May 11, 2026

Monday - Cloudy then sunny and warm

I woke up for the first time before my alarm and made a trip downstairs. I came back up to the room and went back to sleep after I watched a couple of videos. I woke up quite late, having slept through most of my alarms. Oops.

I got up, dressed and went downstairs. I sorted out my laundry and then did a couple of loads, and hung them up in my room to dry. I did the normal Monday things that I usually do like changing the towels in the kitchen and bathroom, backing up my computer and I also restocked the toilet room’s TP. 

I had lunch a bit after 3 pm. Today I watched an episode of One Mississippi. I quite like that show. 

F called after 5:25 or so and said he was on his way back. I went downstairs to start dinner around 6 pm. Today I did Toaster Oven Chicken, but I used my air fryer! I liked it much better this way. We had it with salad and a spinach/corn/bacon mix that I bought at a drugstore a few weeks ago. I liked it. Neither K nor F had much food today, I was a bit sad. Oh well. 

After dinner, I did the dishes and then went upstairs and got ready for tomorrow. I put my clothes together and packed my back pack too. 

I went downstairs after 10 pm and took a shower. When I came back upstairs I watched an episode of Evil. It was a very weird one, but when aren’t they? I also noticed that WOWOW on Demand has more episodes of Elsbeth and Matlock available so I’ll have to check them out. Woot. 

F is mostly sleeping and I’m off to bed right away too. I have to get up around 7:30 tomorrow morning to catch my bus at 8:20. I’m off to Sakata tomorrow to hopefully renew my registration card at the Immigration Office. 

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

May 10, 2026

Sunday - Warm and Sunny

I woke up late today, but it is Sunday! I got up a lot later than I planned and had to scramble a bit. I got dressed and then I had some breakfast. I made myself my yogurt and cereal and then the sandwiches I bought yesterday. 

At one pm, F and I and K assembled in the living room, but the social worker didn’t come! At 10 past F called her to see where she was and she thought the meeting was at 1:30 Oh dear. F told me that it was 1pm, but he may have made a mistake. Nonetheless, she showed up a few minutes later and we had the meeting. F discussed a few things with the social worker about his mother and made a bit of a game plan. We made arrangements for next month’s visit and off she went. 

F and I went out to the Chido Museum and renewed my membership. After that, we went into the exhibit room and had a look. It was all about Geta, the old style Japanese sandal usually made of wood. I had no idea there was so much variation of geta. We had a good look at the exhibit and really enjoyed it. 

This was a replica of a geta shop set up.

One group of fancy geta in the shop.

My favourite garden.

After we left, we decided to go and have something to drink. I suggested Doutor and F was okay with that, but when he turned into the Starbucks parking area I was a little annoyed!He said Doutor and thought Starbucks. Oh well. We went in and F had his usual frappucino and I had something new, and iced passion tea. It didn’t have caffeine. It was nice, but a bit sour. It dried out the back of my throat.

Once we left the coffee shop, I asked F if he wanted to take his mother out for dinner, seeing as how it is Mother’s Day today. He thought it was a good idea, except he wanted to take her for soba. He makes soba and other noodles for her all the time so I thought he was nuts, but whatever. We went back to the house and he cleaned out the back of the car, with my help! 

He told his mother we were going to take her out so she got dressed. F even called the restaurant to make a reservation. We arrived and went in. At first, F was planning a lower cost meal for himself and his mother, so I decided I’d have a cheaper dish than the one I wanted. Then, he changed his mind and ordered a set for both of them, and I got a dish that was good, but not what I really wanted. Sigh. 

F asked me if I wanted to take his mother out to the grocery store with us but the answer was no! Besides, I had left our meat trays back at the house to take to the grocery store’s recycling. We took K back to the house and then we went to the store.

F didn’t feel great so he stayed in the car and I went inside. I did the shopping and it was so nice to have some time alone! I’m going to do chicken for dinner tomorrow night and then pizza from the store on Tuesday.

I came back from the store, put away the groceries and then watched a bit of YouTube. Finally I decided that I wanted to watch a movie. I put on Flora and Son from Apple TV and really enjoyed it. It was directed and written I think by John Carney who did a few of my favourite movies with music (like Sing Street, Begin Again and Once). I liked it a lot.

This could be a busy week ahead as I have to go to Sakata on Tuesday. I need to go to the Immigration Office and renew one of the cards I have to have in Japan. Sigh. If she’s able to meet, I’ll see one of my friends too so I’ll look forward to that. 

Come back later and hear all about my Monday. Until tomorrow….

May 9, 2026

Saturday - Sunny but cooler and very windy

I went downstairs and then went back to bed as usual this morning. After that, I snoozed for a couple of hours. When I got up, I took care of a personal chore that I put off for far too long, then F was all about “Can we go for lunch now?!” Yes, we can. 

I dressed and then we went out to Tenkane again. This morning, we both had sashimi which came on a bowl of rice and had some bamboo miso soup. It was pretty good. The sashimi was nice too.

After lunch, I asked that we go to a clothing store as I was hoping to buy new socks. My feet are hard on socks and I’ve been making big holes in them lately. F needed some stuff too, he needed a new belt and a pair of suspenders! I also got a new chair cushion for my desk chair. It’s so uncomfortable at times. 

When we finished in the shop we went to the nearby hardware store. F got a plant pot of carnations for his mother for tomorrow (mother’s day) and looked at fish. From there, we decided to have a drink.

We headed to Cafe B-Flat for a drink. F did one of his weird things where he just took every wrong turn that he could! I was giving him directions at the end to get him back on track. We had a drink each and also a piece of mango shortcake. That was very nice. My drink was an iced cafe latte. It wasn’t decaf but it was good. F just had blend coffee. 

Although time was getting a bit short, F and I headed over to DCM so he could get some car shampoo. While he was there, he also picked up some tomato plants. K is so in love with mini-tomatoes and they cost more than you’d expect in summer.

Finally, we went back to the house. I went upstairs and F waited downstairs for his mother. Around 6 pm F made dinner for her and then we talked about where to go. I came up with the idea of going to Foodever again. We haven’t been there in ages and I was hoping that the newish Indonesian restaurant would be open. 

We drove to Marica and F parked the car. We went downstairs to the restaurants  and there was really only one open, so we went there. I had promised F that if the prices were too high we could leave, but honestly, they weren’t bad. F had a ginger pork steak which came with rice, salad and soup…I had pork and mixed herbs pasta in an oil sauce. It was very nice, but I did feel that F got a lot more food than I did!

Next up for us, we went to a drugstore to use the washrooms…for some reason, the washrooms at Foodever aren’t open and they were directing people to another building! Say what?! F bought some tape at the drugstore, then we went on to the grocery store.

We bought a few things at the grocery store and then came back to the house. I unpacked the groceries and I went upstairs. I got ready to take a shower and then went back downstairs with my towel. 

I came back to the room and then watched tonight’s episode of FBI. I thought it was a good one, but a bit sad. It was about a clinic which stole people’s babies and adopted them out for a fee. They told the people the babies died. Sad as I said.

Since midnight I’ve been doing my end of day computer things and getting ready to go to bed. Tomorrow we have the social worker in charge of K in the early afternoon, then F and I will have to get in our groceries for the coming week. I’m hoping that we will be able to do something else fun but we’ll see. 

That’s about it for me for today. I’m really tired now so I’m off. Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

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….