July 31, 2017

Monday - Hot, sunny and rainy at night

A good, quiet day.

I slept a bit late this morning, F got up and went out, but I had to keep going downstairs and taking him stuff that he left behind.  Just simple things like his car keys, cellphone and wallet. He wouldn’t need those at all would he?

I got up, watched the foreign news when it was on and finally got dressed and went to see about breakfast.  I had breakfast with K this morning, she was very quiet and so was I.  I did the dishes afterwards and then went upstairs again.  

During my time upstairs I drank copious amounts of hot tea and coffee. It was great!  I thought about doing laundry, but didn’t, I thought about doing a few other things, but didn’t.  I went down again for lunch but K didn’t want any.  I made some for myself but decided that I need to get something else for myself since it was too few calories.  Today I had sliced duck breast on salad, with vichyssoise.  It was nice, but wasn’t enough food!

I brought my food upstairs where I ate lunch.  After that, I finished the main part of my crocheted blanket.  I think it looks really good.  The fun part comes next, when I have to darn in all the ends.  Not my favourite part, but it should work out okay.  

Lots of lovely ends to darn!

I watched the news from the US and around 5 pm F called to say he’d be late.  He didn’t get back until almost 7 pm, poor thing.  

When he arrived we discussed where to go and I gave him a huge list of places.  We ended up going to Jiro and it was fine…nice even.  We closed out the restaurant and then went to McDonald to grab some wifi.  I didn’t get much at all, sad to say.  

We got a few groceries and then came back to the house.  I did the garbage up for F to take out tomorrow then came upstairs.  I also took a shower tonight.  I’m now kicking back and watching the Project Runway Reunion Special which is lots of fun.

Tomorrow I have a few things planned for myself, but I am not sure if I’ll be able to get them to work out.  Come back later and find out!  Until tomorrow….

July 30, 2017

Sunday - Hot and Sunny

A good day.

We had a good day today.  F and I both slept in this morning.  I went downstairs to use the loo before 10 and came back and told F that his mother was making toast.  He told me that he’d got up around 5 am and had set the bread maker, it was his bread that I smelt!  It was nearly ready and he brought me up a piece.  Yum.  Very nice.

We talked about what to do, and ended up going out for lunch with K.  After that, we drove to Atsumi Onsen and went to an Ashi-yu or foot onsen.  They have them in some of the streets, they are free to use and kind of nice.  We used one outside a cafe and then went in a few minutes and had drinks.  I had iced coffee and F and K had iced chai.  They thought theirs was too sweet, mine was fine.  

K didn’t want to explore any more of the Ashi-yu, so we drove back to Tsuruoka.  F and I relaxed for a bit at the house, and then he wanted to go out.  We checked about food for his mother, but she didn’t want any.  We went to a drugstore first and got a few supplies for the house, then we went to a karaoke box!   I hadn’t been to this one before, it was new to me.  F had been there for a work party a few years ago.  We had dinner there too.  F had ramen, even though I told him he wouldn’t like it.  He didn’t.  Mine was fine!  I had pork and kimchi on rice…yum.  We shared some french fries which were kind of nice.

We came back to the house via the grocery store so I could get a few things for breakfast and lunch tomorrow. We came upstairs and watched the second part of Twin Peaks the return.  It was super strange and the pacing seems so slow!  I am not sure how many episodes there will be, but I hope it gets better soon.  

F has finally gone to bed, but I don’t think he’s asleep.  I’m not terribly tired yet, but need to get some sleep soon.  Come back later if you will and see what happens on Monday.  Until tomorrow….

July 28, 2017

Friday - Muggy and hot

A busy day!

I got up this morning before F and watched the news.  All the things that we had agreed upon last night had totally slipped his memory.  He’d said we’d eat breakfast at the house yesterday…now he wanted to go out.  He said we’d leave around 9:30, he wanted to leave before 9:00 am…it was so annoying.  I was watching the English news and he wanted to start talking to me.  I asked him to give me five minutes….he could have tried talking to me during the Korean news, or any of the foreign ones, just not the English ones please!!

We ended up just having cereal at the house and it was nice.  I prepped it for everyone and it went down quite well.  It was such a smart idea in my opinion to have breakfast here…no one was hangry in City Hall!

I changed quickly into going out clothes and then we left.  F did his magic paper stuff and then discovered that he didn’t need to take either me or his mother with him!  I bet he forgets for next year.

We drove to S-Mall and had some fun in the hundred yen shop, then went to Doutors for ice tea.  F wanted to go for lunch, but the place he wanted didn’t open until 11:30.  I tried to suggest other places as the restaurant he wanted is a “slow food” place and the service can be super slow too.  He insisted.  We spent a bit of time at Hard Off, just looking at stuff but nobody bought anything.  

We had a delicious and very slow lunch at the restaurant.  The food was very good, but it took ages to get out to us.  

When we got back to the house, F called himself a taxi and went off to his medical centre.  I went upstairs and changed.  I went downstairs to get a drink and K summoned me over to her.  She showed me that F had left his phone and his prescription book behind.  Oh dear.  What to do?  

I honestly didn’t think it was a big deal, but I told K that I would bike over to the hospital and deliver his stuff to him.  I changed back into my outdoor clothes, pumped up my tires and left.

It was a long way and I was trying to hurry so it didn’t take that long to arrive.  F was being seen by the doctor, so I had to wait for him.  I waited for  over an hour and a half, luckily I had brought my crochet with me and did a bunch of it.  When F came out I had stopped crocheting.  He was very surprised to see me.  Over the next little while, we decided that we would ask the hospital if I could leave my bike overnight and then I’d taxi back with F and he’d pick up my bike tomorrow.  That was fine with me.  

