July 31, 2020

Friday - Lots of rain, but some sun too.

I had my usual basic morning, except I wrote quite a bit of email today. I think I was putting off my column checking. I did finally get around to it though. I finished my column and even sent it in. Yay me. One day before the deadline!

I had my lunch and then I came back to the room and rewatched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I still didn’t like it at all! No, that’s not fair. I hated Johnny Depp in it and thought he was really creepy. I’ve always been a fan of Freddie Highmore and I liked him and his screen family in this. They were sweet and good. 

I spent some time on my computer before going downstairs to get dinner underway around 5:30. Tonight I was making tandori chicken again, so I mixed the powder with a bit of yogurt. It ended up making it a little milder. It was still good, probably better for K and F than me. I wanted it spicy! I served the chicken with salad, rice for K and F, French Onion soup (from a packet), and yesterday’s leftovers. Dinner was pretty good. F surprised me by washing the dishes tonight. I didn’t expect it from him tonight. A nice treat! After he finished, I cleaned my toaster oven. When I preheated it for the chicken it was a bit smoky. 

I finished up and then came upstairs. I watched a few things on my computer and then took a shower. When I was in the bathroom I cleaned a bit of the vanity. The place where our toothbrushes are kept was quite disgusting so I cleaned it all out. I threw out my toothbrush after using it to do a bit of cleaning!

I came back upstairs and watched a couple of hours of TV. That was really it for my day. 

I’m not sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow. I’m hoping that we’ll be able to go out a bit, but who knows! Come back later if you like and hear all about it. Until tomorrow….

July 30, 2020

Thursday - Sunny and warm

I woke up this morning, got up and watched the news from my bed. I dressed and then went to do some laundry. I did a load and then hung up the clothes. I grabbed breakfast and had that too. 

I got stuck in on my column and got it done. I need to go over it tomorrow and proofread it too. I was really glad to get done.  I didn’t watch a lot of TV this afternoon, but I did watch Downton Abbey and it was wonderful! The show just makes me happy.

There was an explosion in Koriyama today. F and I have been there a couple of times, it is the place he had his back surgery a few years ago. I also have a couple of friends there. I texted F to let him know that my friends are okay. He hadn’t heard about it!

I went downstairs after 5:15 and got started on dinner. I was making a stir-fry so I had to do a lot of veggie prep. It went okay. F called a few times. One was to say that he was coming back, then he wasn’t because he had to go back to work, then to say he was on the way again. 

When he came back, we said hello and then he went upstairs for a rest and to change. I got stuck in cooking and it wasn’t bad. 

A short while later, I had dinner almost ready to go. I texted F to come and make the rice. He did and then left!  I got things on the table and we all ate. The food was good. I made a pork and vegetable stir-fry and also some okra on the side. I had couscous with my stir-fry, F and K had their rice. I ignored the recipe on the couscous package tonight and it was much better than my first attempt! Yay.

Over dinner, F asked if I’d like to go to the onsen with him, but I said no. I really didn’t want to go. He asked K, so after dinner, the two of them left and I was on my own to do the dishes. However, there weren’t that many and what dishes there were fine. I listened to a couple of podcasts and enjoyed myself!

After I finished, I went upstairs and spent time on my computer. F came back and found me relaxing in a very casual summer dress. He asked me if I’d like to go out and I would. Yay!

I changed and we went out. We visited a drugstore and then went over to Komeda for some iced coffee. We spent about an hour there and it was nice to just chill out!

We came back to the house and that’s about where we are now. It’s been a good day and I’m starting to look forward to the weekend. 

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

July 29, 2020

Wednesday - Warmer, cloudy but no rain. Yay!

I set my alarm to go off at 7:00 am this morning because F hadn’t set his before he went to sleep. I woke up, made sure he was awake/getting up, and went back to sleep. He didn’t seem terribly grateful to me!

I woke up later and got up. I had my usual morning of news and snooze, then dragged myself out of bed and then downstairs to get breakfast. I brought it back upstairs with me.

I got stuck into my column writing fairly early today and for a change wrote quite a bit. In fact, I’m nearly done! I have to re-read what I wrote, polish it up and then I should be able to send it in by Friday. At least that is the plan.

I had a quiet afternoon. I rewatched Avengers: Endgame and really enjoyed it a lot. It was so much fun until the end. I watched the news after it finished. I was a tad nervous waiting for my husband to come back from work. He was so grumpy last night, what would he be like today?

He came back to the house and said he was really tired. He started to go to bed, but it was around 6:30. There was no food for dinner as we hadn’t bought any last night because someone wouldn’t go out. I gave him a choice of getting bentos for dinner or going out for a meal then getting groceries. He chose the bentos, so we got dressed for going out and went to the not very good grocery store that is near the house.

F grabbed a couple of sushi packs for himself and his mother. There wasn’t much I was interested in. My stomach has been acting up today, so I wanted something that wouldn’t upset it more. I walked away from the bentos, I didn’t care right then. I did get some food for the next couple of nights. I’ll do a stir-fry one night and probably do some tandori chicken on another night. I haven’t decided which to do first though!

I headed back to the bento area and finally grabbed myself a piece of chicken with teriyaki sauce on it, and some deep fried eggplant stuffed with cheese. Those were to share with other people, but most for me!

We came back to the house and F put things away and then I got some of the things we bought heated up. I set the table too and then sat down with K to eat. F joined us soon after. We had dessert afterwards too, courtesy of Costco.  They were little puddings in balloons. It was a fun concept and the pudding was nice!

