April 30, 2018

Monday - Sunny, then cloudy and a little muggy.

A good day. 

I got up this morning and then went back to bed for a bit.  F had been up and made some bread in the bread machine, so when it was ready he brought it upstairs and gave me some. Yay.  I was up by then.

F and I decided to go out for lunch.  I suggested a place that met with his approval today, Naa.  On the way out he invited his mother and she came too.  I suggested a little bit of cleaning the back seat of the car to be in order before we left. He’s really bad about doing that. 

We had to wait at Naa, but it wasn’t bad.  We sat in the car for a while, luckily we were in the shade and it was a bit relaxing.  When they called us we went in and were seated on the floor.  We had a pretty good meal.  I had pork and fish, as did F, K had just the fish.  We all enjoyed our meals. I do think it takes just a little bit too long there though.

We did a little grocery shopping on the way back to the house.  K picked up a few things and so did I.  

At the house, I took in the shopping and put most of it away.  I ran somethings upstairs and came down to find that the car had gone!  It hadn’t really, F was trimming a tree and needed to move the car onto the road.  I gave him a hand picking up the branches and bagging them.  

When he was done, we headed out, just the two of us. We first got a drink at a convenience store, then drove to Ikoiinomura, the place that had lots of tulips. The hotel/onsen that was on the hill had closed last year which is a shame.  No one was looking after the tulips this year, and there weren’t nearly as many this year.  There were a few, but F and I wondered if either people had stolen some of the bulbs or if they just didn’t get planted like before.  Some of the flowers were gorgeous, but it is a bit sad really.

I wanted to go to the mall after our trip, so we did that.  However, we visited the hardware shop Musashi first. We picked up a few things and didn’t buy the thing F wanted to buy! After that, we visited the hundred yen shop in S-Mall and got a few things.  We checked out the grocery shop for dinner prospects, but there really wasn’t much there.  F picked up some things for K, but I couldn’t find anything I wanted. 

We delivered the stuff to K and then headed out again.  F was a bit painful about dinner again.  He wanted me to pick the place, but whenever I do he doesn’t like my ideas.  It’s so annoying.  I really wonder if he thinks about the fact that I don’t ever get to eat food that I like here.  My favourite cuisine restaurants just don’t exist in Tsuruoka.  I hate rice and yet I have to eat it almost every day.  Sometimes twice a day.  

He suggested a place and I said it was fine, but when we got there it was closed for the night.  He took me to another place that we’d been to before.  I had hated it the other time, but it was okay tonight.  We were the last customers.  I had a vegetable stir-fry set meal, F had curry katsu ramen or something like that.  

After our meal we just came back to the house.  I decided to take a shower fairly early for me, F took his really late for him.  I found out that F had given his mother a pastry from a bakery in the mall. That was fine, but he’d given her my pastry…hers was still in the bag.  Not a big deal, but annoying.  

I watched So You Think You Can Dance and then started to write this.  I have to get some sleep soon as I have a lot of things to do on Tuesday and a lot of TV to catchup with!  

Come back later if you are still with me, and see what I get up to on Tuesday. Until tomorrow…. 

April 29, 2018

Sunday - Sunny and hot

An okay day.

F woke me up this morning as he was going off to the onsen with his mother. I had gone to bed around 4 so I really didn’t want to get up around 9 but did. Sigh. 

After F and his mother left, I took care of some personal stuff and then watched a bit of TV and had breakfast.  I had a couple of pieces of toast today and they were great. After breakfast, I worked a little more on my loom knitting. 

When F came back, I was watching Agents of Shield and the first words out of his mouth weren’t hello or anything pleasant, they were, “What do you want to eat?” Well, at that moment, nothing.

We had a bit of an argument which was mostly my fault. I may have started it, but F kept it ticking along.  I suggested a couple of restaurants but they didn’t meet F’s exacting standards of cheap and crap-ness.  He suggested one of those restaurants that have horrible food in huge quantities which I refused.  Finally, I suggested going to Foodever which he grudgingly agreed with.  

We drove over there and F had udon and I had gapao rice. Mine was great, he didn’t like his. Sigh. Why am I not surprised?  After lunch, he was in a slightly better mood.  We had a walk through the craft fair and then left.

We drove to Oyama to a coffee shop there.  We each had a cafe latte and a dessert. I had a chocolate chip cookie which I liked, and F had a scone, which he wasn’t too keen on.  It was a nice place I thought, but again, F didn’t seem to like it much.  No idea why.

After, F suggested going to the aquarium, but I thought it might be busy being a big weekend and all.  We decided to go back to Tsuruoka and check out the Chido Museum.  F had to renew his membership there. 

There was a display of art by a local artist, and it was quite good.  I was impressed, and I’m not always.  We spent quite a while looking at the pictures and then checked out the garden of course.  

It was getting close to 4 pm and we wanted to see a movie at 5:30.  I suggested picking up a bento for K and then going to the film.  F suggested getting bento for all of us. I agreed if there was one I wanted.  We looked at the ones in the store and I found an interesting one for me, so we got it.  F and K had tempura on rice, I had tofu burgers on sekihan with vegetables. It was okay.

F and I left with a few minutes to spare and went to the theatre to see Avengers - Infinity War.  I really enjoyed it, F did too, but probably a little less since he isn’t such an Avengers fan.  It was a spectacle, but quite well done.

