September 15, 2026

Tuesday - Rainy and then clearing

Hello again! We came back from the hotel this morning. Oh….Yesterday?  It was fine. F and I are both a bit under the weather. I think I have a cold and F probably is the one what gave it to me!

We had a long morning at the house yesterday. F made breakfast for his mother and then made her lunch too. No one seemed to care about my lunch! I finally went downstairs just before 2:30 and demanded that we go for lunch! We went over to Coco’s where I had their chicken salad with nuts and F had a burger and we shared a small fries. We had their drink bar too and it was nice.

We got K a bento for later and then went back to the house to finish getting ready. I was basically just hanging around waiting for F to do whatever he was planning to do. He didn’t seem ready at all. 

Finally, we got moving. We went to the hotel first, checked in, and then went to our room. It was very nice. We had a large double bed. I think it was probably a king size bed. It was nice but I was sleeping close to the window and it was hard to get  into bed!

We went out for dinner to our favourite yakiniku place and had dinner. It was delicious. The last few years we’ve gone somewhere “fancy”. The food looks great, most of it is lovely, but we got to just relax and have fun together, cooking our own food.

We went back to the hotel after dinner and then took our baths. The hotel has a couple of onsen baths for their guests and we went off to the baths and had a nice time there. I went back to the room before F did. 

We decided to watch a movie together and I suggested watching Mayday, the new movie on AppleTV with Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh. It was silly but fun. F managed without Japanese subtitles, but did have trouble when the subtitles were due to characters speaking Russian.

F went to bed when the movie was over. I stayed up a little longer, but did go to bed before I usually do. 

This morning, we woke up around 7:30 and went up to breakfast around 8 am. It was very nice and we both ate quite a lot. We went back to the room afterwards to finish packing up and then checked out at 10am. 

We drove back towards the house and stopped at a grocery store to get something for K’s lunch. We came back to the house and relaxed a bit. F gave K her bento, I unpacked and put my computer back together.

We went over to the Kamo Aquarium around 1pm. It was raining on and off quite hard at times. We went in and had lunch first. F had jellyfish ramen and I had deep fried fugu. It was good, but very, very boney. 

We toured the facility and enjoyed ourselves. I haven’t edited my pictures yet. When we finished, we decided that we needed ice cream!

We drove back into Tsuruoka and went to Baskin Robbins. We both had the same ice creams, a milk shortcake and mint choco cookie chum. They were both good.

We talked about dinner and decided that we’d take K out somewhere as she’s been stuck at the house for most of the weekend. We decided on Gusto.

We went back to the house and picked up K. We drove over to one of the Gustos and got a table. We did quite well. K had curry, I had pasta and F had a hamburger with a fried egg. We shared a plate of fries (K loves fries!) and had drink bar too. I got to do the leg work for most of the drinks. It was fine.

We brought K back to the house and then F and I went to the grocery store. I asked him if he’d make rice if I needed him to and he refused. He wants me to do it. I will not. I do not like rice and would rather eat anything else. So, we will have potatoes this week. If F doesn’t like that, too bad. I’m sure he’ll bugger off and make himself noodles later. Too bad for him. 

I went into the store and did the grocery shopping alone. Yay for me. I got everything and then paid and came back to the car. F wasn’t there! He’d gone into the building. Luckily I didn’t have to wait too long before he came back. 

We came back to the house. I put away the groceries and then came upstairs. I relaxed for a while, F went to bed. He’s back to work tomorrow. It is one of our anniversaries but he couldn’t take it off. 

I watched Law & Order and it was okay, bit meh! I turned off the TV and got stuck into YouTube. I’m a tad behind as I didn’t watch much yesterday. Good for me. 

So, that’s about it for my day. Both F and I are still sick. My nose is running and I don’t feel that great. 

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

September 12, 2026

Saturday - Very warm and sunny

I woke up quite early this morning, before 7 am. I went downstairs, but F was already there! After a bit, I went back upstairs and went back to sleep. I ended up oversleeping my alarm and didn’t wake up until F came in the room. Oops! 

