January 5, 2026

Monday - Snowy and warmish, cold at night

I had my usual sort of morning. I woke up, then ended up going back to bed and sleeping quite late. I was hoping I wouldn’t do that, but I did!

I grabbed a quickish breakfast and ate, then I went downstairs and took down my Christmas Tree. I also did laundry at the same time as I hadn’t done any for a week. Taking down the ornaments and putting them away was a bit sad, but I’ll see them again next year! When I had the ornaments away, I took down the lights and put them away. Finally, I had to take the tree away. I packed my ornament case, and the tree and then girded myself to go outside.

I put on my coat and hat, then boots and took my boxes to the garage. I took them upstairs, I had to do two trips, and then came downstairs gingerly. I hate those stairs!

I shovelled snow for a bit. There was quite a bit, but it was light and soft so it didn’t take too much effort. Hurray! I got the parking area and the steps to the house cleared off, but the snow was still coming down. Sigh.

I went inside and was a bit shocked that it was around 3:40. I still hadn’t had lunch! I went upstairs, grabbed my bread and took it down to the kitchen. I made my lunch and then took it upstairs.

When I arrived, it was after 4 pm so I just watched some of the news. I saw Marco Rubio on with George Stephanopoulis and he was like a character in 1984 (one of the books I’m reading at the moment.) He wouldn’t answer any questions and the term “doublespeak” came to mind. 

After the news I turned off the TV and got stuck into a bit of YouTube. F called me around 5:30 and a few minutes later I went downstairs and got started in the kitchen.

I had to tidy up the kitchen, I’m afraid F had left it in quite a state. The “clean” dishes in the drainer…well, some of them had to be rewashed. It wasn’t a big deal, it just took time.

Tonight I made hash browns/tiny roasted potatoes, scrambled eggs and bacon. We had it with some salad too. I didn’t get it on the table until well after 7:30. I’m not sure what went on. The potatoes took a little long I guess. Dinner was pretty good…the breakfast for dinner did go over well. I realized when I was cleaning that it was almost all cooked by me!

I did the dishes after dinner and didn’t finish until after 9pm. Still, they did get done. When I finished, I went upstairs and relaxed. I turned on my water pot and when the water was hot I made myself some cocoa. 

F came upstairs after 10 pm and announced that he had turned off the water. I was a bit concerned and not too happy as I had planned to take a shower around then! I told him and he got a bit miffed at me. I also checked the temperature forecast overnight and it isn’t too cold, so he really didn’t need to turn it off. I did remind him that I’d asked him to set up the rice for tomorrow so he said he’d do it. 

I went downstairs to take my shower. F was in the kitchen and was a little cranky so I got out of his way as soon as I turned on the water heater. I took my shower and afterwards, he’d gone back upstairs.

I went back upstairs and gave him a hug. I think he’s in a bad time of year for him. He had to shovel snow at work and a bit here at the house so his back was sore and he was tired. We had a nice couple of minutes and a little while later, he went to bed.

I watched an episode of Gen V and it was a doozy. That whole series is so wicked but funny!

Since the show finished, I’ve watched a bit of YouTube and worked on this blog entry. I’m about done now so I might be able to get to bed a little early!

Tomorrow I’m not sure what I’ll get up to. I have a few ideas but I imagine I may have to go and shovel snow at some point!

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

December 25, 2025

Thursday - Cloudy and a bit damp

F went to bed last night just after midnight. I was surprised as we usually open our presents then. I asked him if he’d like to do it then and he said yes. He got up and we exchanged presents. I knew what I was getting since he bought me stuff at Tendo Mall, but he didn’t know what I gave him. Happily, both things I got him (pyjama bottoms and a sweatshirt) fit. I made a bag for him full of snacks and his favourite ramen and some chocolate coins. He was quite touched and had to have some ramen right away!

