August 2, 2019

Friday - Hot and Sunny

Had a great couple of days.  Thursday was hot and I had to run the AC here at the house.  When F came back from work we took his mother out for dinner and then a little grocery shopping.  We brought her back to the house and then after a little bit, we left.  

We made good time to Niigata, but we didn’t arrive until almost 11pm.  My hip was killing me by the time we arrived. I don’t like forced sitting. 

The hotel was fine. I didn’t get asked to provide ID, which was a great first.  The room was big enough for both of us and this morning breakfast was really nice.  

F and I went to bed around 2 last night I think.

This morning we got up early-ish. I thought that I would be up before F, but he woke up early and took a shower.  I took one before we went for breakfast. 

We checked out of the hotel around 10 am and drove to the mall. We were about 5 minutes late meeting our friend and her family, but no worries as the restaurant hadn’t even opened yet.  We went to a buffet place and had a lot of okay food!  As we were with 3 boys it was a good choice as there was something for everyone.  The adults had a decent meal and the kids had fun getting their own soft ice cream and cotton candy.  We walked around the mall a little when we were done, but sadly jet lag overcame our friends and they had to leave. It was lovely to see them and to catch up.

F and I spent a bit of time in the mall. The movie I wanted to see had already started, so not today, but we went up to Tower Records and I bought 3 different compilation sets…that’s a lot of music. We really didn’t shop that much.

We left the mall around 4 pm and went to the Musashi Superstore. We looked around there, on both floors. We didn’t buy anything there. To be honest, F visited the pet area and it really upset me. I wish he wouldn’t.  There was a young border collie puppy that had been marked down. He was really too big for the cage/kennel that he was in.  That bothered me. Also, they had a hawk and a couple of owls on sale too.  It just seems wrong to me to have wild birds in cages.  

We had drinks at the McDonalds and then headed out. As it was now 6 pm I suggested dinner. On our way back from the mall, we’d passed a sushi place. I suggested going there.  F did a google searched and found an address. I assumed he’d pick the closest one, but we drove for miles to find the right place.  Our meal was fine, but I was surprised about where we had dinner.

We drove back to Tsuruoka. We had a fairly good trip back. F had a bit of a heavy foot though and I was asking him to slow down. He did for a while.

Back at the house, K had already gone to bed. We haven’t seen her yet.  

It’s crazy stupid late now and I have to get at least some sleep or I’ll never wake up tomorrow. Come back later if you dare and see what happens. Until tomorrow….

July 31, 2019

Wednesday - Hot and Sunny

It’s late as usual and I’m tired as usual. The temperature was around 32 all day. I had to run the AC most of the day, but it doesn’t reach everywhere in the room.

Today was a bit unusual as we had a visitor at the house quite early. F is supposed to do work for the community and the guy came by this morning to check on him. K called me downstairs to talk to him.  It was stupid and a bit mean of her. I was awake, I just wasn’t up. I threw on some clothes and went to see the guy.  He couldn’t speak English and I had no clue what he was talking about. He decided to come back when F was not working.  

I went back upstairs, watched my show and did a bit of relaxing. I had a mostly quiet day. I measured the slow cooker, sadly it was too small for my spaghetti squash.

F was late tonight. He had to go to someplace in Niigata Prefecture, so didn’t get to leave on time. 

Finally, around 7:30 or so he said he was coming.  I kicked dinner into a higher order.  We had tandoori chicken, salad, and spaghetti squash with butter and parmesan cheese.  It was nice. F and I did the dishes afterwards and then went upstairs for a minute or two.

We decided to go out. I needed a few groceries and we both needed some wifi.  We went to Komeda Coffee for some cold drinks, then picked up a few groceries.  We came back to the house.

I prepared the garbage for tomorrow’s pick up and then I took a shower.  When I finished I watched Grey’s Anatomy and enjoyed it. 

I won’t be here tomorrow night.  On Friday, I’m meeting a dear old friend with F.  If it hadn’t been for her, there might not have been a me and DH sort of thing!

I have to go. I can’t stay awake!  See you, not tomorrow, but tomorrow’s tomorrow!  Until then.

July 30, 2019

Tuesday - Hot, muggy, then sunny

I had a quiet morning. I had my breakfast, watched a bit of TV. Around 12 I got a message from my friend that she was on her way. I had to get busy! I still wasn’t dressed for going out.  I found some clothes to wear and went downstairs to wait for her.  I was just saying hello to K when I saw my friend’s vehicle outside.

After a brief discussion about where to eat, we went to Pisolino.  We both had the same main dish and were able to have some nice food and some great conversations!  After a couple of hours, we left and visited the glasses shop nearby.  I showed her the new frames I got at the shop and we looked at frames for her child and also for her. 

We left and she drove us to S-Mall.  At S-Mall, we did a little window shopping but then it was time for her to leave.  We both felt so much better for having seen each other.

I went up to the hundred yen shop and did a little shopping. I got a few types of material for the next project I will work on for F’s third pair of jeans. I won’t be starting that for a while though.

I was feeling really hot as the second floor of the mall is much hotter than the first, so I went to Baskin Robbins and had a lot of ice cream! It was good. 

I followed that up by a visit to Doutor where F joined me when he finished work. He wasn’t as late as he thought he’d be. I was rather glad for him. I finished a book that I'd been reading on my phone too. It was about a woman who pretends to be a psychic financial advisor. In this one, she got mixed up with other psychics, one real and one a charlatan. 

