April 30, 2019

Tuesday - Rainy in the morning

Today was kind of a crap day. Actually, not kind of, it was. F took his mother off to the onsen in the morning so I stayed here and watched my morning dramas and had breakfast. 

When they came back he wanted to go out, but I reminded him that we were going to have our lunch in today. He wanted me to go downstairs immediately and prepare it. I didn’t. It wasn’t lunch time yet.

I went down a few minutes later and started cutting bagels and toasting them. I made quite a few open face sandwiches with cheese, cream cheese or nama ham on them.  They were nice.  We had them with some cup soup for a different touch.  All but one of the sandwiches disappeared. We did the dishes, and then came upstairs.

F headed back to bed because he had the vapours as usual, I worked on my column.  I worked quite hard on it and got 3/5ths of it done. Or so I think. I’m not done, however. 

In the evening F wanted to go and get food from the grocery store. We went to the store and walked around, but they didn’t really have any bentos left. Their food didn’t look that appetizing, but I found enough to cobble together something for myself.  Then, of course, he wanted fish.  He got some to cook and some pickled stuff that didn’t look appetizing. I went and grabbed myself a big salad, but that wasn’t acceptable because I wasn’t planning to share it. Of course I wasn’t, I wasn’t going to have rice, so wanted something that would fill me up. I changed the salad to one his mother would eat, but it wasn’t big enough to give me enough of it. When I got back I asked him about the pickled fish and he said it was for all of us, but I said I wouldn’t eat it, but it was okay for his mother and him.  He put it back. Then he put back some of the earlier stuff we got. It was just nuts. 

When we came back to the house, we had a fight over what plates to use. I didn’t really give a crap as I knew that I would be gifted with doing the dishes, and I was. We ended up using all kinds of dishes and yes, I did end up having to wash and dry all of them as F did not help me at all. 

I came upstairs when I finished cleaning up the kitchen and have so far refused to talk to him. He has spent most of the evening in the room downstairs, which is a good place for him. Far away from me and close to his mummy. 

I have watched a bit of TV tonight and even took a shower.  That’s about it for me. 

F has come back upstairs and has gone to bed. He’s breathing too loud and probably doing it on purpose.  I am so annoyed with him that it isn’t funny. He is the idiot that didn’t tell me he had the whole week off until Sunday. We could have made plans, we could have had a proper holiday, but no, he had to lie to me. I had actually asked him earlier in the month if he got extended holidays and he said no.  Now I’m stuck with him when I’d really rather be alone.

Anyway, I don’t want this to become a rant because I think he reads this page at times.  We’ve had a pretty good holiday until today, I just think that he wants me to baby him and I don’t want a kid around. 

Maybe see you around later?  Until tomorrow….

April 29, 2019

Monday - Sunny and hot

Tonight’s another quick and dirty entry I’m afraid. We got up at a reasonable time and around 12 left the house. F and I had a quick lunch at Gusto and then hit the road for Costco in Yamagata.

We made good time and did most of the things that we had planned to do. F bought new tires for the car, so had a close parking space today. That was nice!  We cruised around Costco, got a few things that we were thinking about.  F got himself a new suitcase, and I picked up a few things to make lunches and even dinners with. Costco was quite busy, probably the busiest I’ve ever seen it. However, it did calm down after 5pm so that was good.

We put our stuff in the car and then had a break in Costco. We each had a hotdog and drink, then shared a soft ice cream. I am so glad that we shared it as it was huge, much too big for one person!

On the way back out of Yamagata city, we stopped at the mall. I picked up some rooibos tea at the Kaldi and a couple of other minor things.  We also stopped at a Yamaya and picked up some more cereal and some bits and bobs…things for lunch tomorrow and some canned beans, that kind of thing! 

The drive back to Tsuruoka was good. We had a couple of stops, nothing major. 

We had a quick and late dinner at Coco’s.  Mine was a chicken steak and a baked potato with cheese mayo. They were both really nice. F had a mackerel Japanese meal that he wasn’t thrilled about. 

We came back to the house then and unloaded the car. I got stuck doing most of the work of that so I was a tad annoyed at F.  However…

I took a shower later and then came back upstairs to watch So You Think You Can Dance which I enjoyed a lot.

That’s about it. It was a fairly nice day, even though Costco was crazier than it usually is for us.  Come back later if you like and see how Tuesday goes. Until tomorrow….

April 28, 2019

Sunday - Clear and warm

I don’t really have time for a proper update, but I’ll try and give a brief outline of today. 

We slept in and then F took me out for lunch to Kitchen Futaba down the road. After that, he asked if I’d like to go to the Internet Cafe so I said I would. We went for four hours.  K had been taken out for lunch by one of her granddaughters.

F and I had a quick and spicy dinner at Coco Ichibanya and brought back a takeout for K. She didn’t eat it! 

F was supposed to go to a meeting in the afternoon but thought it was in the evening, so missed it. When he got back to the house, he asked if there were any movies and I checked. We had 20 minutes to get ourselves to the local cinema to see Avengers: Endgame.  We did, and I loved it. Unfortunately, I had been drinking water all afternoon so had to leave the film twice to run to the washroom. Argh. I’m obviously planning to see it again!

We had a quick late dinner in a gyudon shop and came back to the house via a convenience store where I finally found the chocolate mint Black Thunder bars that I’d been looking for. 

At the house, I prepared the garbage for taking out tomorrow and watched an episode of Nigella.  That’s about it.

Tomorrow morning we are planning to head out to Yamagata and go to Costco. I think it’s a tad crazy but it might be okay. Think good thoughts for me, please!  Until tomorrow….

