January 31, 2021

Sunday - Cold and a little icy

I went to bed super late last night, so I slept in today. F did too. However, he had an appointment at 2 pm, so we roused ourselves. F made lunch for his mother and then we went out.

F had asked me if I’d like to go and have unagi today, and I was okay with that. We went to an unagi restaurant in Tsuruoka. We were the only customers, probably because unagi is really expensive! We had the cheapest version of their unagi and it was 3000 yen each. Yikes. I have expected F to try and sneak out the back. Not really, but it was expensive. I liked it, F not so much. 

After lunch, F dropped me off at S-Mall and he went off to his massage appointment. I went into the mall and did a little “window” shopping. There aren’t many windows in the mall really, so I just looked around. I didn’t buy anything at the hundred yen shop, but did get a few things at the grocery store, both for now and for my trip. I went to Doutors again after a while to have a drink and just relax. Unfortunately, it was quite busy in there, so it wasn’t good for social distancing. On way in the shop, I picked up a box of drip decaf coffee, ordered my drink and grabbed a cookie packet. I found a corner seat and drank and read my book for a little. F finally called me and wanted to meet me. I said that I was done and would like to leave the mall. When he arrived at the mall, he parked instead of just picking me up. I walked over to the car and he was a little annoyed since he said he wanted a drink. I suggested going somewhere else.

We drove over to Komeda coffee and went in. We had to wait a few minutes before getting a table, but soon enough we were in. We each had a cake set and really enjoyed it. They’ve just changed their cakes again so I had a chocola-raspberry and F had a custard one. They were both very nice. After a bit, we went over to the grocery store and bought stuff for the next couple of days. I offered to make curry on Tuesday so that F doesn’t have to make dinner on Wednesday.  I won’t be here, and he has work on Wednesday, so it’ll be a help for him. All he will have to do is warm it up and do some rice. Easy!

We came back to the house with our groceries. F asked his mother if she’d like to come out for dinner with us, and she would. I put the groceries away with F’s hindrance! He tried to give me two hand’s worth of groceries to put away at once. He’s mean sometimes!

K was up for an outing, so we bundled in the car and went to Cocos for dinner. We had a coupon for the drink bar and K and F had something that the app had a coupon for, so I used my app coupon for one of them. My food didn’t have a coupon though. I had a spicy Caribbean chicken dish with purple rice and salad that was quite good. We brought K back to the house and then F and I went out again to grab some kerosene for the house and as F passed the gas station, a few extra groceries! It wasn’t all me, F bought himself a few more things then we left the grocery store.

F filled up the kerosene tanks at the gas station and then we came back to the house. I put the extra groceries away and he dealt with the tanks. We came upstairs and relaxed.  

F had to go to bed because he has work, but he did get up for a while. I think he finds it hard to sleep on Sunday nights. He’s finally sleeping now. 

Tomorrow I have to start packing a suitcase and just generally get my head around getting ready to leave. I may do a postcrossing if I have any time, or I might work on my blanket. You’ll just have to come back later and find out what I get up to. Until tomorrow….

January 30, 2021

Saturday - Cold and a little snowy

We both slept in this morning, I’m glad that I got to because I didn’t go to bed until quite late. I’m up late tonight too. Oh well, it’s Saturday night. 

When I got up this morning I got dressed and F started to talk about going out for lunch. We discussed a few places and finally decided on Tai, the ramen/curry place. F warmed up the car and then the two of us did a little snow shovelling snow. We didn’t get much overnight, but we did get a bit. The three of us, we drove over to the restaurant and had a nice meal. I ordered the “L-Roast katsu curry”. I had no idea what the “L” stood for, I thought it was an ingredient! When it arrived I said to F, “Wow that’s big!” He said, “The L is for large!” Not my finest hour! It was good though!

We drove back to the house and F saw K inside. We took off again and went to S-Mall. We went to the bus centre and got my ticket for next week. After that, we went to Doutors and stayed there for a while. We had our drink and then F was into his YouTube and I had a text chat with a friend, so I didn’t want to leave for a bit!

After a while we went to the hundred yen shop and then left the mall. We went to the grocery store and F bought a few things for K and I bought stuff for myself for my trip. Just snack foods for the bus in case I get delayed or have to miss lunch or something. 

After that, we did a quick stop by the drugstore and then went back to the house. We unpacked the car and put the stuff away. After that, the two of us went out for dinner. 

We went to Sashimiya tonight for dinner. Recently when we’ve tried to go there it has been really busy, but tonight it wasn’t. We got in and had a nice meal. F had fish, I had chicken and we shared an avocado-shrimp-tuna salad and it was lovely.

After the meal we came back to the house and relaxed. I took a shower and then watched Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, a movie about Ted Bundy. It was okay. The performances were good but the screenplay was lacking something.

And that was my day. I turned off the TV afterwards and did a few things on the net.

I’m not sure exactly what will happen tomorrow. F has a massage booked for himself, maybe we’ll take K out for lunch and maybe we won’t. We want to keep her as safe as possible, but think she may want to go out for a change of scenery.

Come back later and hear all about what we get up to. Until tomorrow….

January 29, 2021

Friday - Thunder, Gale Winds, Snow, Hail, and Cold.

Today was an odd one, but actually an okay day. I woke up when my alarm went off this morning. I went downstairs and then made a second trip a little later to fill up the kerosene tank. It took a few minutes but I got it done.

I got back into bed and watched a bit of the 8 am news. When it finished I fell asleep for a little, but woke up at 10 when my alarm went off. I went downstairs to do laundry and then I checked the mail slot. Oh no! The mail deliverer had tried to deliver a package for ME! I went upstairs with my breakfast and then called the post office to have my parcel re-delivered later on.