I did the dishes but didn’t complain about it too much tonight because I didn’t have to cook, and there weren’t many dishes. 

I came upstairs afterwards. I took a shower later and then relaxed with some of my new tea. It was lovely. I watched Grey’s Anatomy and that was about it for my day.

Tomorrow, I have to finish writing my column and I’ll probably make a stir-fry for dinner. Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

July 28, 2020

Tuesday - Torrential rain

I tried to go to bed last night and when I went to bed, F started moving around. He wasn’t sleeping well and got up to take some medicine. He was so noisy. I didn’t sleep well last night, I don’t think he did either, which was probably worse.

After I woke up, I watched the news and around about 9:00am I heard a car in the driveway. F was back! I got dressed quickly and then went over to my computer. F was back to rest as he didn’t feel that great. He didn’t really rest, he used his computer again. When I went downstairs to get my breakfast, I discovered that one of F’s nieces was here with her daughter. Of course, no one was wearing a mask to visit Granny. Grrr.  He left around 11:30 I think to go back to work.

While F was here, I did write some of my column. Over the day, I’ve written about 3 films so far, which isn’t bad. I’d like to do 2 to 3 more, we’ll see how it goes.

After F left, we got torrential rain. It was really noisy and bad.  I kept working on my column and then took a break for a bit. I went downstairs around 2 pm to have lunch, and while I was there a warning came over my phone. Unfortunately, the warning was in Japanese so I couldn’t really read it. I emailed it to F to see if we were in danger. He phoned later to say it wasn’t for us. Another part of Tsuruoka was in danger due to the river rising. Oh boy!

I had lunch and watched something off the DVR. I watched the news and then went downstairs. I’d talked to F a couple of times and it sounded like things were okay.

I started to make dinner, or at least, get it prepped. F called to say he was coming, I put the pan on the stove to heat the water, that kind of thing. When he arrived I asked if he’d be eating with us. He asked the menu and he said nicely, that no he wouldn’t. So I made dinner for K and I. We had pasta with pesto sauce, boiled garlic pork sausages, salad and some of the leftover veggies from last night. I had made some barley tea during the day, so we had that to drink. 

K seemed very upset that F wasn’t joining us and rattled off a bunch of stuff at me. She even tried calling him to get him to come downstairs, which he didn’t of course. She seemed rather upset, I’m not sure if she was mad at ME or at HIM.  At the stage where I put food on the table, there wasn’t exactly enough food for F too. I only made two portions of pasta, only cooked two sausages. I wasn’t going to give up my food for F!

Anyway, I did the dishes and put stuff away after our meal. Over the cleanup time, I received two more messages about flooding. 

When I went upstairs and tried to ask F about his mother he was back at being upset with me. Why? He said that I told him he wasn’t welcome at dinner or something?  Huh? I said nothing of the sort but he didn’t listen to me. He did tell me that the alerts weren’t for our area, so that was good.

Things got a bit better over the evening, except F refused to take me out shopping. There is no fresh salad for me for tomorrow, nothing for dinner either. I sure hope F is planning to cook for his mother and himself. I am fairly easy to please and can have something nice, he is not easy to please at all. 

I watched Killing Eve tonight and enjoyed it, then turned off the TV and got stuck in on blogging and even writing a little bit more of my column. I need to work a bit more on the last movie I have written about, but it’ll come soon enough. 

That’s about it for me for tonight. This time of year is really hard on F’s bad back, and he is grumpy most of the time. We had a lovely 4 day weekend, I guess the price I have to pay is him grumping around for the next five days? Not sure it is worth it.

Come back later if you like and hear how Wednesday goes and if we get flooded out (Very unlikely). Until tomorrow….

July 27, 2020

Monday - Rainy, humid and cloudy

I woke up and got up when my alarm went off this morning. I went downstairs and then came back up and watched the news. I hadn’t been able to tape my usual news broadcast, so I had to fast forward to the English news.

I finally got myself moving around, I started a small load of laundry and then grabbed breakfast. After the load was done, I did another one. So exciting!

I did finally get started on my column and wrote the intro. I didn’t write anything else. Sigh. I did take a bit of a nap before lunch too. I was really tired. 

I grabbed my lunch, I had some of the guacamole from last week and it was good. During lunch, I rewatched the finale of Project Runway. I liked most of the clothes for a change!

I watched the news and then went downstairs to start dinner. F called me just as I was getting ready to go downstairs. He sounded fine. 

I got busy. I prepared the stick broccoli, I set up the veggies for my stir-fry and then when F arrived, I started cooking. I had asked him to be ready to come down and cook the rice for me. I called him. No answer. I called him again. Nothing. K even came in the kitchen and offered to carry things to the table for me. I was grateful and gave her a couple of things to take. 

I finished cooking all of my stuff and went upstairs to get F. I haven’t mentioned but yesterday when I ran to the car after dinner, I slammed my shoulder into the car frame. Ouch. It still hurts. I think it threw off my body somewhat as my hip really hurts when I go down the stairs. 

F was watching YouTube and was apologetic about not hearing me. He came down, made his rice and started to join us at the table. I remembered that he likes mayonnaise on his broccoli so I asked if he wanted some. I started to get up and it hurt, so I told him that my hip hurt. Then, he stormed out. I asked him what was up and he said he didn’t want to eat with me. I said, “Wait, I tell you that I’m in pain and that makes you leave the table?” He said, “I’m in pain all the time.” and left. 