April 27, 2019

Saturday - Rainy

I woke up this morning to an empty house. F had taken his mother off to the onsen. I got up but did the lady of leisure thing instead of stuff I should have done! 

I had my breakfast and got my clothes together for going out. I got half dressed too.  F came back and cooked some noodles for his mother, then it was time for the two of us to leave.

The doctor visit went well and we don’t have to go back for 6 weeks. Yay.  I also finished reading The Girl Who Takes An Eye for An Eye today and enjoyed it. It isn’t the best book ever, but it was okay.  I didn’t realize until I finished that it was the fifth book in the series, not the fourth. Oops. 

F and I went to Bistrot des Ponts in Mikawa for lunch. It was as good as ever. For a change, we both had steak. Our whole meal was the same, except I had bread and he had rice. 

We visited the grocery store quickly and then came back to the house. F gave his mother some extra food and then we headed upstairs. He took a nap, I spent time on my computer.  Around 5:15 we headed out to the local cinema and saw The Favourite.  I really liked it, although I’m not completely sure what the ending meant! Olivia Colman was great, but in actual fact, all three of the actresses were.  

After the movie, I wasn’t ready for dinner. F was all set to go back to the house and make himself ramen for dinner. Grr. I suggested going for coffee first, so we headed off to Komeda coffee.  We had a cup of decaf there and then since we still weren’t famished decided to go to the grocery store. At MaxValu I got myself some bread with bacon in it and a small chicken namban. That was good.

We came back to the house, put away the groceries and came upstairs. I was on my computer for a bit until I remembered that I had to take a shower tonight. Oops.  I did that and came back upstairs.

That’s about it for me for today. Not sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow. I’m hoping to see Avengers: Endgame soon, but not sure if tomorrow will be the day or not. Come back later on and see?! Until tomorrow….

April 26, 2019

Friday - Rainy

I woke up again around 6 am this morning. Gah! F wasn’t sleeping and complained about his stomach hurting. Poor guy.  He snuggled up with me and I fell asleep again. When I woke up a bit later he was debating going to work or not. I reminded him that I wasn’t going to be around most of the day as I had lunch plans. He decided he’d go to work and then come back early if he could. 

I finally woke up to an empty room. He’d gone off to work. I snoozed longer then got up and grabbed my breakfast. I started the water pot for something to drink and watched ER.  I got dressed after the show and washed my dishes, then came back upstairs and dressed in the clothes I was going to wear out of the house.

Around 11:45 I said goodbye to K and then started walking to the bus stop. I had my little umbrella with me and had to use it. The rain wasn’t bad, but it was steady. At the bus stop, I waited for the bus. It was a couple of minutes late and I started to read the sign at the bus. It said there were no buses on Saturday, Sunday or between 4/27 and 5/3.  Panic! I had to check the date and it was okay. It was April 26 so I was safe. A few minutes later the bus appeared and I got on.  It wasn’t busy at all, and for all of the way from my stop to the bus terminal, there was only one other person on the bus.  I sat near the back of the bus, so the other person got off first. I was a little slow getting the money in the box and disembarking.  As I got on the sidewalk, I saw two things.  The man in front of me fell over a step and he had a white cane.  Oh no! He went down quite hard. Of course, I stopped and asked if he was okay, and he said he was. I felt really bad. I hadn’t seen his cane on the bus, or his face for that matter so I didn’t even shout a warning.  He got up and walked to a wall to sort himself out.  I did see him a couple of times in the mall later so I guess he really didn’t hurt himself. 

I did a little shopping in the mall and then I went over to the doors to wait for my friend.  She came and we went off to her apartment.  We had lunch together and lots of conversation!  Both of us never shut up I think.  A bit before 5 she drove me back to the mall and I called F to see if he’d like to come and meet me. I told him I’d be in Doutor and that’s where he found me.

When F left work today, he didn’t go back to his house, he spent time in a bookstore!  Silly guy.  We had our drink in Doutor and used the wifi.  We discussed dinner and I suggested either going to the grocery store for bentos or going to a bento shop. We decided on the grocery store first.  However, when we went there, there wasn’t too much on offer, so we ended up ordering them. Yay.  We even had time to go to the Gyomu Supa to pick up some foreign and some frozen food.  We paid and then grabbed our bento and came back to the house.

F went into the house first and took the groceries into the kitchen. I heard him exclaim quite loudly and I wondered what had happened  There was a bit of smoke in the kitchen and a really bad smell.  K had tried to make toast in the fish grill but had obviously forgotten about it. There was a bread sized piece of charcoal in there. The stove has an automatic cutoff when things like this happen, so it wasn’t worse, but it was quite silly of her.  There is a toaster oven which is much easier to see AND has a timer, I don’t know why she doesn’t use it. Maybe cause it is mine?

Anyway, we did have a nice dinner.  F and I did the few dishes afterwards and stayed upstairs. I watched a bit of TV, F snoozed and then got up for a bit. He’s sleeping again.

Tomorrow I’m not sure what we’ll get up to. We have a doctor’s visit in the morning and I hope to be able to see a movie in the evening.  There are a few movies that I’d like to see in Tsuruoka this week. I hope we can see a couple of them!

Come back later if you like and see how our Saturday goes.  Until tomorrow…. 

April 25, 2019

Thursday - Rainy and cooler

I woke up this morning just after F left for work I think. I stayed in bed for a while. I debated going for a walk but didn’t. The roads were wet when I looked out, so it was probably a good call.

I had a quiet morning and afternoon. I watched a lot of stuff off the DVR and wrote an email. I never did get around to working on my column though. Sigh. 