We taxied back to the house and relaxed for a while.  I watched some news and some TV while F listened to radio plays.  

We had sushi for dinner and it was nice.  After dinner, I did the dishes and then F and I came upstairs.  I watched a bit of TV then suggested us walking to the vending machines at the end of the road.  We got some drinks and then came back to the house.

F fell asleep early on, I’m still mostly awake.  I’m tired though.  

Tomorrow, F and I have a doctor’s appointment and will hopefully go and see a movie in the evening.  I’m looking forward to the movie!

Not much else happened today.  My mad bicycle dash was exciting and kind of fun, but I am tired now.  

Come back later and see how my Saturday turns out.  Until tomorrow…

July 27, 2017

Thursday - A bit muggy, but cooler

A yucky day.

I had a pretty decent morning. It was quiet for the most part.  I made some tea for myself and watched the news, so it was nice.  I went down after a bit and had breakfast with K.  I think I gave her too much as I was finished long before she was.  I did the dishes before going upstairs.  

I did three loads of laundry today too and hung it up.  It takes quite a while, but I think this washing machine is better than my old one.  Plus, it is set up to use hot water if I want it to!  Woot.  

I had lunch a bit before 1.  K didn’t want any today, so I had the salad, soup and some tuna all to myself.  I came back upstairs, watched last week’s Castle and did a bit of crochet after I ate.  I watched a few things off the DVR and erased them. 

F came back and told me that his mother wanted to come out with us for dinner, and she wanted fish. Sigh.  Since we are planning to have sushi for dinner tomorrow night, and I had fish for lunch today and yesterday, I’m feeling a little over-fished.  But, whatever.  I suggested going to the fish restaurant early as it is an izakaya and K might not be comfortable there later on.  We went and I decided to try a new dish for me there, chirashi sushi.  It was awful.  The fish itself didn’t seem all that good, and they’d covered the rice with tiny white fish that is just bait in my opinion.  I never eat that stuff if I can help it.  I picked out as much as I could, but it didn’t help that I turned over a big mound of chopped tuna in my bowl.  Underneath it looked just like a rock does when you turn it over.  There was a huge amount of yucky white fish and I honestly thought I’d vomit since it looked like insects.  Yuck, double yuck.  I ate as much of my dish as I could stomach, barring that bait stuff and just left the rest.  

We went to the sushi place and put in an order for tomorrow’s dinner to be delivered.  Then, we dropped K back at the house and F and I went to the Internet Cafe.  

I watched ER (Carol Hathaway had her babies), and then decided to watch music videos from the 80’s after that!  I did a whole whack of Falco videos, then segued into Gowan, my favourite Canadian singer.  It made me sort of sad in a way, but the music was great.  Sadly, we had to leave around the 3 hour mark.

We had a bit of a spat on the way home over fish.  I’m feeling a little bit overwhelmed on the eating fish department.  I’m from a landlocked area and no-one eats fish there…at least not as much as I do.  

Came back to the house and took a shower, mostly made up with my husband, and tried to relax.  

Tomorrow F is off work.  We have to run an errand in the morning, he needs me to go to City Hall with him and then he’s going to the doctor in the afternoon.  I might get a little stir crazy, but I suppose I could always go out on my bicycle if I want.  

That’s it for today.  I’ll most likely post again tomorrow night, so come back later and see if I do.  Until tomorrow….

July 26, 2017

Wednesday - Hot and sunny, gorgeous day

A good day!

I woke up with F this morning and saw him off. I took a little snooze afterwards and then watched the news.  I went downstairs after a bit and did breakfast for K and I.  The only bad thing was F and I hadn’t bought groceries last night, so we hadn’t replaced the granola for K.  I gave her some of mine…I poured the milk on early and then zapped it in the microwave to soften it a little more.  She seemed to like it so that was good.

I had a quiet morning, watched a bit of TV and mostly got caught up with where I was before my trip.  I think I have one or maybe two shows left to watch.  When I went down around 12:30 to prepare lunch for myself, K surprised me and said that she’d like some too.  It wasn’t a problem, so we had some cold corn cream soup, some tofu, some salad and sea-chicken and then some tinned peaches for afterwards. It was quite good, even if it was all from cans or the grocery store.  I did the dishes and came upstairs again.  

I did some cleaning up today and even unpacked a box or two.  I boxed up some of my winter stuff to make room in my drawers as well.  I will have to remember to get it down sometime as well!

F called to tell me that he’d be late, and I realized that I needed to go and get stamps for my Postcrossing.  I had 20 minutes before the local post office closed.  I quickly changed my clothes and went off on my bike.

I made it with 10 minutes to spare, bought my stamps and then went to a convenience store that is a bit out of the way. I had a drink and a snack and then headed back to the house.  At the house, K offered me a Mr. Freezie kind of thing, but I said maybe later.  

I came upstairs and after a few minutes on my computer came very close to taking a nap.  I was was just about asleep, lying on the bed, when F called to say he was on his way home. 

After a few minutes of him being here, we discussed where to go for dinner.  We finally decided on the Grand El Sun, and drove there.  When we got there, the parking lot was full.  We couldn’t even get in.  They probably had their beer garden tonight.  We thought of a couple of other places, but ended up at Junior Paper Moon.  It was a good choice.  It tends to be a little pricy, but both of us had our dinner from the specials menu and the prices were pretty reasonable.  F had unagi and foie gras on rice, I had grilled pork with kabocha gnocchi and nuts.  Both dishes came with soup, salad and dessert…mine had two small buns with it.  They were good!  Very nice stuff.

