June 30, 2023

Friday - Hot and muggy

I had a quiet morning and afternoon today. I got up on time to watch the news, watched it, and then I took a nap afterwards. Yay me!

I got up, took a load of laundry downstairs, grabbed my breakfast and then came upstairs to eat. I had a quiet afternoon, I watched the news and spent a bit of time texting F. I think he was bored! He must be feeling better as he asked me to bring him some more stuff. I can deliver stuff to the hospital during the week, I just can’t see him. Sigh. 

I had lunch and relaxed a bit. It was so hot this afternoon that I did turn on the AC for a while. It wasn’t the heat so much today, but the humidity was really high. Argh.

I got half dressed around 5 pm and around 5:30 I went downstairs to make K’s dinner. I decided to take the easy way out tonight and I did another microwave-in-the-bag thing for her. I did set her up with salad and the leftover cucumber pickle from yesterday. I told her that I was going out tonight with my friend and would be back around 9:00 or 9:30. Well, I tried to tell her, but who knows if she understood anything I say. I know she doesn’t hear much, but my Japanese isn’t very good anyway!

She seemed fine with her dinner and after I made it and gave it to her, I went upstairs to finish getting dressed. I came downstairs again and waited for my friend. K did invite me to sit in the living room, but I didn’t want to. I just wanted to be able to go.

My friend arrived and I went out to meet her. We drove over to Shimamura, a cheaper clothing store and went in. I had to buy something for F! I managed to find what he wanted and I picked up quite a few packages for him. My friend and I took a quick look at the other things in the store, but we didn’t buy anything else.

We went over to Cocos and went in. We were lucky enough to get seated right away and had a good meal. I had the chicken Jambalaya which was quite tasty. We shared an order of fries and both had drink bar. That was nice!

When we finished in the restaurant, we went over to the grocery store across the road and both of us got a few groceries. I picked up a few things for dinner over the next few nights as well as some stuff for K’s lunches and breakfasts, particularly for days when I’m too busy to make her proper meals.

My friend dropped me off at the house after our shopping and then went on her way. She let me know a bit later that she made it home safely.

I relaxed for a bit and then took a shower. When I finished, I came back upstairs. I planned to watch something short off the Fire Stick, but ended up watching a movie! It was an oldie, one of the ones with a huge cast and interlocking characters. It was called Valentine’s Day. I didn’t mind it, but wouldn’t say it was the greatest film ever or anything.

And that’s about it. It’s been a better day and spending time with my friend has really given me a nice lift. 

I’m not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow, so you’ll just have to come back later and find out. Enjoy your Canada Day if you celebrate it. If you don’t, why not?!

Until tomorrow….

June 29, 2023

Thursday - Hot and Sunny, muggy

I had a pretty usual morning today. I got up, watched the news and then took a bit of a nap. Around noon though, I did something different. I went downstairs and made K an actual lunch. Now, depending on your definition of “made” I may not have made it! I heated up a boil-in-the-bag meal and added it to some rice and gave it all to K for her lunch. I woke her up, gave her some tea to drink and left her to it. She seemed to be quite happy with it though.

I went back upstairs and got ready to go out. I didn’t feel like eating, I kind of planned to go out after seeing F in the hospital and have lunch. I had breakfast so I was fine.

Just before I got ready to leave for the bus, I remembered that Canada Day is coming up…it is also the birthday of a friend of mine, so I had to hurry up and find a card for her and write it and then stamp it! I managed.  

I had to hurry to the bus stop a little too much, but I made it. The good thing is that I wasn’t waiting too long out in the hot sun. 

I had a good ride to the hospital. I was surprised that quite a few people rode the bus today and I even had someone sit beside me!

At the hospital, I was a few minutes early, so I went to the washroom, combed my hair and then went upstairs. I went to the patient lounge and a few minutes later F came in to see me. He gave me his laundry to bring to the house to wash, and I gave him some mail that he had received. We had a nice chat. He looks good. He’s in a bit of pain still, and his leg is swollen, but I think he’s doing okay. My 15 minutes was up, so I got him to come with me to the nurses' station to book for tomorrow’s visit…only to be told that I am only allowed to visit him once a week. What?!!! Neither of us knew that.  I understand in a way, Covid is still a threat, but honestly, it seems a bit draconian. I can go in and drop things off for him apparently, but we can’t see each other. Sigh. 