K and I had a nice meal by ourselves. Of course, I did all the dishes afterwards. Sigh. 

I came upstairs afterwards and F was watching YouTube rather loudly. After a while, I went downstairs and took down my empty bottles. I went into the kitchen, did up the plastic garbage to go out and I emptied and cleaned the bottles that I took down. In the middle, K came out of her bedroom to use the washroom. I had left the bathroom light on so I could see where I was going after I finished in the kitchen. When I finished in the kitchen, the bathroom light was off, but the toilet light was still on. K at work again! She’d already gone back to bed.

I took a shower and for the first time in ages, I used conditioner on my hair. It feels really soft and silky right now!

I came back upstairs and wasn’t spoken to at all. It suited me just fine. 

I’ve had a quiet but nice evening ever since. I’m not sure what will happen tomorrow. I’m supposed to cook tomorrow night too, but I’m not sure that I will. Not really happy with someone right now. 

Come back later if you like and see if things improve. Until tomorrow….

July 26, 2020

Sunday - Cloudy and rainy 

I slept in this morning. F barely slept however and when I woke up around 9 this morning told me that he’d take his mother out to the onsen. I fell back asleep. I did wake up around 11, got up, dressed and waited for my hubby to come back.

After he came back, he suggested lunch. Since K was coming too, it meant that we had to be careful where to go. She mostly eats Japanese food and it also has to be a place where she doesn’t have to walk a lot to get to. F picked Arpeggio again. I like it so I didn’t mind. It does have a longish walk for her though from the parking area.

We went to the restaurant, were seated and ordered, no big deal. When the people at the next table got their food, I realized that the woman sitting next to me used to be one of my students from L’Eikaiwa days.  I waved, didn’t say anything really. She was with her family, I was with mine. 

We actually ended up leaving before her, which was a surprise.

We came back to the house where F and I took naps or tried to! He was watching too much YouTube to sleep. Around 5 he asked me if I’d like to go to Don Quihote in Mikawa. I said sure. We went out and got K a bento and some of the weekly shop too then delivered it back to the house. 

We were on the road to Mikawa and F suggested having dinner out too. I reeled off the names of places in Mikawa and F wasn’t too happy. I mentioned that we could go somewhere in Sakata since it wasn’t that much further. He liked the idea and even liked the restaurant I suggested. 

Unfortunately, when we arrived, the restaurant was closed! Oh no.  I think they were just open for lunch today.  We asked Siri for suggestions. F wanted to go to a fish place and have tuna but I pointed out that we had that last night! He wasn’t happy with me, but it was true. Then I found a place on my phone that sounded okay and asked him about it. He’d been there about 20 years ago!  We drove over to it and went in.

In the twenty years since F was last there, it had changed from a Japanese place to a western-style restaurant. Although it had tatami, it also had tables and chairs. And Koi. There was a huge goldfish pond in the middle of the restaurant. It was amazing really! It wasn’t cheap, but the prices for what we got were quite reasonable. We had the lowest priced course and had two appetizers, soup, and then the main dish. I had filet steak, F had fish and a big shrimp. That came with a very nice bun. We got dessert too, chocolate cake and some jelly and fruit. There was also a cup of coffee to round out the meal. 

It was a BIG Koi pond!

Happily for me, table and chairs!

We left the restaurant in a huge downpour and got soaked running to the car. We were in the closest to the door space, so that lets you know how bad it was!

We drove to Mikawa and went to Don Quixote finally. We had a good snoop round, didn’t buy too much until we got to the grocery department. I picked up a few things, but not a lot really. We did get drinks for the drive back.

In Tsuruoka, we went to MaxValu to pick up a few more groceries. It was annoying as the store was being cleaned so parts of the store were blocked off, and the food was hidden. There just wasn’t a lot on offer tonight. I did manage to get some salad for dinner, and an entree for tomorrow night, but F was being a bit annoying. I figured out that he was very tired, so I tried not to let it get me too much.

We came back to the house, unpacked and tried to fit things in the fridge. I’m going to have to do a lot of cooking tomorrow. 

That’s about it. F is trying to sleep, but not managing too well I think. The rain is really coming down outside…must be the rainy season!  

Tomorrow I have to start my column or I’m in danger of not getting it done. Come back later and see what happens here. Until tomorrow….

July 25, 2020

Saturday - Cloudy and rainy

We slept in this morning, well, I did anyway! F was using his computer in bed when I woke up so he’d probably been up for ages.

He fed his mother and then we had a bit of a thing about whether we would go out or not. I really didn’t care one way or the other, but I did need to eat something. Breakfast sounded good to me.

We didn’t really set a place. I did a Facebook search for a restaurant and found what looked like an updated address for an old favourite. We decided to drive and see if we could find it. F thought it was near Ginza-dori, so we drove there but didn’t find it. I wonder if it is a real thing or not. Sometimes restaurants get made up I think.  I suggested the other Indian restaurant, but on the way there, F suggested another place. We realized that neither of us meant the same place. I ended up winning this one as we went to Recolte. It’s an Italian/French restaurant. It’s a little pricy but quite nice. 

Now, I had really been needing some pasta today, so I had that. I had fresh pasta with a lemon cream sauce. It had baby clams in it too. It was so good!  F had the fish plate and his looked good too. We both got soup and salad with it and F paid extra so we could get a nicer dessert. Oh, and we each had an iced coffee.  It really was a lovely meal. It is too bad that it is a touch expensive and the parking isn’t great. 

