April 19, 2026

 Sunday - Warm & Sunny

I slept in a bit today. I first woke up around 10 I think. I went downstairs then came back to bed for a bit of a longer snooze. I did get a bit of company after a while. F came in the room and we had some snuggle time until I overheated. 

F suggested going to Sakata to a restaurant we like but later on I checked and I discovered it was closed. His second choice was closed too. I suggested that we go to one of the keiten sushi places in Sakata that we don’t have in Tsuruoka, so that’s what we did. 

We drove to Sakata, had to wait about 15 minutes to be seated. After that, we ordered a few types of sushi, some fries (excellent btw) and some other things like duck breast on rice. We both had drinks there, I had an iced cafe latte, F had a yuzu juice. 

When we finished and paid, we left and drove back towards Tsuruoka. I had asked F to stop in at Uniqlo so that I could check if they had the one thing I buy there. They only sell the Mens Tank Tops in summer so I wanted to check. Yattah! They had them in. I had to search for them and there they were. I picked up a few for me and a friend. They are excellent. Cotton, comfortable and nice colours. Today I found light gray, dark gray and navy blue. I bought them and came back to the car. F had stayed in the car as his back was really bad again.

We came back to Tsuruoka and the house. I came upstairs and spent time on my computer. After a bit, F came upstairs and had a nap. He slept rather late.  Around 7pm I suggested he make something for his mother’s dinner, which he did. 

F came upstairs finally and I was wondering if he’d even want to go out as it was rather late in the evening. He said he did, so we ended up at Cocos.

I had the double hamburg plate with a bun and F had the Japanese style kara-age set meal. Mine was fine, he said his was salty. We had a couple of nice drinks from the drink bar. They have decaf coffee so I had a decaf cafe latte that was lovely. 

We finished up around 10 pm so it was too late to go to a grocery store. I suggested checking out a drugstore as they sometimes sell food and have a mini-grocery store there. We found a few things, he got himself some allergy medicine, I got some bran cereal and we found a sandwich for K’s breakfast. She doesn’t know that F is off work tomorrow. He’s going off to the doctor so he won’t have to cook her breakfast. He’s under strict instructions to bring something back for K’s lunch though. 

Back at the house I relaxed with a spot of YouTube before deciding to watch an episode of Cardinal. It was good. It’s a Canadian detective show, albeit one with an American star (but I like him so am not too upset over it). The plot thickened today!

Since midnight I’ve been watching YouTube and getting on with my usual end of day things. I’ll hopefully get to bed soon enough. 

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

April 18, 2026

Saturday - Cloudy and rainy, cooler

I woke up this morning earlier than I planned! I went downstairs and then came back up to the bedroom. I went back to sleep and slept a little longer. 

I got up around 10:30, dressed and got ready for my trip to the doctor’s office. I had had the strangest dream during my snooze that I was back at Le Banc and was trying to sell a customer a big package of nuts for some promotion. I couldn’t ring it in as I couldn’t sign into my till and none of my co-workers would tell me how much the nuts cost so I could just take the guy’s money. It was bizarre. I haven’t thought about the bank in ages!

 F and I left a bit after 11 and made our way to the office. It was the usual hurry up and wait thing, but it wasn’t bad overall. F has been under the weather so he was able to get a CT scan and a blood test and the results today so that was great. 

After the doctor’s visit we decided to go to the Taiwan restaurant for lunch. We drove over and it wasn’t too busy. We went in and ordered fairly quickly. I had the kimchi fried rice which came with two pieces of karage and some egg soup. I liked my lunch, but poor F didn’t like his. He had yakisoba with karage and soup. 

When we finished eating, F said he’d like some coffee so we went to Komeda and after a short wait were seated. I had a decaf coffee, F had real coffee. 

When we finished, we visited the nearby hardware store for some house necessities. I got some liquid hand soap, we got some drain cleaner and some mould killer. We also got some tissues for K.

We came back to the house and I went upstairs and relaxed. F stayed downstairs to wait for his mother. He went off to the grocery store to get some food for his mother and I got ready for going out. I wasn’t sure if F would still be okay with going out and he was. Whew!

We left the house around 5:45 and got to the cinema in time for a change. Yay. I bought a drink and then we bought our tickets. Well, F bought his. I had a free ticket so I used that. We went to see Marty Supreme. It was surprisingly funny but Marty was not the kind of person that I’d consider a hero. The last bit of the film was set in Japan in the 50s so it was cool to see the difference between then and now. Chalamet was good, I see why he was in the running for best actor but the character was horrible. And it was all about Table Tennis. I had a private student who was a table tennis coach at the place he worked and he talked about table tennis non-stop for the 7 years that I taught him. I don’t play table tennis and have even less desire to start now!