Last night I used a new set of earplugs when I went to bed and I couldn’t hear anything. It was rather nice! I’m surprised I woke up when my alarm went off to be honest. I did my usual thing of going downstairs and then coming back to the room and going to bed again. I did fall asleep and then overslept a bit, but I really didn’t mind too much. It’s Christmas. It was my gift to myself!

I woke up later, dressed and went downstairs to get breakfast. I brought it upstairs to eat. I had a quiet time but I did get four or five more nengajo written so I was happy about that. I’ve written one to everyone on my list so yay.

I grabbed my lunch a bit late and watched an episode of Matlock today. It was good, but I didn’t pay as much attention to it as I should have. Oh well.

I went downstairs to start dinner prep a little bit after 5 pm. I didn’t even hear F call me! I had to make two trips downstairs as I had too much to carry and it wasn’t safe. 

Today I did my usual “Nibbles Buffet” and it was very nice. I did some veggies and a dip, some cold meats, lots of crackers, some cheese, some oysters and a few canapés. I had a Christmas tablecloth and some napkins. I used paper plates today because I really didn’t want to spend my time in the kitchen washing dishes after dinner. It was a good call! We drank some sparkling grape juice which was nice as well. I said to F that his mother probably thought it was wine but he didn’t think so. However, at the end of our meal, when I offered her more, she said she didn’t want anymore alcohol. F had to try to tell her it wasn’t wine, it was juice!

Nibbles buffet

After we had our fill of the main course, F brought out his cake. He’d gone to a nice bakery and it was a nice cake. I’d still rather have a fruit cake, but it was good! He cut it and was such an old lady about the whole thing. He likes to try and make sure that each piece is perfect and measures things out. Oh well. It was his cake and it was expensive! We got a chocolate one this year and it was fine. 

F's Christmas Cake

We ate our cake and then I cleared the table again. I washed the few dishes that there were, mostly cutlery and sharp knives. When I finished, I asked F if he’d run me to the post office to mail my nengajo. He obliged me. I didn’t bother getting changed.

When we got to the post office it was closed, so I had to put them in the post box outside. They had one side marked off for nengajo so I put them in there. Yay. Done. 

We just came back to the house. I came upstairs and relaxed for a bit before going downstairs to take a shower. 

After that, I came back upstairs and spent some time on my computer. 

I have to get myself to bed because I have an early morning tomorrow. I’m meeting friends at the Chido museum tomorrow, early! We’re going to have lunch a bit later downtown so I’m not sure how we’ll get from the museum to downtown, but we’ll work it out. 

I hope you had a Merry Christmas today and that you have a lovely day if Christmas isn’t something you celebrate. Happy holidays!

Until tomorrow….

December 24, 2025

 Wednesday - Sunny and clear

Today was a pretty good day, all told. I woke up this morning when my alarm went off. I got up, went downstairs and then I came back upstairs to the room. I sorted my laundry and then I went back to bed. I ended up oversleeping but I didn’t mind too much. I didn’t have too many plans. 

I got up, dressed and then took my laundry downstairs. I ended up doing two loads of laundry today and hung them up in the room. I wrote a couple more nengajo but didn’t finish them yet. Sigh. I had wanted to get them done before Christmas day but I didn’t.

I had lunch a little late, somewhere after 3 pm. I went downstairs to make it and then brought it back to the room to eat. I thought about watching the news and decided I really didn’t care about that. I watched another episode of Lie To Me. I think I like the show, but I’m not sure yet!

F called a bit after 5 and said he was on his way to the house. I went downstairs and then I got started on dinner before he arrived. Tonight I made coro-coro steak, I air fried half an onion that was leftover in the fridge, we had potato salad and regular salad, plus some steamed broccoli. Dinner got pretty good reviews and was nice, even if I say that myself. Oh, and we had dessert too. I had bought some Orange Cake when I was in Tendo and we had that with a bit of ice cream. It was a good end to the meal.