After the movie, I wanted a drink or something and suggested McDonald.  We went there and then F suggested getting Big Macs as there is some sort of special on at the moment.  I didn’t get a Big Mac, but I did get some kind of burger and F got a Filet of Fish with two fish patties in it.  We ate and used the free wifi.  Yay us.

We came back to the house afterwards.  Since it was only 10 pm and a holiday, I suggested watching something off the DVR so we ended up picking Locke with Tom Hardy.  Basically, it is Tom Hardy in a car driving and talking on the phone. It’s pretty darn good.  I didn’t know if F was into it, but he was!  Yay.

And that was that. Our day. It ended better than it began.  

Come back later and see how we spend our holiday Monday.  Until tomorrow….

April 28, 2018

Saturday - Sunny and warmish

An odd day.

F and I slept in a bit, but woke up and chatted for a while.  He got up and made us some toast and then came back upstairs with it.  We ate it and then he went back to bed and slept for the next 5 hours or so.  Seriously. I wasn’t impressed.  I wasn’t bored as I restarted my loom hat and Broadchurch 3 was on, so I was entertained at least. I watched 4 hours of it, so there is that.  

Last night when F went to the onsen, he said he spent about 30 minutes in the sauna. I think he probably dehydrated himself and then didn’t feel well today as a result. That is my thought anyway.

F checked on his mother and she didn’t want to go out for dinner. Instead, we brought her back a bento and then we went out again.  I wanted to go to Fireball and we did, but they seem to be renovating it.  I really hope it isn’t closed forever.  The parking lot was blocked off and there were huge bags of stuff in the parking lot. F suggested Hana so we tried it.  We found parking and had our dinner there.  F had a keisendon and I had tonkatsu. Mine wasn’t bad at all, his was a tad small he thought. We still had time before our movie, so we went to S-Mall and had a drink at Doutors before the mall closed for the night.  

We zoomed over to Machi-Kinema and saw The Shape of Water.  We both really loved it.  I know F did because he gave me a big thumbs up before I even asked him!  It was a beautiful little story.  

After the movie, F wasn’t feeling too well.  We went to the grocery store and picked up a few things, then came back to the house. 

I took a shower and F had some udon.  We both had a few snacks and then it was time for F to get some sleep.  

I’m not sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow.  I’m hoping that F will take his mother out in the morning.  I also really want to go to see the new Avengers film tomorrow night.  

Come back later if you are up to it and see how our Sunday goes.  Until tomorrow….

April 27, 2018

Friday - Sunny and slightly warmer.

A good day.

I had a good morning.  I watched the news from my bed and then snoozed when it was over.  After that, I did get up and did all the usual stuff.  I had breakfast and did a couple of loads of laundry today too.  I’m not sure how much time I’ll have next week.

I didn’t actually work on my column.  I re-read parts of it, but I seemed to always have something else to do.  

After lunch, I went downstairs to wash dishes.  When I was done, I made some guacamole.  I didn’t have the packages of spices so I just made it using some lime juice, salt and pepper. I liked it a lot, F missed the spices.  (Getting ahead of myself there).

When F came back to the house, we had dinner.  K contributed her takenoko stew, some rice and a foraged vegetable with sesame seasoning.  I put in the guacamole and some tortilla chips.  The meal was quite good!

Afterwards, F did the dishes and I dried them.  We went upstairs for a few minutes and when I came downstairs again, his mother had already gone to bed!

F and I went out. He wanted to go to the onsen so I decided to go along for the wifi.  Once there, I decided not to go to the restaurant, instead I sat in the lobby on a comfy chair and used my phone for a bit and read for a bit.  That was nice. 

After he finished, it was almost 10pm.  He asked if I wanted to go somewhere and I said sure.  We planned to go for coffee to the place we went a couple of weeks ago, but F made a wrong turn.  He was going to turn around, but I suggested checking out another place to see if it was still open for things like coffee or tea.  It was!

We went in and ordered. F had French coffee and I had an iced tea, Bengal Spice.  We were chatting a bit when a guy that was at the counter came over.  He was an ALT in Tsuruoka from the US.  We had quite a good chat actually.  

However, around 11pm, F was starting to fade.  Unlike me, he’d actually had to work today so it was understandable.  We drove back to the house and came upstairs.  F plied me with some sparkling wine and we watched The Good Doctor.  I think F fell asleep at the end though.  

And that’s about it.  It was a good day.  I’m not sure exactly what I’ll get up to tomorrow, but I’m hoping it’ll be one of the two movies that are playing in the city.  Come back later to find out! Until tomorrow….

April 26, 2018

Thursday - Cloudy in the early afternoon, sunny the rest of the day.

An okay day.  

I got up this morning, watched the news and then my drama.  I basically had a quiet morning.  K didn’t seem to be around until after the mail arrived.  I enjoyed the quiet!

In the afternoon I wrote a couple of blog entries for my postcard blog, then worked on my column. Over the course of the day, I wrote about another couple of movies and wrote the ending.  Now all I have to do is polish it up and write the intro! 

F came back to the house on time and seemed fine.  He said his mother wanted to make takenoko (bamboo root) and that he had to go and buy one.  I didn’t know if he meant she wanted to make it as a side dish or as something else and unfortunately F wasn’t very good at explaining to me.  He finally said that she wanted to make soup/stew with it.  That was fine, but how the heck would I know? We went to the store and he bought some stuff, I tried to help but couldn’t.  I bought stuff for myself instead.  We got his mother a bento too. 