After the meal, we went off to McDonald for a little free wifi.  I had a lot of problems getting it to work for me, in fact, I had given up when it started working for me.  F hadn’t charged his battery in his phone, so he had a hard time doing anything.

We picked up some groceries and then came back to the house.  I watched Grey’s Anatomy and did a bit of crochet, F snoozed a bit.  

I’m not sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow. I have a couple of loads of laundry to do, so I should get on with it.  I would like to do more crochet and also a bit more tidying up.  I need to work on culling some of my clothes too.  I won’t be able to buy anything new unless I get rid of some of them!

So, come back in a bit and see what Thursday brings.  Until tomorrow….

July 25, 2017

Tuesday - Muggy but cooler

A quiet day.

I got up this morning and said a sleepy goodbye to my husband.  I watched the news and also a bit of Desperate Housewives in the morning before going downstairs for breakfast.  K and I ate together, I did the dishes before coming back upstairs.  My suitcase had arrived so I brought it upstairs, and also my water pot too. 

I unpacked, caught up on email and blogs and relaxed a bit too.  I also did up a couple of Postcrossings and watched a few programs off the DVR.  

I had lunch and offered K some as well, but she didn’t want any today.  I had a rather nice one, shrimp in mayonnaise, salad, soup….all the more for me.  

F came home around 6 today and we went out for dinner.  We invited K, but she didn’t want to come.  

We had an okay dinner at Gusto.  We each had chicken, but different dishes.  I had a spicy Hawaiian chicken, except it wasn’t spicy at all.  F had grilled chicken on bean sprouts.  We shared an order of fries.  We ordered take-out for K and brought it back for her.  

Before we left the restaurant parking lot,  F received a call from his uncle and he talked for ages.  It was all very boring and I didn’t understand it at all.  

When we got back to the house, I came upstairs and watched some TV, then F came up too.  I took a shower before 11 and then I watched Suits.  I am enjoying that show, but I worry they have written themselves into a corner!

That basically was my day. I wrote a couple of emails, booked a hotel room for when I’m in Canada and just got caught up on “stuff”!  Come back later and see what I get up to on Wednesday.  Until tomorrow….

July 24, 2017

Monday - Rainy and humid

A great weekend away.  

I’m a little sad to be back if I’m honest, I had such a great time in Niigata despite the terrible weather.   I met up with friends yesterday, I ate some great food and decided over-all to eat things that I normally wouldn’t be able to get in Tsuruoka.  I did a little shopping, some sightseeing and movie watching.  In short, I had a good time!

Rather than spend my time going through the days, I’ll mention a few highlights of my trip. 

Checking into my hotel and not being asked for my passport.

Going to the mall by bus and finding clothes that I liked enough to buy…on sale.

Eating in restaurants that I hadn’t eaten in before and eating foods (for the most part) that I can’t find in Tsuruoka.  

Seeing a couple of movies, one of which was in a theatre that I’ve been trying to visit for the past 20 years…but it never worked out for me before.

Going to the “Sake Museum” and trying five different types of sake…next time I hope to have the vocabulary to describe them properly.

Taking a loop bus to some of the sights in Niigata and doing it all by myself…

Just enjoying myself and not worrying about anything.  

I can’t show you pictures from our party, but I can show off some of the interesting foods that I had…talk more to you later.  Until tomorrow….

This was a gorgeous iced coffee that was blended with chocolate.  I had it in an Italian place. So good.

Vietnamese coffee.  I've never had this before, not sure how authentic it is.  Yum.

An actual Hamburger.  It was good!

At the Mexican restaurant.  Chipotle Chicken tacos, refried beans and Mexican rice.  I'm drinking Agua de Jamaica.

A rice and quinoa pudding.  So nice

I went to the Hotel's restaurant here. I had steak with rice, corn soup, salad, grilled vegetables and rice.  I really liked the steak and the vegetables.

Chopped salad with everything in it!  It had some meat, broccoli, avocado, celery,  and the bit on top is mashed potato!

This was in a new place to me...a farm restaurant.  I had quiche, eggplant soup and salad, plus some vegetables and a big hunk of great bread.  It was good.  

The last thing I had today that was interesting was a fruit juice ice bar.  This one is raspberry.  It was so good!

I'm quite glad that I decided to try new restaurants and things.  I have the tendency to go to the same places and that gets old fast!

I'll be back properly soon!  Night....

July 19, 2017

Wednesday - Hot and sunny

A good day.

I got up this morning and did my usual things. I watched the news, went downstairs and had breakfast with K, then came back upstairs.  Oh, before breakfast I grabbed my dry laundry from the garage and brought it back.  After breakfast today I did some vacuuming.  I’ve been meaning to do it for a while.  I just did the stairs and a bit of the room up here, but it looks better.  Yay me.

When it was lunch time again, I went downstairs, but K didn’t want to eat.  Oh dear.  Well, I did. I had   salad with some chicken breast on it, plus a cold soup too.  That was nice.  I ate up here in the room, and I heated up the water pot too and made myself some tea.  Good grief have I missed being able to do that!

I wrote up three postcards and also a sympathy card for a friend who just lost her husband.  I had a bit of mail for another friend who had a baby last month…it was a bit “Circle of Life-y”.  I could have gone out and mailed them at the post office, but got a bit lazy and just decided to stay put! I also repacked my suitcase…changed from my little pink one, to my bigger silver one.  I am going for 4 days after all. 