We decided after our drinks to get a bento for K and then us go out. We went to Izmo and picked up a few things besides the bento. After that, we went back to the house to put food away, and feed K. 

F and I went to Sashimiya tonight and it was busy. It took rather a long time for our food to come to us. We were having sashimi, so that was a bit of a mystery.

After dinner, F didn’t want to do anything or go anywhere, so we just came back to the house. It was fine with me, but I wanted to watch a bit of TV anyway.  

F snoozed and I watched a couple of shows.  We turned on the AC because it was really hot up here.  

Tomorrow I’m going to cook dinner again so wish me luck. I’m a tad worried, in case it is as hot as it was today, but hopefully I’ll be okay!

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

July 29, 2019

Monday - Hot and Sunny

I woke up fairly early this morning. F had already left. I thought that he woke me up, but really he’d left much earlier.  I never did go completely back to sleep. I watched the news and semi-dozed.

I got up and dressed around 9 am. I had a quiet morning but did a load of laundry too.  It was hot in my room today, but it wasn’t humid.  I managed to tough it out without the air conditioner today. Yay!

I also finished my column and sent it in. Yay. That was a huge relief getting it sent in early.

I went downstairs to prep dinner around 6:45 tonight.  I was in the hot kitchen peeling potatoes. I wasn’t sure what she was doing, or why, but K came in and started fanning me with a Japanese fan! Then, she opened the window and closed up her room from the outside and turned on the AC.  I, of course, closed the window so the cool air wouldn’t go out. It was so nice to be able to get part of the cool air in the kitchen.  Yay her.  

When F came back to the house, I basically just had to throw dinner in the pan, which I did. Tonight we had another frozen meal from the grocery store, stir-fried by moi, plus some salad and some anchovy potatoes.  Yum.  We also had some melon that F bought on Saturday. It was good too.

F did the dishes, but he did them in his own weird way. He washed the plates first, one of the glasses, then the pans, then the other glasses…it makes no sense to me. I’ve tried to explain the order to him, but he just doesn’t seem to understand why we save the pots and pans to the end… I know I should take away the fact that he does wash the dishes, and I do try, but sometimes it really would be simpler if he’d just let me do it my way.

When I went back upstairs, F followed a little later. We turned on the AC as it was still over 30 degrees up here. A bit hot to sit around in.  F didn’t want to go out today, which was fine. I’m going to be out for lunch tomorrow and am not planning to cook or be around much of the day!

I watched a bit of TV tonight and then took a shower.  F fell asleep on the bed and hasn’t woken up since. I think he’s exhausted. Oh, I also started a doily. I’m not sure if I’ll keep going, but it looks interesting so far. I hope I can keep it interesting!

I really should go. I’ll have a busy day tomorrow and don’t want to be too tired.  Come back later if you like and find out about my day. Until tomorrow….

July 28, 2019

Sunday - Overcast and muggy

I slept in this morning. F was up before me and made his mother some noodles. I grabbed some cereal for myself, came back upstairs and ate it. I also turned on the AC because it was horrible in the room.  I didn’t turn it down really low though.

F and I snoozed a bit but it was nice.  We don’t spend a lot of time physically close these days. Finally, after 3:00pm I suggested that we move on. I was hungry and we had stuff to do. 

We went to Komeda Coffee for our late “lunch”. We both had a curry croquette burger and it was nice, but honestly not that filling. I was ready to go after 30 minutes, F not until an hour later. 

We visited the 100 yen shop to get a few things. They’ve had a collect the seal campaign to get some china and I was very close to having enough stuff.  I got some crochet cotton for myself and another towel/scarf thing.  I’ve got one that is gorgeous, one that is funny and this one should be halfway in-between the two.  I also got myself a pasta plate there. I had enough seals and we picked one that they had in stock. Yay.

We did a quick Yamaya run and I got a bit more tea and some parsley flakes. After that, we came back to the house. F all of a sudden wanted to take his mother to see her mother in the hospital. Of course, he didn’t tell me like that. We were toddling through the 100 yen shop and he said, " I want to take my mother to the hospital today.” I immediately started to panic because it is the season for elderly people to get sick from the weather.  He explained more and I suggested that he lead with the bit about his grandmother first!

He dropped me off at the house, picked up his mother, and off they went.  I came upstairs. Not too long later, they came back. She wasn’t in the hospital yet. Or something.  

Next up it was dinner time. F suggested going to Foodever which I was happy with.  We all got in the car and went off. F and K had food from the donburi place, I went to Yaku for gapao rice. Mine was good, but it took a long time to get. F & K were both finished eating before mine arrived.

We dropped K off at the house and then F and I went shopping for groceries. We got a few and then came back to the house and unpacked them. I was trying to get out of cooking tomorrow night, but somehow got sucked into doing it. Bugger. I’m not a happy camper about it, to be honest. 

We had a fairly quiet night. I was planning to take a shower when F announced that he was going to take one after all. Oh yay. He took his, I took mine, and then I came back upstairs. F and I chatted a bit and I even gave him some nice tea.  

He’s in bed now and I should go soon. The heat is making me tired. I’m using the AC but I really shouldn’t I think.  