All told, I did two loads of laundry this morning then got stuck in on my column. I added a little bit extra to it, listened to it, changed a few things around and eventually attached to an email and sent it to the editor. Whew! Done. 

During the day, I heard the doorbell go when I was downstairs. It was someone from F’s car dealership leaving a brochure. I was surprised that they would be out and about on a bad weather day like today.

I grabbed my lunch around 2 and saw K a bit later. I thought I heard my parcel being redelivered so I rushed downstairs but it wasn’t anything. I saw K eating in the living room, so I popped my head in and tried to tell her that I was expecting a parcel. I think she understood, but I’m not sure. 

Anyway, a little while later, I heard the doorbell, or thought I did, but K was faster. I was on the second floor after all.  She gave me the package and I brought it upstairs.

I finished my column, sent it off just in time to watch the news. I did that, didn’t go downstairs as early as I usually did, but went down around 6 to start dinner. I had originally planned to make pasta tonight, but decided to finish the soup tonight. I can’t really trust F or K to finish the soup on the weekend. I heated it up, washed dishes and also put a few slices of French bread out to butter and toast. I also made tuna salad which went over very well.

K and I started to eat a little after 7 pm and of course, F called 20 minutes later to say he was coming back. I heated the soup up again for him and did a little more toast. 

When F came back, he didn’t want much soup. I think he had three mouthfuls of it. It’s a shame because it was good. He had a bit of toast and tuna salad. 

I did the dishes, cleaned up the kitchen and then went upstairs. F and I had a quiet evening in. I watched a bit of TV, which I enjoyed.

Anyway, that’s about it for my day. No idea what I’ll get up to tomorrow. Come on back and find out!  Until tomorrow….

January 28, 2021

Thursday - Sunny and warmish

Today was a bit of a strange day. I woke up after F left, or so I thought. I went downstairs and he was just leaving. He didn’t see me.  I went back upstairs and back to bed. I set my alarm to wake me up but it didn’t. Sigh.

I got a call from F just as I finally was getting up. He said that he was stopping in for a few minutes. I hurriedly threw on the rest of my clothes and made the bed.

After he left, I went downstairs, took care of a personal chore and then started making soup. Today I was making Bacon and Lentil soup. Prep wise it wasn’t bad, but looking at the recipe’s pictures later, I think I cut everything up too small! It took a while, but I got it done. I set the slow cooker to high and let it get on with its work.

I grabbed my breakfast and went upstairs. Up there I made myself a cup of tea and was surprised that the colour was a bit off. I drank it and it was lukewarm. I’d forgotten that I hadn’t set up my water pot yet and it was still heating up. Yuck. Lukewarm tea is a big no-no from me.

F popped in a bit later in the afternoon too. He seemed to be a bit quiet today. He didn’t stay long, just headed back to work. He told me that he’s taken off next Thursday and Friday from work, two of the days that I’m going to be away. I was a bit surprised as we won’t be together on his days off, but oh well. That’s his decision.

I had a couple of tacos for lunch and they were good. K wasn’t around or I might have tried giving her one. 

I went back upstairs and watched more YouTube until the news was due to start. I watched the news and then went downstairs to start the heater in the kitchen. I am trying not to start it so early when it is warmer. There’s a greater chance K will open the door and leave it open if I start the heater early. She doesn’t know that there is a heater in the room.

F called me around 5:30 or so. I went downstairs, did my day’s dishes and then started to get things ready for dinner. I cut and then lightly toasted some bread, buttered it too. I set the table and then put out the soup. I loved it, K said she liked it, but F only had a small bowl of it. He’s got stomach troubles again. The tomatoes in the soup are making me a little itchy, but it isn’t terrible. I had extra soup, but there is a lot leftover. I think we might have to have it tomorrow too. Ha! It’s a really thick soup.

I did the dishes and then said good night to K and came upstairs. F was already in bed. He has a headache and didn’t want to talk to me. He does want to watch and listen to YouTube however, so I’m not sure how bad his headache is.

I watched We Have Always Lived in the Castle and was quite surprised by it. Some of the reviews weren’t great, but I thought it was quite creepy and although I planned to stop it and take my shower, I watched it until the end. F got sucked into it to and we chatted a little about it at the end. He didn’t like it because of the hordes of people, not because of the movie. 

I took a shower and then came upstairs again. I started blogging and here I am with you now. I didn’t get to work on my column unfortunately, I and nearly done. I have to do it tomorrow as I won’t have much time on the weekend and it needs to be sent in before Monday.

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

January 27, 2021

Wednesday - Sunny and warmish

I woke up this morning when F was getting ready for work. I managed to stay in bed until he left, then went downstairs, came back and went back to bed for a bit.

I roused myself a bit later. I had watched the news and had got dressed earlier, so it wasn’t a big deal. I decided not to do any laundry today. I watched today’s episode of Fleabag and then I got stuck into my column again. I got most of it written today. I’ve written about a few films and now I have to write the introduction and the sum up. I think I might be ready to send it in soon, fingers crossed anyway.

I went downstairs to get my lunch and brought it back up later. I heard K moving around, but she didn’t come in the kitchen.

I went back up and decided to watch Mary Queen of Scots which I had recorded a couple of weeks ago. I had to stop it after an hour and a bit so I could watch the news. 

