May 19, 2026

Tuesday - Terribly hot and sunny

Last night before going to bed, I started to go downstairs. I heard K downstairs so I waited for a few minutes for her to go back to bed, but she didn’t. She had left the living room door open and the TV was on and blaring away with sumo on it. It was rather weird. She finally went back to the living room so I flipped the switch on the stairs and turned on the light. When I got downstairs there were no lights on in the living room and no TV noises either. 

I came back upstairs and went to bed. I fell asleep fairly soon after that. I woke up in the morning when I heard F get a little upset. He’d forgotten to set his alarm before bed and had overslept. He hurriedly got dressed and then left the house. I fell back asleep but did wake up when my alarm went off!

I went downstairs and then I went back up to the room. I gave myself a pedicure and then went back to sleep. I dragged myself out of bed a couple of hours later.

I went downstairs and put the meat for dinner in a marinade and then went back upstairs. I sorted laundry and then I brought two loads worth downstairs to wash.  I got them both done and hung up in my room. I had my breakfast and then I took a nap. I was really tired, it was hot and I had time. I snoozed for around an hour. 

When I woke up, I went downstairs and made my lunch. I brought it up to the room to eat. I watched an episode of One Mississippi while I ate too.

After 5:30 F called to say he was on his way back to the house so I went downstairs. I did my dishes and then got a start on dinner. 

Tonight I made steamed carrots in the microwave and coro-coro steak in the air fryer. I also had used part of an onion on Thursday so I threw the rest of it in the air fryer tonight. I got dinner ready almost on time but F took ages to come downstairs. 

Dinner was good though!

After dinner I did the dishes and listened to a couple of podcasts, particularly the CBC news and then Abroad in Japan. 

F and I went out to the Mina Grocery store. I went in and did the shopping. I was looking at bean sprouts of all things when someone came close to me and started speaking. It was F! He’d come in to buy his adult beverage and scared me silly. I really jumped when he did that. It was fine!

I did discover afterwards that I had forgotten to buy my cheese slices and there was something else, but it’ll be okay. I bought the groceries and then came back to the car.

F and I came back to the house and I put away the groceries. I headed upstairs then and got ready to watch Law & Order at 11pm. It was fine.

And that was about it for my day. Tomorrow I have to get started on my column and if I have time, I’ll try and write to my best friend!

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

May 18, 2026

Monday - Hot and Sunny

I went to bed a little late and then stayed up even later doing my reading.  I did have a hard time getting to sleep…F had a restless legs thing going on. I grabbed his hand, hoping that would settle him, but it didn’t. 

I woke up quite early again this morning. F was awake too, playing games on his phone. I am not sure if he is making noise that wakes me up , or what is happening. I made a trip downstairs and then came back to bed. I fell asleep too and woke up again before 9 am. I got up and this time stayed up.

I got dressed and ate my sandwich. I packed my backpack and then a bit after 10 am I went downstairs. I used the ‘loo and then left the house. I walked to the bus stop and then waited a few minutes. It was a couple of minutes late today, nothing serious. 

I rode the bus to my stop and then got off. I walked to the drugstore and bought some rooibos tea for myself, an onigiri and a few things from the hundred yen section.

I walked back to the cinema, bought my ticket and went in. Today I saw Song Sung Blue and I really enjoyed it. I am a huge Neil Diamond fan and there was so much music in this film that was written by Neil. It was a bit sad in places and I did have tears all down my face at the end of the movie, but I did enjoy the movie and thought that Kate Hudson did an excellent job. 

After the movie I put on my sun hat and got out my parasol too. I walked over to the post office and bought some stamps for myself. After that, I decided to catch a bus to the mall. The bad thing was that my usual stop didn’t have buses coming for 40 minutes or more, so I walked to another bus stop and caught one in about 20 minutes. I rode the bus to the mall. The route was different than I was used to so that was cool as well.

At the mall I first had lunch. I went to Pizza Hut Express…where they told me it would be about 30 minutes for my order! How is that “express?” I had a mini pizza with cheese and potato and corn on it, fries and a couple of chicken nuggets with that. When I finished that I went over to Baskin Robbins and had a small double cup. Today’s flavours were caramel pretzel and Jamoca Almond Fudge. The caramel pretzel needed more pretzels and maybe some salt too.

