January 13, 2019

Sunday - Cool but clear

We went to bed terribly late last night. In fact, when I finished up my blogging last night, I crawled into bed, put on my eye mask and fell asleep. F was still up, playing with his phone. I’m not sure how much later he came to bed.

This morning I got up around 9:20. It should have been earlier, but I just couldn’t do it!  I got dressed, checked my email, that kind of thing. I even had my breakfast.

F and I left the house around 10 am and made our way to the Oyama Nature Centre. We met my friend a few minutes later.  We all went for a walk for a bit, but one of her children thought it was too cold, so we gave up and went inside.  We had a lovely visit, even though the children needed their mother a lot!

If you click on this to make it bigger, you might see a white heron in the grass!

After a bit the centre was getting a little crowded, so we decided to go and have lunch. We drove into Tsuruoka and we all went to Komeda Coffee for lunch. It was a bit fun for us, but I’m not sure if the people around us enjoyed it as much!  The kids were actually quite good, but they did like to look over the seats to see the people at the next table. 

We spent quite a while there. It was nice to chat, but it was hard to get into anything resembling a deep conversation, but maybe that was a good thing!

We finally had to split up the party. My friend took her children and left, F and I went over to Yamaya to pick up a few things. I got some tea, some beans in cans, some pasta sauce, and some junk food with F. He got himself some beer too.  

We swung by the house to drop off our stuff and check on F’s mother. She was fine, but she hadn’t eaten yet. I think F coaxed her to eat something. I went upstairs and regrouped for a few minutes.

F talked about going out for food before the concert but suggested places I really wasn’t interested in visiting. Finally, I just asked that we go to the convenience store. I would pick up something to drink there and also something light. I got some veggie sticks and an onigiri.  I shared the veggies with F, but I did eat most of them. It was perfect. I don’t always need a meal!

We drove down to the aquarium and went in just at 5 pm.  We walked through the place and there have been a few changes. I think that most of the jellyfish have been changed. They look smaller, so maybe some died over the New Years Break? I don’t know. Anyway, it was interesting to see again. We didn’t have to wait to see the tanks either which was great. 

From inside the aquarium, looking out at the ocean, with the reflection of a Torii Gate on the glass.

Jellyfish!

Jellyfish or smoke? You decide.

Looks a bit like someone in a space helmet I think.

At 5:45 we got in line for the concert then I left to use the washroom. When I came back, F had found us two seats near the front. I settled in and wrapped my wrap around my legs. I am so glad I brought it as it was freezing in the concert room.  I had to wear my coat too.  Today’s concert was quite good. It wasn’t as good as the first two I saw there, but I did enjoy it. It was a Jazz Guitar Trio.

When it was over, F and I drove back into Tsuruoka. We talked about dinner and F persisted in wanting fish. Then, when I agreed to one of his places, he tried to change it. I said that if the place we agreed on was full or closed, we could try one of the other places. He was suggesting meat places, but these days he is having a hard time eating meat.  Anyway, the place was fine, and we went in. I had some gindara and miso soup, F had Keisen-don and we shared some avocado/tuna/shrimp salad and some tamagoyaki that F picked. He always picks it and I am so underwhelmed by it. It isn’t anything special, so why does he order it? We have such different tastes.

After our meal, we came back to the house and just vegged. I watched a bit of TV, but F went to bed fairly early. I’m planning to go soon though.  It’s not nearly as late as it was last night! 

Not sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow and sadly we don’t have many plans. Come back later and see how we do. Until tomorrow….