November 15, 2026

Sunday - Cloudy and rainy

I woke up fairly early this morning. I went downstairs and then came back to bed. I texted with a friend for a while and then went back to sleep. I slept quite late, but it was fine. 

F had come back to the room and we relaxed. I got up and dressed. We decided we’d try the restaurant that we tried to go to last night. We drove over there and…it was full! We ended up going to Nagomi instead. I had a hot udon with duck and F had a set meal with tempura and soba. The restaurant was busy so we did wait a while, but it was okay. 

After lunch we went to a hardware store to buy some washers. I had noticed that the bathroom sink’s tap was leaking so F wanted to change the washer in the tap. We got the washers and had a quick browse around the store. 

We came back to the house and I went upstairs. F worked on the tap and then had to run out again to get some other piece to fix the tap. He did ask if I wanted to go too, but I didn’t really. I stayed at the house.

Around 6 pm F made dinner for his mother and then we went out around 7 for our dinner. I asked that we check out a Daiso for some air fryer liners. They only had the big ones left and they are too big for my air fryer. F asked if I could cut them to size, I could but there are only 6 in these packets so it wouldn’t really be worth it. I might try online and see if they have them in stock.

Next up, we went to Gusto and had our dinner. We both had chicken tonight. F had his with a garlic tomato sauce, I had mine with a creamy mushroom sauce. We shared a plate of fries and both had drink bar too. Our meal was fine, it wasn’t the best one ever, but it did the job.

We went to Mina next and F came in the store with me. It was okay, but as usual, he’d bop off and buy weird things that I didn’t want and we didn’t need! He picked up some umeboshi (pickled plums) and I asked him if he used up all the other containers of umeboshi that were in the fridge. He said he did. [Spoiler…he didn’t!] We did go slightly over budget so I was glad that F was there because he could see that I didn’t buy any junk or things that I didn’t need.

When we came back to the house and unpacked the groceries, I found the two other packs of umeboshi that were still in the fridge. One was nearly empty, and the other was less than half, but there were technically TWO packs with umeboshi in the fridge. I ribbed F about that! He does this sort of thing from time to time.

I came upstairs and F did things like setting up the rice cooker and ironing his uniform. I decided that I’d watch a movie tonight and decided on Practical Magic. It’s been years since I’ve seen it and there was a sequel out this year. Maybe I’ll even see it sometime. Practical Magic had a lot of promise, but it didn’t really deliver, sad to say. I did like the sister stuff, but there needed to be more magic really.

F went to bed a bit after midnight and I’m yawning away now, so I should go to bed too. It’s quite a bit later. I’m not sure what I’ll get up to later, come back and find out!

Until tomorrow….

 

November 14, 2026

Saturday - Sunny and warmish

Well, last night when I left you, K had visited us upstairs to check on F’s stomach. She came back at 4am. We were both asleep. I didn’t hear her as I wear earplugs but F did and got up to talk to her. Again, she was checking on F’s stomach which was absolutely fine. 

I don’t know if F managed to go back to sleep afterwards. I did, but it did take a while. This morning, F had to get up and make breakfast for his mother and then he took her to the Day Service. 

I slept for a while and then dragged myself up. I took a morning shower and then came upstairs to get dressed. F and I talked about lunch places and then I suggested going for Indian food. We went to our favourite place and had lunch. I had the coconut chicken which was really nice. I also had two naan. I did try to get F to share it with me, but he didn’t! 

After lunch, we did a bit of shopping at Musashi. F needed some batteries for the butsudan’s candle thingy. They were a bit hard to find. We also got some hand soap, liquid and solid, and a bucket. F needs it for his fish tank. Or something. 

We went over to Cafe B-Flat for a cafe latte. It was a nice time and we spent a relaxing time at the Cafe. We left and then came back to the house. I headed upstairs and F stayed down to meet up with his mother.

F relaxed too and made her dinner around 6pm and then we went out for ours. F had wanted to try a new to us Japanese place, but when we arrived it had already closed. We ended up at F’s favourite fish restaurant instead. We were seated on tatami and then ordered. I had a tuna cutlet set meal and F had a tuna assortment donburi meal. His looked good, mine was good, but didn’t taste very fishy!

