We haven’t had any garbage pick up this week, so we really needed to get the burnable stuff out today. K had piles of it. I got the garbage from the drain and even cleaned part of the sink for good measure in the kitchen. 

I came back upstairs and relaxed in our room with some Youtube. At 11 pm I watched The Irrational again and it was okay. I’ve been enjoying the show but I’ve heard that it has been cancelled. Sigh. 

F went to bed around midnight and I spent a few minutes with him. This has probably been the best Golden Week that we’ve ever spent together here. I am glad that we got out of Tsuruoka, I wasn’t sure that we would. 

Tomorrow F is back at work, but only for one day! He’s got Friday off for personal stuff. I’ll be cooking dinner and we’ll see what else gets done. I’m planning on some laundry as I haven’t done any in almost a week. 

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

May 5, 2026

Tuesday - Warm and Sunny

Well, today was an interesting day. I got up first around 7:30 when I found F sitting on the bottom of the bed. I had to go downstairs and then I went back to bed for another couple of hours. 

I got up around 9:30, got dressed and even went downstairs to grab my yogurt to have breakfast. Just before 10:30 I went downstairs and went out the front door. I went over to the bus stop and waited for the bus. It was only a couple of minutes late. 

I rode the bus down to the Sanno-Machi bus stop. I got off and walked down to the drugstore nearby. As I arrived I noticed there was a photo booth outside the store, so I went in and got my picture taken. It’s horrible, it really is, but it’s done and I can take it in to the Immigration office for them to use. 

I went into the drugstore, bought myself a drink, a snack and a treat for later. Then, I paid and walked back to the cinema. I went in, and bought my ticket to see Hamnet. 

I watched the movie and I enjoyed the performances but to be honest, I’m not sure what the point was! I didn’t cry, I didn’t even come close to it. Maybe its because F and I were at odds, but I really didn’t “get” the point of the film.

After the movie I spent a few minutes sitting in the lobby of the cinema and then walked back to the bus stop. I was a little early for the bus but it came about on time and I got on. I was the only passenger! When I got off, there was no one else on the bus either. I hope someone else got on the bus. I don’t want them to cancel the route. 

I walked back to the house and went in. F was in the living room but I ignored him. I went upstairs and changed my clothes a bit. F came up to the room and we did talk to each other a bit. I suggested that we go to the store and buy a few extra things to go with dinner and that’s what we did.

We went to Mina and bought a few things for dinner and breakfast tomorrow. I got some yogurt and salad for dinner tonight, plus a tonkatsu for each of us. 

When we came back to the house I changed my clothes and then went downstairs to the kitchen. I heated up the curry and also heated up the tonkatsu. I set the table and plated the salad for all of us. 

We had our dinner and it was quite nice. I did the dishes afterwards and listened to my podcasts. I had finished my favourite ones yesterday so these ones were just okay.

After I finished I told F I was going upstairs and then did. I watched some YouTube and things between F and I continued to get better. At 11pm I watched Law & Order. It was okay, it was about a YouTube influencer being murdered. It was an okay show.

And that’s about it for me. I’m not sure what we’re going to do tomorrow. F isn’t feeling too well tonight so our plans might not happen. We thought about doing a road trip, but now we’re not sure. 

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

May 4, 2026

 Monday - Cloudy and then rainy

I slept in this morning. F did too, so he got himself up around 10. He went downstairs and about 5 minutes later, so did I. He stayed downstairs to make his mother’s breakfast, I went back upstairs and back to bed for a bit. 

After a while I got up and went downstairs again. I chatted with F to see what he wanted to do. We decided we’d try a restaurant for lunch. We both went upstairs and changed our clothes, then got in the car and went out. 

We went to Arpeggio but unfortunately they were too busy. We tried a few places around Tsuruoka and then ended up at a small Korean restaurant. It wasn’t too busy. We both had the Ishiyaki Bibinba and it was very nice. We didn’t get any kimchi, which did surprise us, but it was very nice anyway.

After lunch, we headed back to the house but tried to go to a coffee shop. The one F suggested was closed today so we went to a 7-11 and bought a couple of cafe lattes for us. 

We came back to the house and drank our drinks. F had a bit of a nap and I spent time on my computer . Around 4 pm F asked me what we were going to do for dinner. I just stared at him! I told him that I was making dinner, that we bought the ingredients last night. 