I expected that F would probably call me at 5:30 tonight, but he actually called earlier! I went downstairs and started to make dinner. Tonight I was making tacos so I got everything ready. I even started before F came back so that we didn’t have to wait too long. Everything turned out well I think. I made taco rice for K and then F and I had tacos with crispy shells. They were pretty good!

After dinner, I did the clean up and then headed upstairs for a little bit of a rest. I changed my clothes and in a few minutes F came upstairs and we went out. 

F and I went to Mina for a change to get groceries. I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea, but we got everything on my list. We picked up some stuff for dinner tomorrow and lunch for me.

We came back and I put the groceries away and then went upstairs. I sorted out my garbage and then got F to sort out his too. I took the garbage from the kitchen and left the two bags in the genkan for F to deal with tomorrow. 

We had a relaxing evening. I watched New Amsterdam and then finished my movie from earlier. It wasn’t great. I really wanted to like it, but I didn’t. I did enjoy the performances, but not the story.

Anyway, I’m falling asleep at my keyboard and there isn’t very much else to say, so I’ll bid you a goodnight. Come back later if you like and hear what’s new.  Until tomorrow….

January 26, 2021

Tuesday - Sunny and clear, warmer

I woke up this morning when F left, I went downstairs and he came back! He’d left something behind. I came back upstairs and took the kerosene tank downstairs, filled it up and then went back to bed for a bit.

I got up later and watched Fleabag. I did a couple of loads of laundry as well. I got stuck in on my column today and wrote about two and a half films, so I’m nearly done. Woot. It was nice to just sit down and write for a bit. 

In the afternoon I went down for my lunch and got a head start on dinner. I was cooking tandori chicken tonight, so I mixed up the spice mix with some yogurt and marinated the chicken. I put the mixture back in the fridge to soak.

I watched an episode of Bull and then the news after a while. I did some computer stuff and then watched a documentary about the last white rhino. It was sad. 

I went downstairs and got started on dinner. I discovered that I only had one onion, and I needed it for tomorrow’s dinner. Darn! I checked the other ingredients I need for tomorrow night and I’m missing one. I could have sworn that I had it though. 

I decided to just stir-fry the mushrooms I bought yesterday and then put some garlic and soy sauce in with them at the end. To go with the tandori chicken, I also made some curried potatoes, so I peeled and then microwaved the 3 potatoes I had. I didn’t really start cooking until F came back to the house, but I had done a lot of prep, so basically I just had to cook. 

Everything turned out rather well and I called F down. I did get him to carry his own plate to the table, but I did everything else. It’s a tad annoying how he’ll grab something and then think he’s done. at. We all ate and I think everyone enjoyed the food, even though some of it was a tad spicy. The chicken was a bit hot, so were the potatoes, but they were nice.  At the end, I was clearing the table and took some stuff to the kitchen. When I came back, K had sneaked a few of the remaining potatoes onto her plate. No big deal. What was more of a big deal was that F recommended that she finish the potatoes. I couldn’t really stop her, so I gave her the rest. I wasn’t too impressed, since I had planned to have those potatoes for our lunches tomorrow. He did have the good grace to apologize.  If K is really hungry, then of course she should eat, but I tend to think that she didn’t make herself anything for lunch so she was extra hungry at dinner. 

I washed and dried all the dishes tonight. I had done a few earlier, so that helped make things go quickly. F went upstairs and K went to bed, so I was downstairs by myself. 

I went upstairs, relaxed for a bit and then went downstairs and showered After that, I watched Prodigal Son and did a bit of crochet. Unfortunately, I measured the blanket and found that, yes, once again, my blanket has shrunk. It is too small. I pulled it out a bit and it was okay, but I can’t really keep doing that. Happily, I thought that might happen so I didn’t cut any of my yarn and didn’t darn in the ends yet. I’m glad not to have cut the yarn I used for this.

And that was my day. It was quite a good one. I’m glad that I got so much writing done. Hopefully I can finish my column soon.

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

January 25, 2021

 Monday - Sunny and warm

We both slept in a bit this morning, but F was up and out before I got up. He went off to his doctor, I got up and dressed, watched Fleabag and some of the news before F came back.

When he got back he fed his mother and then we went out for lunch. We tried to go to his favourite fish place, but it wasn’t open for lunch. We went to our favourite sushi place and had a nice meal. It wasn’t crowded at all, a bit of a shame as it is a good place. 

We went to the mall and went to the hundred yen shop, then we went to Doutor and had a drink. F had coffee and I had their new drink, the chocolate and hazelnut thingummy. It was great. I sent F off to his other doctor and then I went and did a little shopping around the mall.

I didn’t buy too much, I picked up a few things from the grocery store and I went back up to the hundred yen shop again. I was nearly done when F phoned me and said he was back. He picked me up and we left the mall.

We went over to Komeda Coffee and spent a bit of time there. We had the cake and drink set, it was nice. After about an hour, F and I left. He had ordered bentos for us from a bento shop, so we picked them up and took them back to the house.

We got K up and we all ate dinner. I had a chicken tatsuta and barley rice, F had ginger pork and K had some kind of mixed food bento. F washed the dishes and I dried the ones that needed drying. I also made a new bottle of tea for tomorrow. 

F and I went out to get groceries and to get kerosene. I picked up a few things for the next few days of food and then we got the kerosene at the gas station. F got some gas too, which I’m glad about.

We came back to the house, I unpacked and put away the groceries while F dealt with the kerosene. Those tanks are heavy. 

We came upstairs and after a few minutes we put on a movie. We watched Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. It was silly, but fun and well made. Jack Black didn’t annoy me as much as he usually does in this and Dwayne Johnson was as funny as he usually is. I did some crochet during the movie and enjoyed that. I’ll check the measurements tomorrow to make sure that I’m near the measurement that I want to have and then I’ll decide if I’ll rip down the first one I did.