Neither of us had any plans for after lunch, so we ended up coming back to the house. F vegged, I watched the end of Batman Begins and then The Dark Knight. Just after it finished, F started asking me about going out for dinner. We talked about places and I finally suggested going to Sashimiya and taking K with us. F liked the idea so I asked him to call and make sure that we could go. Recently when we’ve tried to go, they’ve been fully booked. He called and it was fine. They’d even save us a private room. Yay.

We went to Sashimiya and we all had the same basic thing, a tuna and chopped tuna bowl. It came with miso soup too. F ordered the omelet (I wish he wouldn’t, it isn’t that good) and an order of fried chicken. K piped up later that she’d like some boiled in foil squid, so we had that too. Everything disappeared and we all enjoyed our meal. 

On the way back to the house, F asked if I’d like to go to the beach tonight. I said sure if I could change first. So, that’s what I did. I put on pants that I could roll up the hems and wore my sandals.  The two of us drove down the coast and tried to find a parking space, but they were either blocked off or full. On the way back, he pulled into a place that is usually paid parking in summer and we parked the car.

We got out of the car and sat on the steps near the beach. There were a lot of groups on the beach and they were letting off fireworks. It was kind of cool to watch them all from a probably safe distance. We talked about walking to the shore, but I don’t know this part of the beach well, and it was very dark. Also, with all the fireworks going off, it was probably safer not to go at all!

I did ask that we go to a convenience store for a drink on the way back, which we did. We got the conbini’s own brand of frappes, chocolate mint. I really enjoyed mine, F complained about the chunks of chocolate blocking his straw!

We came back to the house where I took a shower and then watched a little bit of TV from the DVR. I recorded a couple of movies that I want to rewatch over the next few days and I need a lot of space!

So that was it. It’s so late right now and I really should be getting to bed soon. Come back later if you like and see how Sunday goes. Until tomorrow….

July 24, 2020

Friday - Cloudy and rainy

I suppose I could say that I got up this morning…I did…but I went back to bed soon afterwards. Both of us stayed up much too late and slept in a lot this morning. F did wake up earlier and cooked something for his mother, but even he came back to bed. He spent his time watching YouTube though.

We finally got up and started thinking about going out and having lunch. Unfortunately, all the good restaurants would be past their lunchtime as it was quite late. We ended up going to Gusto. We took K with us too, so it was a family outing. We did have a false start though, F got us down the road and then realized he didn’t have his phone with him. I suggested we go back for it so we could use some of the coupons on his phone! Back at the house, K tried to get out of the car, but I didn’t let her! 

Lunch was fine. F had a noodle dish, K had a pork cutlet dish and I had a mixed grill that was okay. We all shared a plate of fries and today K didn't double dip, so we were all happy!

We came back to the house. F and I headed upstairs and I watched a bit of Batman & Robin. After it was over, I took a nap.  I woke up a couple of hours later which really surprised me.

F and I went out for a late dinner. We went to Starbucks first and had their new peach Frappuccino. As always, it was hard to get F away from the free wifi!

We tried to go to a chicken restaurant for dinner, but they were closing when we walked in. Sigh. I was a bit sad as I’ve wanted to go back there for ages. 

F suggested going for Korean Food near his house and that’s what we ended up doing. I wasn’t into it at first but realized that I liked the place and the food. We were the only customers and surprisingly, the owner/cook didn’t wear a mask!  We had some really nice food. We shared all of it. We had seafood chichimi, gyoza, chap chae and some kind of Korean sushi. It was okay. I liked the chap chae and the chichimi best. 

After that, we came back to the house. We’ve had a quiet evening. I watched Batman with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson and remembered how much I loved that film when it came out. 

Since the movie finished I’ve just been catching up on the ‘net and writing my blog. I really should try and get to bed soon since I have gone to bed much too late for the last few nights. It means my next day is really short or our options aren’t great.

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

July 23, 2020

Thursday - Cloudy with a spot of rain

I got up early today, and so did F. He went out to get his friends a souvenir, I got dressed. We left fairly early and made it to the Kamo Aquarium before 10:30. It was already packed! They were giving out tickets for entrance times. What with social distancing and the holiday they were trying to be responsible. Unfortunately, the time they were giving us to enter was for 12:00. Yikes!

F met up with his friends and we decided to go for coffee or something. F first wanted to go into Tsuruoka to a restaurant that I like and have lunch there. It would be an okay idea, but only if the place opened at 11:00. I didn’t think we could make it back by 12:00, but F thought we could. He checked and it didn’t open until 11:30 so we couldn’t go there. We were going to go to a bakery with a coffee area, but I remembered that there was a place closer that had a coffee area and sold gelato. We went there!

We had some nice drinks at the place, a Farmer’s Marche. They are owned by the same company that runs a coffee place I like in Tsuruoka. There was one staff member, but she was alone and I’m afraid we must have confused her as she got our drink order wrong. I didn’t want coffee, I asked for iced tea and I think that might have been the problem. We had some gelato and it was lovely. I had coffee and vanilla since the other two flavours were tomato and strawberry. The other ladies seemed to like them too.

We headed back to the aquarium where it was still really busy. We got into the proper line and went through the aquarium. It was crowded inside, but people were trying to social distance and everyone was masked up so it didn’t seem too bad. We had a good time and I think F’s friends enjoyed themselves. These friends were co-workers with F when he was young in another prefecture. They brought their daughter with them.  

Obligatory Jellyfish Shot

Jellyfish. There's more on my Insta too!