F didn’t get back tonight until almost 6 pm, poor thing.  We decided to take K out for dinner since neither of us will be around tomorrow.  We were going to go for Chinese food, but decided to go for fish donburi instead. F and K had tuna and chopped tuna, I had salmon and salmon eggs.  Yum.  K said she didn’t want to buy any food at the grocery store afterwards, so we brought her to the house.  F on the other hand, did want to get her some food.  

We went to McDonald for a coffee and a bit of free wifi, then hit up the grocery store.  The only thing that I wanted was a drink for the evening, which I bought.  F got his mother some food, probably a bit too much since she doesn’t want to eat too much right now.  

I watched a bit of telly, and now I’m doing this.  I keep thinking that K is wandering around the house…earlier when I took a shower, she was doing that.  I could hear the floorboards creak, but I couldn’t see her, so it was a bit spooky when she appeared!  We had a little laugh about it. 

Tomorrow morning I am off to Niigata for a few days.  I’m hoping to eat Mexican food, see a movie or something fun, do a bit of shopping and meet up with some of the ladies from my women’s group.  I am really looking forward to this trip.  F is having a medical check and it is an overnight one.  I booked this trip before we moved in as I was worried about spending time with K on my own.  It wouldn’t have been too bad, but I’m happy that I have had this trip to look forward to.

I probably won’t blog from my trip unless something momentous happens. Please check back in a few days and see how everything went.  Talk to you later….night!

July 18, 2017

Tuesday - Cooler and a little cloudy

An okay day.

I got up this morning and did my usual things like watch the news.  It was rather nice.  I went downstairs and had breakfast with K, then did some laundry.  I also did a little dusting in some of the common areas of the house.

I offered to make K lunch, but she wasn’t having any.  I was a little sad as I had bought stuff specially, but that’s up to her.  I put some things in the fridge for tomorrow and made my own lunch for today.

In the afternoon I set up my water pot in the room so that I could make myself tea.  I have been sorely missing not having tea in the morning or whenever I want.  Now I can have it. Yay.  I had a couple of cups as I watched TV and worked on my computer.

When F came home he was in a bit of a mood.  I’m not sure why.  We had a spat over him not understanding me and he hurt my feelings quite a bit.  We finally went out for dinner…it was just to Coco Ichibanya but it was good.  I had the soup curry with chicken and that was great.  

We picked up a few things for F’s mum for dinner and then came back to the house.  I was miffed at him from the grocery store so came upstairs and closed off my part of the room from him.  That in turn made him mad because he wasn’t mad at me…?

I also made a change for my hotel reservation for tomorrow night.  I changed the hotel.  I wasn’t going to, but the new hotel works out to be about 7000 yen cheaper, so I decided that I would rather have the money to spend.  I hope it wasn’t a bad decision.  I have stayed at this hotel before too, but a long time ago.  It is also very convenient for the station so I’m sure it’ll be fine.  

And that’s about it.  Tomorrow I have to do my last bit of packing.  I’m thinking about packing my larger suitcase.  I’ve got my overnight case full, but I’m going to be away for 4 nights so I think I need more space in it.

So, it’s been a bit of an odd day really. It was so nice that it was cooler though. I felt like a human being again to be honest.  Come back later and see how my Wednesday goes.  Until tomorrow…. 

  

July 17, 2017

Monday -  Hot but overcast

A good day.

This morning we slept in quite late, which was lovely.  We don’t get the chance to do that these days.  Around 10 we went downstairs and I washed some of the blueberries and put out some cereal and milk or yogurt for all of us.  We all got our bowl topped with blueberries, which was a lovely treat.  

After I did the dishes, F and I went for a walk.  We went to the local shrine where we said a prayer for my relative that just died.  Since I couldn’t go to the funeral, that and the little tribute I wrote to her on Facebook are the next best thing really.  

F and I walked a little further, then came back with some drinks from a vending machine.  We decided to go to Hyakkenbori for lunch, and to take F’s mother with us.  We changed our clothes a little and then drove over.  They were a bit busy, so we had to sit outside for a change.  F and I had the same thing, the Hana Noodle dish which I loved, and he didn’t. K had the lunch special which was sashimi.  She liked it a lot.  

We took K for a quick grocery trip and then dropped her back at the house.  F and I went off to Mikawa to buy him some jeans.

When we got to the mall, we went to Seattle’s Best Coffee for a chocomint java kula, but the one we got didn’t seem to have any mint in it.  And to make it worse, F had put cinnamon on top of both of them, because he was trying to be nice.  It didn’t really work.  All I could taste was cinnamon.  

We walked along the mall and went to a clothing store and found F a pair of jeans.  He wanted a pair of Japanese ones, but I didn’t like the way they fitted.  I got him to try on a pair of Wranglers and he ended up getting those. I hope I didn’t make a bad suggestion to him!  He had some time to wait until the jeans were ready as they were being shortened, so we hacked the craft shop and then looked at the ladies clothing department.  Despite swearing that I didn’t need anything, I ended up getting a nice summer shirt.  It’s a light blue and white striped shirt, supposed to be cool biz or something.  

We picked up F’s jeans and then had a cup of coffee at Mr. Donut.  We ended up having two cups of coffee and had a brief chat with the guy that used to run the Egyptian restaurant in town.  

We were mostly done in the mall, so I suggested a quick trip around Don Quihote.  It is never a quick trip though.  We bought a few things, but kept it low cost and simple.  

F wanted dinner after shopping and asked for okonomiyaki.  It was fine with me.  We went to the shop and had a good time.  We got a table this time, rather than a floor table and then ate a couple of kinds of food.  We also had some potatoes which were very good.  