F had given me a shopping list of things that he’d like me to get for him, so when I went downstairs, I decided what to do. I thought I might try the drugstore near Starbucks, so I walked there. It was so hot. I had a floppy hat on and tried to use my parasol, but the sidewalks were so hot that my feet were burning from the heat. Ack.

The first drugstore didn’t have anything, so I decided to continue to the mall. I had a look around the mall, but unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything that might do for him. I went to Doutor and had a small drink, and then I caught a bus back to the house a little after 4 pm. 

I hadn’t eaten so was a bit hungry, although the heat does take away a bit of my appetite. I made myself a sandwich and that was nice. I took my usual cheese melty open face and combined it with a toasted chicken on bread and squished them together. I brought the sandwich upstairs and ate it. It was nice.

Around 6 I dragged myself downstairs and started making dinner. After a couple of minutes, I went into the living room and turned on the AC down there. K doesn’t like to use it, but it was hot and stuffy and I was hot in the kitchen. 

I got dinner on the table around 7 pm but was a sweaty mess. I did toaster oven chicken again tonight, plus a pasta side dish, salad and then some beets and a cucumber dish. There were two huge cucumbers in it today and K nearly demolished them all! It’s healthy so I don’t mind, but she does eat a lot sometimes. 

I did the dishes and got the heck out of Dodge afterwards. I came upstairs, turned on the AC and basically vegged on the bed for an hour or so. I dragged myself up finally and watched a little bit of stuff off the Fire Stick. I was a tad late for The Rookie, but since it was recording it was okay. 

I turned off the TV at midnight and started blogging. It’s been a long day. Tomorrow I hope to take the daytime a bit easier than today. I’ve got plans to go out with a friend tomorrow night, I’m looking forward to it if she’s still available. I’ll have to make dinner for K early. I’ll have to start early I think. 

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

 

June 28, 2023

 Wednesday - Hot, humid and then rainy

I got up this morning a little late. I woke up, but it took me a few minutes to get moving. I did get up, watched the news, got a bit dressed and then took a little bit of a nap. 

I got up early for me and did the stuff I usually do on a Wednesday morning. I got dressed and went downstairs. I said goodbye to K and then left. I didn’t have to wait too long at the bus stop for a change. I’m happy about that. I took the bus all the way to S-Mall. It stopped at the hospital and I thought about F upstairs. 

I went to the hundred yen shop and had a look, and I looked around the mall a little. I decided to go to the Daiichi Hotel for lunch. I think it was a good idea. I had their special meat lunch today, it was a slice of roast pork and came with salad, bread, dessert and a drink. It was very nice. I paid and left. 

I walked over to the nearby grocery store and did a bit of shopping. I used a shopping basket so that I wouldn’t buy too much. I decided to get bentos for tonight’s dinner as today was so hot that I didn’t want to do much cooking. I picked up some salads and some yogurt for me, as well as some things to make dinners with.

I walked back to the mall and went to the bus station. I had to wait about 15 minutes for the bus, but I was inside, in a lightly air-conditioned place and out of the sun, so I was okay. The bus trip back was on the longer leg of the loop too, but it was fine. It was rather interesting seeing all the different streets in my area. F doesn’t often go down the roads that the bus does.

When I got off the bus it was just starting to rain so I walked fairly quickly to the house. I came in and unpacked my groceries. I put some of them away and put some in the kitchen. I took a few things upstairs. 

For a couple of hours, I turned on the AC in my bedroom. It was so hot up here, it was over 31 degrees and so humid that I feel justified doing it! I sipped some of my sports drink and tried to cool down a bit. 

I went downstairs around 5:30 to get dinner started. I decided to go a bit earlier today. I made a cucumber pickle thing that I know K likes. I bought cucumbers today! I also put out the beets and some mugi-cha.  I heated up the bentos and we had our little feast. I had bought katsu-don for us both and it was really nice. I was surprised! The pickles were good and I think we both enjoyed our meal. When we finished I gave K one of the new freezie things that I bought at Costco. I had put a bunch in the freezer yesterday. They were great! They had real juice in them, mine was sour cherry and I liked it a lot. 

I did the dishes and then did up the garbage. I brought down the garbage from upstairs and took it all out. Yes, technically it is too early to do it, but I know that I likely won’t be up and dressed to take out in the morning. It was pouring when I went to the gomi station, luckily I took my umbrella! I still got quite wet.

When I came back in I said goodnight to K and went upstairs. I relaxed for a while with the AC on again. I got a phone call from a handsome guy and it was so lovely to hear his voice. We talked on Monday, but he was groggy and feeling bad, so it was much better to hear from him tonight. He couldn’t talk for long, so we rang off. I reminded him that I would see him tomorrow too. 

