December 1, 2024

Sunday - Rainy at times, cool and clear at others


Well, today turned out okay, believe it or not. I went to bed at my usual time, late again. However, I had set my alarm for 9 am. I got up, went to the washroom and then came back to bed after that. F got up and made breakfast for his mother.  I got up and got dressed and then spent some time at my computer. At 10 am F came back in the room and asked me if we could go to Yamagata! We decided to go. He had eaten and I had bought myself a sandwich last night, so we found the Costco bags and our cooler and put them all in the car. We started out on our way.


There was quite a bit of snow on the ground in the mountains, but the roads were good and clear. We made really good time and took a break at the Sagae rest stop as usual. They are completely redoing the washrooms on the usual side that we use, so we sneaked over to the other side of the building and used those new washrooms. They were nice! Everything has been redone and is bright and shiny. There is one problem though, there aren’t enough sinks. In the women’s side, there are about 5 cubicles, one regular sink, and one lower sink for wheelchair users or children. That’s not a lot.


F bought some croissants at the bakery and then we continued on our way. I had hoped to stop in at a couple of stores on the way to Costco as we usually do, but we didn’t. We did stop and have lunch at our usual yakiniku place. It was really good. We each had a bibinba and some meat, plus a drink. F added on extra meat for himself. I don’t like organ meat generally, so skipped that. 


When we finished we headed straight to Costco. It was busy so took a little while to find a parking space. We had to park on the roof which was a change. We were also much earlier than we usually are so had more people to deal with.


F gave me some money (not much) to go shopping with. I was a tad perturbed that we’d come and didn’t have a lot of money but would try and make it work. I could kick in a little if necessary. We went in and walked around for a bit. F got tired and went to have a seat, then came back when he couldn’t find one. I’m a little mean, but I’m the kind of person who goes down every aisle looking at stuff. They move goods so often here, that it is hard to find things otherwise. He got tired and left. He didn’t come back so obviously found a seat. 


I got most of the stuff on my list. Sadly, they didn’t seem to have any of my Havarti cheese at all today, but I got something else instead. I hope it’s good. F had picked up a couple of things for the car and himself, I was a bit salty that those things had to come out of my budget, so F had increased it a little. 


I got some pineapple spears, some radishes, some guacamole, smoked sliced chicken for my lunches, bachelor pack rice, potatoes, and a few treats for me (that I sometimes share). 


I paid and met up with F. Usually, we take everything to the car and pack it away, then come back in and have a snack and a drink. Well, he didn’t want to do that. So, I parked the cart behind him and went and bought myself a drink and got an ice cream. Today’s flavour was a sweet potato ice cream and it was surprisingly nice. I had the mixed version with vanilla. 


We headed back out of town after we loaded the food in the car. We stopped a couple of times for washroom breaks and then got back to Tsuruoka. 


In Tsuruoka, after much questioning from me, and no answer from F, decided to eat first. I suggested Gusto and that’s where we went. It wasn’t very late at the time, around 6:30 I think. We got a table and I decided to have their fancy meal and would even pay for it if F was upset about it. He wasn’t. He ordered curry. My meal was quite nice. I had some starters, some cauliflower soup (very nice), my main was a very good hamburger patty in a nice gravy with mashed potato (needed more) plus a boiled egg in red wine. I chose a baguette to come with it, and then the dessert was a blancmange with hazelnuts on top. It was nice, but nothing too special. I really enjoyed my meal, F liked his curry. 







We left and then went to Mina shopping center to do more grocery shopping. The regular kind. F again didn’t give me very much money so I kept myself reined in and only bought what I strictly needed so came in under budget. 


We came back to the house where we unloaded the car and put things away. I refilled our kerosene tank and then F carried it upstairs for me. Yay! We had a fairly quiet evening, nothing too exciting happened. 


I decided to watch a movie off the DVR and watched The Accountant, the movie with Ben Affleck. I’ve seen it before, it’s a bit of a favourite for me. 


And that’s it. My day turned out much better than I thought it would. I’m not sure how F is doing and I’m a bit worried about him if I’m honest. I’m worried about a lot of things at the moment. 


Coming up this week I’m hoping to maybe get my hair cut and I have to send out my greeting cards as well. First, I have to write them! Wish me luck with that. Oh, and the Christmas tree. I’d like to put it up soon as well. 


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

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