We picked up a few groceries and dinner for K at the store in the mall, and then drove back to Tsuruoka.  We were close to the city when K phoned us to see where we were.  

When we got back, F gave his mother the food, I put some of the stuff away, and then came upstairs.  I watched a little TV and did a little crochet.  

Tomorrow I have to get ready for my trip.  I need to do laundry and pack my suitcase, get to the bank if I can, and perhaps find time to do a postcrossing?! Wish me luck with that.

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

July 16, 2017

Sunday - Rainy and cooler

A good day.

We slept in this morning and it was lovely.  F and I were both able to stay in bed longer than usual. Hurray. When we went downstairs, we decided to have breakfast at home.  I washed some of the blueberries that we got in Yamagata and we doled out three portions of bread pudding.  It was all rather nice! I did the dishes afterwards and then came upstairs.

F and I decided to go out for lunch a bit later, K didn’t want to go.  We tried a new to us place in the neighbourhood that was okay.  It was a little restaurant in a house…the garden was gorgeous, but the food was only so-so in my opinion.  F had pilaf that was spicy, I had carbonara. It was fine, but really big and quite bland.  We might go again though as the decor was interesting. 

We tried to go to the Internet Cafe, but it was busy.  It was pouring, so we drove around for a while. Finally we ended up at McDonald, where F got to use wifi and I didn’t really.  Not sure why my phone isn’t picking it up at the moment.  Maybe too many other people doing the same thing?

Around 3:30 we were able to get into the Internet Cafe, but not in massaging chairs.  We asked if we could be given the next available ones, so they said it was okay.  F didn’t have to wait long at all, I was in a regular room for about an hour and a half before one came available for me.  Of course, I was watching a movie (Forrest Gump) and it was right at the end when I could switch so I missed the end.  That always happens!

I did a little crochet and watched a little TV.  F wanted to leave long before I did, so off we went.  He also wanted dinner and I didn’t, think it was ironic considering how that was reversed last night!  We tried a couple of places but they were busy, so ended up at a Yakiniku place near the post office.  We had a pretty good meal, but had to wait ages to get a table.  

After dinner we bought a few groceries and then brought them back to the house.  Most were for K’s dinner but a few were just for her.  

And that’s it.  It was a good but quiet day.  Tomorrow I’m not sure what we’ll get up to.  Come back and find out!  Until tomorrow….

July 15, 2017

Saturday - Hot and mostly sunny, muggy

A good couple of days!

Friday was a good, but busy sort of day.  I left the house with F in the morning.  My friend in the next city was having car trouble so I volunteered to go and visit her, so went out to the Internet Cafe for a bit.  Around 10:30 I left, went to the train station and then caught a train to Sakata.  We had lunch at Starbucks and then we went shopping.  I was able to help take care of her baby while she did a little shopping.  

She dropped me off at the train station again in time for my train back to Tsuruoka.  When I got off the train I explored the new fancy tourist area, had a coffee and then walked to the mall.  In the mall, I wandered around a bit and then went to Doutor and had an iced tea.  F called to say he’d be late and I didn’t see him until 6:45-ish. He asked me to buy some food for his mother, which I tried to do!  I bumped into F’s sister and her husband in the grocery store so there was a bit of a family reunion when F showed up.  

F and I got a lot of food for K and then took it back to the house.  We got ready to go out on our trip.  We drove to Yamagata and stayed in a pretty decent hotel.  We went out for dinner, ended up in a bar which had great food and okay drinks.  After a bit we went back to the hotel and basically fell asleep.

This morning, we got up and had breakfast at the hotel.  It was nice.  We checked out at 10:00 am and drove to Costco and did a lot of shopping there.  We did different things there than usual though.  I didn’t buy bagels, no roast chicken either.  Just didn’t know when I would be able to eat them.  We did get a Ukrainian Sausage from Edmonton (yay!), but not the perogies that I wanted.  The box was huge and it would never fit in our freezer.  I didn’t get avocados as they were much too soft. I got some cereal, some blueberries, and a few things to make having lunch with K a little easier.  

We put the stuff in the car and then had lunch there.  We both had a hotdog and drink, plus a black cherry sundae.  That was rather yum.  We left and drove to the nearest mall.  F was looking for shirts for work.  We got some in Aeon, and also got some underwear and socks.  We picked up some small things in Kaldi and then had a cold drink. 

We started out on the way home.  I was getting hungry.  Lunch was 4-5 hours ago, but F wasn’t hungry and didn’t even think about stopping for food.  We stopped in Cherryland to get souvenirs for his family, but they closed soon afterwards.  No food for us.  The next roadside stop closed as soon as we got there. Sigh. No food. This was now about 5 hours after lunch and I needed food, but F wasn’t hungry.  I told him that I’d get something at the next convenience store, which turned out to be almost in Tsuruoka.  Gah.  I had sandwiches and an onigiri.  He had an onigiri.

When we got to the house, K had already gone to bed.  It was just after 7 pm.  Sigh.  We unloaded the car and put things away.  F and I went out to Gusto to have dinner and get some wifi.  I was quite unhappy about the house situation.  K had come into our rooms and closed the windows on Friday, so it was incredibly hot in our rooms.  I told F that I really didn’t think I could survive in his house in summer. He told me to use the air conditioner.  Summer is horrid, but winter is going to be just as bad, in the opposite direction.  March just about killed me, it was so cold up here. 

When we came back from dinner, I watched Sherlock and did some crochet.  Another band of colour finished. Yay.  It’s getting a bit too hot to crochet. 

