September 21, 2026

Monday - Rainy, cloudy and humid

Today was such an odd day. I wish it had been better, but it wasn’t.

I woke up around 10 this morning. I went downstairs and then came back up to the room. I went back to bed and slept for a bit. F came upstairs after a bit and I sort of woke up. I got up and then we talked about lunch. After a while I came up with the idea of the little Chinese place on the other side of the park. If they were closed, we could try somewhere else, but we’d try them first.

We drove over and the parking area was busy, but there was one space left. F parked and we went in. We got a table and looked at the menu. I decided what I wanted quickly. Mapo-dofu set meal. F had shrimp fried rice. We waited a while and our food arrived. Mine was quite spicy, but good. F said that he found his rice salty. I suggested taking some of my plain rice and mixing it into his. He did that and said it helped. Yay.

Lunch was really nice and not too expensive in my opinion. I got rice, mapo-dofu, soup and two little side dishes. After lunch, F wanted to go back to the house right away, but then he decided that he’d like to go to the drugstore down the road from the house. 

We went in and did a little shopping. F got some allergy stuff and I got K some tissues and some TP for the house. I also bought some spaghetti. We left the shop and went back to the house. 

I was upstairs watching my British police drama from yesterday - Cooper and Fry - when F came in the room and started whining that he had a temperature and had the flu. Oh good grief. He was lying on the bed with a bag of ice on his head. I’m afraid that I wasn’t too sympathetic to him. I suggested that tomorrow he try to go to the “Sunday Doctor” in the morning. 

Around 6pm we talked about dinner. He suggested bentos and it was probably a good idea. The bad thing is we would have to go out and get them. I suggested going to MaxValu as they usually have good bentos and a lot of them. F liked that idea, so we masked up and drove over. I did suggest he stay in the car, but he came in with me. I guess he couldn’t trust me with his bento?

We picked up some bentos, some fish for his and K’s breakfast tomorrow and a few other things. We came back to the house and we all had dinner. Honestly, I wasn’t too happy at the idea of having to have dinner with K and F. I’m just getting over my cold and I don’t want to catch something else. 

We ate our bentos, K toddled back to bed after she took her medicine and then I went to the kitchen and did the dishes. I went upstairs again, leaving F with volleyball on the TV. 

Upstairs I watched the last two hours of Cooper & Fry. Many things got settled and the one character that I was suspicious of turned out to be a wrong’un, so yay for me. F showed up, as he always does, in the last 15 minutes to make noise and annoy me!

He whined about being cold, wrapped himself up in his winter quilt and had a bit of a snooze. He’s been coughing and spluttering at odd moments for the rest of the night. I do feel sorry for him, but he doesn’t mask up as much these days as I do. I’m hoping that I don’t catch whatever it is that he has. I wish I had a different room in the house to sleep in. Sigh. 

I also spent a few minutes tonight and booked myself a hotel room next month for my little getaway. I rarely get to do that anymore, but I’m hoping that I can do it next month. I’ll run it past F when he’s feeling better. I’ll need his help both in picking me up and dropping me off at the bus station!

And that’s about it, honestly. It was a strange day. I am glad that I recorded that British drama yesterday as it did keep me entertained. I’m worried about tomorrow. What is going to happen?

Like me, you’ll just have to come back later. Until tomorrow….

September 20, 2026

 Sunday - Sunny and warm, humid

I woke up for the first time around 9 am. F was downstairs and I said hi when I went downstairs. I came back up to the room and went back to bed. He told me that the Social Worker was going to come at 10 am instead of 1pm and was just going to see him instead of all of us. That was fine with me. I went back to bed!

I slept for a while, F came upstairs and woke me up, then left again. I finally dragged myself out of bed later and then chatted with F about stuff. He confessed to me that he’d eaten some of my yogurt. Yesterday we’d each bought a carton of the same yogurt so when we came to the house I wrote our names on the cartons. F said that he didn’t notice my name on my carton until he ate some of it. ACK! I guess I get to eat his then!

We talked about today’s lunch and I suggested something interesting. I suggested driving out to Kushibiki and trying to have Banh Mi. There’s a cafe at the Michi no Eki that sells Banh Mi and Vietnamese coffee. Every time we’ve gone there it has been late in the afternoon and they’ve been closed. 