After our meal we went to the grocery store and picked up a few things. Most of them were for F and I, but our intent was to get stuff for K’s breakfast!

We came back to the house. I helped F put things away and then he went in to talk to his mother. I headed upstairs as I heard a lot of shouting from the living room. 

F came up later and told me that K said that she’s afraid of me and she doesn’t want to live here anymore. She wanted to move out to live with her brother, forgetting that he died a couple of years ago. After F reminded her that her brother was gone, she said that she wants to move in with her daughter. I don’t think that would really happen.

Sigh. K is really acting strangely these days. I know that dementia is progressive, but I keep hoping that there’s another reason she’s acting like this. 

F relaxed on our bed and I watched The Hunting Party. Tonight’s episode was all about ventriloquist dummies. It was odd. I’m still not sure about the show. It’s not as serious as Criminal Minds but it isn’t much fun either. 

I turned off the TV afterwards and started watching YouTube. F went off to sleep and I’ve been up writing and doing my other end of day things. 

That’s about it for today. It was a bit eventful! I do hope that tomorrow will be a bit quieter and that we don’t have any late night visitors.

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

November 13, 2026

Friday - Sunny and warm

I woke up properly when my alarm went off today. I got up, went downstairs and then came back to the room. I sorted my laundry and then I went back to bed for a while. I watched a few videos until I fell asleep again.

I got up later, dressed and then went downstairs to pick up my breakfast. I started my first load of laundry and then I went back upstairs to eat. I spent the next little while bouncing between eating, watching videos and hanging laundry!

For lunch today I had a bagel with chicken and cheese, and a salad. I don’t often have bagels, but this week I used up my whole bag of bread, which was 8 slices so I needed to take a bagel out of the freezer. It was nice. I ate upstairs and today I watched an episode of Instinct. That was an older show with Alan Cumming as a professor. I don’t know if I’ll keep watching or not. I think I’ve given up on Breaking Bad, at least for now.

I watched the news and a bit after 5:30 F called to say he was on his way back to the house. I went downstairs a bit later and got started on dinner.

tonight I did gnocchi with a cheese sauce, salad, sliced ham and mini-tomatoes for F and K. We also had some butter rolls that I bought last night. 

I did the dishes after dinner and was done fairly early as I didn’t have a lot of things to wash. I let F know that I was done and would change soon. We had decided to go out tonight!

From my Facebook Memories I found that it was eight years since the Starbucks in Tsuruoka opened. I asked F if he’d like to go and have a drink to celebrate. He would! 

We drove over to Starbucks and each had a no or low caffeine drink. I had a Chamomile Tea Latte and F had a decaf Latte. We both enjoyed our drinks. It was also nice to sit on a couch and just relax for a while.

After our drinks I popped into the nearby drugstore to get a prepaid card for Amazon. I want to order something for myself and I don’t want to charge it on my credit card. 

Then, F wanted to get some groceries, so we hopped in the car and drove over to MaxValu. He needed something for K’s breakfast tomorrow. Of course, we picked up quite a few things for ourselves too. 

We came back to the house and relaxed. I decided to postpone my shower to tomorrow and came upstairs. I watched a couple of shows on Apple TV. Tonight I saw Ted Lasso and an episode of The Studio. They were both good.

After midnight I was settling in with some YouTube when I heard K downstairs. Then, I heard her start up the stairs. F was still up so I told him that his mother was coming upstairs. He didn’t really believe me for a minute, but then he did. He went to the door and talked to her. She came up because she heard he had a bad stomach tonight. Thing is, he’s fine. He didn’t have any stomach problems tonight. He told her he was fine and she did go away. Eye roll. What on earth is going on with her? She’s 90 years old, climbing up our stairs is not something that I want her to do. I’m a little more worried about her going DOWN the stairs. 

F has finally just gone to bed and honestly, I should go soon too. I’m a tad tired.

I’m not sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow. So, please come back later and find out! Until tomorrow….