And that was about it for our day. F is back to work tomorrow and I’ll be back on kitchen duty tomorrow night. I’ve had a great time with F this little mini-vacation, it’s been lovely spending time with him. We don’t always have a fun time together, but this time we did. 

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

January 24, 2021

Sunday - Warm and sunny

I’m back!  Did you miss me?  We had a really great weekend. It was so nice to be able to say that.

We got up early-ish on Saturday morning and finished any last minute packing. We loaded the car and then headed out. Two minutes later, F backed up the car and came back to the house. He’d forgotten to take his medicine. Good thing I knew to ask him if he’d brought it!

We went to Gusto for a quick and nice breakfast, then got on the road. The roads were in good condition and we made good time. We had a couple of breaks for snacks or whatever, and got to Niigata on time. We parked the car and walked to the hotel and checked in. We found out that F had used the wrong type of parking lot, so I stayed in the room and F moved the car.

We relaxed for a little and then decided to head out. I asked F to make a reservation for our favourite Mexican restaurant, he did! It’s so tiny that if they had a party or something there wouldn’t be room for us. 

I wanted to do some shopping before dinner. We walked over to the station and were surprised to see that the “front” of the station is completely boarded over. They are renovating the station. When we were here last year they hadn’t got that far. We went to the escalator on the far end and went up that way.  We found Jupiter, the foreign food store in a new location…yay! I bought some tea and some taco spice mix. 

We continued to the bookstore on the other side of the station. I was looking for something to read that would be light and hopefully good. I finally decided on a book, Kate Morton’s The Clockmaker’s Daughter, and then as I was going to pay for it, remembered I had a book card, so I got the book and I didn’t have to pay for it! We spent a bit of time looking around the book store and then headed to the restaurant. 

The sidewalks were icy and F was walking really fast. We were early so I tried to make him slow down, but he wouldn’t. We got to the restaurant 10 minutes early! It hadn’t opened yet, so we did a little more walking in the area. I still wasn’t too happy with him as my shoes had little traction and I was scared of falling on the ice. 

We went back at 6 and had a lovely meal. We had their combo meal and it was a good choice since we got a little of everything. They had real tortilla chips and F was amazed at how good they were. As usual, he overdid it on the jalapeños and hot sauce, suffered a bit today. I drank some hibiscus tea with my meal and then had rice pudding for dessert. Yum.  Only place I can get it here I think.

When we left, we walked to another place that a friend had written about on Facebook. We Google Mapped it and went to another restaurant. It was a bar too, so we didn’t feel bad about not eating too much. It was expensive, but the food was good and so were the drinks. F had an Australian lager, I had a cider and we shared an order of fries with a black garlic aioli dressing that was very nice. The owner is Australian and we had a nice little chat. His wife could also speak English, so it was nice for me.  I think we’ll probably go back if we are ever in Niigata again.

We went back to the hotel. It was quite early, only around 9 pm but we were tired and had both had drinks.  At the hotel, F took a shower and I checked out the Video on Demand. I discovered that it was still free and they had Last Christmas on it. I haven’t seen it, but I wanted to.

When F came out of the shower, we both watched the movie. It was fun. It wasn’t the greatest film ever, but it worked for us and we enjoyed it. F went to bed around midnight, I stayed up a few minutes longer and then decided that since I was really tired, I would go to bed then too. I was in bed by 12:30. I know that is hard to believe for me, but I was.

I wasn’t so happy when I woke up around 2 am though. F’s phone was going. Someone was phoning him at 2 am. All kinds of things went through my mind…the house burned down, his mother was sick…the hotel was kicking us out…F slept on! I woke him up and asked him to check his phone.

It was his mother.  K had phoned us. F phoned her back to see what was wrong. He was much nicer to her than I would have been.  She got the dates mixed up and thought that we were away on Sunday night and she wanted to go and vote in the Prefectural vote. I don’t know why she would want to go and vote at 2 am, I think she got mixed up with the time too. F had to speak really loudly and I was worried that the neighbours would complain, but I didn’t hear anything from them. Honestly though, don’t call people at 2 am unless there is some major problem.

We both went back to sleep.  We got up around 8:15 and went down for breakfast. The hotel, not a big expensive place, did have a nice breakfast and even had an omelette bar. 

I took a shower and then we checked out. The original plan was for F to bring the car around, but I decided I’d rather walk to the parking place with him. I kind of wished I had waited, but it didn’t matter much. The sidewalks were wet and very icy in places.

We drove over to the port area and had a look around. The space where we could eat outside was gone unfortunately, it looked like it was under construction. F couldn’t do the thing he wanted, buying raw fish and having a donburi from the fish market. We looked at some of the shops in the area, found a restaurant that did sell donburi so ended up going there. F asked me what I’d like to eat and I told him that I was going to let him pick the restaurant since it was his choice to be there and I wanted him to be happy.  We went to the donburi restaurant. F had a tuna donburi set meal, I had a sashimi set meal and we shared a grilled buri cheek afterwards. The food was really good, except F didn’t love his as much as I thought he would. Poor thing.

We hit up one more store and I found the tea that I’ve been looking for all over in the shop. It’s an organic tea from Australia. Although I’ve been looking for it, I’d forgotten about the shop that it came from. I got some more, plus we bought a wedge of cheese there too. The woman was giving out samples.

I thought we’d be heading back soon, but F had other plans. We stopped in at a tourist information area that had a museum component. It turned out to be quite interesting. We explored the building, watched some video displays and just had fun really. 