I went to the washroom and when I came out, F told me that they had to leave soon. Oh no! We had planned to go to lunch with them, but they didn’t have time. They had reservations at an onsen in the next prefecture so there was no time to lose.  

We said our goodbyes and went back into Tsuruoka. F and I decided to go to Hyakkenbori, the place we originally wanted to take our visitors. We went and had a very nice meal. F had tempura shrimp and I had a very nice pork stew. We were a bit late for the drink bar, so we just had one drink each. 

After our lovely meal, we just went back to the house! We didn’t have any other ideas. It was fine though. I was tired, so was F.

We had some relaxing time, drank some coffee and even took a bit of a nap. Neither of us was particularly hungry, so didn’t want to eat for a bit. 

After I bit I suggested to F that I could fairly easily make quesadillas for dinner if he wanted. We still had some leftover taco meat and cheese, and I could open a can or two of tuna and make two kinds. We had some Costco avocados and I thought at least one was ripe, for some guacamole. He liked the idea and so I changed into some kitchen-y clothes and got busy. 

I cleaned and cut up some cucumber for some cucumber and miso (the miso was a gift from our visitors), then cut up a couple of avocados for guacamole. One avocado was perfect, the other was half perfect!  F came into the kitchen to help, so I put him on mashing the avocados and spices together. I got on with the quesadillas. I warmed the ingredients and then went into production. F was a big help tonight, he cut up the quesadilla for me and plated them too. I put out some salsa in bowls, we had that, plus the quesadillas plus some tortilla chips and cucumber!  

It wasn’t perfect, but it was rather nice to eat at the house, have some help and not stress too much. The food was decent and we’d already paid for it! I had even made a dessert quesadilla filled with chocolate hazelnut spread. It was a bit messy but nice. 

F helped with the dishes (hurray!) and when we were done, we headed upstairs. I had asked F to take me out for a bit but ended up taking a nap. He asked me around 10 if I still wanted to go out, but I didn’t. I woke up again at 11 surprised that I had slept so long. 

I got up, started blogging and all the other nightly stuff I do, and now we are all up to date. I tried to watch a movie, I’m Still Here with Joaquin Phoenix, but I turned it off after 10 minutes. 

So that was my day. It was really nice. It was great to see F meeting up with friends. It is usually my friends that want to meet up, so I was happy that F got to have a day, or part of a day, with his old friends. Yay!

Come back later if you like and hear all about my Friday. What will we do?  I have no idea at the moment.  Until tomorrow then….

July 22, 2020

Wednesday - Hot, humid, but a tad cooler than yesterday

F was noisy again this morning, but I didn’t wake up all the way. I woke up with my alarm and was a tad surprised that it was time again. 

I had a long and relaxing morning and then started to do some laundry. I did three loads, but it was great to get it done. 

I got a message from F during the day. He had ordered dinner to be delivered to us tonight. Yay!

I had a nice lunch today. I had a tortilla and wrapped some chicken that I had bought at the convenience store last night. I had a salad and some toast with Costco own brand chocolate/hazelnut spread on it. Yum! I had a muffin too.

I was watching last night’s Killing Eve when I thought I heard something. I listened but didn’t hear it again. Then, something again. I thought maybe K needed me, but I wasn’t sure. I looked out the window and saw a white car parked out on the road. Hmm.  I ran downstairs, just in time to see F’s aunt try to climb in through the big window. Actually, to be fair, I don’t think she was actually trying to climb in, she was calling for K.  I told her I thought K was sleeping, just as K appeared.  I left the two of them alone to have their chat. 

I came downstairs around 5:30 to wash my dishes and got a call from F. He said that he was only now on his way back to the house and if he wasn’t back before the delivery guy arrived, would I pay him?

I said I would. I had the feeling this might happen so was prepared for it!

I did tell K that we were going to have bentos tonight, so when she saw the car stop outside, she let me know.  I paid, he left the stuff. It looked amazing.

I put everything on the table and got the water on to make up the soup. F came in just about 3 minutes later and he was happy to see the stuff was here.  He also paid me back, which I was much happier about!

We had a lovely meal. Tonight we had grilled unagi on rice with chawanmushi and clear soup. (Unagi is eel if you didn’t know…it is thought to help us survive the long hot summer.) When we finished that, we all had a Bocca pudding from Costco. It was a white pudding and came with a caramel sauce. It was the first time we’ve had those and they come in what looks like a balloon. We have to pop the balloon and then pour on the sauce They were very nice!

F and I did the dishes tonight. There weren’t that many that needed washing, so it didn’t take long. Oh, wait…while I was clearing the table tonight, I noticed that F’s phone was ringing. It turns out that a good friend of his from a long time ago will be in our city tomorrow to see the aquarium. I think we’re going to meet up. 

We came upstairs and had a quiet evening. Both of us took showers, and I watched the finale of Project Runway and also Grey’s Anatomy. I enjoyed both. 

So that is about it. Tomorrow I may be out for a while in the morning, not sure how long his friend and wife will stay around Tsuruoka. I think they are going to an onsen in the next prefecture tomorrow. 

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

July 21, 2020

Tuesday - Hot and muggy

I heard F get up this morning and I think I rolled over in a huff when he turned on the light but was back asleep before I knew I was awake.

I got up with my alarm, had a quick trip downstairs, watched the news and caught up with the internet on my phone. I didn’t want to get busy with anything today, so I put off doing laundry again. Sigh. I must do it tomorrow. F called to say that he was thinking of getting in bentos for dinner tonight. I asked him not to as I was planning to make dinner tonight and I’d already bought the ingredients! I suggested doing it tomorrow night instead and luckily he agreed.