I got up and went downstairs and took a shower. Then, came back to the room and finished getting dressed. F had asked that we go to Tenkane for lunch and I said okay. I don’t really like it, but we haven’t been for a bit and I didn’t want to fight this weekend. 

We went to the restaurant and got seated soon after. They had changed their menu and raised their prices a bit. I had my usual dish, the bento box style lunch. It was okay, but I ended up giving F part of my lunch as I couldn’t eat it. F got a snail and a tempura green pepper from me. We also got dessert at the restaurant.

After we finished at the restaurant we went shopping at DCM. I thought they might have the stuff F wanted for his fish, but they didn’t. I found some DVDs for sale, so I bought one, Dogma. I saw it years ago and it is so controversial that most streaming services won’t carry it. It was a former rental DVD so I hope it works, and I hope I actually watch it. I’ve got so many DVDs that I haven’t watched. I should get on that…maybe a good project for next year?

After shopping we went to Komeda to have something to drink. F got all angry at me because I told him that I don’t understand why he doesn’t go all the way in to a stall (or restaurant booth). He, as always had some stupid excuse, but in all honesty, I find it obnoxious. He makes me go past him all the time and it just doesn’t make sense. Fill to the back, not from the front!

We went to MaxValu after our drink to pick up some bentos for dinner. Then, F proceeded to go walkabout around the store. I wanted to leave so we could be back at the house in time for K. It was after 4 and she usually returns at 4:30 and we still had to check out. Finally we left and got back to the house around 4:20. We were safe, but it was really close and F didn’t seem to care much.

I relaxed upstairs for a while and spent time on my computer. F came upstairs a bit later and relaxed. We went back downstairs a little after 6 pm to heat up the bentos and have dinner. We had our bentos and some mugi-cha. We ate with K and it was fine. I washed the bento boxes and some of the other dishes after we ate.

I went upstairs to change my clothes. F came up much later and then we left the house and drove out to Mikawa.

I really wanted to get to the mall earlier, like around 7:30, but we didn’t leave the house until 7:25. F likes to run really close to the deadline, I prefer to be early if possible. However, we did make it. The cinema wasn’t that busy and we bought our tickets and then our popcorn and drinks  in time. We went to see The Odyssey and both of us really enjoyed it. It was quite a movie!

On the way back to Tsuruoka afterwards, F asked if I was hungry. He said that he’d like to go to a gyudon shop and have something to eat. We ended up going to one and F had gyudon and I had pork curry and rice, with salad and miso soup. It was quite nice. I’m not sure if it was the best idea for this late at night, but I’m fine so far!  I really wanted to leave but F just kept sitting there. He stayed about 20 minutes longer after I first said I was ready to go. It was annoying!

So, F was a bit of a pain today, but I’m sure that I annoyed him too. He’s been a bit under the weather today too and even went to the doctor in the morning so I really should cut him some slack. 

I’m not sure what we’re going to get up to on Sunday. We have to get ready for our night away on Monday night so I may be packing!

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

September 11, 2026

Friday - Sunny and warmish

I woke up this morning when my alarm went off. I got up and went downstairs. When I came back to the room I sorted laundry again and then went back to bed. F and I texted a bit to discuss our dinner plans for Monday night. We are having a night in a fancy hotel so we can’t really do anything too extravagant this year. We are talking about yakiniku…it’s good for me, but I’m not sure if F really would be okay for it.

I snoozed a bit and watched some videos. I got up later and went downstairs to start my laundry. I didn’t see K at all. On my laundry changeover time, K’s daughter was in the house and it did surprise me a bit, but I can’t really say much to her.

I had a quiet day at the house really. K wasn’t around much. I thought that might happen. When she has a really active day like yesterday, she often sleeps a lot the next day.

When I had my lunch today I watched a new show. I watched the first episode of Under Salt Marsh which has potential. It’s a British Crime drama. 