We delivered everything and then we went out.  I had asked that we go to Yamaya so I could buy some guacamole spice, but they didn’t have any. I was going to buy myself some tea, but since F wasn’t going to buy anything at all, decided not to get it. Then, he bought himself a bottle of wine. 

We ended up having an okay dinner at Moku-Moku.  We both had the pasta set, mine was carbonara, his was salmon and shrimp cream pasta.  

We went to the Internet Cafe again for 3 hours. It was actually quite nice tonight.  It was very quiet there.  I watched some TV and then some YouTube.  It was fun.  

We came back to the house directly when our time was up.  I took a shower and then F did too.  I watched Castle from last week and enjoyed it.  I hadn’t seen it before. 

That’s about it for my day.  Tomorrow I will have to finish my column and I might do a small load of laundry or something since Monday is a national holiday and we have plans for later in the week.  Come back later and see what I get up to.  Until tomorrow….

April 25, 2018

Wednesday - Rainy and cold

A good day.  

Bit of a different day for me in a way.  I woke up at a good time today, but went and watched the news from my bed! I snoozed at the end of the English news and then woke up for my drama.  I got dressed, made the bed and had my coffee.  Breakfast was had by me at 10ish, basically the same old thing.  

I worked a bit on my column today and I also dealt a little with K.  She was cooking up a storm today but came out all concerned to me that she didn’t have any curry roux.  I have curry powder, but not roux.  If the weather had been better I could probably have gone to the store for her, but it was cold and rainy and the store isn’t that close.  I texted F in case he’d be able to stop by with some, but he was busy. He did make a joke where he suggested using chocolate instead for the curry, but I said it was a waste of chocolate!  I know I could probably use the curry powder, but I’d have to make a kind of roux and I couldn’t really get into doing that for her on the fly. I’d need to look up how to do it and it would be a huge hassle for me.  

I took a bit of a nap this morning too, on the floor of the room. I was really cold today.  I had on a warm vest and my shrug, but I was cold and sleepy.  

So, anyway, later on, F came back to the house bringing some curry roux, some yogurt for me and a few snacks for him.  His mother was happy and put the curry on the table when she was done.  She didn’t do anything else though, left it up to F and me to prepare everything else! We set the table, put out rice for people and also some naan that F had bought. I put out drinks and some kimchi as well.  Dinner was fine.  It wasn’t bad at all.  I wasn’t too happy about K leaving the curry on the stove during the day but that is Japanese style. 

I did the dishes afterwards although when I was nearly done, F tried to take over.  I told him to just dry them instead!  He didn’t really get it until I said it a couple more times.  

The guy who was coming over to bring me something showed up a little early, so that was good.  We had a nice chat via F’s translating skills and things are fine. I got lots of information and am hopeful that everything will go well.  He even provided a couple of solutions for next winter so that was good.

When he left, I asked F if we could go out for a bit and he said yes. After a few minutes of discussion, we chose to go to Mosburgers.  We went there and instead of having dessert like we usually do, we had a box of fries and onion rings.  It was good, but we really shouldn’t have.  We got some wifi time and a bit of relaxing outside the house which made me happy. 

We came back to the house around 10 pm and I watched Blindspot.  Is it just me or does the show get more ridiculous all the time?  I mean, I like the female characters quite a lot, but the main guy isn’t my favourite at all.  I don’t like him much.  F went to bed somewhere during the show.  I followed that up with Grey’s Anatomy, which was quite good.  I am surprised that anyone gets any work done at that hospital though. 

And that’s about it for me.  Tomorrow I’m going to have to come up with at least one more film and then I hope I can finish up this column of mine before the big holiday starts.  Fingers crossed anyway!

Come back later if you are up to the challenge and see what I get up to.  Until tomorrow….

April 24, 2018

Tuesday - Cloudy and rainy

A good day.

I woke up properly to my alarms after F had left for work.  I got up and watched the news, then my morning drama.  I had a very quiet morning and afternoon. I managed to get a little bit more of my column written, so that was good.  

I did watch quite a bit of telly during the day, including the first episode of The Night Manager with the lovely Tom Hiddleston in it.  It looks promising. I was rather impressed that D-Life decided to show it.  

When F came back to the house tonight he asked about taking a bath.  I said I didn’t want to bathe but would go to the onsen and use the wifi there.  He didn’t like that idea much.  For dinner, I suggested a few places and he chose the gyudon place.  Then, he asked his mother to come too.  Next thing I know, F and K are going to go to the onsen together.  Sigh. I bowed out of that. 

We all went to dinner at a gyudon restaurant and I was the only person to have gyudon!  F had fish, K had curry and I had gyudon. It was okay, not really that great.

They brought me back to the house and then K and F went to the onsen.  I might have been a lazy bum all the time I was alone, but I wasn’t. I vacuumed. I did a bit upstairs under my chair…it was getting bad. I did a bit of our room and then the top part of the stairs. I took the vacuum downstairs and plugged it in there. From there I cleaned the fan covers in the bathroom and the toilet room, plus I also did quite a bit of general vacuuming with it. Yay me. I took the vacuum upstairs again and cleaned as I went, just coming downstairs again to unplug the machine.  Whew!

Then, I vegged and was a lazy bum for a while. I did some computer stuff and did a bit of reading.