I had a quiet morning, quiet but nice. I had my breakfast and then I started a movie but stopped it. I took a little nap and then just as I was getting up from it to grab lunch, F called to say he was finished work for the day and was coming back. What!  Does this man never work? He had a headache, so I imagine it wasn’t fun to be at work when not feeling good, but still.

He came back while I was still eating lunch. I half expected him to offer to take me out somewhere but he didn’t. He said he’d get a massage but didn’t. He ended up just sitting on his bed watching YouTube while I watched the rest of Three Days of the Condor. Robert Redford was quite yummy in those days.

I watched the news at 4 pm and then went downstairs around 5:30 to start dinner. I was making tacos tonight. I had sort of a plan…I was making them but would give K taco rice since I wasn’t sure she’d handle tortillas. Everything went according to plan. I even started some of my yummy new tea, one called Mojito. I think it is a green tea/mint tea blend. Anyway, I liked it a lot. I yelled for F to come and make his mother’s rice, but he didn’t hear, so I went up to get him and the tortilla chips. 

We had a nice meal tonight. The taco rice went over well, it was much nicer I think than the Costco retort packs I usually use. F and I had a couple of tortillas each. I told him in the kitchen that if he didn’t want to put a lot (or any) meat on them it would be fine.  We had some tortilla chips on the side with some of the salsa…everyone seemed happy.

I however was less than happy when I headed for the kitchen and F announced that he was taking his mother to the onsen just then. What? I grumbled about doing the dishes again. To do him credit, he did start to wash them but did his usual throw all the dishes in the basin at once thing and I told him to get ready to go! I took his stuff out and did it properly!

By the time I finished, I had listened to quite a few podcasts bits and was soaked. I wasn’t just wet from the dishes, but from sweat. It was rather disgusting actually! I went upstairs and changed my clothes…hung the old ones up to dry.

When F came back to the house, I kind of twisted his arm to take me out. I needed to get out darn it! We went over to Gusto and both of us had kaki-gori and the drink bar. It was nice. We both vegged out on our phones a bit, but I didn’t mind too much tonight.

We drove back to the house via a convenience store to get something for me…a bottle of sports drink. All the sweating today made me worry about tomorrow. I do get a little run down, so I’ll have a touch of the drink tomorrow.

I took a shower when we got in and then came upstairs to blog and hopefully get to bed before 3 am. Not sure if I’ll make it.

I did just read about a horrible bus accident at the Columbia Icefields. It was one of the buses that tourists take out onto the glacier. F and I went on one of the buses on our honeymoon, so it was sad to read about it.

And that was my day. I’m not sure what I’m doing tomorrow. I hope I’m not cooking dinner as we didn’t buy anything! I could whip up something from the cupboard maybe, but I know that F wouldn’t like it much!! Bah ha ha!

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

July 20, 2020

Monday - Hot and Sunny

I took a quick moment to check out Facebook before I started blogging and I discovered that a good friend of mine from University lost her mother today. Her mother was always very kind to me, and as I had lost my mother during University and then my father soon afterwards, I needed all the kindness I could get back then. She was a lovely lady and I was lucky to have met her. I will miss her.

I got up this morning, did my usual stuff. I even took a nap for a few minutes but F kept texting me about holidays and then called a bit later to say he was coming by the house. Yikes. I got dressed quickly, made the bed and had everything done for his arrival. He stayed for quite a while. 

I had a fairly quiet daytime. I watched a couple of things off the DVR, then had my lunch. I had forgotten to buy any meat for my lunch yesterday, so I had cheese and cream cheese on open sandwiches! Luckily I did have a salad. I also had one of the big Costco muffins which I shared with F. 

Around 5:30 I went downstairs to start dinner and do my dishes. F called me around then to say he was finished work and was coming back to the house. I told him I hadn’t started yet, but things wouldn’t take too long. I was mostly right!

Tonight I made tandori chicken from a spice packet from Costco, plus steamed carrots from (you guessed it) Costco, and Mediterranean Couscous from…you know…Costco. The salad we had was from the grocery store here, as was the rice that F and K had. When I got dinner on the table it was quite well appreciated!  The chicken was really spicy and yummy, the couscous was a little dry. I think I needed to use a smaller pan which I don’t have. Next time I’ll do it in a bowl with boiling water I think. The steamed carrots were a hit. I found the recipe on the net…yeah, I’ve never cooked carrots that way before. Yum. 

I got lucky enough to be selected to do the dishes and all the clean up after dinner too. I was overjoyed with …no I wasn’t! I had done some before dinner so it wasn’t quite as bad as it could’ve been. 

F and I had talked about going to see the fireflies tonight which is why I was so surprised that he didn’t show up to help. He of course wasn’t feeling well and decided to stay in. I was hoping for a drink or something after the fireflies but it wasn’t to be. He didn’t want to watch a movie either, so I watched the weekend’s Downton Abbey and loved it. It was so good!

I also “treated” myself to Fifty Shades Freed which came on cable tonight. The actors tried hard, but it was so bad. Defo not one of my favourites this year.

And that was about it. I was catching up with my friends and ….oh, wait. During Downton, I unpicked the mask again and sewed it back properly! I even basted it first and then turned it out first to make sure that I was doing it correctly. Why the heck didn’t I do that the first time? So…I’m nearly done it. I should press it as I haven’t done that yet, then I have to stitch all around the mask and put the elastic in the sides. Woot!  I do worry that F will wear it once and lose it…he is a losing-things kind-of-person. But best not to think like that!