That’s about it for today.  This is a long weekend in Japan, not sure what we’ll get up to for the rest of it.  I’m also off to Niigata next week, so I have to prepare for that soon too.  

Come back later and find out what happens on Sunday!  Until tomorrow….

July 13, 2017

Thursday - Hot and a little muggy

A good day.  

I had my usual morning…a little bit of news from the world, a little bit of telly, a little bit of cereal and yogurt and then a whole lot of laundry!  I did three loads of it today.  

 I had a nice lunch but K didn’t join me today.  I decided that I’d eat upstairs then. I gave her something to drink as I worry a little that she isn’t drinking enough in this heat.  Anyway, I had a very quiet afternoon.  I mostly stayed upstairs and on my computer. I watched a little telly, and finished up the second SATC movie, which really was terrible. I also watched an episode of Reign. I enjoyed that.  Megan Follows does a mean queen.  

I did do a bit of crochet in the afternoon, not enough really, but at least I did a bit.  Yay me.  

F was quite late tonight as he had to go to Sakata for work. It couldn’t be helped.  When he came back, we took his mother to the Temple as it is Obon in Tsuruoka today.  They cleaned the headstone, put some flowers out and said a quiet prayer.  We went for dinner to the udon place I like tonight and had tempura and cold udon and also a spicy cabbage salad.  I wasn’t sure if K would like it, but she did.  Hurray.

We took her to the grocery shop and then back to the house.  F and I went on the elusive trail of free Wifi and ice cream.  We ended up at McDonald.  It was fine actually, except he sat in a really cold draught and it didn’t do his back good.  We swapped places after a while and I couldn’t hack it.  He should have asked to move earlier.  

We bought a few drinks at the grocery store and then came back to the house.  I booked us a hotel for tomorrow night, so the two of us are going to run away for an evening and maybe do a little shopping in Costco if we have the chance!

We both took showers and even though it is quite late, F is still awake.  I need to make him sleep soon!  And I will be going out with him in the morning too.  Although my friend has cancelled for tomorrow, I had already told K that I was having lunch with a friend.  I think I’ll go and hang out at the Internet Cafe and be cool for a while!  

Come back in a couple of days and see how my exciting trip was!  Until tomorrow’s tomorrow….

July 12, 2017

Wednesday - Hot and sunny, slightly cooler

A good day.

I got up this morning, but was tired. I had slept quite well for a change, but didn’t want to drag myself out of bed.  When I went downstairs to see about breakfast, I saw K in the bathroom.  She was soaking some plants in the bathroom sink.  There was a crash and so I came to see if I could help.  She asked me to fill up a vase with water, so I went into the bathroom do it at the shower faucet.  I very carefully made sure that the water was going to come down from the tap, rather than down from the shower head.  When the vase was nearly full, I turned off the water, went slightly past the “off” mark and got a very refreshing and cold shower!  I yelped and K came in to see what was the matter.  I was standing there with my hair soaking wet and my shirt dripping! I started to laugh, because what else could I do? K laughed too and gave me a towel.  I handed over the filled vase and went back upstairs to change!!

When I came back down, I saw to our breakfasts.  We both had cereal, although I gave K some milk with hers. It was nice.

After we ate, I did a little sorting out of things in the kitchen.  I cleaned the drain strainer today as it was plugged and also put a proper bag in the corner gomi box in the sink.  The ones I have let water out, K’s just kept all the water in there, which is sort of yucky. 

I came back upstairs, watched a bit of TV and also did some crochet.  

I went down again for lunch and made us both salad bowls today.  We had salad with some chicken and tuna, and some tofu on the side.  However, K gave a lot of her food back to me. That was fine.  

After lunch and the dishes I went back upstairs again and spent time on my computer and also doing more crochet.  I fell behind the last two super hot days as I couldn’t crochet due to the heat.  I’m not completely caught up, but I’m closer.  

F came home and after a few minutes we decided to go out and buy shoes.  We got a shopping list from F’s mother and then headed out.  We went to the Shoe Bahn first but when we were there, F suggested going to a better place.  We did and each ended up getting a new pair of footwear.  I got a new pair of sandals. I’ve been wearing the same pair of shoes every day for months and it is too darn hot right now for them. I’m hoping I can wear these for the next few days and break them in. 

We had dinner at Cocos after our buying trip.  It was F’s suggestion, which surprised me as he doesn’t usually want to go there.  I had a new to me dish, vegetable coconut curry. It wasn’t vegetarian as there was chicken, but it was good.  F had a Japanese rice dish with egg and liked that.  

We hit up the grocery store and got the things on our list, then came back to the house.  We gave K her food and then came upstairs.  F took his shower and then I did.  He’s snoozing a bit now and I’m debating having an earlyish night.  It might be a good idea.  

Come back later and see what I get up to on Thursday.  Until tomorrow….

July 11, 2017

Tuesday - Hot and Sunny

A good day.

I had a normal morning basically.  I watched the British and US news, went down and had breakfast and iced coffee with K and then came back upstairs to do some of my stuff.  

I wrote 4 postcards today for postcrossing and also got them ready to go out.  I blogged the ones I received recently too, setting up my blog so they would space themselves out on the next few days.  

I offered K lunch, but she didn’t want it.  I put mine together. It was just salad and chicken, but I liked it a lot.  I offered K more iced coffee which she took.

After lunch I did my dishes and then got busy in the kitchen. I had decided to make bread pudding in my slow cooker.  I didn’t have any of my cooking stuff around like measuring spoons and cups, decent sized bowls or non-metal spoons so it was a bit of guesswork putting things together.  I made the custardy eggy bit in two batches…I managed to spill a lot of the first batch all over the table and floor.  Sigh.  I had a bit of fun cleaning it all up, but I got it done.