I left the mall on the second last bus to our house. I went the long way, but got back about 20 minutes before the other one would have got me here, so no worries. I came into the house and went upstairs. I was so hot that I stripped off my outdoors stuff right away. 

F called after 5 pm and I went downstairs just before 6 pm. Tonight in the kitchen I was a bit busy. I made hamburgers from scratch, I used a spice packet on some broccoli and I also did fries in the air fryer. I actually had to turf F out of the kitchen at one point because he wanted to chat and I needed to prep!

We had dinner a few minutes after 7 pm and it was good. Most of the food disappeared. I reminded F that he’d bought some choco-buns on the weekend and their best before date was today. He decided to serve them for a dessert. It was a nice bite.

I did the dishes and listened to my podcasts. I enjoyed them a lot. I was a bit tired, but I got things done. I let F know I was done and was going upstairs, and then did. 

Around 10:30 I had a shower and this time it was warm, but it took a long time to get warm!

I came back upstairs and watched an episode of Dick Turpin from Apple TV and it was okay. I’ve never really vibed with that show but do laugh at it. 

Since midnight I’ve been working on my end of days things and half falling asleep. I’m really tired so I’m going to end this. Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow…. 

May 17, 2026

Sunday - Hot and sunny, but a bit hazy

Today was a good day. We were a bit busy for part of it too. 

I woke up just before 10 am and went downstairs. I did try to go back to bed when I came back upstairs, but F came in a few minutes later and basically wouldn’t let me just sleep! He phoned the restaurant in Fujishima to see if we could get in today. We could, so he made a reservation for noon and a few minutes later I got dressed. We left the house around 11:30 and drove to the restaurant. We were a couple of minutes late, but I think we were fine. 

We had a very nice meal, we both had the ginger pork set meal. F didn’t like his as much as I did, but I thought it was nice. We had a table by the window into the garden so we had a lovely view. After we paid and left, we headed back into Tsuruoka proper.

We had a glass of iced tea or a cup of coffee at Cafe Studio Cinq. It was nice to go there after a long time. We hit the tail end of their lunch time but we only wanted our drinks as we’d just eaten. 

We went to a bank so F could get some money and then I reminded him I needed to go to the conbini. I made a deposit to my Suica card. It was getting a bit low with all of the travel I’ve done recently. 

I asked F if we could pop into a store near the convenience store and he said yes. It was one that I’ve never been in before, I’ve been in another branch but not that particular store before. It’s one of those old fashioned Japanese stores that sells everything. You can buy clothes, food, home goods, and even plants for your garden…all at reasonable prices. I wanted to buy a cheap black cotton T-shirt to mend a pair of pyjamas with. Well, it took me less than three minutes to find one, and then another 30 minutes to leave the store! F found a uniform top for himself, some small beer glasses and a few other things. I got myself some mikan flavoured rooibos tea for half the price I would get somewhere else and I found they had a bunch of craft goods that were half price. I got myself a Tunisian crochet hook for something like 350yen. Next time I want to make something in the round and need new double pointed knitting needles or needles with cord between them, I know where I’m going to look for them. F bought some plants for the garden too.

We came back to the house. I put away some of our stuff and F planted his plants in his planters. I went upstairs for a bit of a relaxing time and F came up a bit later.

I was sitting on the chair that F tried to fix last night. I leaned back a little in the chair and there was a loud crack! Yikes. It’s kind of broken. Dear F went downstairs and got me another chair and it is so much better. It isn’t wiggly like the first one. I feel a lot more secure on this chair. 

F made his mother some dinner around 6:30 and a bit later we went out. We left after 7:15, after a bit of discussion about where to go. F wouldn’t suggest anything so I ran a few places past him. We finally agreed on sushi and drove over to Kappa Sushi. I made him wait a bit and I think I was right to do so. We got in right away and the food didn’t take too long to arrive. 

We had a good meal and a lot of different types of fish and some deep fried foods too. It was fairly decent and I didn’t feel like I ate too much afterwards. 

We followed up dinner with some shopping for tomorrow’s dinner. We went to the nearby grocery store and I bought stuff for breakfasts and dinner too. Tomorrow I’m going to do hamburgers and fries. Yay me. We got a bunch of stuff and F bought some of his adult beverage. 