Well, we drove out there and they were open. Yay! We looked and the menu and both of us chose a sandwich. We went up and ordered and in a few minutes we had our sandwiches. The bread was a lovely crusty bun and the sandwiches were great. F had a local pork bun and I had a local bacon one. They were great! The veggies inside were a little spicy, but overall it was a nice treat. F bought us some drinks from a vending machine. I didn’t have any coffee, I probably should have but couldn’t decide what to order…and caffeine and I don’t get on well.

We drove back into Tsuruoka and went to S-Mall. I was still a tad hungry so we went to Doutor. F wanted ice cream and I had another sandwich and a decaf cafe latte. We stayed there a while and enjoyed ourselves. Later, we bought a few things at the grocery store and then left the mall.

F wanted to go to Gyomu Supa. I was afraid it would be too busy, but it wasn’t bad. I got more cereal, some sunflower seeds and some bagels. F picked up a few things too.

We headed back to the house and I put away the groceries. Then, I went upstairs to watch some TV. Today WOWOW was showing a British Detective show that I was recording, so I decided to watch it to check if I wanted to record it all. I watched the first two episodes of Cooper & Fry and it was pretty good. It starred Robert James-Collier who might be better know to most people as Barrow in Downton Abbey. I watched the first two episodes and then took a break. 

F meanwhile fed his mother and then it was time to feed me! I suggested Gusto and we headed there. However, F did his weird wrong turning thing that he did and I realized that maybe it wasn’t the best choice for him. (He’s still having stomach troubles). I offered to change to keiten sushi if he preferred and of course he did! 

We ended up at Kappa Sushi and had a pretty nice meal. I ate quite a bit more than F did and I wouldn’t let him order anything deep fried. I had some fries, but didn’t share (and no, I didn’t order a big one either.) After our dinner we made a quick trip to the grocery store.

We came back to the house and I put away the groceries. I came back upstairs and watched two more episodes of Cooper & Fry. It was still good. One mystery gets solved in two episodes, but there are a couple of over-riding mysteries too. 

It was after midnight when I turned off the TV and then it was time to do my night time routine. I’m about finished now and then I’ll go to bed soon.

I’m honestly not sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow. If F is still under the weather it really puts a damper on what we can do. I’d love to go out, but it isn’t nice of me to expect too much right now. K is also still a bit poorly. To be honest, I don’t think I even saw her today. F said she is eating but not very much. 

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

September 19, 2026

Saturday - Hot and sunny

I woke up just after 9 am this morning. I went downstairs and then came back to bed. F came back a few minutes later and I strongly suggested he go to the doctor as he was still under the weather. He did.

I watched a video on my phone and then went back to sleep. F woke me up when he came back! 

We decided to go out for lunch but I suggested going for udon as it would give F’s stomach an easy meal. We went to Udon Ichi. We haven’t been there in ages and it wasn’t busy, so it was a good choice. F had meat udon and I had yaki-udon. It should have been fried, but I don’t think it was. It did have fried meat and shrimp so I guess that is where the name came from. It was good, but didn’t feel enough. 

We came back to the house after our meal. Honestly, I was disappointed, but F really hasn’t been well, so I couldn’t say too much. It was a good thing that we did.

A few minutes after we got back, F got a phone call from K’s Day Care place. She had thrown up and had a temperature so F was asked to come and pick her up. They can’t keep her there as it is dangerous possibly for the other oldies there. 

F picked her up and then took her to the doctor. K had gone to her daughter’s on Thursday and now had the flu, so we were worried that K might have it too. (Of course, we only found out that F’s sister has the flu today…we didn’t have any idea otherwise.) The verdict is that K doesn’t have the flu (whew!) and has more medicine to take.

Later on, F asked about dinner. We decided to do bentos for dinner. F is still having problems, I’ve got a runny/plugged up nose and K is sick…not good for restaurants!

F and I went to a grocery store and picked up some food. I got a chicken bento, F got fish, and he gave his mother some chestnut rice. She didn’t eat very much of it before she headed back to bed. 

I washed the dishes and the bento boxes after we ate and then came upstairs. I had a very quiet evening. I watched a lot of YouTube. F came up around 10:30 and then at 11pm I watched The Hunting Party. It’s an okay show. They are trying to emulate Criminal Minds in a way, but it isn’t going dark enough. 