Around 2 pm the pudding was baking away in my slow cooker, so I went back upstairs. It was hot in the bedroom, hot everywhere actually.  I changed all of my clothes as they were very sweaty.Bleck.  I re-watched Sex and the City the movie and it was okay. The whole storyline bugs me, but not as much as it does in number two.  

F called around 5 to say he’d be late and then I checked the pudding. Looked good, but needed more cooking time.  

When F came home around 6:30 he brought some ice cream for our pudding.  We all had a piece with some ice cream, and it was quite nice.  It got good reviews. I did the dishes and also washed and put away my slow cooker, then got dressed to go out.

F had asked for a restaurant I don’t like much, so I said okay, but when he looked it up, he found it would close soon.  Instead, I suggested going to Bikkuri Donkey!!! and F went along with me.  

We had a nice meal, I had my usual, but shared some french fries with F.  

After dinner we got some things at the grocery store then came back to F’s house.  We gave K her food, put away the rest and then came upstairs.  

And that’s really about it for my day.  I did a little crochet in the afternoon, but not as much as I’d like. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be a little cooler, but it may be more humid. Oh joy.  

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

July 10, 2017

Monday - Hot…so hot…and sunny!

A good day!

I got up this morning early and turned on the fan, it was that hot.  F went off to work and I stayed in bed a little longer.  After my new programmes I took another nap and then went down for breakfast.  I had breakfast with K this morning.  She was lucky to be downstairs. It wasn’t nearly as warm downstairs.

After breakfast, I came back upstairs, did a few things on my computer and then watched a little TV.  K didn’t want lunch when I went down, so I made it for myself and then washed up and also washed my slow cooker.  I’m planning to use it tomorrow.

Around 3 pm I decided to go out. I was so hot and a bit headachy because I hadn’t had any caffeine yet today.  I was going to say goodbye to K, but she was sleeping, so I just left.  I biked off to a place near city hall and had an iced coffee.  After that, I biked along Ginza street and then came back to the house.  On the way I stopped at a bakery and got myself something and something for K as well.

I came back to the house, left the bun for K and then came back upstairs.  I sat with the fan on me as I watched a bit of TV.

When F came to the house, we talked about dinner and decided that we’d like some cold udon. He suggested Nagomi, so we even invited his mother along with us.  We went and had a lovely dinner.  They were quite busy, so we had to wait a while, but it was good anyway.  

After dinner, we dropped K back at the house and then F and I went to McDonald to get some free wifi.  I couldn’t connect though, not sure why. He could!  We went to the grocery store too and got ourselves some groceries and drinks.  I have decided to make bread pudding tomorrow in my slow cooker, since there is a lot of leftover bread to use up.  I’ve been freezing it, so it is okay to use.  

We came back to the house and F took his shower first and then I did too.  I watched a couple of TV shows, including Project Runway which was really good…final 4.

Tomorrow I’m planning to make the bread pudding and I might do some laundry or something else, it just depends on what is happening and how hot it is.  

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

July 9, 2017

Sunday - Hot and Sunny

A good day.

I woke up this morning rather early and got up soon after.  I did a quick email check and then F and I left the house.  We stopped at the conbini for a couple of onigiri and some drinks, then went on to meet my friend.  She was waiting for us and the two cars drove to Kamo Port.  

We had invited my friend and her two children to come and do some fishing with us.  Because I am not great at hot weather, we suggested going early, so we could leave when the sun got too hot.  It was pretty hot, but we were near the ocean so it felt cooler, and my friend brought a beach parasol so we had shade. Yay.  

Fishing went okay.  Her son and I had fishing rods, which F prepared for us.  I gave the rod back to F and he caught a fish, the only one of the day.  He got a sardine, which he brought home and later grilled for his mother! 

We did have some other excitement today too as my friend’s son sat in his mother’s car and may have let off the hand brake.  The car started rolling towards the edge of the dock.  Much telling off happened afterwards, but thankfully the car was stopped.  

By 11 am I had had enough sun, and so had everyone else.  We packed up all the gear and went for lunch. My friend suggested Fireball, and so we all went there.  We had a very nice lunch, three kinds of pasta and one pizza.  Very delicious stuff as usual.

After lunch, my friend took her children back to their city for naps and F suggested getting a kakigori.  It sounded great, but where to go?  We ended up going to Patio in S-Mall.  We had the same thing, Mango Kakigori with milk and it was very nice.  

The next thing we did was buy a few drinks and then came back to F’s House.  I took a nap and I think F did too a bit later.  

Around 6 we decided to go out for our dinner, but it took us a while to get going.  Before we left the house, I suggested going through the fridge and throwing out some of the old food that has been lurking.  We tossed out quite a bit.  We get stuff for K, sometimes she forgets to eat it or we don’t use things up in time.  Then we took it out to the garage for F to take out tomorrow.

We had dinner at Kintaro Sushi, the one nearest the house.  It was quiet there, so we had a fast, light and quick meal.  Yay.

We wanted a drink afterwards so drove out to Mos Burger.  When we were there, I had the sweets set, so a mango roll cake with an iced tea, F had iced tea.  It was nice and we both signed up for their wifi service too.  

On the way back to the house, we stopped at the Yamazawa to pick up food for K and somethings for me for tomorrow.  We also got a few drinks.

At the house I came upstairs while F took a bit longer.  He had a shower and is now trying to sleep.  It is so hot up here in our rooms.  It was 34℃ in the afternoon, it has cooled down to 29℃!