When F and K did come back, F and I decided to go out again.  I wanted some wifi and K needed rice and I wanted something for my lunch. I also wanted to send something at a convenience store.  

F drove me to a conbini and we sent my friend some of my extra tea there.  She’ll get it soon. Then we were supposed to go to the McDonalds but went on a huge detour.  I knew F was tired, but his wrong turns were getting quite annoying.  Finally, we made it.  And then, when I went in the restaurant I couldn’t get the wifi to work for ages. Sigh.  

After we finished with our cell phones, we went to the grocery store and then the gas station.  We came back to the house soon afterwards.

I took a shower right away and then F and I polished off the guacamole. It was good. It was late, but F finally got to bed. I’m tired and want to go to bed soon, so will end this.  

Not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow. I’m still working on my column and also have a late appointment at the house tomorrow night.  Come back later and see what we get up to!  Until tomorrow….  

April 23, 2018

Monday - Cloudy and muggy

A quiet day.  

I went to bed a little early last night, so did manage to get up this morning.  I had a quiet morning, never did run into K until the afternoon. 

I had breakfast later on and also washed a bunch of F’s dishes. He left a bunch up in the room.  I came back upstairs and did a bunch of computer stuff.  Later on, I worked on my column a bit. I transcribed what I wrote yesterday and thought more about which movies to feature.  

I grabbed lunch and then came back upstairs to eat.  After a while, I went downstairs and washed the dishes and then started making some guacamole.  The avocados were perfect.  I’ve sometimes left them until they were overripe, but today amazing.  Yay. 

When F called after work, I told him I’d made guacamole so he said he’d bring some other stuff.  He showed up a bit later with some sashimi, fried kamaboko and some senbei for his mother to eat instead of the tortilla chips.  

We also had to run an errand.  K's glasses had fallen apart, so F and I went to the glasses shop for her and had them repaired. It didn't take long and we didn't get charged for it.  I'm so glad. It was also nice for me to get out of the house today!

We went back to the house and then we had quite a nice meal.  We had some miso soup, guacamole and chips, sashimi, kimchi and that cutlet thing.  I joked that it was a Japanese-Korean-Mexican meal and it was true! 

F washed the dishes and I dried them.  It didn’t take too long.  

After dinner, F and I went for a walk.  We went for about 40 minutes over to the park.  Man, it was dark over there! It was a tad cold and windy too, but the actual walking was good.  We went about one and a half times around the park.  Yay us.  

We came back to the house and then watched last week’s episode of The Good Doctor.  It’s an interesting concept. I like Freddie Highmore a lot. F and I had a cup of decaf coffee and used our new cups, which are great by the way.  Here they are.

I've "taken" the one on the bottom.  It's mine!!

I finished up the evening watching So You Think You Can Dance and it was good.  That’s about it.

Tomorrow I have to work more on my column. I really have to buckle down on it now.  Come back later if you like and see what I get up to.  Until tomorrow….

April 22, 2018

Sunday - Hot and sunny!

A good day.

We both slept in this morning, which surprised me a lot.  I enjoyed it of course but didn’t think that I would be able to sleep so late.

When we did get up, F went downstairs and made us some toast and jam.  Yum.  It was very nice to be pampered.  The only thing that would have been better is if I had eaten it in bed, but that’s probably overrated!  

We decided to go out for lunch and do a few things as well.  F wanted fish for lunch, so we went over to Sashimiya and had lunch there.  I hadn’t really wanted fish, but I didn’t mind too much.  We both had the same thing, a gin dara teishoku, or set meal.  It was quite nice.  We followed that up with some coffee afterwards. 

We went to a craft fair at the big park across the road.  F and I had a great time looking at the work.  Sadly, I couldn’t buy as much as I would have liked to.  A few people were selling yarn, but I didn’t have any ideas about what to make.  Some people had very expensive yarn, others were more reasonable.  One seller suggested making a scarf but I told her quite truthfully that I already have a lot of scarves, and I don’t wear them that much. 

I bought some postcards from a young woman that has created her own characters and in a happy event, we found the lady that sold me my cereal bowl two years ago. We bought the lovely bowl that I use for breakfast from her.  I told her I still use it, but there is a crack in it now.  She offered to give me a new one if it was her fault that it cracked, but I told her that we have moved and it might have been damaged that way. I don’t actually know how it happened, I think I discovered it one morning.  Anyway, F and I each bought a mug from the woman. They are the same colour as the bowl, at least I think so!  I’ll try to post a picture of them tomorrow.  I have to wash them first.  She gifted us a couple of spoon rests as a thank you.

We finished up around 3:30 I think.  We were planning what to do.  F phoned a massage place and booked himself an appointment for 4:40. I suggested going and getting a bento for K and then going for coffee.  We did that. Sort of.  

We got the bento and delivered it.  I put the cups in our bedroom and then we left again.  F wanted to go to his favourite coffee shop but it was much too busy today.  There were many cars outside and no place to park.  

His next suggestion was to a tart and coffee place downtown.  It was fine with me, but I was starting to worry about time.  We got to the place at 4:10ish, the massage place was a good 5 minutes away.  The place was busy and lined up, and almost out of tarts.  Finally, we were able to order, got seats and waited.  It was 10 minutes before F’s appointment and we still hadn’t received our order.  F decided to cancel his and did so.  He got his money back and then said goodbye to me.  I stayed and got a lovely fruit tart and some tea.  It was lovely, but I would’ve preferred to have been there with F.  