F called me around 5:30 today and said he was on his way back to the house. I asked if he’d join us for dinner and he said he wasn’t sure. When he got back to the house I was downstairs about to start some dishes. I suggested if he wasn’t too hungry to just have a little food with us and he said it was okay.

Tonight we had pizza! I had bought two pizzas at the store on Tuesday night and a big salad. Last night I bought a cooked chicken breast, so I sliced that up. We had those things with some leftovers from last night. It was nice and it was also good to have all of us at the table again. 

I took the dishes off to the kitchen to wash and K went to bed quite early. When I finished, I went upstairs to change and relax a little. F and I went out. 

First we walked to the nearby shrine. Today was my mother’s birthday and I wanted to do something to show I remembered. I also wanted to commemorate 9/11. It happened just before we got married so we had that hanging over our happy times. Sad to say, but I’m almost glad that my sister didn’t come as she would likely have been stuck on a plane in Vancouver with her then very young daughter.

We came back to the car and then drove to the convenience store. A few days ago I bought us ice cream and they had a special offer that a few days later we could come back and get another ice cream for free, but it had to be a specific type of ice cream! The store had one of the kind we could get for free. The clerk did look for another one, but they didn’t have any! So, F bought one ice cream and we got one for free!

We came back to the house and went upstairs. F basically went to bed soon after he ate his ice cream. I decided that I’d watch a movie. I ended up watching the newest Wuthering Heights with Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. Now that I’ve seen the whole thing I can confidently say that it was awful and I didn’t like it! It was over the top and they left out at least a third of the book. The costumes were made out of the wrong types of fabric. I liked the stars but I didn’t like the movie at all!

I turned off the TV when I finished, and watched a bit of YouTube. It’s now quite late so I really should get myself off to bed. 

I’m not completely sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow. I’m hoping that we’ll undertake a journey with Matt Damon but you never know. Come back later if you like and hear all about our Odyssey. Until tomorrow…. 

September 7, 2026

Monday - Cloudy and warm, humid

I woke up early this morning. F wasn’t in the room and I was probably cold. I went downstairs and then came back to the room. F came back to bed too, but his alarm went off at 7am and he had to get up. I did not!

I woke up later when my alarm went off, but I went back to sleep for a bit. I finally dragged myself out of bed a bit before 10am. I got dressed right away and had a little breakfast. I packed up my backpack and headed downstairs. I used the washroom quickly and then headed out of the house. Last week I left at the same time the bus was due, today, I left a few minutes earlier. I got there and a few minutes later the bus came back and picked me up. 

I took the bus “the long way” to the mall, but it got me there about 30 minutes before the next bus would have, so no worries. I went up to Daiso and did a little shopping, then downstairs to the grocery store. I did look at Pizza Hut Express for lunch, but sadly they don’t have the lunch special that I used to order, the one with very little tomato sauce. Instead, I went back to the bakery and had a few bready things. They were nice and I enjoyed them. When I finished, I left the mall proper and went to the bus station. I waited a few minutes for the bus to take me to Sanno Machi. 

I got off across from the main post office and crossed the street. I went into the post office and bought myself some stamps. The ladies working today were very nice and they seemed to understand me well enough. When I put my stamps away in my backpack, I decided to get my hat out as I still had to walk to the cinema. It was hidden in my backpack, so I yanked on it and the elastic cord on the hat snapped out of the bag and caught me on my finger. Oh my gosh, that was painful! It bruised immediately and over the rest of the day the bruise spread a bit. 

Just after it happened.

Later today

I walked over to the cinema and went in. I had a free movie coupon so I used that, and was able to see Obsession today. I really liked it. It was a horror movie, but a good one and it wasn’t as gross as I thought it could be. It just showed with some creativity and a good story, you don’t need to spend a fortune on a film. 

After the movie, I left the cinema and went back to the bus stop. I caught the bus back to the closest bus stop and then walked back to the bus. I was the last person on the bus so I hope it picked up more passengers later on.

