May 22, 2026

Friday - Sunny but cool

I woke up early this morning. F was up around 6:30 I think and woke me up somehow. I had to make a trip downstairs and then went back to bed. I said a sleepy goodbye to F and then fell asleep after a while. 

I dragged myself out of bed later, dressed and went downstairs. Back in the room I sorted some laundry and took two loads downstairs. I started the first and then grabbed my breakfast. I took it upstairs to eat.  

I did my two loads of laundry and they are now hanging up in my room. I live such an exciting life!

I had a fairly quiet afternoon with too much Youtube. I did go downstairs a little early today to get my lunch. While I ate I watched an episode of Matlock. It’s getting too complicated with double-crosses and such….Argh. I hope they get this stuff over soon. 

I watched some of the final Late Night with Stephen Colbert on YouTube during the day and evening. I am so sad that the show was ended. Colbert is such an excellent host and comedian. I have really enjoyed watching this intelligent, decent human being over the last few years. I hope that he has a successful next venture. 

F called around 5:30 tonight and a few minutes later I went downstairs to the kitchen. I did dishes and I also wasted a bit of time, but whatever. Tonight we had pasta with a white wine clam sauce. It was actually quite good. I’m not a huge clam fan, but it was good. All the pasta disappeared which is nice. 

I did the dishes after dinner, listening to my movie podcast and also my CBC News podcast. They talked a lot about Stephen Colbert too. 

I went upstairs around 9pm, watched some YouTube and drank some tea. I took a shower at 10:30 and then watched The Boys when I finished that. The things they get away with on that show, I can’t quite believe it. I spend my time laughing at it, but it is so terrible!

And that’s about it. Since midnight I’ve been catching up on my end of day stuff. I’ve had to run the heater up here as it really was quite cold. It’s around 19 degrees in here without it. 

Tomorrow F has to have his car’s Shakken done…it’s a big car check to make sure it is roadworthy still. The car is only three years old or so, so it should be fine. It costs a lot though. I’ll have to be at the house while he’s doing it so that I can welcome K back from her day care. She’ll love that!

There’s a festival downtown too tomorrow night, but I don’t know if we’ll go or not. Parking is the big problem, plus the buses don’t run at night. It’s really too far to walk.

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

May 21, 2026

Thursday - Rainy and cooler

Before bed last night I closed the window in our room. Good thing as it got rainy during the night and a lot cooler.

This morning I woke up when my alarm went off. F was long gone. I did my usual thing of going downstairs and then came back to the room. I watched some videos for a little while and then fell asleep. I finally dragged myself out of bed a couple of hours later. I got dressed and then went downstairs and brought my breakfast things up to the room.

Last night I checked out the movie that NHK was going to show today and I used my phone to translate what it was. It turns out that it was Somewhere in Time, the old movie with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. I recorded it to watch later. I watched the first 15 or so minutes of it…Christopher Reeve was so darn good looking! I’ll probably watched it tomorrow night or whenever.

I went downstairs and grabbed my lunch and then came back to the room to eat. It was a bit late again, so I watched more of One Mississippi. 

F didn’t call me around 5 pm because he had texted me after 4 to tell me that he was still on a driving assignment.  I was watching the news and there was a reporter with the name of Will Reeve. He had the classic all-American look so I did a little checking and it was Christopher Reeve’s son. I’m sure I’ve seen him before, but I just hadn’t clocked who he is. And seeing a few minutes of his father when he was really young put him in my mind so that was cool.

I went downstairs before 6 pm to make dinner. Tonight I was a busy person in the kitchen. I made a cucumber pickle thing and then a stir-fry. We also had some potato salad and a salad. When F was eating the stir-fry he said something about how he was surprised that I liked vegetables so much!  Huh? I often give the two of them tons of veggies as I know we are supposed to eat less meat. Anyway, dinner was good and most of it disappeared. I have some for tomorrow’s lunch, so that’s nice.

I did the dishes and then went upstairs to change. F and I went to the grocery store and went inside in the rain. It really was pouring. We got our groceries, got something for F’s and K’s breakfasts and stuff for dinner. F paid and then we left. I suggested that F bring the car closer to the door and he did. I made a dash to the car with the groceries and didn’t get too wet!

We also stopped into the drugstore on the way back to the house. I stayed in the car though, and had a big moan about how F and I never really seem to be simpatico. Even after 25 years together, we never seem to understand what the other person wants or needs. It drives me crazy.

We came back to the house, I put the groceries away and we headed upstairs. I watched a bit of YouTube and then at 11pm I watched the last episode of The Rainmaker. I don’t know if there’ll be more of the show, I liked what there was.

I turned off the TV and watched a lot more YouTube. I didn’t do any of my column today, so I’ll have to try and do a bit tomorrow. I’ll also have to do some laundry tomorrow as I need some clean clothes to wear!

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

May 20, 2026

Wednesday - Warm and cloudy.

I woke up this morning when my alarm went off. F had already left for work. I got up and went downstairs, came back to bed and ended up falling asleep again. I tried watching some videos on my phone first, but fell asleep. When I woke up, they were still playing!

I got up, dressed and went downstairs. I grabbed my breakfast and then I came back upstairs and ate. I watched quite a few YouTube videos and relaxed. I did send my sister an email today. She was here last year at this time and it is really bittersweet that it’s been a whole year since I’ve seen her.

Later in the afternoon I went downstairs to make my lunch. I came back upstairs with it and watched an episode of Breaking Bad while I ate. I feel like I didn’t pay enough attention to it though. 

After the news and more YouTube videos I didn’t get a call from F. I went downstairs at my usual time and made a carrot and cucumber salad and put it in the fridge to meld flavours. Then, I did the dishes. F finally called around 6:30. He’d had driving assignments today and finished late. He said he was on his way back, so I got dinner more underway. Today I did a packet from the store with seaweed (hijiki) and chicken. It was really nice and almost all of it disappeared. F didn’t really like the carrot and cucumber salad as he doesn’t like raw carrots very much. He says they are hard to digest. 

I did the dishes and then when I finished them, did up the garbage in the kitchen and bathroom. For some reason I forgot some of K’s garbage, but apart from that, I got the rest done too. F helped with stuff in the living room and K’s room. 

After I finished, I went upstairs to relax. F stayed downstairs for a while, but came up a bit later. I went downstairs after 10:15 and took a shower. I came back to our room before 11pm and watched The Irrational. It was all about Little Shop of Horrors and it was quite fun. 

I turned off the TV at midnight and went back to YouTube. I worked on my end of day stuff and I’ll be heading off to bed in a little bit. 

I’m not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow, hopefully writing more for my column. Come back later if you like and read all about my day. Until tomorrow…. 

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….