When I finished I walked over to S-Mall and did a little exploring.  I bought a few things at the hundred yen shop and then went downstairs to Doutor for an iced soy latte.  I used the wifi for a bit, and I also wrote a movie review while I was sitting there, so used my time well.  

F came back after his massage was over and seemed a little happier.  I handed over my coffee card and he got a cup of coffee.  I offered to let him have some cake or a treat too since he missed out before, but he said it was okay.  

We talked about dinner and he wanted a fish place.  I said that I’d rather not have fish again today and pointed out that I am from a landlocked area and don’t really want to eat fish every day.  He likes fish and he thinks it is healthier for him to eat fish all the time (It isn’t really.  He either eats a lot of fried fish or fish covered in soy sauce or deep fried fish or just too much in the case of sushi.) He suggested a couple of places, I suggested a couple and neither of us liked the suggestions.  Finally, he suggested a chain soba shop, so I said okay.  Wished I hadn’t.

We went to the chain and had an okay but not great dinner.  I had a chicken cutlet on rice with soba and a salad on the side, F had tempura rice with soba on the side.  He complained about the sauce on the tempura and the soba noodles. 

On the way back to the house I wanted to go to the grocery store.  He didn’t want to go to the store I suggested, it was close by, but didn’t meet his standards. Going to the grocery store, F tried to turn off twice so completely forgot where we were going.  In fact, one of the times he tried to turn was to our old apartment!

At the grocery store, I picked up a few things for lunch tomorrow and the house.  F bought some junk food and then we came back to the house. We both took showers and then came upstairs.  I watched a little telly but turned off the TV around midnight as there isn’t much on.  

F noticed that I got a sunburn on the back of my neck. I was only out in the sun during the craft fair, so I’ll have to be a lot more careful soon.  

Anyway, that’s it.  Tomorrow I have to work on my column as it is due next week.  I also have to try and stay cool as the weather warms up.  Wish me luck with that!  Come back later and see how Monday goes.  Until tomorrow…. 

April 21, 2018

Saturday - Sunny and warm!

A mostly good day.

F got up fairly early this morning and went to see his back doctor.  He was rather late getting back.  Meanwhile, I had got up this morning and done some of my usual stuff. I had also had breakfast so that was good too.

F picked me up and we zoomed over to our doctor’s office.  We had to wait for an hour before we were seen, how exciting.  I did read a bit so that was good.

When we were done, we had to go back to F’s doctor to pay as F had run out without paying this morning!  Then, we had lunch.  I suggested the Indian place and F agreed for a change.  We both had the same thing, chicken curry and the all the naan you can eat set.  F got through two naans, I didn’t quite make it.  I gave my excess to F which he did eat.

We popped into a menswear shop then and got F a new black tie.  His idea was to get it at the hundred yen shop.  Grr.  I went to the hundred yen shop for a couple of padded envelopes.  After that, we went back to F’s house to check his mother.

She was fine of course, so we left again.  We went to the Art Forum in our city.  Right now they are having a display of English Mechanical Toys on. It’s a lot of fun because many have buttons to push so you can make them work. However, both F and I felt a little overwhelmed by the end and were starting to not enjoy ourselves as much.  I was absolutely parched during our visit, I couldn’t find a water fountain until afterwards.

We got K a bento at the grocery store, delivered it, and then were off to Mikawa for dinner and a movie.  While we were there, I noticed that the old Seattle’s Best Coffee store is going to become a Doutor.  I’m quite happy about that.  I like Doutor a lot.  

We went over to Aeon first to look at some clothes, but F wasn’t really interested in me getting any. He thinks what I have will do.  I’m not so sure, but am not going to rock the boat for now.

We had dinner at the food court.  I had a bibinba, F had some udon at the next place.  I ordered first, but F had his and was done eating before I even got mine.  It took so long to come. It was good, but the rice had burned a bit in the bowl so that was disappointing. After dinner, we went to Baskin Robbins and had an ice cream treat each.  That was nice, I just hope I don’t suffer for it tomorrow.

We went to see Ready Player One tonight.  I really enjoyed it, F said he liked it, but I don’t think he liked it as much as me.  I liked it because it was fun and didn’t take itself too seriously.

After the movie, we drove back into Tsuruoka and only stopped at a convenience store for a few munchies for F.  Okay, me too.

That’s about it.  It was a good and busy day today, I am quite tired now.  Tomorrow, I’m not sure what we’ll get up to.  F wants to get a massage, I want to go to the craft fair that’s close to the house.  I hope both things can happen.  Come back tomorrow and see what we get up to.  Until tomorrow….

April 20, 2018

Friday - Warmish and sunny

A quiet, not great day.

I got up early this morning and then went back to bed for a while. I did get up after a bit and watched the news and then my show.  I took some laundry downstairs at 10ish and set it going, then grabbed my breakfast stuff and came upstairs again.  

I spent most of my day upstairs in the room. King Kong was on TV and I found myself watching it again.  Adrian Brody is in that one, and Naomi Watts was very good in her part too.  

I had a lateish lunch but it didn’t feel like a lot of food. I was a tad hungry for a while.