F popped in a little early to change for his party tonight. It was a welcome party so he had to wear his suit. He looked very handsome when he left.  

He had ordered sushi in for K and me tonight for our dinner. It was a lovely treat. I paid the delivery person with the money he’d given me and set things up on the table for us. K and I had a nice feast and then I cleaned up afterwards. 

When I came upstairs I watched a bit of TV and started working on some mending for F. I’m doing it a little bit Sashiko style, but I’m not very neat. Still, it is in an awkward place, his jeans pocket. It’s hard to manipulate the fabric without taking the pocket off…and I’m not doing that as I’d never put it back.

F came back to the house around 11. He’d had a good time at his party and had even had a second party, so that was good. 

When he was back, I took a shower and then came upstairs to my computer. 

Tomorrow I’m having lunch with a friend, who I actually met 3 years ago according to my blog. I’m looking forward to seeing her again as it has been a while. I’m also looking forward to getting out of the house. I didn’t go out at all today. 

So, that’s it for me. A quiet day, but I started the mending I’ve been thinking of for a while and I cleared a lot of stuff off the DVR.  

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

April 24, 2019

Wednesday - Cloudy and warm, rainy

I woke up this morning around the same time as F did. He got up and went off to his appointment, I stayed in bed for a few minutes and got up. I debated going out for a walk but didn’t. I don’t really regret that!

F came back around 10am, but couldn’t eat for a while. I had just grabbed my breakfast, so felt a bit guilty. Nonetheless, I ate it!  F went back to bed and soon fell asleep. I watched my shows and then I felt tired so around 12, I got into bed too!  I woke up around 1:30, and then so did F. 

We went out for lunch to Cocos. They used to have a nice lunch menu, but they’ve changed it and not for the better. They have about 12 menu items and none of them really made me feel tempted. I ended up ordering a mentaiko spinach pasta and giving F as much of the mentaiko as I could scrape off the top. It was okay, but not great.  We asked if we could change the rice in the dishes to bread, but they said no. So, that was a disappointment really. 

After lunch, we made a brief stop at a drugstore and then went to the Tsuruoka Art Museum. They are having a William Morris Exhibition at the moment and since I am a lover of all things Pre-Raphaelite, I had to go.  We enjoyed it, even though it wasn’t quite what I had expected. Morris wasn’t a painter like the others in the movement, he was a designer of a lot of wallpaper! I jest a bit, but there were a lot of very busy wallpapers on display. I did like the books that he created with Edward Burne-Jones, but I like Burne-Jones.  I am glad that I went and I might even be persuaded to go again, but I’m not sure if I will.  I liked it but didn’t love it. I did buy quite a few postcards afterwards, that I might use for Postcrossing. Or not!

After the museum, we picked up K’s shoes that had been repaired and then went to Starbucks for a cool drink. It was extremely hot in the Museum. I had worn my jacket inside, I took it off, carried it around, AND got a little fan out and used it prodigiously in the museum. 

We discussed what to do for dinner. F wanted bentos so I said I’d go to the grocery store with him and if I found one I liked I’d get it. If not, I’d maybe order one or something. Well, instead of going to a grocery store with a lot of choices for bentos, he went to our local store and there was NOTHING for me. I looked at the food and felt ill. I needed a salad for tomorrow’s lunch and again, there was nothing. They were sold out. I even checked the frozen section, but apart from some pasta, nothing I wanted to eat. 

I asked F if we could deliver the bento to his mother so she didn’t have to wait longer for dinner and then maybe check out another store. He said okay. 

We went back to the house, gave her the bento and put away the other food. F and I left again, and on the way to the other store he told me that I didn’t have to have a bento, we could just go out for dinner. Yay.  I suggested our old favourite, Jiro so we headed there. We got in right away and had a nice meal, well, I did! I had my usual pork saute with garlic oil and it was good. F had Oriental Curry and seemed to enjoy it.  

We picked up a few groceries including my salad at the grocery store, and then came back to the house. We watched an episode of Castle Rock which I knitted all the way through and then I watched Grey’s Anatomy and something from the DVR. 

It was a really good day. I probably should have walked in the morning as the weather for the rest of the week will be bad, but I did move quite a bit today. 

That’s it for me for today. Come back later if you like and see what I get up to. Until tomorrow….

April 23, 2019

Tuesday - Sunny but cool

F woke me up again today. It wasn’t quite as bad as yesterday, today he was knocking things off his table. Then, after he left, something else fell off and that woke me up completely.

I nearly didn’t go for a walk today, I just wanted to stay in bed. I did get up and go out though, so that was good. I only did once around the park again…it felt enough.

I had a pretty quiet day. I did work on my column a little bit but didn’t finish what I wanted to do. There is still time. When I went down for lunch I decided to make some tuna salad and made an extra sandwich for K.  She seemed happy but didn’t eat it all.  I thought it was great, the tuna salad I mean.

F was a bit late tonight and when he came back to the house wanted to have something easy to digest. We ended up going for udon. I had udon with tempura and rice, which was a bit too stodgy but tasted okay. After we finished we came back to the house. We waited for K to go to bed, but she wasn’t asleep yet. Oh dear. 

We drove out to the onsen, F took his bath and I read some of my book. I’m supposed to be about 90% done but I’m enjoying it and have a lot to find out first. On the way to the onsen, I got several texts from a friend and we’ve decided to meet up for lunch on Friday. That should be rather fun. I haven’t seen this friend in a while.

We came back to the house and took a shower then watched some of my TV. F went to bed fairly early and seems to be snoozing away. He has a medical test tomorrow so will be off work. He’s promised to take me to the Art Museum to see the William Morris exhibition. I can’t wait!