On the way out of the city, we stopped at the giant Musashi store and bought some stuff. In the grocery section we got some drinks for the road back.

Finally we headed back to Tsuruoka. We did make a couple of pit stops, but got back around 6:30.

Wonder of wonders, K was up! F took her to go and vote, he did too, and then they came back.  

I asked F about dinner since it was 6 hours since we last ate, so we went out. We went to Foodever. It was a little sad as there were no customers and only one of the restaurants was open, but the cook was happy to see us. We both had the same thing, “steak and curry”. We had the pork version and it came with a salad.  We both liked it a lot, but F said that my curry was better! 

After all of this, we just came back to the house and have relaxed ever since. F is in bed, and honestly, I’m rather tired myself. 

This was rather long but it does cover two days after all. 

Come back later if you want and hear all about my Monday. Until tomorrow….

January 22, 2021

Friday - Warm and a little drizzly

I woke up after F left for work again this morning, that was a nice thing. It’s not that I don’t want to say goodbye to my hubby, it’s just that I don’t get a lot of sleep, so it is nice to keep what I have!

I did my usual watching the news from the bed, but I dozed off. I woke up at 10 with my alarm then realized that the doorbell was ringing. I threw on my clothes and ran down to the door. I managed to catch the postal worker. Whew. I had received two packages today, from two friends of mine. They are good friends of each other, so it was perfect timing. I got some tea from one friend and some books from another. Hurray!

I came back upstairs, did a few things and then grabbed my breakfast. I had a little look outside and groaned because the snowplough had gone by. It wasn’t terrible but the snow it moved did block part of the driveway so would have to be moved. 

I ate breakfast and then a little later went outside to shovel some snow. I thought I did a good job, but when F came back he again asked me to do more at the corners of the parking area. Argh! I told him that I had to move some huge snow boulders today and he should count himself lucky that I did that! I did. There is nowhere to put them. The walls on the road are about a meter high. I can’t just lift the snow “dump” when it is full of snow. I have to try and build or cut a ramp into the wall of snow just to get it out of the way and hopefully off the road.

I came back into the house and got my lunch together. I had a few leftovers and my usual open sandwiches. I came upstairs to eat and I finished watching Broken Arrow. I really liked Christian Slater in this, and Samantha Mathis, but frankly I just dislike John Travolta so wish he’d been in another movie! I must have seen this about a year before I came to Japan. It’s funny to think that it was so long ago.

I watched the news, then went downstairs and washed my dishes from today. Since I wasn’t cooking dinner tonight, I didn’t have to do anything else. Woot!

I came back upstairs and got ready to go out. I knew that F would be back soon. He was, and brought a bento for his mother’s dinner.

He gave her the bento and then we went out. We went to an office to see about getting a new part for something that I need to help me sleep well. It took a while as I had to get explanations and then have them translated back and forth.

After this, we got gas for the car. F had let the car get so low that the light was on again. Why on earth does he do that?  He doesn’t seem to remember the aftermath of 3/11 when we couldn’t buy gasoline anywhere. Why can’t he just make sure the car is always at least half full? I don’t understand it personally.

We had dinner at the newer Indian restaurant tonight and it was pretty good. We had a big one, but it was nice too. We both had saag curry, mine was chicken, his was pork. It came with some chicken Tikka and some garlic chicken, salad and soup and a drink. All in all, I enjoyed our meal, I think F did. We tried to buy distilled water in the drugstore next to the restaurant, but they were out. 

We went to our usual drugstore branch and got a couple of bottles. Apparently it is rationed and they only let us have a bottle each. I thought I’d get a few as they are really small. Weird.

We got some bentos and other food for K for tomorrow and Sunday at the grocery store and then came back to the house. I took a shower after I set up my machine.

I watched a little telly, The Good Wife and then the last episode of House of Cards. It was weird. It was an odd way to end the series.

And now I think you are up to date!

Tomorrow, F and I are heading out to Niigata city for a night. We don’t have any big plans, F wants to go to the port and get lunch, I want to go to a new restaurant that my friends have been raving about. That’s about it really. We’ll mask up and stay away from crowded areas as much as possible.

Come back on Sunday or Monday if you like and read all about my weekend trip. Until next time….

January 21, 2021

Thursday - Sunny and warm

Before I went to bed last night I watched the US Presidential Inauguration. It was wonderful. I don’t think I’ve watched one before. I know I wanted to when President Obama was sworn in, but for some reason I missed it. We are in a different time zone of course, maybe I didn’t have good wifi or couldn’t stream it? I’m not sure.

I woke up this morning with MY alarm. F didn’t wake me up and it was amazing to just sleep that long without waking up. Of course dear husband had already left for work.

I got up, watched some news from my bed a little later and then did some laundry and watched Fleabag. Just a few days ago I was listening to an interview with Phoebe Waller-Bridge where she spoke a lot about writing Fleabag, so I find more depth in what is being said and done on the show.

I hung up my laundry and even went out and cleared a little snow. It was a warm day today, so the first time I went out, I didn’t even wear a jacket or my boots. I was only clearing around the steps, so didn’t want to get geared up.  It was warm enough today that the snow on the roof kept crashing down to the ground. It falls from the genkan roof and covers the steps, that is unfortunate. You have to be careful clearing the snow in case more comes down on you. I had some water dripping down on me, that wasn’t fun. 