Since midnight I’ve been doing my end of day things, watching more YouTube and just trying to figure out what we can get up to tomorrow. I have no ideas! Some of it depends on how K is and of course, how F is. 

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

September 18, 2026

Friday - Sunny and warm

I woke up early this morning and went back to sleep. Yay. I woke up again later before my alarm went off. F had already gone to work, but he’d left his breakfast behind. Oh dear. 

I went downstairs and then came back to the room and yes, I went back to bed. It was nice. I watched a couple of videos and snoozed. I dragged myself out of bed later, dressed and went downstairs. I grabbed my breakfast and then came back upstairs to the room. 

I had a quiet morning and afternoon. I watched a lot of videos on Facebook and then went downstairs for my lunch. I brought it back up to the room and while I was eating I watched another episode of Modern Love. This one was with Tina Fey and John Slatterly. It was okay and I understood the point they were trying to make about long marriages!

I watched the news and got mad at parts of it again. I’m Canadian and the news from the US does tend to annoy me at the moment. 

F called me around 5:30 and said that he wasn’t feeling great. He was on his way home but was really tired. I asked him if he wanted dinner and he said that he didn’t. 

I changed and went downstairs around 6pm. Today I did spaghetti carbonara with hamburgers, Korean- style salad, cucumber pickle and mini-tomatoes for K. I got everything on the table a bit after 7pm and K and I ate most of the food. It was quite nice. 

F, when he came back to the house, went upstairs and went to bed. He spent most of the evening in bed. 

I washed the dishes and then said goodnight to K. I went upstairs. I went over to my computer and found an email from my sister. F was sleeping on the bed and didn’t hear me come in. 

F got up after a while and a few minutes later I went downstairs and took a shower. I really needed one as I haven’t had one in a few days.

I came back up to the room and watched an episode of Sugar. It was excellent and so moody tonight. Well, it always is. Colin Farrell is so cool in this show. 

Since midnight I’ve been watching some YouTube and doing my end of day things. We are going into Silver Week here, so F will be off work until Thursday. I’m a bit nervous about the whole thing. We have no plans and F is sick and grumpy. 

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

September 17, 2026

Thursday - Hot and sunny

Yesterday, I didn’t feel good at all. I had a bad night, F had a bad night. He said I snored, I told him it made sense as my nose was completely plugged up. I couldn’t breathe!

He went to work in the afternoon yesterday and while he was gone I did a couple of loads of laundry. K was off with her daughter so I had the house to myself. I wish I felt better!

When F called me at night I asked him to bring a bento for his mother. He didn’t feel like eating, neither did I. He did bring her a bento and I didn’t end up eating until after 11pm!

When F came back to the house, he went back to bed. He slept. I stayed up for a bit, and then went to have a nap around 8 pm. I woke up after 10 and got up. At 11pm I watched Grey’s Anatomy and had a cup pasta thing. I went back to bed around 2am, which is early for me!

I managed to sleep fairly well and woke up around 6:30. I went downstairs and when I came back to bed I checked my phone. We didn’t have internet. Sigh. F strikes again. He forgot to pay the bill. 

He decided to take the day off, I think he was still feeling bad too. 

He took care of the internet and did a little shopping too. I got up around 11am this morning and had my usual yogurt and cereal. A couple of hours later F offered to take me out for lunch but I turned him down. I wasn’t really ready to be out in public yet.

Instead, a while later I was presented with a bowl of yakisoba. Which I didn’t want. I decided that I had to eat it or face the wrath of F. He was pretty nasty at times this morning. It was okay but I don’t like yakisoba. 

Around 6pm I went downstairs to start dinner. Tonight I boiled some potatoes and then turned them into hash browns, and I did some air-fried chicken legs. We had them with salad and some pickled cucumber. 

F came down to eat, but honestly didn’t eat very much. He had one chicken leg. K and I had 3. Oh well. I’m sure he had noodles later anyway. 

After dinner I did the dishes and put them away. I went upstairs and changed and then F and I went out to buy a few groceries.

I went shopping, got a few things and then we also visited a drugstore and bought a lot of stuff there! 

We came back to the house and put things away and then came upstairs. At 11pm I watched The Rookie and killed off one of their long-time baddies. I was surprised about that. 