It’s been quite hot in our room today. At a couple of points today it was 24°C, which is rather warm.  A little preview of what is to come. Bleck!

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

April 22, 2019

Monday - Cool but sunny

I had a rude awakening this morning. I was sleeping away and was really fast asleep when I started to hear wire scraping something near my head. I woke up and discovered that F had dropped his glasses over the bedhead and was trying to fish them up. He basically demanded that I get up so that he could move the bed. Considering how asleep I was before he woke me up, it was rather mean of him.  I went back to bed a few minutes after he got his glasses. 

I got up this morning and went to the park for a walk. It went quite well. Today I listened to Secret Garden and rather enjoyed the music. The cherry blossoms are falling so the walkway is covered with lovely pink petals. I managed to make it all the way around today so I was quite happy with myself. Yay me.

Back at the house I watched ER and then did a couple of loads of laundry. I watched Major Crimes as well and then around noon I took a nap. I was quite tired, couldn’t keep my eyes open. That killed an hour or so.

When I woke up, I decided to go downstairs and fix lunch right away. I did that and came back upstairs to eat. 

I watched a bit of TV off the DVR and then turned off the TV for a bit and started my column. I featured one actress, so at least it is a start. 

F had popped in for a brief visit today, and then called again around 5:30 to say he was on his way back.  He wanted to know about dinner so I suggested either bentos or going out to a restaurant and I listed a couple we could go to. I told him to think about it on the way back to the house. When he arrived he had decided to go to one of the two places I’d suggested. 

The three of us piled in the car and drove out to Kushibiki and the Chinese restaurant we go to. We all had a dish and shared it, then added on an order of gyoza to make things interesting. I didn’t have my usual, I had subuta or sweet and sour pork. The food was okay, but as usual, I didn’t like F’s noodle dish.  Stodgy with added stodgy sauce. Blerk. He always orders it and he always gives me a ton of it. 

After dinner F drove us all back to Tsuruoka proper and took us for a drive to see the cherry blossoms. Everywhere we went was dark, and in one place we got a little lost.  I suggested going past the place where they used to live so that’s what we did. F stopped the car and we got out and F and his mother relived past hanami.  

We dropped K off at the house and then F and I went off to the Internet Cafe for 3 hours. I enjoyed it. I watched a bit of TV and then a lot of YouTube. I was working on one craft, but my yarn had a problem so I stopped. No point in continuing. I did a few rows of my scarf though, so at least there is that!

We came back to the house via the 7-11 that F always takes me too.  (Truth be known, I’m not a 7-11 fan, I like the other convenience stores!) I got a few veggie sticks and brought them back to the house.  F kept trying to ply me with chips, but I mostly kept on with the veggies!

That’s about it for today. I watched So You Think You Can Dance and then turned off the TV. F is still up but has gone to bed. He’s trying to distract me which is working more than it should.

Tomorrow I’m not sure what I’ll get up to, hopefully, more of my column. Come back later and see what happens. Until tomorrow…. 

April 21, 2019

Sunday - Sunny but a tad cool

F and I slept in a bit, but F did get up before me today. He set up the bread maker and then took his mother to the onsen.  

While they were gone I took care of a few personal things and checked out my computer. F phoned to ask if I’d take the bread out of the bread maker which I did.  

When he came back, he fed me and his mother some of his nice bread with jam. Yum.  We talked about going out for lunch, but if he wanted to see the movie today, we would have to leave immediately for the theatre. Which we ended up doing.

We went to see If Beale Street Could Talk and we both really liked it a lot.  F got mad at the bad cop in the film, which is a sign that he really got it!  It was a bit odd having a popcorn lunch, but okay too.

After the movie, we decided to get a bento for K so went to a grocery store. Before that, we visited the upstairs hundred yen shop. I picked up a few things for a repair I’m thinking of making and also some more coat hangers!  I always use them. In the grocery store, we found bentos for K and the two of us.  We decided to have a quick and late lunch with her.  We zoomed back to the house.

At the house, F heated up the food and prepared to feed us. I went upstairs with our personal shopping and then came down to help. We didn’t have a lot of time, so when F started bringing out extra plates I asked him not to.  We would have to wash them before we left and time was running out.  We had planned to leave the house at 5:00, it was then when we started to eat! 

We ate, cleared the dishes and F washed and I dried. He never clears the drainer first which really annoys me. It’s his stuff usually. Both his mother and I empty our stuff out of it. Grr! 

We left for the aquarium a little late but did just make it. We arrived when they were seating people. I made a quick trip to the washroom and asked F to save me a seat, which he did. The concert was good, but I came very close to falling asleep for the first half. I had my eyes closed and I was worried about snoring during the show!  I got my second wind later on and stayed awake.

We came back to Tsuruoka afterwards and after a bit of discussion in the car, went to Komeda Coffee for a light dinner and some wifi.  I had a Katsu Sandwich and F had a pizza. I liked mine, he said his was okay. We were there for a bit and then walked over to the grocery store to pick up the things we forgot to buy earlier!  We didn’t buy too many junk items.

We came back to the house and got ready for bed. I took a shower then stayed up to write this lovely long entry. 

I had a great weekend. It was fun to actually go and see three movies in one weekend, F and I didn’t really argue and we did things which I liked a lot too.  It was good to go to the craft fair and to the aquarium.  It’ll be hard to start a regular week tomorrow.  Still, Golden Week is almost here. I hope it goes well.  

Come back later if you like and see what happens on Monday. Until tomorrow….