At the house I came upstairs and relaxed. I had some tea and watched the news. F called at 5:30 and around 6 pm I went downstairs and started on dinner. 

Tonight I made hamburgers from scratch, cucumber pickle and steamed garlic okra. We also had salad and French Fries. It was a good dinner I think. I did the dishes after dinner and asked F to make rice for tomorrow. He refused and tried to get me to make it instead. I said no. I don’t like rice so _I_ don’t care if there is rice or not. Him and his mother might. 

I finished the dishes and then went upstairs and relaxed for a bit. I watched a lot of YouTube. Around 10:30 I went downstairs to take my shower. 

I came back upstairs to the room and decided to watch something from Apple TV. I ended up choosing Widow’s Bay. It was a spooky one and I quite enjoyed it. It actually seemed connected to the movie I saw today. 

Since midnight I’ve been back on YouTube and I’ve been getting my end of days thing done. I’ll be going to bed soon.

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

August 31, 2026

Monday - Hot and Sunny, cloudy later

Today was a good day, even though not everything went as I planned!

I did my usual getting up and then went back to bed for a few minutes. Then, I got up and dressed around 10am.  I packed my backpack and then I went downstairs and left the house. I checked the time as I left the house and it was the bus time. Sure enough, as I got to the end of the road, I saw the bus coming towards me. I missed it. Darn! Well, the good thing is that it was actually a much earlier bus than I had to take, I just thought I’d spent time in the mall shopping or eating. Oh well. I came back into the house and went back upstairs. I spent about 40 or 50 minutes in my room and then tried again! This time, I caught the bus. I didn’t have to wait too long either. Hurray. 

I rode the bus to S-Mall and went in. I first checked out Pizza Hut Express but it looked like they didn’t have the lunch I liked anymore, so I went to the grocery store instead. I bought a few things at the store, including a drink for the movie. I paid and then went to the bakery. I picked up a couple of bread things and a drink, then paid and sat in their eating area. I enjoyed my lunch, got to use decent wifi and that was nice. 

I walked back to the bus station and caught my bus back to the cinema. Yay. It was waiting at the gate and I wasn’t sure at first if it was the right one, but of course it was. 

I got off at my bus stop and walked over to the cinema. I bought my ticket and filled up my stamp card. Yay. I get a free film next time. I waited a few minutes later and I went in to see Eleanor the Great. It was a movie starring June Squibb about woman who accidentally goes to a meeting of Holocaust survivors and tells them a story about her experiences. However, she was American and didn’t have any personal Holocaust experiences. The film is Scarlett Johansson’s first directing attempt. I liked it quite a lot. 

After the film I left the cinema and sat in the hall for a few minutes then walked back to the bus stop. I caught the bus back to my area a couple of minutes later and then got off. I walked back to the house. 

I went upstairs and relaxed and had some tea. I watched the news and then a little after 5, F called. I changed into my cooking clothes and then went downstairs and got busy.

Today I made ginger pork, cucumber pickles, steamed spicy cabbage, and a bean bowl that I bought ages ago for myself. We had rice too and F had bought us some dessert. Dinner was good.

I cleared the table and started washing the dishes. I listened to one of my movie podcasts and then when I finished the dishes I prepared the plastic garbage to go out. I put it in the genkan for later.

I told F that I was finished and went upstairs. I watched a bit of YouTube and then went downstairs again to take a shower.

After my shower, I went back upstairs. I decided to watch an episode of Sugar. It was good, but a little dark. 

F went to bed before midnight, and fell asleep. However, he was moving his feet and hitting his bag of cans every five seconds. It was driving me nuts and I’m across the room with headphones on! I went over to him and moved the bag! He woke up, but did say thank you. I don’t know how the noise didn’t bother him. 

And that’s about it. Tomorrow I have an exciting day planned of laundry and letter writing! Let’s hope that I get time to do everything I want to. 