And that’s about it for this evening. I read my friend’s post about her mother and I shed a few tears. She really was a warm, sweet person and when my world was falling apart, was lovely to me. 

Until tomorrow….

July 19, 2020

Sunday - Hot and Sunny, muggy

I slept in rather late this morning as it was almost daylight when I went to bed. F was up before me, he made breakfast for his mother, then came back to bed. I finally woke up around 11. When I was awake, F decided to take his mother to the onsen. That was fine with me. I took a shower while they were gone and then I did a personal thing that I’d been putting off when K was in the house.

After I finished, I came back upstairs and vegged out at my computer. They came back after a while and then F and I went out for our lunch. Now, F had already eaten a little with his mother, so I’m not sure why he wanted to eat again, but…. We went to Arpeggio again, just read through my blog and it was a couple of years ago that we went for the first time! F had fish and I had a bacon and egg donburi. It was quite nice. 

We went off to Komeda Coffee afterwards and had their cake set. I had the Lemon one which was nice and light.  We spent a bit of time there, but F wasn’t feeling well, so we came back to the house. At the house, I relaxed for a while and then around 6 went and had a nap on the bed. It was getting dark when I woke up, and I suggested to F that we think about dinner. He didn’t want to, but I think we all needed to eat something!

We decided to get in bentos from one of the chain places. It is near the gas station—F needed gas for the car. It is also near the Gyomu Supa, the supermarket that sells a lot of foreign foods that I wanted to visit. I figured we could do everything in one fell swoop, and since it is halfway across the city, we could do lots of things in one area and make our trip worth it. Right?

F filled up the car with gas, I walked to Gyomu Supa and started shopping. F was supposed to come and get me if he had time or go directly to the bento place if he didn’t. He didn’t. He came to see me in the store and then I said to him to go and pick up the bentos and then get me afterwards! Oh, and please bring a shopping bag! 

He came back but didn’t bring the bag. Luckily, I have my bag all the time, but still. He didn’t believe me when I told him I asked him twice to bring a bag. Once was at the gas station. I got some frozen tortillas, coffee creamer, giant corn and some frozen stuff that makes quick meals for K and me if he’s late or doesn’t want to eat. 

We drove back to the house and had our bentos. We also had a bit of a clean out the fridge night as there were a few foods in there that needed eating up. 

F and I did the dishes and then we headed out to the grocery store to get things for the next couple of days. I’m going to have a culinary adventure over the next couple of nights! Tomorrow is Tandori Chicken (done in the toaster oven) and Tuesday will be tacos!  I hope K is okay with that!

We got to the checkout at the store and F got this pained expression on his face. He’d forgotten his wallet. Sigh. I ended up paying.  Usually, I don’t have much money on me, but I had some from the trip!  I also got the points on the grocery card. He always hogs them…it is annoying!

We came back to the house, put away the groceries and then came upstairs. F paid me back, with a bit of interest, so woot! F went to bed fairly soon as he was tired, I’m still up but will likely go to bed soon. It has been such a hot day. We had the air conditioner on today, both up here and downstairs for dinner. F is trying to make his mother use it in the summer…she doesn’t like to spend money so sits and suffers. I have the philosophy that if it goes above 30 degrees in the room I’m in, it’s going on!

Tomorrow I have to start my column and do some cooking and maybe even have some of my lovely new tea! Come back later if you like and hear all about my day.

Until tomorrow….

July 18, 2020

Saturday - Hot, Muggy, Humid then Thunderstorms and Rain

Today was a good day. I overslept a bit, but so did F, so it didn’t matter much. We had planned to be on the road to Yamagata by 12…it somehow segued into 1:30 or so. Still, we got on the road and had a good trip. I did snooze a little on the way, but F didn’t seem to mind. The music was good too!

We stopped at Sagae for a quick washroom break/bite and then drove into Yamagata City. I’d asked if we could go to my tea shop, so F obligingly took me there. I bought a lot! I do drink a lot of tea so I don’t mind too much. I got one replacement tea as I’d nearly finished the last packet, the rest were interesting. Some are for summer to make iced tea, some are just for me!

We headed out to Costco and did a lot of shopping there. We managed fairly well and didn’t fight today, which is supremely excellent! We packed all the groceries at the side of the car, so just threw them all in the buggy again as they came down from the register. We got some snacks, some couscous, some sausages that we can’t get around here, some avocados, some hazelnut spread…all kinds of stuff. And muffins!

We had a quick dinner at the food court after everything was safely in the car. I had a cheeseburger that was okay but not great, F had his usual hot dog. I had a drink too, and we both had ice cream. Yum.

We went over to the mall next back in Yamagata City. F got himself a couple of t-shirts and I got a couple of pairs of socks. We also went to the import food store where I got more of the rooibos tea that I love and a few things for the kitchen that are hard to get in Tsuruoka. We didn’t spend a lot there today.

We drove back to Tsuruoka but did stop for a proper dinner on the way. We went to a Tonkatsu place. I had a tonkatsu/chicken cutlet meal, F had tonkatsu. He also ordered some pork takoyaki!  I knew I was in trouble when I couldn’t have my last takoyaki…I ended up leaving a piece of chicken uneaten. F grabbed it though!  It was nice but I was uncomfortably full. Still am actually.

The rain came when we were in the restaurant and just getting out to the car made us soaked. F was nice and drove close to the restaurant for me, but I was very wet, I imagine he had it worse than I did.