I did the dishes afterwards and it took longer than I would have thought. Between the dishes and then the garbage, it was 9:30 when I finished. Sigh. Rather than go to Mina which closes at 10pm, I suggested that we go to MaxValu.

I changed my clothes and we went out, F and I. We drove with a bit of a detour to MaxValu and bought some groceries for lunches and dinners. F wanted to buy some snacks so we got something for each of us, then for his mother. After that, we went to the check out. On the way, F picked up a big bag of potato chips. I was a tad surprised. 

He rang up the groceries (in the evening it is self-checkout) and when he got to the big bag of chips I was rather surprised. It was over ¥400 yen! F didn’t think it was that expensive or he wouldn’t have picked up the bag. F paid and we came back to the car and went to the house.

At the house we unpacked the groceries and then came upstairs. F opened his big bag of chips and split them with me. There weren’t that many chips really. Also, they were supposed to taste like dadacha-mame but I didn’t think they did. F did however. 

I watched today’s episode of Wild Cards and it was cute. It was about a reality TV show where there was a murder. The actors are quite good looking and it’s a Canadian show, although in this second series they don’t really talk about being in Canada or Vancouver anymore. Bit sad that.

And that’s about it for my day. It’s Christmas Eve so I’d like to wish all of my readers a Merry Christmas if you celebrate or a Happy Holiday to you if you don’t. 

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

December 23, 2025

Tuesday - Warmish and sunny

Today turned out rather well, so that’s good isn’t it?

I got up this morning before my alarm. I went downstairs and then came back upstairs. I set my alarm for not the usual times and went back to bed for a snooze. I did slightly oversleep, but I had already set out my clothes for the day, so I got dressed quickly. I went downstairs and made my breakfast and brought it up to the room to eat.

I left the house a little late so I did a fast-walk to the bus stop. I still had to wait a couple of minutes but that was fine. I rode the little local bus to S-Mall. I had debated getting out at the Train Station stop, to have a meal there, but decided not to do that.

At the mall, I got off the bus and went in. I did a little shopping in the Daiso and picked up some “stocking stuffer” type things for F. After that, I went downstairs and got him a few things in the grocery store. I should say that I also got myself a few things in both places too!

I decided to have lunch next so I looked at the Pizza Hut menu and decided that I could probably have their carbonara pizza as it didn’t appear to have tomato sauce on it. I ordered it and when it arrived it didn’t have tomato. Yay. It was quite nice but didn’t really seem as filling as the other dish I usually get. Still, it was fine. I haven’t had a regular pizza in ages.

Carbonara pizza...no tomato sauce. Yay.

Since I had a little bit of time before my bus I decided I’d have an ice cream so I went to the Baskin-Robbins and ordered. I had the Mariage de Chocolat and Jamoca Almond Fudge, just a small double. I ate it quickly and then headed to the bus station.

I had a couple of minutes in the station, but then my bus came and I got on. The bus was quiet and there were only a few people on it. I got off at my stop and walked back to the house. I was back around 3 pm. 

I saw K when I arrived and said hello but it was a bit like she didn’t see me or know who I was. I knew she couldn’t hear me, but I thought she might say hello or something. Nope. 

I went upstairs after I set the heater to come on at 5 pm. I spent the next couple of hours relaxing on my computer. I also watched an episode of The Good Fight. I rather enjoyed it. Michael Sheen is just enjoying himself in his role. He’s so opposite the character he was in Good Omens.

F didn’t call me until I was downstairs tonight. He’d forgotten he said. I went into the kitchen and started to make things ready for dinner. F arrived a little bit after that. We had a good reunion and then he turned on the heater in the living room and then went upstairs to change. 

Tonight I made a stir-fry but with chicken instead of pork. It was quite nice, but the chicken wasn’t sliced the way I thought it was. I think they’d tried to slice it, but hadn’t gone all the way through. I had to try and slice it while it was in the frypan!