April 20, 2019

Saturday - Windy but sunny

I got up before F today, somewhere around 10:30.  Once again, F asked if it was okay if he took his mother to the onsen.  I told him it was fine, but I’d probably go over to the Craft Fair in the park across the road while they were gone. He didn’t like that, and changed his mind immediately! I actually meant it, I thought they’d have food stalls and it would give me a chance to scope out some of the crafts for later.

Instead, we decided to take his mother out for lunch. We went to Naa, the farm restaurant. It was a bit busy, but the food was good.  After that, we stopped briefly at a farmer’s market kind of place for a few fresh veggies. 

Back at the house, F and I unloaded the car and then walked over to the park to see the Craft Fair. It was nice today and there were a lot of people in the park. Over a few stalls, I ended up buying a wooden spoon and a spatula, a new mug and a rice bowl for K, and a few postcards from the artist. I had wanted a drink or something but didn’t get one there.

We came back to the house and F heated up some dinner for his mother. She got to have more curry. I really didn’t want it as it had been sitting out overnight and I just don’t want to risk food poisoning.  

We drove to Mikawa and bought our tickets for the movie. We went over to Aeon and got F a few ties as he can only find one tie at the house. He got three new blue ones, I wanted him to get other colours, but he wanted blue…to go with his green uniform. Good choice dear. 

We had dinner in a pasta place in the mall. Mine was fine, I had tuna and daikon in a Japanese soy-yuzu sauce. It was good, but I would have preferred a sharper yuzu flavour. F had a spicy pomodoro that he didn’t like much. I thought it was too spicy, he thought it tasted like minestrone soup!

F ran the ties to the car and we went upstairs and watched Shazam!  I really liked it, F mostly liked it. There were a few things I didn’t like, but overall, I really enjoyed it. 

On the way back to Tsuruoka, F asked if I’d like to go out for a drink and I said yes. I didn’t mind one way or another. We ended up parking in the Marica building and walking to Bardet.  We spent a couple of hours there and had some great food, and even a drink(me) or three(F). It was quite nice spending time out.  We came back to the house via Daiko.

F went to bed fairly soon after he got back, I’m still up, but will go as soon as I’m done this. 

I’m not sure of Sunday’s plans yet. We may go to a concert in the aquarium or to see another movie or even both! Come back later and find out what we get up to. Until tomorrow….

April 19, 2019

Friday - Cloudy and cold

I woke up this morning and thought about going out for a walk, but didn’t. It had rained overnight, it wasn’t raining at 8 am, but it was still cloudy and it was quite cold. I don’t really grudge myself the day off though. 

I watched the early news that I’d recorded and then switched over to ER and watched that. Yay! I’m so into ER that it isn’t funny.  I’ve seen it all years ago, but it was good television. 

When I went downstairs to get my lunch, K was in the kitchen. She was making curry.  She’d used 3 of the four new potatoes that I’d bought, two of the three carrots and at least one of the onions. That one didn’t bother me as it might have been her onion anyway.  (I can’t understand why she couldn’t have used ALL of the potatoes. I can’t do much with ONE potato!) And then, she opened the fridge to look for meat, but there wasn’t any. Shock!  I didn’t have the usual curry meat, but I offered her the leftover mince from Monday.  I’d put it in the freezer so it was fine to use. She was a bit surprised at it but did use it.

I grabbed my lunch and went upstairs to eat it. I had a very quiet day for the most part. I did send F a message about the curry in case he wanted to get some food for himself or was worried about dinner today. I watched a lot of stuff off the DVR and finally came up with an idea for my column. An idea is half the battle I think.

F called me around 5:30 and I reminded him that his mother had made dinner for us. I suggested he get something that he’d like to go with it.  He came back in a bit and brought pickles and an egg panko thing. F and I set up the curry and the table and then we all ate.  The curry was good, the mince worked really well I thought and everyone enjoyed dinner. 

F and I did the dishes afterwards and then got ready to go out. Before dinner, I had suggested to him that we go to the local cinema and see one of the movies. There are 3 movies in English playing this weekend around Tsuruoka and he’d said that he’d like to see them all.  By seeing one on Friday we made it a little easier to do that! 

Tonight we went to see Suspiria and it was insane. It was about 30-40% in German and of course, the subtitles were in Japanese. F said he didn’t understand what was being said either! Towards the end of the movie, I started laughing because I just had no idea what on earth they were doing. I thought it couldn’t get weirder and yet it somehow did!  So not really recommended by me!

We came back to the house via a convenience store and then had a bit of relaxing time. I watched an episode of The Big Bang Theory and F went to bed.

That’s it for me. This weekend could go well as there are lots of things going on. As I mentioned there are 3 movies, also a craft fair in the park across the road, a concert on Sunday at the aquarium AND a William Morris exhibition is just opening at the local Art Museum.  Spoiled for choices we are!

Come back later and find out what we do on Saturday. Until tomorrow….

April 18, 2019

Thursday - Sunny and gorgeous.

I got up this morning but I didn’t really want to! Bed was lovely and warm and I didn’t feel like a walk in the park. However, I did it anyway!

I took a small bottle of water with me and tried to pace myself a bit better today. I didn’t listen to music which was okay, but I found I still walked a bit too fast.  I kept slowing myself down. I didn’t do a full circuit today, I just wasn’t in the right headspace.

I came back to the house and got on with my day. I changed, sorted some laundry, had breakfast and put laundry in the washing machine. I really had a quiet day. One thing I did in the afternoon was watch a movie I’d recorded from WOWOW - The Florida Project. It was brilliant. It was about a little girl, probably 7 or 8 years old and her mother, who wasn’t that old. The mother was a single mother and they obviously lived hand to mouth. They stayed in a hotel and over the course of the film the mother became more and more desperate for money. The little girl had a great time of things, however. It probably doesn’t sound that great when I describe it, but as Gene Siskel used to say, there’s a big difference in films about an 8-year-old and a movie for an 8-year-old. He didn’t use that specific age, that was my ad-lib on it. And, it could have been Roger that said it…I can’t remember! Oh, and Willem Dafoe was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in the film, deservedly I might add.