Tomorrow I hope to finish my column. It is written, but I want to check it for errors and omissions before I send it in. I also have to get ready for our trip to Niigata.

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

July 27, 2019

Saturday - Hot and sunny

There was a big mish-mash of things going on today.  F and I started the day rather badly. He ran off to the onsen this morning with his mother. I woke up in an empty house and had no idea he was gone.  

When he came back I really didn’t want to see him! Actually, seeing him was fine, it was hearing him that annoyed me. It didn’t make any sense, but he does this thing where he asks me to spell things for his social media posts, he never asks if it is a bad or good time…just will ask “How do you spell …..?” in the middle of whatever. I could be on the phone and he’d still ask.  He whined about breakfast, but last night we’d planned not to go out, so I didn’t know what he wanted.

Finally, we got ready to go to the doctor’s office. Things went fine there, but as usual, we had to wait an hour just to be seen for 3 minutes. We got prescriptions afterwards too.  

We visited a Farmer’s Market shop and I bought a spaghetti squash, some carrots and F bought a melon. He also got a bento for K, so he delivered it to her. Then, we were off to lunch.

We went to the place on Ginza-dori that we went to last week, Arpeggio. It was nice today, but I wouldn’t say it was great. I had oyakodon and it was okay. Not planning to have it there again. F had tonkatsu and it looked nice. Towards the end, a family with a couple of noisy kids came in and rather spoilt the quiet atmosphere.  We had planned to have dessert but changed our minds.

We planned to see a movie later on and then I suggested going to see a shop that sells larger sized clothing.  F obliged me and we went for a look.  I did okay there. I got a new summery T-Shirt, a camisole with a built-in bra and a pair of shorts. I’ve been roasting up here this summer.

We had a fast drink in Doutor and then zoomed off to the cinema to see The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir. It was light entertainment but did have a few charms.  I didn’t love it, but I liked it.

As it was after 6 pm we had to get a bento for K’s dinner. We also picked up our insulated bag and a small thermos at the grocery store. We had to save stickers to get them at a reduced price and tomorrow is the last day for them.

We delivered the bento and then we went off for dinner. F did this thing where he wants me to pick the place, but he vetoes everything that I like. I told him I didn’t feel like Japanese food as I’ve had a lot of it lately. He said that both Indian and Thai upset his stomach. He finally told me to just pick a place, which I did. It is a little restaurant just behind City Hall.  I like it a lot.  We went and had a good meal in my opinion. F didn’t like it. He complained to me afterwards about his meal.  It really annoyed me, to be honest. I’m trying really hard to be supportive of his diet needs, but he keeps being a jerk about it. 

After our meal, we just drove back to the house. Sigh. We planned to watch something from the DVR together, but F went downstairs and got waylaid by a call from his uncle. He was gone for a long time.  

When he came back upstairs we watched a couple of episodes of The Good Doctor and enjoyed them. I did some crochet and got a few rows done on my shawl. It’s really pretty! 

We’ve had to have the AC on all evening. I didn’t have it on very strong and F complained, but when he left the room to go downstairs, really understood the difference when he came back. I always think that it is too big of a difference when the AC is cranked to 24 and the temperature outside the room is over 30. But what do I know? 

Not sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow.  F has to do community stuff and then hopefully we’ll be able to have some fun or some interesting times.  Come back later and see what happens.  Until tomorrow….

July 26, 2019

Friday - Hot, humid and oppressive

I woke up just before F left today and said a sleepy goodbye to him.  I snoozed a bit longer but did get up before 9.  I watched some telly, did a load of laundry and tried to stay cool.  

When I checked the inside thermometer around 1 am, it was already 32 degrees. I decided to use the AC and I’m glad! I wasn’t feeling all that great.  I didn’t cool it down as much as F does, just a bit. I turned if off when I left the room too.

I spoke to K a couple of times today. I was worried about her. I saw her sleeping in the living room and couldn’t tell if she was sleeping or passed out from the heat.  I made a lot of noise and offered her a drink, which she accepted. At lunchtime, I made her a grilled cheese toast. I worried that she might not be eating too.

The day was quiet. There was no wind, so even if the windows were open, there was no help from that. I kept the AC on for a bit but then turned it off. I just didn’t want to run it all the time.

F went to his neck doctor tonight and then came back to the house.  I suggested going to Youme Shokudo for dinner and that is where we went. It was good.  I had mapo-dofu and it was very nice. F and his mother both had fish. We brought K back to the house and then F and I went off to the Internet Cafe.

We spent 3 mostly happy hours there. I did a little crochet, had a nap and roused F at the end.

We came back to the house and I am almost asleep over my blog!  I’m so tired from the heat.  

I did almost finish my column today. On Monday I’ll read it through and send it off to the editor.  Yay.  

I gotta go. I’m sorry but I can’t keep my eyes open. Until tomorrow….

July 25, 2019

Thursday - Hot. Really, really Hot.

I woke up this morning because F’s alarm clock was going off. Where was F? He’d already left! He’d forgotten to turn it off. I made a trip downstairs and then fell back asleep. I actually ended up oversleeping again. Oops.

I had a quiet day and morning. I did a load of laundry, no big deal. I had breakfast, saw K here and there in the morning, and I watched some of the TV off the DVR. What I didn’t do much of all day was write my column. I’m not into it this time.