After the movie we went to Tsukiya for dinner. It wasn’t the nicest dinner obviously, but it was fine. I had the gyudon with tender crisp vegetables and I enjoyed those. I would have liked more meat though.

We came back to the house and relaxed. F isn’t feeling that great still so he has been sleeping a bit. I watched FBI at 11pm and then YouTube before and after that.

We tried to come up with a few ideas for tomorrow. I’m not sure what we’re going to do. F had Monday off to go and see a doctor. We have a few things planned to do on Monday, but not much for tomorrow!

Come back later if you like and hear all about our Sunday. Until tomorrow….

April 17, 2026

 Friday - Warm and Sunny

Today had a rather sad start. F got up early this morning and forgot to turn off his alarm. I got to do that for him. He came back into the room a few minutes later and didn’t seem very sorry about it. I wasn’t happy!

I did manage to fall back asleep and even overslept through my first couple of alarms. I got up, went downstairs and then came back up to the room and sorted some laundry. Then, it was back to bed for me and I dozed and watched some videos on my phone too.

I dragged myself out of bed rather late today. I think I was a tad tired from yesterday so needed the extra sleep. That’s my excuse anyway!

I got up, dressed and started some laundry. I came upstairs to eat my breakfast. I was able to bring up my laundry and hung it up. I washed my handmade hot mat from the kitchen by hand. I made it a few years ago out of tarn. It’s so thick it will take forever to dry!

I received 3 postcards in the mail today so I had to register them and later on I scanned them and uploaded them to the Postcrossing site. 

I got my lunch today and it was fairly big as I had leftovers from Wednesday and Thursday night. They were good though. During my lunch I watched a detective show that I’m still not sure about! It’s called The Box and it is a bit odd. 

F was late tonight so he didn’t call before I went downstairs. I went down around 6 pm and did dishes and then started putting dinner together.

F called around 6:45 or so and said that he was finished work. He came back to the house and then I kicked things into high gear. Tonight I did garlic toast, sliced chicken breast, salad and pasta with an eggy-creamy peperoncino. It was good, but a little spicier than I had anticipated. I liked it, but I’m not sure that K or F did. 

I did the dishes and listened to part of Kermode and Mayo’s Take. When I was finished I went upstairs and relaxed with a bit of YouTube. 

After 10pm I went downstairs to take a shower. F had planned to take one too, but changed his mind, so I did a bit of cleaning of the sink in the bathroom. When I got that done, I took my shower. I should start cleaning in the shower too. Maybe next time!

I came upstairs and watched another episode of Evil. It was a bit spooky too as it was about Zombies! They weren’t real zombies but I got a bit jumpy.

I watched some YouTube again and worked on my end of day things.

Tomorrow F and I are off to the doctor and then I’m not sure what else. F has to feed his mother in the morning and take her to the Day Service. I’m hoping that he’ll be up to going to see a movie at Machi-kine tomorrow night. If not, I might ask him to drop me off as I’d really like to see a movie.

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

April 16, 2026

Thursday - Warm and Sunny

I woke up early this morning, around 7 am. F had already left which was a bit surprising. He usually doesn’t leave that early for work.

I went downstairs and then came back upstairs. I searched out my clothes for the day and then went back to bed for a bit. I turned off my early alarms and watched a couple of videos before falling asleep again. When my alarm went off later I did get up. I started to dress and went downstairs for a minute or two. 

I came back upstairs, finished getting ready to go out and then left the house. I did see K before I left, but I was running late and I didn’t have time to let her know that I was going out for the day because it takes ages before she understands!

I fast-walked to the bus stop and then had to wait a few minutes for the bus. I got on when it arrived and had a quiet ride down to S-Mall. I got off, mailed my letter and then went into the hotel. I checked that the hotel still had their lunch special and went in. I had the special, it was chicken fricassee with a cream sauce and it was very nice. I had it with bread and a cup of tea with milk. The poor waitress did not seem to understand that I didn’t want lemon in my tea, I just wanted to be able to have milk in it! It worked out so that was great. 

I paid and left when I was finished. I spent a bit of time in the mall and bought a few things both in Daiso and the grocery store before going over to the bus station and waiting for my bus. I wasn’t quite sure that the bus would go where I wanted it too, but a couple of minutes later I saw my destination on the route stops and knew I was okay. 

I went over to the Post Office when I got off my bus and made a deposit into my savings account. I got rid of more coins. Yay.