I went downstairs around 5 pm and got started. It seemed to take a lot of time today. I had a lot of veggies to wash, peel and cut up, and then I had to cook everything! I got it done a little after 7 pm and we sat down together to have dinner. I do have to say that my curry was quite good. We all had seconds of it. F did annoy me after he had a few bites. He went to the kitchen and got out some sauce and put it on the curry. It was yakisoba sauce I think. Why on earth?

As usual, I got gifted the dishes. I had hoped that we’d go and see a movie tonight. I thought F knew that, but I guess that he didn’t. I didn’t finish in the kitchen until a few minutes before the movie started. When I finished, I just turned off the kitchen lights and went upstairs.

F came up a bit later and was trying to be friendly but I was so annoyed with him that I couldn’t be bothered with him. I went downstairs and took a shower after 10:30. When I came back upstairs I decided to watch some TV and put on another episode of Evil. I’m about halfway through the series now. I like it but sometimes it does freak me out a little!

Later F asked me if I wanted to go for pizza for lunch but I told him I was planning to go to see a movie. He wasn’t too impressed with me about that. I might go if the weather is decent and if I can get myself up early enough. Not sure that either will happen!

I guess I’m just annoyed with him that he forgot that I wanted to go to the cinema tonight AND that he didn’t come to the kitchen and help me with the dishes. He didn’t work today, so really there was no reason for him not to help me. I know that I need to talk to him about this but I find it hard to believe that after 25 years he can’t understand what makes me angry. 

Anyway, it’s late and I should be off to bed soon. Come back later if you want and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

May 3, 2026

Sunday - Cloudy and rainy

An interesting day!

I went to bed rather late last night. We’d gone to a movie so I wrote a movie review on Letterboxd in addition to all the other stuff I do. When I went to bed, F woke up and went downstairs. While he was down there he had a chat with his mother. She said some weird things and he chased her off to bed. 

We all slept in this morning which was nice. F got up around 10, I woke up a couple of seconds later and went downstairs. I came back upstairs and went back to bed for a while. F was a dutiful son and made breakfast for his mother.

A couple of hours later he came upstairs and we talked about going out. It took quite a while before we did. Finally, I suggested a place we went a couple of times, Cafe Nanaimo. They do curries and also give samples of popcorn while you are waiting for their meals. We drove over and were seated right away. We ordered our meals, filet pork with curry for F, a cheese curry doria for me. Mine was great, very tasty.  There also was a cute little robot! Its name was Nana and according to Google it is an Enabot EBO Air 2. It liked me and spent rather a lot of time at my side. 

Nana

After our meal, we paid and left. I was sad to leave my new friend, but I had to do it. We went to the nearby hardware store and F picked up some seeds for the garden. We also got a few other things including some hangers for pants. Both of us need them! 

We tried to stop by S-Mall so I could take my pictures for my Alien card renewal, but there was a booth set up in the corner for the Red Cross Blood Drive and I didn’t want to try and squeeze myself into the same area. We came back to the house instead.

We spent a bit of time at the house. I relaxed upstairs, F did whatever downstairs. He made his mother her dinner and a little later he came upstairs and we talked about our dinner. I made a couple of suggestions. We went and looked at the new pizza place but it was packed and we didn’t know where we’d park. We ended up at China House again. I had the Mapo-dofu set meal and it was great, F had a kind of fried rice but said it was salty. 

After our meal we headed off to the grocery store. We needed to buy something for K’s breakfast and also for the curry that I’m planning to make tomorrow night. Yes, I decided that I will spend a couple of hours in the kitchen tomorrow and hopefully we’ll have enough food for two nights worth of dinners. Fingers crossed anyway. 

We came back to the house and I headed upstairs after we put away the groceries. I decided that I’d watch something on TV so I put on last night’s episode of FBI. It was quite good. After that, I watched a couple of shows on Apple TV, Margo’s Got Money Trouble and then The Big Door Prize. I enjoyed both of them. 

Since midnight I’ve been watching YouTube. Just as I write this, I’ve been watching Roger Ebert do a tribute to Gene Siskel. I never got to see this before and it’s really good. I lived for Siskel & Ebert before I came to Canada Japan [oops!] and was saddened when Siskel died. I was even sadder when Ebert died as I agreed with Roger more often.

I’m not sure what we’re going to get up to tomorrow. I hope it’ll be fun if the weather isn’t too bad. Come back later if you like and hear all about my holiday Monday. Until tomorrow….