I’m afraid I ended up taking a bit of a nap for a while. I could not drag myself off the bed. After a bit, I got up and watched a bit of a new Apple TV+ series, High Desert with Patricia Arquette. I didn’t like it very much. It might be just a rough first episode, but it was a lot about drugs and odd people, so I’m not sure if I’ll watch it again.

I took a shower downstairs. I just had a quick one tonight. It felt good to get clean after all the sweating I did today. 

I came back upstairs and watched Grey’s Anatomy. It was a Halloween episode and had its moments. I’m afraid it wasn’t as good as last week’s, but next week looks like it will be rather good, with a bunch of former doctors on. Woot.

I turned off the TV after midnight and began my nightly evening stuff. I watched a bit of YouTube and now I’m almost done. I did get to bed a little early last night, it might be a good thing to get there early tonight too!

Well, that’s it for me for tonight. Tomorrow I have to try and make lunch for K. There weren’t any leftovers from today’s dinner so I’ll have to feed her before I leave. I should make my own lunch too, but I have to leave before I usually eat lunch. 

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

June 27, 2023

Tuesday - Hot, humid and finally rainy

I went to bed a little late last night so it was hard to drag myself out of bed this morning, but I did it! I watched the news and got mostly dressed. I actually fell asleep accidentally while I was watching the other language news and woke up quite late. I did go back for a bit of a snooze.

I’m afraid that I didn’t go out to check my bike today. I found it hard to get motivated at all. I had forgotten that I had arranged with a friend to video chat today, so when she texted to ask for a later time I was surprised! It was fine!

When we were able to connect we had a great chat. In fact, it was so long that I had to go and get my computer cord and plug in my computer as my battery was getting low! We talked about a lot of things. She’s trying to get me to arrange a trip back home for myself…I want to do that, but am not sure when the best time is!

I went downstairs around 6 pm to start dinner. I washed my dishes and then got a start on the meal. Today I did a potato/wiener roast in my air fryer. It turned out very well. I served it with some macaroni salad and some cold beets. We both enjoyed our meal I think. K seemed to really like it and said it was delicious a couple of times. Woot.

I let her know that I was planning to go out tomorrow afternoon. I want to go to the grocery store and pick up a few things like salads. I’m also thinking of getting bentos or something for our dinner tomorrow. I can cook, but it would be nice to not have to worry about being in a hot kitchen again. We’ll see. 

I did the dishes which didn’t take too long, but I was a sweaty mess when I finished. Hot water, hot room and high humidity make it difficult to stay dry in summer. 

K came and said good night to me around the same time I finished so we Oyasumi’ed each other and then I went upstairs. Upstairs, I did something a little unusual for me. I didn’t go to my computer. I watched some Apple TV+ instead. I tried the new Tom Holland show, The Crowded Room which I enjoyed and will probably watch more. Then, I put on an episode of Ted Lasso. Yay me. It was good, if a bit sad in spots. 

At 11 I watched Resident Alien and loved it as usual. There were lots of odd things happening in tonight’s episode. I even watched the first episode of The Handmaid’s Tale tonight. They run two episodes on Tuesday Night. I watched one but didn’t want to watch anymore, or I’d never get to bed!

After dinner, I texted F as I hadn’t heard from him. He did text me back but complained about pain a bit. I was sorry to hear about it. The medical establishment in Japan tends to believe in “gamaning” or enduring things like pain. Sigh. Even if they give F painkillers, he has such a high tolerance for them that they might not work anyway. 

Well, I had better be off. Tomorrow I have to get myself on the road around noon so that I can do a little shopping. I’m debating what to shop for. I mostly need fresh food, but also a few other things would be nice. I need side dishes if I’m honest. Well, main dishes too!

Anyway, that’s it for me. Come back later if you like and find out how my Wednesday goes. Until tomorrow….

June 26, 2023

Monday - Hot and Sunny, muggy

I woke up this morning when my alarm went off. I couldn’t believe it was morning already! I got up, watched the news and got dressed. Around 8:30 or so I got a call from F. He was about to go into surgery, but he wanted to hear my voice. I was thrilled to hear from him.