We also hit up the nearby drugstore and I picked up some personal stuff. I got new shampoo and laundry detergent. I forgot to buy that last time I was in the store. 

We came back to the house and I put away the food and the detergent. F and I headed upstairs and got changed into our pyjamas. Then, we did something that we’ve been meaning to do for ages. We changed the bottom sheet on the bed. It takes a bit of work as the bed is big and F has a lot of things right next to his side of the bed. 

F went to bed soon after and I watched a couple of TV programmes on streaming. I watched an episode of Evil that was fairly gruesome and then the next episode of Margo’s Got Money Troubles. Nicole Kidman was in this one and she was quite funny. 

That’s about it. Since the TV went off, I’ve watched a bit of YouTube and worked on my blog and other end of day things. 

Tomorrow I’m planning to go off to see a movie in the morning and then probably have lunch out. I’ve been jonesing for Indian food, but sadly the place I can get to tomorrow isn’t my favourite. Still, naan is naan!

And that’s it. Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

May 16, 2026

Saturday - Hot and sunny

I woke up early when F woke up…It was 6 something am. I went back to sleep. I did get up and make a washroom trip around 8:30. F and K were still in the house.

I went back to sleep for a bit. F came back in the room around 10:15 and suggested going for breakfast but I said no! I wanted to take a shower this morning. I got up a bit later, did take my shower and then got dressed. F and I decided to do something a little different today. We went to Blackbird Market for lunch. It’s a nice restaurant in Tsuruoka. I’ve been a few times. It’s a little expensive compared to the places we usually go, but very nice. 

For our lunches, F chose the starters lunch. We got a small salad and a few hors d’oeuvres, including an omelette, a crispy rice ball, some chicken and some mushrooms. There were other things too and they were all delicious. For our mains, F had a paella with  kinkaton pork and I had garlic rice with kinkaton pork. F liked his, I liked mine, but did find it a bit too salty. I think they had salted the meat before cooking or something. I would have it again, but might ask for less salt!

After lunch, F suggested driving to Fujishima to see the wisteria. I was fine with that. In Fujishima, we first up found a post office so that I could mail off my postcards. I wrote two up yesterday so that was good. 

We finally found Hisu Park and went for a walk through the wisteria. It was beautiful there. We could hear the bees buzzing. They were hard at work and not bothering the people walking underneath the flowers. There were quite a few colours of wisteria and the scent was gorgeous too.

After the park, we made a quick stop to get some Japanese sweets for K (and us!) and then headed back to Tsuruoka proper. F took us over to Komeda for coffee and that was nice. I had an iced decaf and F had his usual blend coffee. 

We went back to the house after this and waited for K to return. F stayed downstairs, I came upstairs to chill out. After a bit, F came up for a rest, but went back downstairs around 7 pm to make his mother’s dinner. 

We didn’t go out until 8:30. I had suggested going to Gusto as I wanted some fries and no rice for my dinner. F didn’t like my suggestion but couldn’t come up with one of his own! 

Finally we drove over to Gusto and found a table. F had a kara-age set meal and I had a mixed grill. We shared an order of fries and we both had the drink bar too. My dinner was nice and I enjoyed it. When we left, I used my senior discount to reduce the cost and then cashed in a bunch of my points to reduce the price of dinner. Yay for me.

We made a fairly long trek through the nearby grocery store to get food for K’s breakfast. We paid and then came back to the house. I headed upstairs and then a few minutes later F came up. I checked the bottom of my chair up here and noticed that it was bolted together rather than just glued. I asked F if he could tighten the bolts sometime. Well, of course he decided to do it tonight! It took a while, but to be fair, it is much better and I really do appreciate it. I watched FBI which was quite an involved one about a Prison riot. It was good.

And that’s about it. F went to bed around midnight or a bit later and I’m still up, but I’m quite tired. I’m not exactly sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow. We’ll have to do the usual shopping and getting ready for the week ahead. I hope that we’re also able to enjoy the day together. 

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

May 15, 2026

Friday - Warm and Sunny, muggy in the am

I woke up before F left this morning. He was in the room dressing when I woke up. I’m not sure why I woke up, but I did. I went downstairs and then came back to the room. F left and I went back to bed!