After that, I walked over to the cinema and had a seat in the lobby for a while. I sent F a text reminding him that he had to pick me up tonight and checking on him. He said he was okay and that it was okay to pick me up.

I went to see Blue Moon, the story about Lorenz Hart of Rodgers and Hart fame. He wrote the words for My Funny Valentine and Blue Moon amongst other songs. Ethan Hawke played Hart and he was good. I can see why he was nominated for an Academy Award. He did a good job. The dialogue of the film, and the music were great, although it was a bit of a downer really. 

After the film, I wrote up a quick review of the film and then had a seat in the lobby for a while. F called me and I told him I’d be in the nearby drugstore when he arrived. 

I walked to the drugstore and had a look around. I started putting things in my basket. I grabbed a new toothbrush and some pasta sauce. I got a message from F that he was in the parking lot so I asked if he wanted to come in. He did and we went around together. He bought a few things and I got a couple more and then we checked out. 

F drove us back to the house. I went upstairs quickly to change so I could get started on dinner. I went down to the kitchen again and got started. Today I did chicken drumsticks, spicy steamed cabbage, mushrooms, and salad. It was nice. We used the rest of the rice from yesterday but it wasn’t very nice. Sigh. 

After dinner I did the dishes and it took a while. It was after 9pm before I finished. I changed again and a few minutes later F and I drove over to the grocery store and I went in. I did some shopping and got food for tomorrow for F and K’s breakfast and for my lunch. I also got something for dinner as well. I checked out and then came back to the car.

F drove us back to the house and he picked his breakfast for tomorrow. After I put away the groceries I went upstairs and relaxed for a bit. 

At 11 I watched The Rainmaker on WOWOW and then turned off the TV. F was asleep for a while and then got up for a bit. I think he’s sleeping again. His back is really bothering him right now and there isn’t much I can do about it. 

I had a really good time going out today. While the movie wasn’t the best I’ve ever seen, it was good and it was just nice to go out and walk around the mall and catch buses!

I’m back to my usual staying at the house personality again tomorrow. I might do some exciting laundry or I might find something else exciting to do. Come back later if you like and find out!

Until tomorrow….

April 15, 2026

 Wednesday - Warm with some rain

I woke up early this morning at 7am. I was really surprised to wake up so early. F was long gone. I went downstairs and then came back up to the room and I went back to bed! I slept for a while and woke up when I got a text from F that said his mother was going out with his sister.

I got up, went downstairs and grabbed my breakfast. I came back up to the room and after breakfast I worked on the letter to my friend. It took a while, but I got it done. 

Around 1pm I got a call from F. He said that he was back in Tsuruoka at a famous cake shop and asked if I wanted something. I suggested an ice cream and a few minutes later he showed up bearing a package of ice cream for the freezer. He gave us each one and we ate the ice cream and I gave him some coffee. F had to leave a while later and then a few minutes later K and F’s sister came back!

I went downstairs at 3pm and made my lunch. I had some leftovers and my usual open sandwiches and a salad. That was great. I watched an episode of The Great British Sewing Bee while I ate. It was Hollywood week and the clothes were interesting. 

F called me a little after 5 and said he was on his way back. I went downstairs a bit later to start dinner. I did some dishes, I washed the salad and I prepped the ingredients for the stir-fry. While I was cooking the stir-fry I got a text from F and he said that he couldn’t come down for dinner. I asked if he’d like a plate and he said yes. 

I made dinner and brought it to the living room for K and I. We had a nice if quiet dinner. I did manage to put the TV on to English for the news. K can’t hear the news so it doesn’t really make a difference to her, there are titles on the screen that I think she can read. 

After we finished eating, I did the dishes and then did up the garbage. Usually I have F helping me, but today I got K to help. It’s her garbage that I need help with and I didn’t want to go into her space/bedroom. She did help so that was good. I also threw out some flowers from the living room that were long dead. 

I left the garbage in the genkan and then went upstairs. F was half asleep. I tried talking to him and asked if I should take out the garbage but he said it was okay and he’d do it in the morning. I went downstairs and took a shower around 10:30.  K has been really restless tonight. She’s been getting up and making a lot of noise downstairs. I think she’s worried about F and I can’t really explain how he is to her. I tried to tell her that his back is bad again, but as she uses an old dialect of Japanese, I have no clue what she is saying. It doesn’t sound like any Japanese that I’ve ever heard before!