I watched some YouTube in the middle of my day and then had lunch. I watched something in the afternoon, but I can’t remember what it was. I had lunch and finished watching some YouTube, and I did work on my column a little bit, so yay me. I went outside around 3:30 and did a bit more snow removal. It didn’t take long and I did wear a jacket this time. I shaved some of the snow near the entrance down so that F would hopefully have an easier time getting in and out of the yard. I came in and watched the news at 4 pm. 

I knew that F would be a little late, so I didn’t go down to prepare dinner until almost 6 pm. K had left the kitchen door open again so the room wasn’t very warm. I cannot get her to close the door. I don’t think she knows there is a heater in the room, I set it up to come on about an hour before I plan to be there. It’s a fairly low power heater so it isn’t as bad as it sounds. It also explains why I need to turn it on early.

Tonight we had spicy chicken drumsticks (from the store), leftover eggplant and mushroom stir-fry, leftover chichimi and I also baked some potato-cheese patties from Gyomu Supa. F called a little before 7 pm and I had everything nearly ready when he arrived.  Oh, I even made a pot of decaf coffee tonight. Dinner got on the table quickly and I think everyone enjoyed it. There wasn’t too much leftover, some chicken and a bit of the eggplant stuff.  Good lunch material for K and I!

I cleaned up the table and then did the dishes as almost usual. It didn’t take long as there weren’t any pots and pans tonight. Hurray!

I came upstairs and just relaxed for a bit. I planned to watch a movie, but I missed the very beginning and I really didn’t understand what was going on. Then, F wanted to talk about going away this weekend, so I turned off the movie. I hope I’ll have another chance to watch it soon. 

We are going to go away for a night this weekend. We won’t go too far away, but it’ll be nice to get away. The weather should be okay so we don’t have to worry about K too much. We’ll make sure she has easy to grab/eat food and we’ll be back the next day so it should be okay I hope. Both of us have restaurants picked out that we want to visit!

I watched The Rookie and did a little bit of crochet. I’m trying to set up the new version of the blanket with a larger crochet hook so that the material is a little softer. The yarn is quite hard in my first attempt. So far, so good.

And that’s about it for my day. Tomorrow I have to write some of my column, keep an eye on the snow situation and just generally be a wonderful person!

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

January 20, 2021

Wednesday - Warmer and mostly clear

I woke up this morning when F was getting dressed. I don’t think he was noisier than usual, but he woke me up! I went downstairs and then went back to bed. I told him to call me if he needed help with the snow. He didn’t call. 

I went back to sleep for a while. I had a very odd morning. I overslept, but finally dragged myself out of bed. I watched Fleabag and then grabbed breakfast. I didn’t go out for a while, but around 1 I went outside to do a little snow removal. It wasn’t as awful outside as yesterday was, so I got a lot of snow moved, at least that’s what my arms said!

I went back in the house and made myself lunch. I hadn’t seen K all day, and didn’t for hours to be honest. I would hear her downstairs once in a while though.

I had a quiet afternoon. I watched part of Broken Arrow today. It has been years since I saw it. As always, I thought how over the top John Travolta was, but I also enjoyed some of the John Woo touches. I hope to finish it tomorrow.

I didn’t get any of my column written today, but I have been thinking about it. I will try and do some of it tomorrow. Course, I said that about today too.

I went downstairs around 5:30 to start dinner. I got busy. I washed and cut up some eggplants, some mushrooms and put them aside. I panfried some chichimi and put the pieces in the toaster oven to keep warm. When F called to say he was on the way, I started cooking the eggplant and the meat for dinner. When F arrived, everything was just about ready.  

We had a nice dinner. There was a salad from the store, the chichimi, the eggplant-mushroom stirfry, and the pork. For K and F, there were mini-tomatoes and rice too. 

At the end of the meal I asked F if he was going to go to the onsen and he said he’d go right away. He didn’t invite his mother, because he wanted to go right away. He left and I got stuck into the dishes.

K asked me halfway through where F was. I didn’t really know what to say so I told her that he had gone for a drive, but she didn’t understand. Of course, she stayed up until he got back!

I came upstairs and had barely sat down to relax when F arrived. The heater hadn’t even started working yet. He was glad that he had gone.

I took a shower tonight and then came back upstairs. I watched New Amsterdam and ended up in tears as I so often am at that show. I really like it, can’t you tell?

I’m now watching the Inauguration Ceremony via a livestream on YouTube. It’s much easier than on TV. I can keep my earphones on and not disturb my hubby. It’s been a good event so far. I’m so pleased to have people who can make sentences and seem kind in charge of the government of the US. 

Anyway, that’s it for me. It was rather a busy day, once I got out of bed!

Come back later if you will and read all about my Thursday. Until tomorrow….

January 19, 2021

Tuesday - Cold, windy and snowy

When I went to bed last night, it was incredibly windy. It was so noisy. To be honest, it was a little scary. The house was shaking with the wind and I seemed to be the only one who noticed it.

I woke up this morning before F’s alarm. I think it was the wind again. I had to make a run downstairs, and then F got up. As he was dressing I told him to call me if he needed me to come and help shovel the snow.  I woke up later when my alarm went off, but of course, F was long gone.

I was really tired and draggy this morning. I stayed in bed for a while, but I did get up. I even did a load of laundry. I watched Fleabag again and then watched some YouTube stuff. I also had a chat with a friend back in Canada and wrote an email to a long lost friend! 

I went outside around 1 pm to shovel some snow. Brr! It was really too hard to do the steps as it wasn’t snow anymore, it was ice. I did move some snow in other areas, but it was windy and then even more snow came down. 

I went in after trying to make a difference, but not really managing to do so.Too bad, but I did try.