F came back to the house around 6 I think.  He had tried to book himself a massage, but couldn’t.  His next plan was to go to the onsen.  I didn’t want to go in, but said I’d go with him and use their wifi.  We picked up a bento for K and delivered it, then drove off to the onsen.

He went to take a bath, I went to the cafe.  I bought tickets for a soft drink and also fried potatoes, french fries by another name.  They weren’t expensive, so I assumed they’d be a small dish.  Well, when they arrived, the dish was huge and they were amazing!  Freshly made, ketchup on the side and perfectly cooked.  I ate them all, mostly by chopstick.  I was really hungry beforehand though.  

I read my book and finished it too. I had just about caught up with my internet things so said it was okay to go.  We left and drove back to Tsuruoka for dinner.

I didn’t want too much since I’d eaten a lot of fries, but we ended up going to a Chinese restaurant.  F and I shared 3 dishes of food that were pretty good, and hopefully not too unhealthy.  We had some sweet and sour chicken, bifun noodles and some stir-fried green vegetable with garlic.  That was yummy.  

After the Chinese restaurant, we took a drive past our old apartment.  There were curtains hung up in the window, so I assume that someone else is living there now.  It makes me quite sad.  Not all of the experiences in that place were good, but it was a convenient place to live and I liked it so much more than here.  

When we came back to the house, I went to the washroom and F came straight upstairs.  By the time I got upstairs, he was halfway through his beer.  That was annoying.  He was in bed before 9:30 and despite me asking him if he’d like to watch something with me, fell asleep soon after.  In my mind, Friday nights are for fun, not falling asleep.  I know he worked a full day and I didn’t, but this keeps happening.  

Anyway, I’m going to end this here.  Tomorrow we have doctor appointments in the late morning and I’m also hoping that we’ll make a trip over to the mall in the evening to see a movie.  Come back later and see if we get up to anything interesting.  Until tomorrow….

April 19, 2018

Thursday - Sunny and warmish

A good day.  

I woke up on time today and even got up, kind of.  I watched the news live, but from the bed.  I did get up after that, dressed and made the bed.  I watched my programme and then went downstairs with some laundry.  K had a postcard for me so I took that, started the laundry and fixed my breakfast.  

I did a couple of loads of laundry today, whew!  F came back to the house for a few minutes early on. He was bearing gifts of Danish and mugi-cha, so that was nice of him.

The rest of the afternoon went fairly well too. I caught up on a lot of my taped TV and did a bit of research for my next column.  Lunch was nice, and afterwards, I washed a few dishes.  No big deal.

When F came back tonight, he didn’t call first.  He was hungry but also in pain. He wanted to take a bath he said.  I told him it was fine, but I wouldn’t, so he changed his mind.  He suggested a stir-fry, so I named a couple of restaurants where he could get one. He picked the restaurant near the main post office and invited his mother to come too.  

We all got in the car and went to the restaurant.  We were lucky enough to get a table and then eventually a fairly good meal.  I had chicken, F and K had fish, but different types. One of the “things” at the restaurant is that rice and miso soup is self-service. I like it because I don’t need to take much rice. No one gets upset if I just take a little.  F, of course, took a lot!

After our meal, we drove K back to the house and left again.  We went to the Internet Cafe and it was nice.  We got our massaging chairs.  F fell asleep for a bit, I did some loom knitting and phone reading.  I finally used up all the yarn on the loom and learned how to do the purl stitch. Yay me.  

When our time was up, we left and went by a conbini for some bread for my lunch tomorrow.  We left and came back to the house.

At the house, I took a shower and then F did too.  Poor thing is really not doing well with the weather.  It is bothering his neck and he’s in pain all the time.  I hope that he gets some relief soon.  He’s talking about going for a proper massage tomorrow…hope it helps him.  

I’m not sure what I’m going to get up to tomorrow, but I hope it is good.  I would like to restart my hat if I have time, but I also have a column to start writing.  You’ll just have to come back later and find out what I get up to.  Until tomorrow then….

April 18, 2018

Wednesday - Cloudy with a bit of rain

A good day.

I slept in a tad this morning, but did get up before it was too late.  I had my usual sort of morning…TV, coffee and tea, breakfast and more TV.  I did a little laundry and received a postcard in the mail.  

In the afternoon, nothing much happened.  I had a quiet afternoon, I did write up three cards for my Postcrossing though.  Around 3:15 I went downstairs to do dishes and then get a start on dinner stuff.  I rinsed the cabbage to get a start on the coleslaw, skimmed the pulled pork, and washed and picked over the blueberries for dessert.  I went back upstairs when I was done.

I scanned my cards and waited for F to call.  He called and I sent him to a menswear shop to get a black tie.  I went downstairs to start dinner but he called me back to say he wasn’t going to buy a tie there!  It was too expensive for him.  He wants to go to the 100 yen shop for one.  I countered with going to the big mall on the weekend.  He might get a more reasonable one there.  

When he arrived at the house, I asked him to check that his mother was okay with the same thing as for dinner as last night.  He thought it was a dumb question but did ask her.  She was.  He got changed and then came down to help/get in the way!  No, actually tonight he was fine.  I got things on the table fairly quickly.  K had pulled pork on rice with coleslaw and salad, F and I had salad and pulled pork on tortillas.  It was really nice.  F did the dishes again in the middle, and then I served the blueberries and the rest of the blackberries. Yum.  