I knew that F would be in surgery from 9:00 for a couple of hours at least, so I took a snooze. I was tired! I got up later, grabbed breakfast and was a bit bemused to see that K had grabbed a whole muffin for herself. She’d left the food I’d put out for her breakfast in lieu of a muffin. These are huge Costco muffins! Oh well, good for her. I had thought she might just like half of one, so I’d cut it in half yesterday, but….

I did a couple of loads of laundry today. I did a load of towels which was huge and a load of shirts. I needed to have some clean tops to wear! On one of my trips downstairs I got a call from F’s surgeon. He sounded nervous to speak to me in English, but he did…good for him. He told me that F’s operation went well and he was resting and recovering. He would have rehabilitation start in a couple of days. I was so glad to hear from him.

I grabbed lunch later on and when I saw K I told her about F’s operation. I did a Google translation and I think she understood. She looked happy anyway. 

After lunch, I worked on a little project. Last night, I had opened up the side seams on a pair of culottes waistband. I pulled the elastic out, cutting it where necessary. The circle of elastic was so small…no wonder the culottes were so uncomfortable on me. I measured some new elastic and threaded it through the waistband. I sewed the ends together and then I sewed up the seams again. I put them on for a few minutes and they are so much more comfortable. I’m not sure if I’ll wear them out of the house, or if I’ll keep them for just at the house, but it is nice to have another option for summer.

I went downstairs around 5:45 and was surprised that F’s sister was over visiting. I’m not sure what she was doing. It was hot downstairs, so I closed up the windows and turned on the AC. I had used it a bit upstairs this afternoon as it reached 30 degrees in the room. I was just about to start washing my dishes when my phone rang. F was calling. I spoke to him for a few minutes. He was a bit sick from the anesthetic, but seemed okay. I asked him if he’d like to talk to his sister and he said yes.  I let him talk to her for a bit and then I took the phone back. She needed to talk to him again, and so I gave her the phone again. I think we all felt better to be able to speak to him. He said that it was hard for him to text as he had an IV in his hand, so phoning was easier. I don’t mind, whatever makes it better for him.

I rang off when he was too tired to speak more and got on with cooking dinner for K and I. F’s sister left a few minutes later and K relaxed for a bit.

Tonight I did chicken in the toaster oven, fried some hash brown patties and opened a package of  macaroni salad. I put out the guacamole and some tortilla chips and of course we had a salad. Dinner was quite good. I offered K dessert but she turned me down. I guess she was full. Yay.

I cleared the table and then washed the dishes while listening to my podcasts. When I finished, I went upstairs, somewhere around 8:30pm. It was nice to be done so early. 

I relaxed and watched some YouTube for a while. After ten, I went downstairs and took a shower. I brought the rest of the tortilla chips and the guacamole upstairs with me and had a lovely little late night feast.

I watched last week’s episode of The Handmaid’s Tale so that I can watch tomorrow night’s episodes if I want to. I had hoped to watch something fun too, but didn’t get around to it. I do have to get to bed sometime!

I got a late night text from F, I sent him one back and asked him why he was still awake!! He didn’t reply.

Anyway, that’s it for me. I might do a bit of laundry tomorrow or I might go outside and see if I can get my bike functional or not. The problem is that I’m not sure if I can even get to my bicycle at all. The garage has become rather a mess at the moment. 

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

June 25, 2023

Sunday - Hot and sunny, bit humid

I got up this morning, F was already up and was making breakfast for his mother this morning. He seemed surprised to see me. I got up and dressed, then relaxed for a few minutes. 

Around 11am, F and I left the house and went to Arpeggio for breakfast. It was a little busy this morning, so it took a while before the food arrived. It was good when it came though. I had the bacon-don and F had the Kobachi set. It’s a set of 10 different dishes. He’s always happy when he gets to have it. 

We drove back to the house after our brunch. F did some last minute packing and took his suitcase downstairs. His sister came around 1 pm and we got ready to leave. I told F to say goodbye to his mother. They are so funny, he didn’t hug her or anything, but at least he talked to her a little!

F’s sister let us off at the hospital. F did one of his patented freak outs where he remembered something he forgot to bring. He wouldn’t tell me what exactly he needed though. His sister left and before we went into the hospital I made F kiss me! Once we were inside we couldn’t take off our masks so it had to be outside, right?! We went in. F checked in and we went up to his floor. A nurse took us to the lounge and we did an interview with her. F sprang it on me that I was supposed to visit on Monday, after his operation. What? I’ve been telling him that I wasn’t going to visit on Monday for days. He got rather mad at me when I said that. I told him I’d come on Tuesday so that he’d have a chance to recover, BUT the nurse told me that I couldn’t come then. I’d have to give him a few extra days. She let me book a visit for Thursday. OMG. I don’t get to see him until Thursday? That’s very sad. 