I had a fairly good day, but the temperature in our bedroom got up to 30 degrees today. Yikes.  I think it is hotter in the part of the room that I usually inhabit. I probably should have used the air conditioner, but I didn’t.  I went downstairs to wash dishes, etc and wasn’t in a hurry to come back upstairs. I gave K a drink and had one myself.

32 degrees Celsius at 4:43 pm.  46% humidity.  Ack!

F called fairly early tonight to say he was coming back, so I went downstairs to get things started. Except, he didn’t show up. He took so long that I started to worry (around an hour for a commute that generally takes 20 minutes) so I texted him. He phoned me back a few minutes later. He was talking to his uncle. This uncle phones him and talks for ages about the same old thing. I suggested to F tonight that he give him five minutes and then say he has to go. The uncle even tries to call him when he’s at work. 

F finally got back and I got dinner into production. Yesterday we’d bought some frozen fish with vegetables in the grocery store so I stir-fried it and served it up. It was actually rather nice and got good reviews.  That kind of fish cooking I can do!

Once again I ended up doing all the washing up from dinner. I am getting rather annoyed by the whole thing. F says he is going to help and then doesn’t. So, I’m not cooking tomorrow night. Someone else can do the deed.

F spent a long time on the phone tonight trying to make arrangements with the new internet provider. He wants to change. I’m rather annoyed at the whole thing. I think if he’d just blooming helped me when we got this setup, we might have had wifi for our phones as well as my computer. He still hasn’t looked at anything from the setup. He was on his cellphone to the company tonight when his mother started calling him to say there was a telephone call for him on the house phone. I went down to tell her that he was already on the phone, but she didn’t understand me and kept yelling for him, even though I went up to tell him.  He did go downstairs, only to find out that she’d hung up on that call…!

F and I went out around 9 pm to Komeda Coffee. We both had kakigori with ice cream in it. They were so good! I wish I’d had mine around 4 pm today though! It would have melted in about 2 minutes in our room.

We came back to the house around 11 pm.  I took a shower and gave part of the bathroom a thorough cleaning. 

I came upstairs and watched a bit of telly. I used earphones so that I wouldn’t keep F awake, but he got up a bit later and turned on the lights and is having an adult beverage now. He’s also turned on the AC for a while.  It was almost 30 degrees again.

Anyway, that’s it for me. Not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow. I really hope that I make myself work on my column as I’ll be very busy next week.  Come back later if you like and see how Friday is. Until tomorrow….

July 24, 2019

Wednesday - Hot and sunny and humid

I woke up this morning just after F got up. I eventually fell asleep again, for a bit too long. It was quite late when I did get up.  I watched my morning show and tried to stay cool. Today was a scorcher.

I didn’t really do too much today. I didn’t do laundry, I didn’t do any sashiko and I didn’t do any column writing. Sigh. I even took a nap for a bit in the afternoon. 

I watched a bit of tv from the DVR and finally found out what happened to Jack on This Is Us. I think I wanted to cry. It’s a good show. I know I’m watching it oodles after people in the US, but good is good, so it doesn’t matter.

I went downstairs to wash dishes around 4 pm and the doorbell rang. Both K and I went to the door, but it was two young people, probably selling religion.  K said no thank you and they left.

For dinner tonight we had some sashimi from the store. I reminded F that he was bringing the sashimi, which he did. I set the table and put on the hot water for the miso soup.  We had quite a traditional Japanese meal tonight and it was rather nice.  I wouldn’t want sashimi every night, but I do like it a lot.  We also got K to run the air conditioner in the living room over dinner. I was so hot from the kitchen and upstairs. It was 30 degrees up here during the day…a bit too hot for poor delicate flower moi. 

F and I went out for some wifi after dinner and went to Starbucks. We both had decaf coffee, which they really didn’t want to make for us. They charge us extra and we had to wait for 10 minutes (but it was a bit longer than that) for the pleasure. As usual, we stayed too long there.  Sigh. I wanted to be back at the house by 11, not just getting to the store then.

We hit up the grocery store and got a few things for the house. We got some bread and also got some frozen fish meals for the three of us. We’ll try them tomorrow.  I think F will be very happy. We’ve had fish twice this week already, and tomorrow will be three times.  I’m okay with it, but I would like something else on Friday.

We came back to the house around 11:30 and I did the garbage up in the kitchen. I got it all ready to go out and then came upstairs and watched Grey’s Anatomy. It was an in-between show I think. Something must be brewing!

And that’s about it. F is still up. He’s complaining about his stomach and says he doesn’t feel too well. I hope he feels better soon.  

Not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow. We’re having dinner at the house, and maybe we’ll go out again if there is time  

Come back later if you like and check my day out. Until tomorrow….

July 23, 2019

Tuesday - Hot and humid.  Ugh!

I got up at a reasonable time this morning and did get dressed after a bit. I had a good but slightly quiet morning today. I did a couple of loads of laundry and hung it up to dry. I watched my usual telly, no big deal.

In the afternoon I had lunch and watched a bunch of cooking shows on TV.  F called around 4 to say that he would be late again but didn’t know HOW late. Poor thing.

I had gone downstairs to wash my lunch dishes and also to prepare a dish for dinner.  I did that, cleaned up afterwards and put it in the fridge for now.

I watched the news and some stuff on YouTube and worked on F’s pants. I got them done! Woot!  I was finishing up when K summoned me downstairs.