Tomorrow I’m back here on my own.  I may go out if it gets too hot again.  I’m not really good at high temperatures.  Come back here and see what I get up to.  Until tomorrow….

July 8, 2017

Saturday - Hot and sunny

A good day.

We slept late a bit this morning and then got up.  F asked if I’d like to go for breakfast to restaurant (B) but then he asked his mother along and it took longer to leave than expected, so we went to restaurant (A) for breakfast.  Oh well.  It was nice.  In a break of tradition, I had toast and yogurt instead of eggs, bacon and sausage. It was perfect for me in this heat, but I knew I’d need lunch because of it.  

We took K to the grocery store and then back to the house. F got out the fishing stuff.  He decided that we needed to go and get a few things, so the two of us popped out to the store.  We got the stuff he needed, I got some detergent and a pen and I thought we’d be going back to the house.  Nope.  He wanted to do something.  But what?  I suggested karaoke and was surprised when he said okay.  

The first place we tried said they were full, even though their parking lot was empty.  They must have had a lot of high school kids there.  The second place we went to let us in. Yay. We went to the one near our usual supermarket.

We got free time and sang a lot and drank a lot of things on offer.  I had a good time, F a bit less than that.  We decided to order from the menu for our lunch, but the note on the menu said we couldn’t order over the phone.  F went to the desk to order, but they didn’t take orders until 5pm.  Apparently we could bring our own food in before then.  Say what??  No food on offer!  F offered to go and get us some but I turned him down.  F never manages to get me things that I really want, he tries, but he gets what he thinks I should want, but I never do.  

After we left the karaoke box, we did a little more shopping for fishing stuff and then discussed where to go for dinner.  F never wants to discuss things though. He wants me to tell him where he wants to go, except if it isn’t a ramen shop, I don’t know where that is.  Finally I suggested going to Amarume to the place near the station.  He was okay with that.  We drove there and I was surprised that he didn’t park at first.  He thought I meant another place.  Ugh.  He drove all the way to that town and didn’t know where he was going?  Crazy.

We went in, but they were closed for a beer hall kind of thing.  Sigh.  I basically suggested stopping at a convenience store for me.  I hadn’t eaten in hours and I was getting hungry.  Very hungry.

F used his phone and found a restaurant, so we tried it.  It was okay. It was quite like a bar on the inside, and the food seemed to be pretty blah.  Finally F realized that the lunch time items were available later too, so we ordered set meals.  I had a yakiniku-miso thing, F had horumon fry thing.  It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad either.  I said to F that I wouldn’t go to Amarume just for this restaurant, but if I was there anyway, I might go again.  

We drove back to Tsuruoka and F called his mother. She wasn’t really hungry, but would like something.  We stopped at the grocery store and picked up something for her and then came back to the house.

F spent some time getting the fishing gear ready for tomorrow.  He even broke a glass in the process.  I took the first shower and then got ready to watch Sherlock.  I’ve had it circled on my calendar for months. Well, weeks anyway.  

I thought I’d sit on the bed and do some crochet during Sherlock, but Mr. Noisy came back from his shower and made too much noise.  I grabbed my stuff and went back to my computer chair and watched from there.  Much better. He still made noise, but it wasn’t so close.  Besides, getting closer to Benedict Cumberbatch is not a bad thing!

So that was my day basically. I was out a lot, but tomorrow will be out more I think.  I have a big hat and some sunscreen, so let’s hope they do the job.  

Come back in a bit and find out how fishing goes!  Until tomorrow….

July 7, 2017

Friday - Hot and Sunny - Tanabata

A good day.

I got up this morning and watched the BBC news, then a little later the US news.  After 9 I went downstairs and offered K breakfast, but she turned me down.  I took my cereal upstairs and ate it up here.  

After I ate, I did a load of laundry and took it over to the garage.  I brought back the stuff that was there before.  No biggie.  I had a quiet morning here. 

I decided to go downstairs to have lunch.  K again turned down the meal.  She let me know that she wasn’t feeling too well.  I made a sandwich and brought it upstairs again.  I ate and watched a bit of TV, Sherlock I think.  I even emptied out a box of books and put them in a bookcase. Yay me.

Around 3 pm I decided to go out again.  I really wanted to find a coffee shop, or basically somewhere I can go during the day to spend a bit of time.  I tried the Komagihara Spa and it was okay.  I looked at the vegetables, didn’t buy any, but was surprised to see they had kohlrabi.  Yum.  I had an iced coffee and then read some of my Journal.  

I came back to the house, but bought a couple of small ice creams at the close vending machine and gave one to K when I came back.  We sat downstairs and ate our ice creams, it was nice.  

F came back after his work was over and we talked about what to do . His mother didn’t want us to buy her any food, she had some leftovers instead.  

I suggested going to the Internet Cafe as it was really hot in our room.  F liked that idea and so off we went.  Before we left, I told F that I wanted to watch Castle there, so I would have to stay longer than just 3 hours.  He said it was okay.  

We went and each were able to get massaging chairs.  It was rather heavenly tonight to be honest.  I did a little crochet, watched some YouTube and also Castle, which was excellent tonight.  It was about a kidnapped girl and then it turned out that Alexis was kidnapped too. It will be continued next week. I had a not very healthy dinner there and relaxed a lot.

We left after 10:30 and came back to the house via the conbini for drinks.  F went to bed almost right away, I’m still up, but plan to go to bed soon.  

Hopefully I will be able to update tomorrow night.  It was a very hot day. I hope tomorrow is even better and we have a great day together. Which of the events would we find?  Until tomorrow….