They kicked me out after a while and before I went, F stopped me and gave me a hug. I needed it! 

I left the hospital and since it was so hot and sunny, I decided I’d take a bus to S-Mall. I did. At S-Mall, I did a little shopping and then I had a drink at Doutor. When I finished, I went to the grocery store and picked up a few things. I got a pizza, some chicken, some meat balls, some bread for me and some salad. I paid and then went over to the bus station. I decided to wait and take the more direct bus to the house rather than the longer way. Next time, I think I should take the longer one as I’d get back earlier!

The bus had a few people on it and it was a nice and cool ride back to my stop. I got off and walked back to the house. I put away the groceries and then went upstairs for a little rest. I needed it. I was wiped both emotionally and physically from the heat. 

I texted F to see how he was doing and he seemed happy. He was getting dinner and it looked okay. I told him that I was going down to prepare dinner for his mother and that I had to go.

Tonight I made guacamole with two avocados that I had ripened. They were perfect. They might have been the best avocados I’ve ever seen!  At the mall I had bought a bag of plain tortilla chips so we could have tortillas and guacamole. I had also bought a small pizza and heated that up, I heated up some chicken and the meatballs that I had bought. I also prepared a Costco blueberry muffin for our dessert. I just cut it in half to be honest. We had a nice little feast and it was good. I did the dishes afterwards and said goodnight to K. I went upstairs around 9 pm or so.

I had a fairly quiet evening. I took a nap for a few minutes and then got up. I watched an episode of The Rookie, the one I missed last week, and then an episode of Fringe. That was quite a good one. 

And that’s about it for me. I’m not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow. The doctor is supposed to call me and say how F’s operation went. I’ll be waiting for that call, and a bit nervous too as the doctor doesn’t speak much English!

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

June 24, 2023

Saturday - Hot and Sunny

I had a long lovely lie in this morning. I went downstairs and then came back and had a bit of snuggle time with F. We had a nice quiet morning. He made some ramen for his mother and then came upstairs. He asked me if I’d like to go to Bistrot des Pointes in Mikawa. Since it is one of my favourite restaurants, I said yes!

We drove out to Mikawa and went to the restaurant. We had a fabulous meal of steak. It came with a flatfish marinée and salad, kabocha soup, I had a bun, and then there was dessert too. We had a kind of rice pudding cake for dessert with coffee. We were actually given a second cup of coffee as they were closed and they had leftover coffee. That’s almost unheard of here!

After our lovely meal, we went over to the Across Plaza and went to the Mega Don Qihote. F did a lot of shopping there. I was rather surprised. He got some stuff for his phone and some clothing. I picked up some socks and also a few things for K’s lunches.

We came back to Tsuruoka and tried to go to the meal kit office but of course they were closed. F phoned them and left a message. I can’t believe he did that! He’ll probably be in the hospital, drugged up when they call back!

We did a little shopping at the hundred yen shop near MaxValu. I did a bit of shopping and so did F. I paid and then came back to the car. We drove back to the house and put some of our stuff away. After a bit of a rest, we went out to get K something for dinner.

We picked up a bento or two for K’s dinner and lunch tomorrow, then came back to the house and delivered it. For our dinner, I had suggested going to Kushibiki and F liked that idea. We drove out there but the restaurant was very busy so we left.

On the way into Tsuruoka, we agreed on another restaurant, but as we came close to the Grand El Sun, F suggested going there. I was all for it! 

We went in and had another really good meal. We had salad and amuse bouches, with foccacia. We both had roast pork with veggies. We had tea or coffee afterwards. It was a nice meal.

We went to Mina grocery store afterwards and I picked up a few things for the next few days. F chose to come in with me and to be honest, drove me crazy! He’d walk off with the cart, didn’t know where any of the stuff I wanted to buy was. Anyway, it was interesting!

We came back to the house and F packed his suitcase. He has to take a lot of stuff, but I think it’s okay. I am worried about some of his stuff but he’s stubborn, what can I say?

He took a shower, I watched CSI: Vegas. I like this new version of it. After the show finished, there was a preview for The Walking Dead. It’s going to start again next month. Yay!! 

Anyway, that’s about it for me. It was a good day. I’m worried about F and of course, I’m worried about what is going to happen tomorrow and into the next few weeks. 

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