F's jeans went from this...

... to this.  He likes them!

I didn’t manage to tell her that F was still working, I don’t know what she wants from me!  I’m assuming that she was hungry.  I went upstairs again, got the room ready to be left, and went downstairs again.  

I was starting to put dinner together when F called to say he was done.  He joined me in the kitchen soon after and he cooked the udon.  I set the table with my chicken salad and the leftover stir-fry. Double yum. 

We had a pretty nice dinner with not a lot of cooking. Hurray for that.  F started washing dishes after the meal but had to run off soon after he started.  

I finished washing the dishes more or less and then F and I went out. He wanted to go to the onsen, which we did. I updated my Instagram while I was there!

He was late getting to the onsen so when he finished there was very little time left for him to relax or use the wifi, so he asked that we go to the coffee shop. We went, spent entirely too much time there again.  We weren’t exactly the last people there, but we were very close!

We did a shop in MaxValu and I picked up a few things that we needed and entirely too much that we didn’t.  We decided to have sashimi for dinner tomorrow night, but that means that F has to get the sashimi first. Hopefully, he’ll go after work tomorrow.

We came back to the house and I took a shower.  I watched a bit of TV when I finished and now I’m just trying to stay awake while I blog.  

Come back later and see how my Wednesday goes. Until tomorrow….

July 22, 2019

Monday - Overcast and humid

I woke up first when F got up but fell back asleep almost immediately. When my alarm went off I was surprised that I had slept more.

I had a bit of a lazy morning. I didn’t even open up my computer until 10!  I was up, and even dressed, just didn’t want to face the world yet.

I had a fairly quiet day. I worked on F’s jeans and did a lot of sewing. It is looking good. I’m not quite ready to let you see them, but soon I hope.

I watched some telly and had my usual lunch. After the news at 4:30 I went downstairs and did a bit of prep for dinner.  I cut up veggies, I washed the pans I was going to use, and I had to tidy the kitchen since a weekend of F and K in the kitchen left it with stuff all over. 

I went upstairs to wait for F. We waited a long time. He did call to say he was going to be late, but he thought he’d be back by 7 pm. He wasn’t.  At 8 I went downstairs and decided to cook. K needed something for dinner and I wasn’t unhungry either.

Today I poached some salmon for dinner and did a stir-fry of veggies to go on the side. I didn’t cut the veggies small enough which was a bit of a problem.  F called to say he was en route while I was cooking.  No problem except I had texted him early to ask for some groceries.

F made it just after I served K her plate.  The food was good, and the salmon was lovely. F said it wasn’t quite cooked enough and he was right, but I think it was better than being overcooked.  I have to remember to do that again, Simply Recipes Poached Salmon. 

F washed the dishes afterwards and I dried, we got them done fairly quickly. We went upstairs and I got changed. We had to go out for a little.  We went to Starbucks for a coffee and I actually had iced coffee. Note to self…having real coffee that late at night is nuts.  It was good though. 

We picked up a few groceries too. I think F is going to prepare dinner for us tomorrow, sort of. I’m going to help. I’ll make some chicken salad I think.

When we got to the house, we put the groceries away and then F went to bed. I watched Celebrity Undercover Boss and it was the first one I enjoyed at all. It starred Ashley Graham. She’s the spokesmodel for one of the stores in Canada that I shop at, so I know who she is!

And that was my day. It was hot and humid today. When I finished cooking I asked K if I could turn on the fan. She has air conditioning in the living room, but she won’t use it. (I have it upstairs and I won’t use it either!  However, for meals I really wish she would.) I was covered in sweat, and the kitchen wasn’t that hot.  

Come back later and see how my Tuesday goes. Until tomorrow….

July 21, 2019

Sunday - Cloudy and overcast, hot

I went to bed so late this morning that it was starting to get light outside. I slept fairly well, but F woke me up a couple of times. I didn’t really mind too much today. 

He took his mother out around 10:30. They were going to go to the onsen and then to vote.  I took care of a couple of personal things while they were gone and had my breakfast too.

They came back to the house close to 1:00pm.  F and I went for lunch. I had suggested Hyakkenbori, by the University. F was odd today. He started out driving the right way but turned a few minutes later. He was going the wrong way and didn’t turn around for a while.  We got there just before it closed.

The menu had been changed at the restaurant and they were out of chicken so I couldn’t have my favourites.  Instead, I had a Soboru dish with eggplant. It was rather good. F had one with maguro. Basically, our meal was served on rice and we could put it in a bowl and then pour broth over it. It was a bit like ochaisuke, and good.

After the meal, we went to S-Mall for a while. I hit up the 100yen shop and got a few things today too. Then, F and I went downstairs to have coffee.  The coffee shop wasn’t quite as busy as the day before.  I ordered the coffee while F looked for a place to sit.  Something odd happened. A lady had been putting tables and chairs together as she had a group of friends trying to sit together.  F tried to take away one of her tables for us!  I watched this from the line and was a bit upset on her behalf. F backed down and sat nearby.  When I joined him he told me that the woman had stolen his table, but I told him that she was there first and had been putting the tables together for her group.  He was surprised that I was watching and dropped the subject.

F wasn’t feeling too well, so I suggested that we go back to the house and he take a nap. He liked that idea, so off we went.  We got to the house and F did everything but sleep for ages. He was downstairs, he was upstairs, he was eating, he was running around. Finally, he took a nap, but it was getting late and we needed some food for his mother.