F actually called me before he came back from work. I was quite surprised. He said he didn’t want to think about dinner—okay, so I suggested a bento for his mother and we’d go and see the cherry blossoms tonight. 

When he came to the house, we talked for a bit and then headed out. We went to the local grocery store and picked up some stuff for the house. We delivered a bento to K and then we went out.  We were able to park at City Hall and then walked over to the park. The night was lovely and the cherry blossoms are out in their glory. As usual, F wouldn’t buy any of the food on offer, so as usual, I wonder why he makes me walk through the stalls!

We took a few pictures here and there and then went back to the car and drove to Sashimiya for dinner.  We both had donburi bowls. F had kaisen-don and I had negitoro-ikura don.  It was nice! 

We came back to the house after our meal.  F took a shower and had a snack, I took a shower and watched a little telly. 

That’s really about it for our day. I’m feeling really cold, even though it is 20 degrees in our room.  I think I’ll get myself off to bed right away then!

Come back later if you like and see how Friday goes. Until tomorrow….

April 17, 2019

Wednesday - Warm and sunny

I heard F leave this morning, said goodbye to him.  After my alarm went off I got up eventually, dressed myself and went for a walk. It was nice in the park this morning, but I ended up buying a drink again. The park was great and in some places, the cherry blossoms were out and looking lovely.

I headed back to the house and was almost in time to watch ER. I had my usual quiet morning and breakfast, didn’t do laundry again either. 

I decided to have an early-fish lunch today so I asked K if she’d like to split the last bit of the stew with me. She would, so I heated it up and gave her a bowl plus some of the salad. I took mine upstairs and it was nice. I even came down fairly early and washed the bowl. K had washed hers in the meantime and had even washed the bowl I’d left in the sink. That was nice of her.

I stayed upstairs in the room for most of the day. I opened a window today, that’s how nice it was outside. It did feel good to get some fresh air in the room. I also did some postcrossings. I hadn't done any yet this month as it has been hectic. The rest will likely be too, so I'm not sure what will happen from here on out.

Tonight F was late. He didn’t phone me so I figured that he was still angry with me for whatever I did yesterday. I didn’t know if I should go and make something for his mother’s dinner, so I didn’t. Around 7:30 he came back to the house and didn’t come upstairs. 

I went downstairs to see what was going on and he was in the kitchen cooking udon. Bloody hell, does the man not know how to cook anything else? Our reunion did not go well and in a few minutes he was yelling at me and even told me to go away. I don’t think he meant upstairs.

I didn’t see him again until 8:30 or so when he came upstairs. He basically went to bed. I asked him if he’d take me out to the store so I could buy some food. He told me he would later. Around 9 I started to insist that he take me out. I was famished. I’d eaten a smallish lunch, even earlier than I usually do. 

He got dressed and we went out. I asked if I could go to a restaurant first and he said I could so I suggested Gusto. We went and I had a nice meal. He sat there and played with his phone, which was only an option because I loaned him my spare battery for the phone. He didn’t eat anything at the restaurant and only had water to drink. 

We went to the grocery store afterwards and I suggested that we get something for his mother’s lunch. I don’t know what she has in the house to eat. He got her a few things and I got some stuff for myself, and possibly to share. I did not get anything to cook dinner because I am apparently cranky when I cook. This crap again.

We came back to the house, F went upstairs after putting his stuff away and I looked after the kitchen garbage. I went upstairs and checked on the garbage in our room too, and took that. I left everything in the genkan. If he “forgets” to take it in the morning I’ll probably do it when I go out for my walk.

I came upstairs and watched a bit of TV. F fell asleep on the bed and I discovered that he’d been to the doctor this evening and had a shot. I’m sorry that he is in that much pain, but he does bring it on himself. He doesn’t seem to realize that when he fights with me his condition gets worse. 

That’s about it for today. It was a pretty miserable evening, so I’m sure that tomorrow won’t be great either. I’ll have to wait and see though.

Come back later and see who comes back from work tomorrow evening, Grumpy F or Nice F.  And if I’m here to see which one it is. Until tomorrow….

April 16, 2019

Tuesday - Sunny and warm

I woke up in surprise this morning that my alarm had gone off. I usually wake up earlier to run downstairs or when F gets up, but today I was out cold. I really was tired yesterday!

I got up and even went out this morning for a walk. The cherry blossoms were out a little in the park so it made parts of the walk really nice. I do have to be careful about the music though, some of it makes me walk too fast, especially at first.

I came back to the house, changed into some house clothes and watched ER. It was the one where Dr. Weaver decides to leave.  I grabbed breakfast and settled in with Major Crimes after that. 

I had a very quiet day today. I didn’t go downstairs very much and I had an attack of sleepiness around noon, so I took a nap. I woke up and decided to grab my lunch a little early so that was good.

Around 5:40 F called to say he was returning so I went down and started setting up for dinner.  He showed up a bit later and then flounced off in a huff saying he didn’t want dinner as he couldn’t eat.  Great.  I cooked some penne to put the leftover stew on, but the bag overbalanced and about half of it ended up on the floor. Ack!  I got everything set out on plates and took it through for K and I.  We had the stew on penne, salad and broccoli. I thought everything was nice, although K ate all her stew before her noodles so she put salad dressing on them and ate them that way!