Dinner tonight got good reviews. F liked the chicken stir-fry so yay. I liked it too. We all had seconds of it. We also had salad and potato salad. K and F had rice. I didn’t fancy second day rice and honestly, I can live quite nicely without rice! 

I did the dishes and afterwards I headed upstairs and relaxed. I watched some YouTube and wrote a couple of nengajo. I’d like to get them in the mail soon so I need to finish right away. 

At 11 pm I watched FBI: Most Wanted and it was an interesting episode. The guy that they were chasing was innocent of the crime he was accused of committing. Also, one of the FBI members is thinking about leaving so that’s news.

F headed off to bed and I went back to my computer. I’m about done for now. 

Tomorrow I have to do some laundry and we’ll hopefully got out after dinner and pick up a few little things for Christmas dinner and then Boxing Day’s dinner. I’m hoping it’ll be leftovers but who knows?

So, that’s it for me. Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

December 22, 2025

Monday - Clear with some sleet in the afternoon

I woke up this morning when my alarm went off. I didn’t know where I was for a minute! I think I was deep in a dream at the time. I went downstairs and then came back upstairs and went back to bed for a bit. I intended to watch a few videos as normal but I must have fallen asleep quickly and only woke up when my alarm blared for a few minutes. 

I dragged myself out of bed, dressed and went downstairs. I made my breakfast and brought it upstairs to eat. I made sure that K had eaten her breakfast…she had….

I had a quiet morning and afternoon. I wrote a few nengajo and when it was time I went downstairs and made my lunch. I brought it back up to the room and today watched another episode of Lie to Me. I thought it was good, but I’m not sure if I’ll keep watching. 

F called after 5:15 and I asked him if he’d made rice. He hadn’t. We got into a bit of a fight about rice making on the phone. It is silly really. I don’t make rice because I don’t want to eat it. I only eat it to be polite, but I dislike plain white rice. I really miss western style rice. It tastes so much better to me. 

Anyway, I went downstairs and got started on the dishes. When F came back he did set up the rice cooker and then sat in the living room and did nothing as usual. I got stuck into dinner. Tonight I did Toaster Oven chicken, with a hot cabbage dish, and salad. I decided to make another dish and checked out Google for ideas. I ended up making a scrambled eggs with onions and tuna and cheese. F  liked it and actually said so! That’s unusual. 

I did the dishes after dinner and listened to my podcasts. When I was finished I went upstairs to change. 

F and I went to the grocery store and cashed in some of his points from his point card. Then, we went shopping. We got a lot of nice cold meat for our Christmas meal and some pate, a few veggies and a little bit of cheese. We also got stuff for the next two day’s dinners.

We came back to the house and I put away the groceries. I went upstairs and F stayed downstairs to do something with his fishes. Upstairs, I relaxed for a couple of minutes and then went downstairs to take a shower. 

After the shower I went upstairs and decided to watch another episode of Lazarus. I think it was the last episode of the season. I hope there’s more, but who knows. 

F came upstairs and went to bed after a while. I had a quiet evening after I turned off the TV, but remembered around 1 am that I forgot to do up the plastic garbage for tomorrow. Oops. I went downstairs and put a few things in the bag and put it in the genkan. I hope F will take it with him when he leaves in the morning.

And that’s it. Tomorrow I’m thinking I might go downtown for a little while. It depends if I can drag myself out of the house in time to catch a bus. 

That’s about it for me. Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

December 21, 2025

Sunday - Cloudy and then rainy

Well, I did it folks. I got up before 8:00am this morning ( a SUNDAY!) I got dressed, and had a quick breakfast. After that, F and I left the house, very close to our scheduled time of 9:00 am.  We did make a quick stop at a convenience store to get drinks and something else to eat. We both got an onigiri. 