November 12, 2026

Thursday - Rainy and cool

I woke up after F left this morning, but before my alarm. I made my usual trip downstairs and then came back upstairs and went back to bed. I watched videos for a while before I fell asleep for quite a while. 

I woke up about the same time as yesterday and got up and dressed. I went downstairs to get my breakfast and did that. I came upstairs to the room and relaxed again. I ate breakfast, watched some 

Reels on FB and that was about it!

Later on I went downstairs to get my lunch and I brought it upstairs to eat. Today I decided to watch Freaks & Geeks. It’s quite amazing to see all of these famous people when they were really young. I followed that up with the news, but I can’t say I paid a lot of attention to it. 

F called after 5 to say he was on his way back, so I finished up what I was doing and then went downstairs. I took down the kerosene tank from the heater and my lunch plate so it was a bit awkward!

F arrived while I was on my way downstairs. I filled up the kerosene tank and then went into the kitchen after I washed my hands. 

Tonight I wasn’t too busy in the kitchen. I did premade burgers with fries, salad and a spicy cabbage side. It was quite nice and most of it disappeared!

I did the dishes afterwards and then went upstairs to change. I took the kerosene upstairs with me. F and I went over to the grocery store next and I went in by myself. That was nice! I got food for the next day and then paid and went back to the car. 

F and I went to the nearby drugstore after that to get some toilet paper. I also checked the cost of pasta sauces and they were cheaper than the grocery store. I bought them there. We got some snacks as well and then we paid and left.

F drove us back to the house and we put the groceries away. F went upstairs first and I went up a few minutes later. I relaxed with some YouTube and tea and then I watched DOC. The plot is thickening tonight. Tonight’s show had a lot about Domestic Violence and was a bit scary in places.

And…that’s about it. I’m not sure what I’m going to get up to tomorrow. I think laundry will be one of the things I’ll do! 

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

November 11, 2026

Wednesday - Sunny but cool

I woke up a bit after F left this morning. I went downstairs and then came back to bed. I watched quite a few videos and then fell asleep. 

I did get up a little easier and earlier than usual! I dressed and went downstairs to get my breakfast. I brought it upstairs and ate while watching a few reels on FB. 

I had a quiet morning and early afternoon really. I decided that I’d write a couple of postcards for Postcrossing. I pulled a couple of places in Europe, Czech Republic and Italy. I hope they arrive. I’ve gone one that’s been on its way to Europe for 40 days. I doubt it’ll arrive anymore.

I went downstairs around 2:30 to make my lunch. I brought it back upstairs and just as I set it down on my desk, I heard the doorbell go. F was expecting a package. I flew downstairs and got to the door in time to catch the guy. I got the package and brought it into the house. I texted F and then went back to my lunch. 

Today I watched an episode of Matlock while I ate my lunch. It was quite a good one and I enjoyed it for the most part. After the show ended I watched the news before I turned the TV off. 

F called around 5:30 and we talked for a few minutes. He said that he was on his way back so I went downstairs a while later and got started on dinner. 

Tonight I did chicken drumsticks with rice, salad, kabocha, pickled beets and some sardines! Dinner was good and most things disappeared.

After we ate, I did the dishes and listened to my podcasts. When that was done, I listened to a bit of music and started the garbage. F gave me a hand with his mother’s garbage and I did up the bag and put it in the genkan.

I went upstairs when I finished and then did my garbage up in the room. I left the bag for F to put his stuff in too.

I took a shower after 10:30 and then I made up a bag of popcorn that I got a few months ago. It was really nice, but many of the kernels didn’t pop. 

I came back to the room and watched Grey’s Anatomy. It was an okay episode today. It was mostly about Owen’s mother and Jo’s first day back at work. 

I turned off the TV around midnight and then watched a bit of YouTube. F and I had a chat about Postcrossing and I looked up his old account. It’s still there, but he hasn’t used it in over 10 years. 

That’s about it for the day. Tomorrow I hope to work on a letter to my best friend and maybe my column. I’ve done a rough sketch of my favourite films of the year, now I have to write about them all. It’ll be fun I hope.