We went out and went to Moku-Moku for dinner. Again, F took us on a huge detour for no reason.  Oh, wait, he did have a reason. He was supposed to take something to his sister’s house.  He just dropped it off. We went to Moku-Moku. It’s changed again. About half of the restaurant is blocked off and there seems to be only one staff member.  He seated us at a seat near the drink bar. F sat on one side of the table and I was going to sit on the other, but there was an electric fan set up there.  I wasn’t sure if I should really sit there, so I did. The cord was behind my legs as I sat, and the fan was to my right. I had to squeeze past it as I sat down.  The waiter came over and asked me to unplug the fan, which I did.  He took it away. Maybe he should have done that first?

Our meals were okay though. F had squid ink curry and I had cold pasta with daikon and shabu-shabu pork in a sesame sauce. That was nice, but the pasta felt a little underdone.

We bought a few groceries after dinner then came back to the house. I took a shower and F put on the TV.  

That’s really about that. F was supposed to do something for his community service but didn’t. He always had an excuse. Hrumph! 

I bought fish for dinner. I’m going to try poaching it, I did that once at the old apartment. I hope I can do it here!

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

July 20, 2019

Saturday - Overcast with showers, humid

F and I had a fairly laidback and relaxed morning today. I got up around 10 I think, and I even had breakfast. That was nice.  

F made his mother brunch and then the two of us went out for lunch. We went to a lunch restaurant that we’ve gone to a few times. We had to go there because F went for lunch during his workweek a few days ago. When he tried to pay, they didn’t have enough change to give him, so they told him to come back later to pay. He was busy most of the other days, and last weekend we were away, so today was the day.  We both had the nigiri lunch today, basically sushi.  It wasn’t too expensive, but it was good.  

During lunch, F got a call to say that my new glasses were ready so after lunch, we went to pick them up.  They are lovely! They are really, really light, I hardly know that I am wearing them. If they didn’t have frames I wouldn’t know!

We went to S-Mall for some coffee and a trip to the hundred yen shop. I got a few things for the house and me, as did F.  We went to Doutors for the wifi and also the drink.  They got our order wrong and as we were walking away, they changed it. Personally, I think it was worse, but whatever!

F wanted to go and get a pen-pal of his a gift, so we went to the shopping area of Tsuruoka, only to find that there was a festival on and we couldn’t get the car near it.  We were a bit sneaky and drove to the cinema and parked there.  We didn’t take very long, so I don’t think we were hurting anyone else.  F got some gifts, then we went to the grocery store for more stuff and a bento for his mother.

We delivered the bento and went out for our dinner. F asked me if I’d like to go to our favourite place in Mikawa and I said sure.  F called them to see if it was okay to show up and they said it was. We drove out to the restaurant and had a lovely meal.  F had roast duck and I had steak. We were both pleased with our meals, although F made me take some of his meat.

On the way back into Tsuruoka, F asked if I’d like to go to Karaoke and I would.  I’d been asking about going all weekend.  The first place we tried had no parking available, but the second place seemed rather empty.  We got in right away and spent the next 3 hours or so singing! Tonight I challenged myself to sing only Canadian singer’s works and I almost managed. I picked a group that wasn’t Canadian, but it is okay. My rules.

We came back to the house and F went to bed almost right away. He’s really tired and had a headache for much of the day.  Tomorrow he has to do his community service bit. He’s been avoiding it all weekend. I knew that, but I really wanted to go to karaoke!

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

July 19, 2019

Friday - Cloudy and humid

F had taken today off work, so when morning came, he didn’t want to get out of bed, so he didn’t. I was up before him if you can believe that!  I got up before 10 am, he was still in bed around 11:30 I think.

For lunch, I suggested a new place for us. One of the concerts at the Aquarium was by a lady who has a new restaurant in Tsuruoka. She’s one of the band members. I suggested to F that we go there. He liked the idea and off we went. 

We found the restaurant, but their parking was a bit more difficult. Still, that done we walked to the restaurant. We were seated after a little delay.  I ended up having a bacon steak, and F had steak-steak. I didn’t expect him to have steak or a big one at that, but he did and seemed to enjoy it.  We even splurged for dessert and coffee. 

We went back to the house for a while. F worked on his community stuff and I scanned a few cards.  Around 3, F announced that he was done and that he wanted to go to the movie theatre.  Okay then!

We bundled into the car and drove to Machi-ne Kinema.  We got our tickets and then went to see The Bookshop.  It was okay. I think there were a few missed opportunities in the screenplay, but I enjoyed it overall.

After the movie, F and I picked up a nice hot bento for K from a shop nearish the theatre.  We dropped it off and then we went to find our dinner. We tried to find a local restaurant and then did, but it wasn’t open.  We went back to our original plan for a fish restaurant.

We had dinner at Okazaki tonight and it was busy.  F and I got into a bit of a spat tonight about where to put my shoes of all things.  The restaurant has just started putting labels in the shoe room and we are supposed to put our shoes in the section that relates to where we will be sitting.  I didn’t know that. F got rude and then upset when I called him off on it.

We had a decent meal there, although F’s food was on the table long before mine was. He had a seafood medley on rice, I had grilled fish. It was all good, but mine was a bit small.