Then, we were off! We drove to Tendo and made really good time. We stopped on the way near Tendo and then got to the mall. We parked outside Aeon and then walked through the mall. I had wanted to have steak at Pepper Lunch and F said it sounded good. Of course, the restaurant was in the Food Court which was at the far end of the mall from Aeon! We both had the same main dish, but I added on a salad and a drink, F added on rice and a drink. The steak wasn’t fabulous, but it was decent and the price was right so that was good!

Then, it was time for F to leave the mall. I walked him back to Aeon and said goodbye at the door. Then, I went shopping. I went over to the Kaldi to look for my Christmas Pudding and mincemeat tarts but I didn’t find any. I bought some cookies, tea and an orange cake. 

I headed into Aeon and went shopping. I looked for things for F and I found a couple of things. I bought them later.  I picked out some socks for myself and then went over to the ladies clothing. I looked at stuff for myself and even tried some on. I decided to get myself a pyjama top. It’s much warmer than any of the ones I have now and it would be nice for me staying up late blogging. They had a couple of tops, I tried them both and decided on the over the head one, as it looked and felt more comfortable. 

Then, I went down the mall and did a bit of shopping. I found some half-price Christmas ornaments so I got myself another Saint Nicholas ornament and a couple of cute gnome ornaments. Of course, the next shop had even cuter ornaments, but they also looked more delicate so probably a good thing I didn’t buy them. 

I was getting thirsty but Doutor was really busy. I decided that I’d go back to the Aeon area and try Mr. Donuts. I got there and while it was lined up, I could see tables available. I bought a doughnut and ordered a cup of decaf cafe latte. I took a seat and ate and drank and saved my poor feet!

F called me all of a sudden to say that he was finished so I told him where I was and suggested that he join me. He did, after 20 minutes or so. He didn’t want any food or drink, but sat with me for a few minutes while we made plans. 

I strongly suggested to him that he buy me a present for Christmas! We went back into Aeon and looked at the ladies clothing. I found a couple of things that I liked so I tried them on. One wasn’t great, but two things worked well, so F got them for me. I won’t “get” them until Christmas so that’s good. 

After that, we headed out of the city. We did stop at Nishikawa for a restroom break and a little bit of leg stretching. We listened to some good tunes on my iPod and when we were getting near Tsuruoka we talked about dinner ideas. I came up with a few and I told F to pick the one he wanted. 

We ended up at the Udon chain restaurant, the one that does Tempura on the side. I never can remember the name of it! I had their new special, a duck/negi onion bowl. F had his usual plainish one. We both added on some tempura. I had a chicken tender and a piece of kabocha, F had a mixed veggie and a pork cutlet tempura. We enjoyed our meal.

We came back to the house and it was dark! We brought in the shopping, F woke his mother up and made sure she had eaten in the day. I went upstairs and turned on our heater.

We had a quiet evening in. I decided to fill up the heater’s tank with kerosene, but F nicely volunteered to do it. Unfortunately, the pump didn’t stop when it was supposed to and some of the kerosene spilled on the floor. F cleaned most of it up. I gave him some paper towels. Kerosene isn’t something that you want to wash in your machine. I took the tank upstairs and discovered that the kerosene was all over the tank. I wiped it off as best as I could and then went back downstairs to dispose of the tissues and to wash my hands. 

When I came back upstairs I decided to watch a movie or something. At first, I decided on A Quiet Place: Day One, but then F said he’d like to watch it sometime, but not tonight. Okay then. 

I put on the first episode of Lie to Me and enjoyed it. I’ve never seen it before. Then, I followed that up with Apple TV’s The Big Door Prize. It was a good episode and I enjoyed it. 

F went to bed fairly early tonight. He was up earlier than me today and he couldn’t snooze in the car. He also has to go to work tomorrow.

I’m going to go to bed in a bit. It was a good day and it was really nice to get out of Tsuruoka for a few hours. I like my city, but I like travelling more. F and I didn’t fight and we enjoyed our time together and apart, so that made it an enjoyable day.

So, that’s it for me. Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….