The rain was quite bad so F drove on the highway for part of the way back. He didn’t plan to, but the non-highway roads were very dark and sometimes drivers aren’t very careful and there are pedestrians to worry about too. The highway was good I think.

So that was it. It was a really nice day out together. I hope that tomorrow will be good too. 

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

July17, 2020

Friday - Sunny and warmer

I woke up with my alarm and as usual, was surprised that it was already morning! I got up, went downstairs, watched the news and then turned off the TV. 

I got dressed and went downstairs. I did a load of laundry and while it was in the machine, I made the bed. I made the bed with our new mattress cover and sheet. I had to turn the mattress around first, so it was a little difficult by myself, but I managed. I got everything put back on the bed and it looked very nice. We got a nice navy sheet, it’s a different look for our bed. 

I did a couple of loads of laundry today, hung them up and I also sewed up a pocket on F’s shirt. He’s had a ripped breast pocket for a while and I told him if he washed it first and then gave it to me I’d mend it. I’m not sure if it was clean, but it wasn’t terribly dirty, so I sewed it anyway. I hope it was okay for him. I rewatched Fleabag today. I got the first five episodes done before 4 pm, saved the other one for later.

I went downstairs to wash my dishes after the news finished, then came back upstairs. F was quite a bit late tonight. He called around 6:30, got here around 7:00pm or so. He wanted to just go to bed, but I reminded him that we should go out tonight. I gave him a couple of options for places and he chose Kintaro Sushi. 

I told K we were going out, reminded both my peeps that they needed to wear masks and a few minutes later we left. I was worried that it would be too late and we’d have to rush, but it wasn’t bad. We only had to wait 10 minutes I think.

We had some nice sushi. Some of the stuff we wanted was sold out, but I think we all got something we liked, so it wasn’t a big deal. 

We came back to the house and F went to bed. I think he watched a video I had told him about and then maybe some other stuff. I watched some TV. I watched the last bit of Fleabag, then this week’s Killing Eve again.  After that I put on The House with a Clock in Its Walls. It was a movie I’d taped earlier in the week with Cate Blanchett and Jack Black. I didn’t mind it at all. I usually hate Jack Black, but he was okay in this. Cate was wonderful as always.

And that’s about it. I think I’m caught up. 

On the morrow, I think that F and I will be going to Yamagata city to visit Costco.  I’ve been making a list up of stuff to get. I hope it isn’t too busy. And that we don’t fight again. I get so tired of that! We always seem to fight going through the checkout because he stands there and doesn’t help me pack the groceries and then gets mad at me when I try to pack them. I can’t win. 

Wish me luck with it if we go! Hopefully, I’ll be back and have lots of stuff to say tomorrow night. Until tomorrow….

July 16, 2020

Thursday - Cool and a bit drizzly…I didn’t go out.

I woke up with my alarm this morning and after I came back upstairs, I watched the news as usual. After that, I started a movie I’d taped overnight, Snow White and the Huntsman. I had seen it before and it wasn’t good, it still isn’t. I got dressed a bit early so was able to go downstairs to grab breakfast a little early. 

I ate breakfast and stopped the movie to try and watch another movie that was on TV. It was also not good. I ended up watching from the bed, then fell asleep for a while. I’d set my alarm but slept through the rest of the movie. The kicker? The film was called The Curse of Sleeping Beauty! Maybe the curse was it was so boring that the audience falls asleep?  This audience member did!

I had a quiet day up here. I didn’t do laundry, I should have but didn’t. I went downstairs to prepare my lunch and got a call from F. He said he was bringing a co-worker by and would I please prepare some coffee and snacks for them? In 19 years of marriage, this has never happened before!  I did make the coffee, but there weren’t any snacks. I finished making my lunch and went upstairs to eat it, leaving F with his co-worker and mother!

I went downstairs after 5 pm to start working on dinner. I made more kabocha salad, defrosted the shrimp, plated some beets, basically did a whole lot of work in the kitchen. When F came in we said hello, he went upstairs to change I thought but didn’t come back down again. I was still busy and was putting things on the table and just generally wondering when he was going to come and help. He didn’t. 

I finally called him to come down and told him if he wanted rice he’d have to make it. I didn’t see the need in all honestly. There was a lot of food and rice is something I can definitely leave behind me.

I had the plates stacked on the table and when F came in he made his rice, then put the other plates out on the table. He put one of them into a glob of mayo that I hadn’t had time to clear off the table and I was a tad annoyed at him. I cleaned the plate and he stormed off. He said he couldn’t eat. Once again I had to eat alone with his mother. And do all the cleanup. Oh, what fun. There wasn’t too much cleanup tonight luckily so it didn’t take all that long. Not long enough really. 

When I went upstairs I asked F if we could go out to get groceries. He said yes. I got into some clothes for going out. Then he said he couldn’t go out. Eye roll. I told him it was fine (it isn’t) and that I wouldn’t be able to cook dinner tomorrow night. I have no salad, no main dish, so get stuffed dude.

We had a fairly quiet night. He tried to sleep, but got up and ate a bunch of the food I cooked around 10 pm. I watched Saturday’s Downton Abbey (Carson's wedding) and then took a shower. We’ve been fairly friendly, but I’m getting tired of being a (figurative) prisoner at this house. 

Not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be a little warmer and a little better, so I might go out for lunch or to pick something up for dinner. If I’m feeling generous. Not sure I will be.

Come back later if you want and see what happens. Until tomorrow….