I grabbed lunch and went upstairs and watched last week’s The Good Wife. I watched the news and then after a bit, got a call from F. He said he was on his way, but the car was so cold that the windows were frozen over inside.  I told him to take his time and wait until he could see properly.

I went downstairs and started getting dinner ready for us. Tonight it was easy. I was basically just reheating last night’s curry. I got it on the stove and turned it on as low as I could. I also got some pasta ready to be cooked in another pan. F and K would have rice with their curry as usual, but I wanted pasta. 

By the time F arrived, the curry was piping hot. I heated up rice for K and F, cooked my pasta and got everything out on the table. I thought I’d done a good job, but something went wrong with F’s rice and he had to reheat it! I either put it on for too little time or I changed the microwave power. Oops.  He fixed it for himself.  We had a nice meal. There was salad too.  F and I were able to have seconds, K said she didn’t want any.

I cleaned up after we ate, did the dishes and listened to my podcasts again. I went upstairs and a few minutes later, F came up too.

We left right away and went over to MaxValu. We got some things for dinner for the next couple of days. The store wasn’t very busy, so it was fun to go through.

After we came back to the house, I put the groceries away and then made the decision not to shower tonight. The outside temperature was -3 and tomorrow’s should be 0 at my usual shower time, so it will be a tad warmer then. I realize I’m taking my shower inside, but there’s no heating in that part of the house. 

I watched Prodigal Son and then The Handmaid’s Tale. It was the final show of the third season. It was a humdinger. 

And…that pretty much was my day. I didn’t work on my column today, but I did think about it. Come back later if you like and read all about my day. Until tomorrow….

January 18, 2021

Monday - Cold and a bit rainy/snowy

I went to bed very late last night, so I was surprised that I woke up before F did. The reason was his alarm was going off and it didn’t wake him up. I had to touch him to wake him up and he was quite surprised. He apologized and got up, but I was already back to sleep!

When my alarm went off a couple of hours later I did get up. I did my usual morning thing of watching the news, but I may have snoozed through it. I was thinking about joining a Zoom meeting this morning, but I dozed through that too!

I did get up and get moving in time to re-watch Fleabag and enjoyed it as much as usual. After 11 I put on my coat and went outside and shovelled a bit of snow. It wasn’t too bad, but the steps had snow on them. I started in on F’s parking place, but the snow started coming down rather fast and I also slipped. F used slate on the ground for his parking space. When it gets wet or covered with snow it is hella slippery. I was putting snow up on a bank, stepped back slightly to adjust the weight, my foot slipped and down I went. Sigh. I didn’t really hurt myself, although my knee got wet from the snow.

I went inside after a few minutes of shovelling. I did make a difference though.

I grabbed my breakfast and ate it upstairs. I had a fairly quiet afternoon. I watched too much YouTube, but after I ate lunch, I got a good start on my next column. I wrote about two different movies, so that was great.

I went downstairs around 5:30 to get started on dinner. I knew that F would be late tonight, but I didn’t know how late. I made curry and so I had to do a lot of chopping and peeling and whatever first. I got it done and soon all the ingredients were in the pan. They weren’t bubbling though, that put me behind. I had cut down the heat too much, so the cooking part took a bit longer. I got it sorted though and then when I put the curry roux in, I texted F and asked how late he’d be.  He phoned me a few minutes later to say he was done work and would come back soonish.

I got the meal ready for K and I and we ate. The curry was pretty good. K gave it a good review and so did F later. He also had seconds, which is pretty rare! 

While F finished his drink, I got stuck into the dishes and listening to my podcasts. Tonight it was the news and then Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review. I really enjoy listening to them discuss movies. 

When I finished the dishes, I closed the plastics garbage bag and put it in the genkan for F tomorrow. I stuck my head into the living room and told him I was going upstairs.

We had a fairly quiet night up here. We both watched our own YouTube stuff but F went to bed a bit earlier. I’d really like to get a bit more sleep than I did last night, so I’m going to try and get to bed soon. 

Come back later unless you are a troll and hear all about my Tuesday! Until tomorrow….

January 17, 2021

Sunday - Snowy and a bit colder

Today was an okay day. We both went to bed fairly late last night. I thought F had already gone to sleep, but he hadn’t!

This morning, he was up before me and busy for a change. He closed some kind of vents under the house. It had something to do with the tatami. I didn’t really understand it. I stayed in bed until 11 and then got up.

F came upstairs around 1 and relaxed for a bit. I did too. Around 1:30 we started thinking about lunch so I suggested going to Arpeggio.  F liked the idea and then we invited his mother too. She also liked the idea, so we all bundled into the car and went to the restaurant.  I sent F on ahead to check that it was open and followed with K. I kept an eye on her because last time she fell on the way back to the car.

We were the only customers in the restaurant for a while, that was nice. K had a big meal, she had ginger pork, F had the bacon-egg don and I had the sorboro. We were all quite pleased with our meals. 

We came back to the house and came inside. I swept a tiny bit of snow before I went inside. 

F and I spent a few hours upstairs in our room. We basically just relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. I did a bit of crochet and watched an episode of Ted Lasso from Apple TV. I really am enjoying that series. I measured my blanket and have come to a very sad conclusion. My blanket is too small. It started well, but my tension is a little tight and it has magically shrunk a few inches since the beginning. Sigh. I have a couple of options. One is to just rip it down and re-do it with a bigger hook, or I could add “wings” on each side to make it wider. I really am leaning towards ripping it back. It’s so close-textured that it isn’t soft. It goes very fast the pattern does, so I don’t think it’ll take too long to do.