And that’s about it for the day. I’ve been watching some YouTube since midnight and I’m needing to head to bed soon. I’m still a bit under the weather, but I do feel much better than I did yesterday. 

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

September 16, 2026

 Wednesday - Cloudy 

Sorry, I didn't update today as I was sick and spent a good part of the day either in bed or wishing I was. I had an early night and didn't blog. 

I'll try to catch up on Thursday's blog....

Until tomorrow....

September 15, 2026

Tuesday - Rainy and then clearing

Hello again! We came back from the hotel this morning. Oh….Yesterday?  It was fine. F and I are both a bit under the weather. I think I have a cold and F probably is the one what gave it to me!

We had a long morning at the house yesterday. F made breakfast for his mother and then made her lunch too. No one seemed to care about my lunch! I finally went downstairs just before 2:30 and demanded that we go for lunch! We went over to Coco’s where I had their chicken salad with nuts and F had a burger and we shared a small fries. We had their drink bar too and it was nice.

We got K a bento for later and then went back to the house to finish getting ready. I was basically just hanging around waiting for F to do whatever he was planning to do. He didn’t seem ready at all. 

Finally, we got moving. We went to the hotel first, checked in, and then went to our room. It was very nice. We had a large double bed. I think it was probably a king size bed. It was nice but I was sleeping close to the window and it was hard to get  into bed!

We went out for dinner to our favourite yakiniku place and had dinner. It was delicious. The last few years we’ve gone somewhere “fancy”. The food looks great, most of it is lovely, but we got to just relax and have fun together, cooking our own food.

We went back to the hotel after dinner and then took our baths. The hotel has a couple of onsen baths for their guests and we went off to the baths and had a nice time there. I went back to the room before F did. 

We decided to watch a movie together and I suggested watching Mayday, the new movie on AppleTV with Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh. It was silly but fun. F managed without Japanese subtitles, but did have trouble when the subtitles were due to characters speaking Russian.

F went to bed when the movie was over. I stayed up a little longer, but did go to bed before I usually do. 

This morning, we woke up around 7:30 and went up to breakfast around 8 am. It was very nice and we both ate quite a lot. We went back to the room afterwards to finish packing up and then checked out at 10am. 

We drove back towards the house and stopped at a grocery store to get something for K’s lunch. We came back to the house and relaxed a bit. F gave K her bento, I unpacked and put my computer back together.

We went over to the Kamo Aquarium around 1pm. It was raining on and off quite hard at times. We went in and had lunch first. F had jellyfish ramen and I had deep fried fugu. It was good, but very, very boney. 

We toured the facility and enjoyed ourselves. I haven’t edited my pictures yet. When we finished, we decided that we needed ice cream!

We drove back into Tsuruoka and went to Baskin Robbins. We both had the same ice creams, a milk shortcake and mint choco cookie chum. They were both good.

We talked about dinner and decided that we’d take K out somewhere as she’s been stuck at the house for most of the weekend. We decided on Gusto.

We went back to the house and picked up K. We drove over to one of the Gustos and got a table. We did quite well. K had curry, I had pasta and F had a hamburger with a fried egg. We shared a plate of fries (K loves fries!) and had drink bar too. I got to do the leg work for most of the drinks. It was fine.

We brought K back to the house and then F and I went to the grocery store. I asked him if he’d make rice if I needed him to and he refused. He wants me to do it. I will not. I do not like rice and would rather eat anything else. So, we will have potatoes this week. If F doesn’t like that, too bad. I’m sure he’ll bugger off and make himself noodles later. Too bad for him. 

I went into the store and did the grocery shopping alone. Yay for me. I got everything and then paid and came back to the car. F wasn’t there! He’d gone into the building. Luckily I didn’t have to wait too long before he came back. 

We came back to the house. I put away the groceries and then came upstairs. I relaxed for a while, F went to bed. He’s back to work tomorrow. It is one of our anniversaries but he couldn’t take it off. 

I watched Law & Order and it was okay, bit meh! I turned off the TV and got stuck into YouTube. I’m a tad behind as I didn’t watch much yesterday. Good for me. 

So, that’s about it for my day. Both F and I are still sick. My nose is running and I don’t feel that great. 

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