May 3, 2025

Saturday - Sunny and warm, rain at night

I went to bed a little late and then woke up in the morning when F was getting up. I slept a bit longer but got up a few minutes before my usual alarm. I didn’t stay up though. F took his mother to her Day Service and then came back to the room. We had a snuggle for a while and then F suggested that we go out for lunch. 

His first suggestion was his Eel restaurant but I reminded him that it is NEVER open on Saturday mornings and that it is Golden Week so it is doubly certain that it wouldn’t be open! He then suggested Naa and I thought that was a good idea. We haven’t been in ages. I suggested that F make a reservation as it is a few km outside of the city. He did that and booked us in for 40 minutes from then. I got dressed quickly!

We left the house and got in the very hot car! An older lady was walking past the house and she came over to talk to F. It seems that she knows K and was wondering how she was. F and the lady chatted for a while. She lives down the road I think. It’s nice that people remember K.

We went to Naa and went in. As always, the restaurant is a little slow. The food is good, but it takes a while. And then, when F’s food showed up, they had brought him the wrong fish! It took about 10 minutes for them to bring the correct fish out after they cooked it! Sad to say, we were given some cane chairs and they were a little uncomfortable. They weren’t made for people with hips! I didn’t feel too bad as F wasn’t comfortable either. 

After our meal, we went for a drive. F suggested going off to Sui, a cafe that looks out on Mt. Chokai. I was fine with that, but I was worried that it would take a while. We had to be back before 4:30 to let her in the house. We drove to Sui, but made a pit stop at a Roadside Stop. F bought some radish seeds too. 

We arrived at Sui and went in. As always, the view is phenomenal. We could see for miles. The mountain was gorgeous today, and because it was sunny it was just beautiful outside. F watched videos or something and I read a bit of my book while we drank our drinks. I had a genmai coffee that was interesting, F had a real ginger ale!

My Genmai coffee soy latte with maple syrup

The view out the window in front of me. That's Mount Chokai.

We had to leave after a while. F wanted to visit another Michi-no-eki (Roadside stop). I was worried about time, but F wanted to go to the washroom and the bakery. So, that’s what we did. At the bakery, we picked up a couple of treats for F and I. We also got a nice treat for K so that was good!

We left the Roadside area and came back to Tsuruoka. It took a while if I’m honest. The roads were quite busy today. We arrived at the house and F parked. I was still in the car when the Day Service’s van drove up. We made it. Whew!

We welcomed her back and a few minutes later, I went upstairs. F joined me a while later. He went downstairs a bit later and made K some fried rice for dinner. He asked about our dinner and we weren’t hungry quite yet, so we waited a bit.

For dinner tonight I suggested either a gyudon shop or curry. F liked the gyudon idea. Around 7:30 we left the house and drove over to the newest gyudon place. I had decided I wanted tonkatsu but when we got there, it was all sold out. Oh dear. Instead I ordered a chicken cutlet set. F got gyudon. His was too big, mine was a little small I thought. 

We visited a grocery store to pick up something for  K’s breakfast. I got some coffee creamers and garbage bags. Yay me! 

We came back to the house and just had a relaxing evening. I sent my sister an email and I wrote up an entry on GoodReads. I also watched the first episode of the new Colin Firth show, Lockerbie. I was rather nervous about watching it because I remember Lockerbie and being so upset about the people who died on the ground as well as in the aeroplane. Honestly, I almost turned it off when they showed the crashed plane. It was distressing. The acting was really good though.

And, more or less, that was it for my day. It was quite a good one. We had a nice drive in the afternoon and spent a good day together. 

Come back later if you like and find out about my day. Until tomorrow….