Although we weren’t horrendously hungry, we decided to go out for dinner. I asked F to ask his mother, but he didn’t! She’s been in bed since lunch, so probably didn’t need dinner. Her lunch was huge!

We drove over to Cocos and had dinner. F had a new dish, a starchy fish thing over rice and I had spicy chicken jambalaya with avocado. I really liked mine. We both had drink bar since we had coupons for it.  

After dinner, we went to the grocery store and bought groceries. We’re going to have curry for the next couple of nights! We’ve had a lot of curry this weekend, so I hope everyone is okay with it for dinner.

F wanted to go to an onsen when we got back, so I sent him off. I told him I’d unpack the groceries and he could go. Unfortunately, he got to the local onsen just after they called last entry, so he couldn't go in. 

We relaxed for a while and then I took a shower. F took one after me.  It’s been a very quiet evening really. 

Tomorrow F is back to work. He says he’ll be a bit late, so I may have to have dinner with K by myself. Oh well. I really have to get stuck in on my column. I do have a list of films that I am considering, so I’ll see which ones make me happy to write about!

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

January 16, 2021

Saturday - Warm and rainy

I went to bed very late last night, I just couldn’t get myself off to bed. This morning I got up and out of bed, I got dressed and basically waited for F to do the same. He stayed in bed quite a bit longer than I did.

We went to the doctor and it was fine, no big deal. We picked up our meds and then went for lunch. We ended up going to Coco Ichibanya for curry. I had the roast chicken soup curry and F had the udon curry, which surprised me. We had a bit of a spat there when F said that he would have the same as me. I told him that they couldn’t change the spice level…I meant make it less spicy, but then he changed his mind and ordered the udon curry. Then he started asking the waitress if we could change the spice level of the soup curry.  She said we could, and they both looked at me expectantly, but honestly, I didn’t want it spicier! I only brought it up for HIM. Whatever. He was annoyed at me. Same as usual then. We ordered some curry for his mother to take back to the house for her. 

Back at the house, both F and I went to take a nap. However he got all angry at me again about something else and it took a while before he calmed down. I went to sleep, I woke up a couple of times, but basically, I slept all afternoon. F might have slept, but he watched a lot of YouTube too.

Around 7 pm I suggested that we go out for dinner. It was getting late, and it is hard to find places open that both of us will eat at. F talked to his mother and she said that yesterday she wanted sushi, but she didn’t have any. I suggested taking her to one of the keiten sushi places, since F can eat sushi and I like it too. He asked her  if she wanted to go and she said yes. 

F made a reservation on his phone and then we bundled in the car and drove to Kula Sushi.  We got seated right away and had a pretty decent meal. We ordered French fries and onion rings all round, and K seemed to enjoy being out and getting some different types of food.

We came back to the house and F and I came upstairs. We relaxed for a bit. I watched some TV, F watched something on his computer.  

That’s really all about my day. We don’t have any plans yet for tomorrow, so I have no idea what we’ll get up to. Come on back and find out!

Until tomorrow….

January 15, 2021

Friday - Sunny and warm

Today was a good day. I got up a little later than usual. F was up early too and went off to the doctor. I spent a quiet morning. I watched the news, I had a little breakfast and drank a little tea. Then, F came back from the doctor.

He wanted to go to his favourite fish restaurant. I wasn’t too keen, but he doesn’t get to go too often (but this was at least the second time this year…). We went and were able to get a table with chairs. Yay. The lunch was okay. Today it was ginger pork and sashimi. 

After lunch we came back to the house so that F could take a shower. He had booked an appointment for himself to have a massage. I was happy because I was going to go to the little mall in our city while he was having it. 

We left the house a little late, but F dropped me off at the mall and I went shopping. I picked up a few new things in the mall. I got a couple of masks at a shop, they are quite stylish, I got some hundred yen shop things and some stuff from the grocery store. Then, I went to the coffee shop and waited for F.

He phoned me when he was done with some not good news. He might have to work tomorrow afternoon. Oh dear. He might also have to work on Sunday. That one I knew about, but it still sucked. 

He came and joined me in the coffee shop and he got us both drinks with my card. He got a call from his office and he doesn’t have to work tomorrow and doesn’t have to work on Sunday. Woot!

We decided to leave finally. We weren’t terribly hungry yet, so thought we’d get K a bento. I sent F off to do that, and I went upstairs to get myself something I saw earlier. I bought myself a new laundry basket at the hundred yen shop. It was 500 yen though. I needed someplace to put my tea. I have so much tea and it is all over the place. I love tea, I really do, but sometimes I just can’t find it. I had kept some of it in a little paper bag, but the bag fell apart and was too ripped up to repair.

We met up again and drove back to the house. F gave his mother her bento and then the two of us went out for our dinner.

We had decided on the local Korean restaurant. It was empty when we got there, so that was nice for us, not so much for the owner. We had a good meal. We had some yakiniku, some Korean style sushi, a chichimi and some gyoza. It was all very nice.

We just came back to the house when we were done. However, F wanted to go out again when he got back to get himself some beer. I stayed in to get ready for my shower. 

The rest of the evening was very quiet. I showered and then watched a bit of late-night TV. I followed that up with the news I missed when we were out. F seemed to fall asleep quite early and has been asleep for a while.

Tomorrow morning we have a doctor visit to endure and then we have the rest of the weekend. I’m not sure what is going to happen. At one point, F was talking about going to Yamagata, but we might go in a few weeks so I’m not sure what the point would be. Still, it could be interesting!

Come back later if you want to hear all about my Saturday. Until tomorrow….