We went over to Starbucks for frappuccino’s and wifi. I tried the new peach one and loved it.  It was a bit too sweet for me though.  F suggested going to karaoke during our drink, but it was late and I knew that F didn’t want to go at all.  

We came back to the house and watched another episode of The Good Doctor from the DVR. Yay us.

I watched a couple of other things later after I took my shower.  

F hasn’t been feeling well today. I’ve been a bit worried about him as he’s always in pain. He isn’t supposed to eat steak, but he did.  Crazy man!

I’m not sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow. I only hope that we both enjoy it. Until tomorrow….

July 18, 2019

Thursday - Hot, cloudy and humid

I woke up a little early this morning. I did a washroom run and then went back to bed. I ended up sleeping a bit late, but it was a nice feeling too.  I got up finally, watched the news, then the TV shows I’m into and that was about it for the day!

F called me around noon to say he was taking Friday off. It was nice that he did, but I was a tad worried that he’s frittering away his holidays. 

F called again later to say he was going to be late and he was. He got back to the house around 7 I believe.

It was his turn to cook tonight since he wanted fish. I think I contributed more food to dinner though. I heated up some vegetables and put out a gobo salad.

After dinner, I gave F a hand with the dishes. Today he washed them and I dried them.  No big deal. He wanted to go to the onsen too, but it was their closed day today so not able to go. 

Instead, we came upstairs and I finally booked my airplane tickets to Canada. I’m so excited. I thought I’d need his help, but this time I was able to work it all out myself. Woot.  

We went out to Komeda Coffee tonight for a drink. Halfway through, F asked if I’d like something to eat, so we ended up getting food too. We shared it and it was nice. I had chicken nuggets and F had a curry cutlet sandwich.

We came back to the house after our meal and I watched some TV. F snoozed on the bed after a bit.

And that was that. I just want to complain about the humidity. it is getting worse here. I’m not happy about it.

No idea what I’ll get up to tomorrow, but I can let you know later! Come back if you like and see what I get up to. Until tomorrow….

July 17, 2019

Wednesday - Sunny but muggy

I had a mostly quiet day at the house today. I got up early, watched the news and then some telly. I didn’t see much of K during the day which was fine with me.

I did come up with a bit of a topic for my Journal column. I’ll have to do a bit of research but it should be okay.

F texted me a few times during the day, I texted back. No big deal.  He did text, later on, to say he’d be late today.

I decided to go downstairs around 6:30 and start preparing dinner. I hadn’t heard from F, but thought that K and I should eat.  Of course, just as I was starting to put food out for us, he called to say he was finished work.

Tonight we had a salad with a couple of extras in it, tofu, cucumbers and some pork. I heated up some rice for K and then for F when he arrived.  Dinner was fine I thought, but F was glued to a stupid TV programme. 

I was lucky enough to be able to do the dishes tonight with no help again!  How wonderful for me.  K, to be fair to the old gal, did bring a bunch of dishes to the kitchen for me, but I think that had more to do with her wanting to wipe the table than with helping me out.

After dishes, I went upstairs and F was on his side of the bed trying to sleep. He asked if I wanted to go out and of course said yes.  I asked that we go to McDonald's for some drinks and wifi. I didn’t want to go straight back to the house either. We went to McDonald's and had a drink and a bit of a treat.  

Then we went to the grocery store. Sigh. I was looking for something for dinner for tomorrow, but F was being a jerk. At the end, I asked him to pick what he wanted and he said grilled fish. I told him it was fine if he cooked it. He talked a bit too loudly as he had an earphone in one ear so I asked him to be more quiet and to use his inside voice. He put something in his basket and then stalked off. I got a few things that I needed and we paid.  

I packed the groceries and then a guy tried to come up behind me and take the space I was just leaving.  F did the thing he always does which is trying to get me to move out of the man’s way.  In the first place, I couldn’t see the guy as he was behind me. In the second place, he could have gone either left or right of me, no idea why F got mad at me.  Get mad at the idiot who could only see one place to pack his groceries.  I’m mad at the idiot I married for constantly telling me off rudely for “getting in other people’s way” when they come up behind me.  I’m a big woman, I know that, but if people are behind me, how am I supposed to see them?  And F….he gets in the way constantly. He will stop dead in his tracks if a person crosses his path. He wants them to see how he has been inconvenienced by their “thoughtlessness”. Or whatever. Unfortunately, if you are behind F when he’s overacting, you have to stop too.

Time for a holiday I think. 

Came back to the house and I took a shower. As I was getting ready K was bopping around.  I had a feeling she’d come into the bathroom while I was changing, so I put my robe back on. She did.  I told her I was taking a shower so she toddled off. No privacy here. I’m not allowed it.

I did the garbage up and dumped it in the genkan for F to take it out in the morning. Then I came upstairs and watched Grey’s Anatomy with headphones on.  F is sleeping and has been for a while.  

I get that he is tired, but lately, he’s been distracted and mostly downright rude to me.  Does he really think living here with a grumpy husband is such a fabulous thing?  It isn’t. 

My turn to kvetch.

Anyway, I’ll most likely be here tomorrow. Come back if you dare and hear what I get up to on Thursday. Until tomorrow….

July 16, 2019

Tuesday - Hot and muggy, some rain

I woke up this morning at 7 am to an empty room.  F had left already. I tried to go back to sleep, but it was so hot and stuffy in here that I just couldn’t. I got up, opened the windows and did a little snooze until I did get up.