I did all the dishes by myself, washing and drying, and then went upstairs and shut myself in my part of the room.  F asked me if I wanted to go out. I had suggested going to Tsuruoka Park today for our Hanami. I didn’t want to go or even talk to him at that moment. I know he said he wasn’t feeling well, but it seems that it happens only when he is trying to get out of something.

I mentioned the Notre Dame burning to him but he hadn’t really heard of it. It’s so sad. I’ve always wanted to visit Notre Dame. And Paris in general. 

F ended up going to his onsen and I stayed in. I watched some telly and then I was just about to take a shower when F came back.  I took it anyway, then came back upstairs and watched more TV. F made himself some udon, something that my mother wouldn’t have allowed when I was growing up. If you didn’t eat supper, you didn’t eat. I really think it should be that way most of the time here too!

That’s really all that there is to say about things today. I’m sorry that my husband isn’t feeling well, but he has a habit of eating the wrong things and forgetting that he did.  

I will most likely be here tomorrow night too.  Don’t wait up for me though! Come back later if you want to read my next update. Until tomorrow….  

April 15, 2019

Monday - Rainy, windy then clearing

I did something a little different this morning. I went out. I got up before 8:30 - I dressed and went over to Komagihara park to do a little walking. Sad to say, the rain soon started and I didn’t want to get sick, so I came back to the house.

I went upstairs, watched ER, had breakfast, did two loads of laundry and then went downstairs to start dinner. I made a mincemeat stew in my slow cooker.  As it was lunch time when I finished my prep, I decided to grab lunch and take it upstairs.

The rest of the afternoon was fairly quiet which was nice. I was tired from the morning, even though I didn’t go as far as I wanted to.

F called to say he’d be late, so I left the stew cooking away in the slow cooker. I think that was wise.  When he came back to the house, I got dinner on the table quite fast. The stew got good reviews all around, so I think it might be a keeper.

F washed the dishes, I dried them, and then we went upstairs. I had to get some shopping done, so asked that we go out. F, in turn, suggested going to the Internet Cafe.  That was fine with me, but the grocery store was important too.  We went to the Internet Cafe for our 3 hours which was fine. I did a little knitting and YouTubing. Afterwards, we decided to go to our old grocery store.  We picked up a lot of stuff for tomorrow and then came back to the house. 

F took a shower, I watched So You Think You Can Dance and it was good. That’s about it really. I’m so tired now that I nearly fell asleep on this thing twice!

Come back later if you dare and see what I get up to then.  Until tomorrow….

April 14, 2019

Sunday - Sunny then a bit cloudy

F and I slept in a bit, but not too much. He got up around 9 and took his mother to the onsen. That was fine with me. I slept a little longer and then got up and took care of a couple of things I needed to.

F got back around 12:00 I think and we talked about going out for lunch. Then he said that he wasn’t feeling that well. I suggested he have a rest for a few minutes before we went out, and that’s what he did. 

We stripped the bed before we left so that we could go to the laundromat with our bedding.

We went to the Indian Restaurant. They just reopened after their holiday. We both had their Akawari Naan set, free refills on naan with one of 5 curries. It’s quite good value and we almost always want more naan.  It’s so good. Today was no exception. I had the chicken curry, F had the pork curry and it was all good stuff. We did order extra naan, but poor F had a bit of a mishap. His denture plate broke during the meal. It’s been broken for a while, he fixes it himself, and well, it broke again. 

We made a quick stop over at the Pal shopping area and I was rather surprised to see a whole bunch of female foreigners in the store. They got on a charter bus with from our area so I wonder if it was a tour or something. I’ll never know!

We tried one new laundromat today but it was a bit too poncey for us. We had to take our shoes off at the door and they only had one big washing machine and not too many smaller ones.  They did have lots of dryers though.  We decided to go to our usual place and it was fine. No waiting for machines, we used two of the big ones for all of our bedding and then had two big dryers afterwards for them. 

We headed back to the house with our clean bedding, but F asked if I’d like a drink or something. I was fine with that, but he proceeded to pass every single interesting place with drinks. He said that he was going to the 7-11 after I questioned him. We detoured to Komeda coffee where we had ice coffees.  The bad thing is that they seem to have a lot of sugar in their regular iced coffee. It was yucky. I took a mouthful and wasn’t happy. F switched with me, but I worried about him having all that sugar.  

We left the coffee shop and went over to the nearby grocery store. I had suggested getting something for our dinner tonight and once I was in the store found something for making tomorrow night’s dinner too. 

We came back to the house, unloaded the car, and F got the bentos on the table. I took some of the bedding upstairs and came down to eat.  Dinner was fine. I had a chicken bento, F and K had rice based bentos. Everyone seemed pleased.  F washed the dishes, I dried afterwards and then we went upstairs. 

We remade our bed with our nice clean and more spring-like bedding. We had fuzzy warm sheets and I was starting to get a bit too hot in bed. Hopefully, I’ll be okay now.

We watched a bit of Castle Rock from the DVR and I did some knitting.  After that, I took a shower and F watched some TV. F went to bed fairly early as he has an early driving assignment tomorrow morning so has to go to work earlier than usual. 

That’s about it for me. I did read quite a bit of The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye at the laundromat which was good. I’m not quite done, but I’m getting there. 

Come back later and find out how my day goes. Until tomorrow….

April 13, 2019

Saturday - Warm and Sunny

F and I slept in this morning. He’d gotten up around 2 last night and went back to bed after that. I stayed up a bit longer before going to bed.

