Saturday - Cold and snowy, then clearing
I woke up fairly early this morning, then went back to sleep for a while. I woke up again around 8:30 and F got up then basically. He went downstairs and checked the snow situation. The snowplough had gone down the road, so our entrance was blocked and there was a lot of snow out there.
He went outside to shovel snow, I got up and started to get dressed to go out and help him. However, he came back into our room and was already finished. Oh dear. Yay for me, too bad for him. He went downstairs after a minute or two to make breakfast for his mother, I went downstairs a little later to grab my yogurt and cereal. After I ate, I started to get dressed as we were losing time.
F, K and I drove out to his uncle’s house and attended the funeral. It took place in his house. There were three priests and quite a lot of family. Fumihiko’s aunt (wife of the deceased man) seemed to be happy to see me and I was glad to see that she was holding up. His other aunt came over to me and said she was glad to meet me, but we met quite a few years ago!
There was a lot of praying and chanting by the priests and a bit of confusion for me! Fumihiko and I sat on a bench at the back of the room, and K and F’s sister and her husband sat on chairs at the back too. F couldn’t sit on tatami and I can’t sit seiza so that was a good solution for us.
After the funeral was over, we gave a ride to one of F’s distant relatives, sort of a cousin once removed or something. He lived out in Kamo, on a very narrow, snowy street!
We drove back to Tsuruoka and I’m afraid I napped rather a lot on the way back! When we arrived, the snowplough had been through AGAIN and had blocked the entrance to the parking space. F tried to drive over it, but it had hardened so I told him not to. He got out and grabbed a shovel, and the new neighbour came over with a snow dump and helped clear a path for K and I. I got her in the house and then came back a bit to try to help, but they had already finished.
We brought in the “goodies” we were given at the end of the funeral. We got some cakes, some common kitchen things like soy sauce, mayonnaise, and consommé and two huge bentos.
I went upstairs to change and then came down to the kitchen with some tea. We decided to have one of the bentos right away. To be honest, there was enough food in one of those containers for the three of us! I served some of my favourite Decaf Carol tea with our meal.
After we finished, I did the dishes which took a surprising length of time, and then I went upstairs. F came up just after me and we decided that we’d go out. I wanted the chance to get F some kind of Christmas present. He hadn’t got me anything either, so we went over to Mikawa.
We drove to Mikawa and did some shopping. I bought F some clothes and a belt, with him okaying what I bought. Then, we went over to the ladies department and he pulled a few things for me to try on. He picked things that I wouldn’t normally pick for myself but he did rather well. He ended up getting me a couple of shirts and a long open cardigan that I wouldn’t have chosen for myself. Yay F!
We took the clothes out to the car and then came back into the mall and went to Mr Donut. We had some of the cafe au lait and a doughnut each. It was nice, and we needed the break!
When we finished we tried to get into the drugstore area, but it was already blocked off. I asked F if we could look at the grocery store, so we did. I looked at their cheese section and I ended up buying a few cheeses. Some of them were on sale, so that was very nice! We picked up a few other things and then left the mall.
We talked about dinner and I suggested a few places that F might like. However, we drove by a yakiniku place, and F decided that we should go there! We did and we had a very nice meal. It wasn’t too expensive either.
After that, we came back to the house and relaxed. K had already gone to bed so F and I came upstairs after putting away the food.
I had my tea from my Advent Calendar. Today it was Earl Grey, the regular one. It was very nice but as I’d already had a lot of caffeine tonight, I could only have one cup. I also watched an episode of Criminal Minds: Evolution. It was quite a good one.
Anyway, that’s about it for the evening. Tomorrow F has a massage and I’m hoping to go and get a few things at S-Mall and maybe get some good food for our Christmas Dinner. I got some today, and hope to get the rest tomorrow!
Come back later if you like and hear what I get up to on Christmas Eve! Until tomorrow….
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