I came back to the room after my shower and watched The Irrational and then turned off the TV. F is still sleeping. I’ve dimmed the lights in both parts of the room…oh, he’s waking up! He’s going downstairs now. Maybe he’ll bump into his mother and make her go to bed and sleep.

Since midnight I’ve been watching YouTube and trying to get my blog written.  I think I’ve decided to go out tomorrow. I’ll miss my book club meeting but F is going to be late at work on Friday so I can’t go then. 

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

April 14, 2026

 Tuesday - Warm and Sunny

If anyone ever used the function of being able to check my old blogs, it isn’t available anymore. I just checked my old blog’s provider and it seems that they are shutting down. I am not able to do anything about it sad to say. 

On with my update. I woke up this morning when my alarm went off. I got up, went downstairs and then came back to the room. I sorted my laundry and then went back to bed for a bit. I watched some videos on my phone and then I snoozed a bit.

I got up, dressed and went downstairs with my laundry. I did a couple of small loads today and hung them up in my room. I also found a letter from my bestie when I checked the mail. Yay. I have it half answered already.

I had a quiet day around the house really. At lunch time I watched an episode of Bones, I’d seen it before but it was fine. 

I went downstairs to start dinner around 6 pm. Tonight I did Toaster Oven Chicken, broccoli, and salad. F made up some flavoured rice last night and we had that too. It was very nice! Both of us had seconds on rice (and I NEVER have seconds on rice!)

I did the dishes and put them away. It was fairly quick tonight so I was ready to go out early. Unfortunately, F couldn’t find his wallet! It took him a few minutes before he remembered he has a Tile in his wallet and he called it. He’d worried that he left it at work, but the Tile started making a noise in our room. He’d left his wallet in his pants. Sigh. 

We got out to the car and drove to the grocery store. Today, F’s back is still bad so he stayed in the car and I went into the store and did the shopping. I’m going to make a pork stirfry tomorrow night and then on Thursday I’ll do chicken drumsticks. That should be good. 

I had planned to go out tomorrow to see a movie in the afternoon, but F is going to be late he thinks. He has to drive to Yamagata City tomorrow, he needs to get up around 6:30 and won’t be back until after 6pm. Normally it wouldn’t matter, but the movie I want to see ends after the last bus back to our area, so I need F to pick me up. As I don’t know when he’ll be back, I had to change my mind and go another day. I still have next week, but I’d really like to see it next week since there’s another new film next week!

Back at the house, I put away the groceries and then came upstairs. I watched YouTube for a bit and then watched the last episode of Resident Alien. I was quite verklempt at the end and may have had to wipe away a tear or two. 

F went to bed early, but he isn’t sleeping. Him not sleeping makes me nervous for him tomorrow. I hope he goes to sleep soon. 

That’s about it for me for today. Tomorrow I’ll be staying around the house, unless I decide to go out for a drink or something. I probably won’t, but I’d might!

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

April 13, 2026

 Monday - Warm and Sunny

I woke up this morning after my alarm went off. I got up, went downstairs and then came back to the room. I went back to bed and watched some videos on my phone before snoozing for a bit.

I dragged myself out of bed a bit later, got dressed and went downstairs. I grabbed my breakfast stuff and the mail and came back upstairs. I ate and watched some YouTube after I checked what was on movie-wise. 

I had a fairly quiet afternoon if I’m honest. I did open the window today as it was nice and warm outside. It was good to get some fresh air in the room. I also wrote a couple of postcards for Postcrossing. I’m sending to Germany and Cyprus. The latter one is the first time to send there!

I ate lunch and watched another episode of Departure. It’s quite a good show and I’m enjoying the Canadian actors that show up in it! I had the news on afterwards but I keep trying to ignore most of it…especially anything about a certain world leader. 

F called me around 5:30 to say he was already in Tsuruoka but was making a stop to buy something. I got changed after our call and went downstairs to get started on dinner. 

Tonight I was making Breakfast for Dinner. We had scrambled eggs with cheese, salad, hash browns, bacon and toast. Most of the food disappeared, but there was enough for lunches tomorrow. F said that he liked my scrambled eggs the most. 

After dinner I had to wash the dishes and the pans as well. It took a while, but I got it all done. I went upstairs after I finished and spent some time relaxing. I went downstairs later and took a shower.

When I came back to the room I watched an episode of Evil which was really creepy. Usually it didn’t bother me, but tonight was quite spooky.

I turned the TV off after the show and started watching some YouTube. F went to bed and fell asleep quite quickly. He’s having back troubles again, poor thing.

So that’s about it for me. Tomorrow I’ll probably do laundry and I’ll also be doing dinner again. 

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