Today, around 10:30 am, he asked if I’d mind if he went to the onsen with his mother. I said I did mind. Usually, when he goes out that late, he doesn’t get back until 2 pm or so and all of the places I like to eat are closed. I told him he could go if he wanted, but I might not be at the house when he got back.   Then, he decided he was too sick to go anywhere and was a bit pouty for a while. Finally, at 11:30 he decided he’d go and see his doctor, but couldn’t drop me off. I said it was fine. If he was that sick, the doctor’s office was the best place for him.

He got back a couple of hours later. He got some medicine from his doctor and will have tests later this month. We went out for lunch to Kintaro Sushi. It was my suggestion, I’d had a late breakfast when he was out so I could have just a little bit of sushi if that’s what I wanted! We also picked up a few things for his mother while we were out.

We came back to the house and of course, F didn’t want to change the bedding, he wanted to sleep and did. I’m okay with that, but honestly, I want to switch over to the non-winter sheets!

We discussed going to a movie and he slept. I read a bit, surfed the net and generally amused myself for a while. I woke him up around 6 pm and we discussed our plans.

F and I went to Foodever tonight for a great dinner of local lamb on rice. It was quite good. Then, we went to the cinema to see Mortal Engines. I’m not sure why, but the cinema was really crowded tonight. There were three movies starting within 10 minutes of each other, so that could have been a reason. One was at 19:55, one at 20:00 and ours was at 20:05.  Crazy scheduling. 

Our movie was fun. It wasn’t the best film ever, but I enjoyed it a lot. I had read some not very good reviews of it, so it was nice to see that they were somewhat wrong!

After the movie, we came back to the house via the convenience store.  At the house, we had a few snacks and a little later F went to bed. 

I’m not sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow. I’m still hoping for a laundromat for washing sheets and such but won’t hold my breath. I’d also love to go back to the Indian restaurant, but have no idea if F’s stomach will be up to it. Fingers crossed. 

Come back later and find out what we get up to. Until tomorrow….

April 12, 2019

Friday - Clear and cooler I think

I woke up early this morning, made a run downstairs. I came back to bed in time to see that F had got up to get ready for work. He had an early start today, poor thing. I waited until he left and went back to sleep for a bit. 

I watched the news I had taped earlier and then my usual ER episode. Love that show! 

Today I had a terribly quiet day. I didn’t do too much, and I didn’t accomplish anything, sad to say. 

F called around 5:40 to say he was coming to the house so I went downstairs to get dinner started. He called back a few minutes later to say he had to buy gas so would be longer. Luckily I hadn’t put the pasta on to cook yet. 

We had quite a good dinner when he arrived. We had carbonara with garlicky shrimp plus asparagus and a side salad.  Everything disappeared, except the asparagus! There was a little leftover.

F had expressed that he wasn’t feeling well before dinner and after dinner collapsed in a puddle on the floor of the living room. 

I cleared the table, washed and dried all the dishes and then came upstairs. It took ages to do the dishes, luckily nothing was too dirty or difficult tonight.

A few minutes later, F came upstairs and threw himself on the bed and fell asleep. He’s only just gotten up now at 1:43 in the morning. I had hoped to go out with him but that didn’t happen. I know that if he really is sick then he should stay in bed, but I am not sure if he is!

I watched a bit of telly tonight and took a shower.  I was hoping to go to bed early tonight as it is too depressing to stay up when I’ve been stuck here all day, but F has the light on now. 

Anyway, let’s hope that tomorrow he’s feeling better, I’m feeling okay and that we can actually DO something.  

Come back later if you feel like it and see what, if anything, I get up to. Until tomorrow….

April 11, 2019

Thursday - Snow in the morning, clearing later on

I got up this morning around 8. It was really hard to do that. I started the news on tape and watched it from my nice warm bed. There was still a bit of snow outside, although the roads looked clear.

I had a quiet day today. I debated either writing a few postcards or doing some of my sashiko, so I chose the sashiko. I finished the design and it looks really cool. I have another one to do in a different design, so I’ll do that and then I can finish the two coasters. At least that is the plan at the moment. 

My little sashiko coaster-to-be.

I watched a few of the shows on the DVR and erased them. It was rather fun in a way. I have a few shows left to watch and I need to get F to start watching Castle Rock with me again or we’ll run out of space on the DVR.

Around 4:15 I was downstairs washing my dishes from the day when the doorbell rang. The guy came in with a paper. It was something about the water meter. Basically, we couldn’t use the water for the next few minutes. I hadn’t finished rinsing all of my dishes yet, so I didn’t. Don’t tell my husband! I washed and dried them.  K came into the kitchen and tried to tell me something, but to be honest, I had no idea what she was on about. Sigh.

For dinner tonight, F and I discussed a couple of options. I asked for his idea and for a change he had one. He suggested Kintaro Sushi, which was one of my ideas too. I also thought of Youme-Shokudo, which he liked too, so we went there!  I really didn’t mind for a change. 

The three of us went and had yummy dinners. I had Spicy Chicken Namban, F had Pork Piccata and his mother had a grilled saba (mackerel).  We were all quite pleased with our food.

We took K back to the house and dropped her off. F and I went off to the Izmo area and had a drink and a dessert at McDonald, while we used the wifi. After that, we went to the grocery store for a few necessities. I’m going to make pasta for dinner tomorrow night, with shrimp. I hope it’ll be good.  

We came back to the house and I watched Elementary. That show has really grown on me. I don’t preset the DVR for it, but I do try to watch it every week. 

And that’s about it. I’m not sure what we’ll get up to this weekend. F has to have an early start tomorrow, so I should try and let him get lots of sleep.  

Come back later if you choose and have a gander at what I get up to on Friday. Until tomorrow….