I got up a few hours later and dressed. I went downstairs and then came back up to the room. I sorted out my laundry and then took it downstairs and started the washing machine. I grabbed my breakfast and brought it back upstairs.

I ate my breakfast, hung up my laundry and then decided that I’d write a couple of postcards for Postcrossing. I got them ready before lunch.

I went downstairs to make my lunch and brought that upstairs. I watched an episode of Elsbeth while I ate, it was the episode with Stephen Colbert in it and it was rather funny. 

I watched a bit of the news and then waited for F to call. He called after 5 and said he’d stop at a store to get some food for his mother’s breakfast. 

I went downstairs to start on dinner. It was a simple dinner tonight and everything went well. When F arrived I asked him to pick the pasta sauce and he chose carbonara. No worries. He went upstairs to relax and I got into the cooking thing. Tonight we had pasta with carbonara sauce, ham, salad and after F’s ice cream that he bought for us.  It was all good.

I did the dishes after dinner and then went upstairs.  I watched a bit of YouTube and then decided I’d watch something on streaming. I watched an episode of The Boys and after that the last episode of The Big Door Prize. I’m sad that it was the last episode as I feel there should have been more story. I liked the characters and want to know what else happened to them!

I turned off the TV after midnight and then started doing my end of day things. I’m going to head to bed soon. It wasn’t a terribly long day, but I’m a bit tired and need some sleep!

I hope that we’ll have a good day tomorrow but I can’t be sure. Come back later and find out. Until tomorrow….

May 14, 2026

Thursday - Cloudy and cooler

I woke up after F left this morning, but quite a while before my alarm was due to go off. I came back upstairs and went back to bed and had a snooze. I did get up a bit earlier than yesterday. Yay. 

I went downstairs after dressing and checked the mail. After that, I measured out my yogurt and brought it upstairs. I had breakfast and while I was watching YouTube I got a reminder that there was a book club meeting online later in the afternoon. Ooh. I’d forgotten!

I was expecting a delivery today and I kept hearing the van outside. It was never there!

I joined my Book Club and it was nice. There weren’t too many people there, so it was a nice size. I talked about what I am reading now, what I just finished and got a talking to by the lead for putting myself down for reading a couple of romances! I know she’s right, but I still feel that I’m wasting my degree by not reading classics and good stuff.  However, to be fair to myself, I have read 1984 this year and I’m also reading an Ondaatje when I go to the doctor’s office. And, if the books I read annoy me too much, I stop reading them! 

I had to leave Book Club a bit early as I needed to eat lunch! I went downstairs and made my lunch, then brought it back to the room to eat. I watched an episode of Matlock and enjoyed that too. 

During my lunch time the delivery did arrive so I made a mad dash downstairs and actually received my box. Yay. I brought it upstairs and continued with my lunch!

F called after 5 and said he was on his way back. I went downstairs a bit later but he was here before I got started on the dishes! The thing was, during washing the dishes, I realized that there was no more hot water. I texted him and asked if he’d refilled the tank’s kerosene in a while. He hadn’t. He came back downstairs and filled up the tank for me. Yay. 

Tonight I made chicken drumsticks in the air fryer, cucumber pickle stuff and I also made some mushroom fried rice. That meant that dinner was rather late tonight. Oh dear. F came downstairs before I called him, probably wondering what was wrong. I asked him to take the plates out to the table and he didn’t understand me. Did he really not understand or was he trying to get out of doing anything to help? I haven’t figured it out yet.

We also had regular rice and some salad. Dinner was quite good and we all ate quite a bit.

I did the dishes afterwards. There were quite a lot so it took me ages tonight. I finally got it done and it was around 9 pm.  I talked to F and told him that I thought we would have to go to MaxValu as I wouldn’t be able to go to Mina in time to do a proper shop. He didn’t understand at first. I think he wasn’t really listening. He also wasn’t feeling that great.

I got changed and then F had to run upstairs and get his wallet! We finally left for MaxValu and I went inside and did the shopping. F stayed in the car, as I said, he didn’t feel that well tonight. Poor thing.

We came back to the house when I finished and I put away the groceries. I headed upstairs and at 11pm I watched The Rainmaker. I quite like this show. I think it might be ending next week though. Or soon. 

That’s about it for me for today. Tomorrow I’ll be doing some laundry and we’ll see what else I can get up to. 

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