I finished up the dishes and then went upstairs.  F joined me and said that he wanted to take a bath tonight.  I said I didn’t and suggested that he drop me off at either a restaurant or the Internet cafe to wait.  I foolishly suggested going with him to the onsen and that’s the option he picked!  I didn’t mind too much.  There is a coffee shop there.

We drove to the onsen, I mailed my cards in the post box outside.  I am privately wondering how the Postie feels about pulling out cards going to Finland, Russia and the Netherlands! He or she might be a bit surprised.  F went to the bath, I went to the coffee shop and had an iced coffee.  I nursed it and made use of the free wifi.  I eventually got on to my book and was enjoying it when F showed up again.  

We sat for a while and then he bought himself a drink at the vending machines.  We left for Tsuruoka but made a stop at the grocery store for some lunch food for me.  

We came back to the house and I went into Garbage Mode.  I cleared the fridge of a few foods that had been in there too long, then bagged up everything.  I put it near the door for F to take out in the morning.  

I came upstairs and watched Grey’s Anatomy and then a few other things.  I’m planning to get to bed soon as it is getting late. 

Tomorrow I might get a start on my latest column.  Why does it feel like such a huge chore these days?  I used to love writing it.  I still do, just not sure the work is worth it.  

Come back later and see what happens on Thursday.  Until tomorrow….

April 17, 2018

Tuesday - Sunny but still cool

A good day.

This day was a little busier than usual for me.  I got up a bit late, did my usual stuff and then at 10am I went downstairs and started to prepare dinner.  I got out my slow cooker and put everything in it to make pulled pork.  I also washed the berries that we bought at Costco on the weekend.  When I finished, I went back upstairs.

I watched a bit of TV and then took a bit of a break from it.  F came by for a few minutes, brought me a snack too.  

I checked on the slow cooker a couple of times in the afternoon, things looked good. I had lunch and that was nice too. I had smoked chicken on an everything bagel.  Yum.  

Around 4 I rinsed the cabbage and let it drain so I could make the coleslaw later.  I also did my dishes from the day.

When F called to say he was on his way to the house I kicked dinner into a higher gear.  I took out the roast, cut the string off it and shredded it.  I put it back in the slow cooker.  I added the dressing to the cabbage mix and then covered it and put it in the fridge.  I got out plates and such to have them ready.  

When F actually made it to the house I got him to change and then come help me.  I heated up the tortillas for us and got him to do the rice for his mother.  I gave her a portion of pulled pork on rice, covered with some coleslaw.  F and I got to make our own on tortillas.  Dinner was quite good and got fairly decent reviews.  We’re going to have leftovers tomorrow night too.  I hope his mother is okay with that.

F did half of the dishes between the main course and the dessert, and I did the other half after dessert.  We had blackberries and cream, very nice!

When the dishes were done and put away, F and I went out for a while.  We went to MosBurger and had a snack and a drink.  They have decent wifi, once you get connected.  We spent almost two hours there, which is quite a while.

We went to the grocery store and bought a few things for tomorrow’s dinner.  We needed more coleslaw ingredients and also a few things for K.  We came back to the house and put away the groceries.  I took a shower and then F did.  We’re both still up, possibly because of the MosBurger coffee.

That’s it for me.  Tomorrow I have a few things to do and will be on dinner duty again.  I hope I do a few things like laundry too.  Come back later and see what I get up to.  Until tomorrow….

April 16, 2018

Monday - Cloudy and a bit cool

An okay day.

I had a hard time getting up this morning, but I did of course.  I watched the news and then my other telly, had breakfast and so on.  I actually had a quiet morning. I wasn’t too strict with myself about getting things done the way I should have been!

F came home for lunch for a little bit.  He was nice enough to bring things for his mother and I as well.  F and I ate in our room and that was nice.  He did have to leave soon though. 

I watched a bit of TV from the DVR and finally went down for my lunch. I had one of the bagels from yesterday plus some of the lettuce that we got at Costco.  It was quite nice.

Later on, when F came home he asked if I wanted to do something. I couldn’t think of what.  There were no new movies in English, and I didn’t really want to go to the Internet Cafe tonight.  We had a bit of a disagreement about dinner.  I wanted to go out and suggested a fish place since we are going to have a meat dinner tomorrow.  F wanted to go out and get something and cook it at the house…fish of course.  I said it was fine, but I didn’t want fish. I don’t know why he wants me to eat the same things as him.  It is really annoying! We ended up going out with K to an udon shop that I actually like.  We all had different dishes.  I had curry udon. It came with a bib that I wore and I’m so glad that I did! F had udon with tempura and rice and his mother had a spicy rice dish.  I think it might have been too hot for her, I’m not sure.  

After dinner, we went grocery shopping for a few minutes. I had a list so it went fairly well, K bought a few things.  I couldn’t get exactly what I wanted but managed anyway.

We came back to the house and F and I put away the groceries.  He went out to take a bath and I stayed in and relaxed a bit.  When he came back we chatted a bit and it was nice.  I put on a TV show for him and he watched it, I probably did too.  

We’ve had a quiet but nice evening together.  I’m a bit tired so I’m planning to go to bed soon.  Tomorrow I’m going to prepare dinner in my slow cooker, so will have to go downstairs around 10 to get it started.  Any earlier and I won’t be awake enough to do it.  

Come back later if you wish and see how my day goes. You can hear all about preparing our dinner too.  Until tomorrow….