I had a fairly quiet day today. K was in bed for much of the morning, at least I think she was.  I did a couple of loads of laundry, had breakfast and watched quite a bit of telly off the DVR. 

Around 4 I heard from F that he’d be late tonight. He thought he’d be done around 7. I passed on the message to his mother and then went back upstairs.  Poor thing didn’t get back to the house until well after 8:30.  

The three of us piled into the car and went to Kula Sushi.  It’s not great, but it stays open late and I like their side dishes.  I went off to get water for all of us, but when I came back to the table F told me that he ordered 2 dishes of onion rings for us. I thought it wasn’t enough. His mother LOVES onion rings. I ordered a bowl of fries too. They are a good filler food when you are waiting for other dishes to be delivered.  Then, the two bowls that F ordered arrived. He’d ordered two semi-expensive dishes of french fries, onion rings and chicken nuggets.  And then the bowl of fries that I ordered arrived. Oh my goodness. Of course, if I had known that F had ordered fries, I wouldn’t have ordered any!  He’d made a mistake.  We polished off all three plates after a while. F and I were rather stuffed. We’d had some sushi too and were almost ready to go. Then, K asked for another dish of the fries & rings.  F and I rolled our eyes a bit, but he obliged her.  The dish arrived and of course, after she’d eaten a few, she’d had enough and we had to finish the dish! 

We brought K back to the house and the two of us went off again to get some groceries for dinner tomorrow. We hadn’t bought dinner groceries last night as we planned to do it before cooking tonight. That didn’t happen.

Oh, and my glasses aren’t ready yet. They’d made a mistake on the order so it’ll be another week yet apparently. I was looking forward to getting them!

When we came back to the house, F got into relax mode, I watched a couple of TV shows and then as I’m starting to get sleepy, thought about bed.  Not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow. I probably should write a bit of my next column, but that would require that I decide on a topic!

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

July 15, 2019

Monday - Marine Day - Hot and Sunny

It seems like the weather has finally decided that summer is here. We went from cloudy and cooler weather on Sunday to hot and sunny today. It was lovely, but unfortunately, both of us are sporting a bit of a sunburn. Mine isn’t as bad as F’s since I stayed in the shade, used a big floppy hat, and wore sunscreen.  

Anyway…I finally heard from my friend on Sunday that she and her husband and nephew were going to be in Akita on a beach fishing.  Since F wanted to try the type of fishing too, we packed a bag each, loaded up the cooler boxes and left.  Of course, we made sure that K had lots of food so she wouldn’t be hungry. 

F at the beach.

We drove north, my friends drove west, and we managed to find each other.  We had told K that we’d spend the night away, but hadn’t made a hotel reservation yet. I made one on my phone for a hotel in Akita. It sounded so far away, but really it was only 30 minutes away from the beach!

Sunset

The guys went fishing and my friend and I had some lovely chats.  We did a little craftwork together too.  We set up for the meal and when the guys came in from the water’s edge, we had a feast.  We had steak and other meat, some sausages, some grilled veggies and some of my garlic toast. Dinner was great.

F and I left around 10 pm I think and drove to Akita, stopping only to get gas. We checked into our hotel which was fine. It’s a chain I’ve stayed in before. They didn’t ask for my passport, so double woot!

We made a convenience store run, which was easy as there was one just off the hotel lobby. We didn’t have to go outside! We grabbed a few things for our hotel room and went back up. We didn’t turn on the TV at all. F had some noodles and I did some craftwork.  He took a shower and I went to bed. It was only 12:30 or something, but we planned to be up at 6 the next morning to go back to the beach. 

Today, we got up at 6 am. I took a shower and packed up my stuff. We checked out and then drove to the beach. However, halfway there, F decided he needed bait, so we turned around and went back to Akita city and got some. Then, we came back to the beach but stopped in a store for a few things.  

At the beach, my friend and I stayed under a shade-canopy while the guys went fishing. My friend’s husband caught a few of the fish they were trying for, but poor F only caught fugu and didn’t keep them!

Around 12:30 or so, the guys called it quits.  We had been preparing lunch a bit, so we could all eat fairly quickly. We had a lovely lunch together and then we had to go our separate ways.

I slept most of the way back to Tsuruoka. We did stop a few times for ice cream or Baba Heya, but it was terribly hot out today, so necessary.

Baba Heya Ice...sold to us by a woman on the side of the road!

F decided that he wanted to go to the onsen before going back to the house. Although I could have taken a bath, I decided not to. I sat in the lobby and read a little, crocheted a couple of rows and checked my phone apps.

We stopped in Tsuruoka later to buy K a bento, then delivered it.  After we came back to the house we emptied the car and checked the fridge a bit. 

We went for dinner tonight. F wanted fish, but none of the places he wanted to go were open. I had suggested Pisolino earlier and he didn’t want to go, but we ended up there anyway. We had a fairly good meal. F ordered a pizza and I had pasta. We shared a bit and also had the buffet. 

On the way back to the house, we stopped into

the grocery store to get some food for tomorrow. I’m not planning to cook dinner tomorrow as it is much too hot for me to be in the kitchen.  However, we may be able to find something in the grocery store that will be easy to cook and not heat up the joint…fingers crossed anyway.

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