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

November 10, 2026

Tuesday - Sunny but cold

I woke up this morning while F was getting ready for work. I managed to stay in bed until he left and then I went downstairs and he came back for something! No worries. 

I came back upstairs and went back to bed. I did sort my laundry first and then watched videos and snoozed for a bit. I put on some ambient music while I slept and it was nice.

When I got up a bit earlier than usual I went downstairs again. I dressed first and then came back to the room and just had to snooze a little longer. I finally dragged myself up again and took my laundry downstairs and started the machine. 

I grabbed my breakfast and took it upstairs to eat. I had a fairly quiet day today. I hung up my laundry and then relaxed. I drank a bottled tea that I had got on the weekend. It was good, but a bit sweet.

I grabbed lunch around 3pm and then watched Saturday’s episode of The Hunting Party. It was okay. I followed that up with the news which was fine. I only half watched it.

I went downstairs to make dinner around 6pm. I tried something new, making crispy tofu. Well, I didn’t get it crispy. Sigh. It was good though. I probably didn’t get it drained enough, but the spices were nice and I made a sweet gochujang sauce and that was delicious as well. 

We also had toaster oven chicken, steamed broccoli and salad, with plain rice. So, dinner was quite good. F and I enjoyed the tofu, but no idea about K!

After dinner I did dishes and then got ready to go and get groceries. For some reason, F came into the store with me tonight. It annoyed me a bit because he didn’t buy anything out of the ordinary. I know he’s allowed to come in the store it is just that I’m not able to keep track of him AND remember what groceries I need to get!

We came back to the house afterwards and I put away the groceries with some interference! We came upstairs after and relaxed. At 10:40 or so, I went downstairs and made some popcorn. I had less than I thought and then I ended up burning some of it. Sigh. Most of it was nice, I did take out some of the worst burnt stuff. 

At 11pm I watched Law & Order and it was okay tonight. They showed one of the police officers family which was cool. 

After midnight I turned off the TV and went online again. I’ve been watching YouTube and doing my end of day things. I’ll be heading to bed in a few minutes. 

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

November 9, 2026

Monday - A bit rainy and cloudy I think. 

I got up this morning before F’s alarm went off. I went downstairs and then went back to bed as F got up for work. Poor thing!

I went back to sleep and slept a bit late for a change. I got up, went downstairs and then snoozed and watched videos. It was great!

I got myself up and dressed. I went downstairs to get my breakfast. I brought it upstairs to add cereal and then I ate. I spent a bit of time watching more videos on Facebook and I backed up my computer too. I got out the towels to take downstairs later and I relaxed a bit. 

I went downstairs a bit before 3 and got my stuff ready. F came back from work around then too. He was supposed to go straight to K’s Doctor, but didn’t have some paper that he needed. He couldn’t find it but went anyway. 

I watched the last episode of Under Salt Marsh. It was okay. I enjoyed the series overall, and didn’t guess whodunnit. That’s okay.

F came back and then of course, found the paper he needed! I watched the news and then went downstairs around 6 pm.

Today I cooked some negi-shio pork (aka onion-salt marinated pork slices) and we had salad and some eggplant pickles with it. F had made some rice when he came back and put in a teriyaki chicken packet so it was very nice. We had a really nice dinner and all the food disappeared. I did put aside stuff for K’s lunch, let’s hope she actually eats it!

I did the dishes and then after I finished that I bagged up the plastic garbage and put it in the genkan for F to take out tomorrow.

I went upstairs and relaxed with some internet and a pistachio latte.  F came up a bit later and then I went downstairs to take a shower. Unfortunately, F was running the hot water too while I was in the shower so it kept getting colder for me. It wasn’t the nicest shower either!

I went upstairs after my shower and then decided to watch the next episode of Bad Sisters. Oh my. It was good and sad and angry-making!

I turned off the TV at midnight and then I got stuck in with YouTube. I did a bit of surfing the net and reading things and then soon I’ll end this and get myself off to bed. 

I’ll likely get up to doing some laundry tomorrow and I have to make dinner and go shopping for groceries too. 

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