April 15, 2018

Sunday - Rainy and cool

A good day.  An okay weekend.

Man, Saturday was tough.  F was in a foul mood most of the day and even if I did manage to jolly him out of it for a bit, he’d slip back in. 

He’d gone to bed really early on Friday if you remember…apparently got up at 6:30 on Saturday and had breakfast.  I slept on until 9…he hadn’t given me a time to leave after all, just “after breakfast”.  I was basically packed and ready before 10:30, F was fussing around.  We get in the car and have a quick early lunch at Gusto.  Then I go to the drugstore, then F went.  We got on the road and then F decided that he needed to go back to the house and get something.  Argh.  

We drove back, got his Costco card and his prepaid gas cards and finally got on the way.  I dozed a touch, but F said something about being sleepy so I decided I should stay awake as much as possible.  

We had stopped for a restroom break at a little roadside place.  Things were growly between us.  On my way out of the washroom I bumped into one of my ex-students and we had a chat.  Afterwards, F and I went over and met her new dog.  He was quite sweet, an American Cocker Spaniel.  She was on her way to a dog convention!

F seemed a little less grumpy after that and we stopped a little later to have ice cream and a snack at the next rest stop.  That was nice.  We got into Yamagata City and found our hotel.  We checked in and went to the room.  We were both tired and had a bit of a nap.  The phone rang.  The front desk wanted to see my passport.  Say what? There’s a stupid rule in Japan that foreigners without an address in Japan must show their passports and allow them to be photocopied at hotels.  However, I do have an address in Japan so that doesn’t apply to me.  F talked to the front desk and I think he made up a few things, but anyway I didn’t bring my passport because I wasn’t leaving the country.  

F really wanted to go to a yakitori shop that he knew. The food is good, but it is often smoky and crowded, things I dislike.  I went with him.  The shop opened at 5:30, we got there at 5:40 and the place was packed already.  We got a couple of seats and waited.  And waited.  We had two drinks each, and some yakitori and the total was around 4000 yen. F thought it was good, I thought it was expensive!  My drinks were non-alcoholic so not too expensive.

I was still hungry afterwards and I wanted some vegetables.  We ended up going to another izakaya and having more to eat and drink.  F had had three beers at the yakitori place, one of which was comped.  He had another huge beer at the second place, I had a non-alcoholic cocktail.  We were supposed to go and see a movie just before 9 but of course, didn’t make it!  I really didn’t want to see it that much as it had Jack Black in it…shudder.

Instead, we went back to the hotel via a grocery store for some munchies and non alcoholic drinks. I bought a movie card at the hotel and we watched Swiss Army Man with Daniel Radcliffe and Paul Dano.  It was a crazy odd film with lots of farting and weirdness.  I thought it was funny, but wouldn’t really recommend it unless you know what you were getting into.  I did.

F fell asleep fairly early, I took a bath and then went to bed before 2. Yay me.

This morning we got up and had breakfast in the hotel.  F ate a huge breakfast, I was rather surprised at him!  I was a tad more restrained.  Then we had a little nap and then checked out and drove over to Costco.

We did some shopping at Costco and it went fairly well.  I got most of the things I wanted except for the Ukrainian Sausage from Edmonton.  Sigh.  No garlic sausage for me or K.  She loves that stuff too!

We paid and then took the stuff out to the car.  We got it in and went back for a little light lunch.  On the way in the second time, we saw some suitcases that looked interesting.  My trusty little suitcase has cracked so I need a replacement.  I do so much travelling that I really need suitcases that I can depend on.  I said to F that if we still thought it might work after our food, I’d come back and get them.

We shared a beef bulgogi sandwich and an ice cream.  F kept wanting to order one each of both, but I finally persuaded him that one between the two of us was better! He admitted I was right later on.  We still liked the idea of the suitcases so went back and bought them.  Then, we had to get them in the car.  F’s car is small.  F basically had to repack the car in order to get the box in!  I thought it was quite funny.

We’d spent hours at Costco and it was around 3 now.  We stopped in at the mall for a few minutes on the way back.  F got some new underwear and socks, I got socks too.  I looked at craft stuff but didn’t buy any.  I did get some Dijon mustard and English mustard at Kaldi and then we left the mall.  

F looked for a place for us to have “lunch” and found a promising place.  We drove there, but couldn’t find it.  The GPS wasn’t much help.  It might have moved or closed, we didn’t know.  We tried another place which ended up being an Indian restaurant back near the mall!  We went in and had a yummy meal there.  We each had three types of curry, a naan each, a small salad and a chicken drumstick.  The food was good, but I realized then that my local Indian restaurant isn’t that bad!  

After dinner, we finally got back on the road.  We made fairly good time, stopped a couple of times for restroom breaks, but got back to the house by 8:30 tonight.  

We unpacked the car and put as much stuff away as we could.  I had to do things like package up the bagels for freezing and the same with the roasts that I bought.  We just managed to get them all in the freezer!

F and I decided that we wouldn’t go out for dinner since we were both really full still.  I think it was a good call.  

We came upstairs and relaxed.  F and I talked about funerals and some fairly serious topics.  He’s sleeping now, and I am going to join him soon.  

Tomorrow I’m probably back to the same old thing, but I’ll do a bit of slow cooking on Tuesday, so that’s exciting!  Come back later and see what I get up to on Monday. Until tomorrow….