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

August 29, 2026

Saturday - Rainy and cooler, clear at night

Well, today was a nice day! I woke up before my alarm this morning and made a trip downstairs. I decided that F and K wouldn’t be leaving for 20 minutes so I could risk a trip down. I came back upstairs and checked something on my computer and then went back to bed. I snoozed for a while and finally F came upstairs around 10:30, just about the time I was planning to get up!

I went downstairs after 11am and took a shower. I so prefer showering in the daytime. When I came upstairs to get dressed, F asked if I’d like to go to a place in Kushibiki that we went to years ago. I said sure and a few minutes later we went off. However, when we got to the place…it wasn’t open. Sigh. I did suggest that he phone the place from the house but, hubby doesn’t like to do that. Instead, he ended up driving into the mountains and we went to a roadside restaurant. We’ve been there before and the food is actually quite decent. 

It was busy when we arrived and it was hard to find a parking spot. We went in and looked at the menuboard and then ordered. F found us a seat near the window and we waited for our food. It was very nice to be honest. We really liked it. I had Shonai Pork tonkatsu and F had a tempura donburi. The food was pretty good.

We drove back to Tsuruoka and went to Komeda Coffee. We had to wait about 10 minutes to be seated, not bad really. We both had decaf iced coffee and a piece of cake, but F had planned to have regular iced coffee, he just ordered it wrong!

After our lovely coffee break, we did a little shopping. First up was a trip to Yamaya for me to buy some more tea. That branch sells big boxes of rooibos tea, which is what I drink during the day mostly. After that, we drove over to MaxValu and went in. We bought some bentos for dinner for all of us. We all got a chicken bento and I picked up some chicken tenders with ume and then some juice for K. 

We came back to the house and then relaxed for a bit. F came upstairs around the same time that his mother came back, I wasn’t sure why. Of course he was trying to relax when she arrived. I spent time on my computer and enjoyed myself. 

F wanted to heat up the bentos around 5:30, but I told him it was too early. During the week we eat at 7:00pm, but on the weekend he wants his mother to eat really early. If we had to leave early I would understand, but we didn’t. We went downstairs around 6pm and I heated up the bentos. We ate while F watched women’s volleyball on TV. I do not like volleyball. I have flashbacks to how terrible I was at volleyball in gym class. Urgh. I am too short and my fingers kept getting sprained from trying to set the ball. 

I washed the bento boxes and our glasses after dinner, then went upstairs to relax for a bit. I changed my clothes and a few minutes later F came up and said it was time to go. 

We drove over to Mikawa and bought our tickets. We also found out that our cards had expired, so we renewed them. We had a few minutes before our film so we went downstairs and went to Seria, the hundred yen shop. F got himself a saké cup and I got a couple of types of letter sets. They are nice!

Then, we went back up to the cinema and bought our drinks and popcorn for the movie. We went into the cinema and then I noticed that we forgot to get oshibori (wet wipes) for our fingers as the popcorn is very greasy. F went out to the lobby to get some and came back with a huge handful. I laughed at him and asked him how many he brought. He thought 4…I counted and there were at least 15! I just thought it was funny!

We saw The Dog Stars (in Japan it was Lone Survivor) with Jacob Elordi and Josh Brolin. It was okay, but I didn’t love it. I do have to say that Jacob Elordi is rather attractive! One of his movies, Wuthering Heights is on WOWOW tomorrow night and I will be recording it! 

After the movie we drove back to Tsuruoka and went to a drugstore! There are a few that stay open until midnight. F wanted a couple of things and I ended up buying some cereal (the drugstore actually sells All-Bran but my grocery store doesn’t!). We paid and then came back to the house.

F did a few things downstairs and then went upstairs, I went up a couple of minutes later. I went on my computer and watched a few videos. I also logged my movie on Letterbox’d and got started on my other end of day things. 

So, that’s about it for today. It was a really nice day and we drove out of town, had some good food and didn’t drive each other crazy, so that was great. Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….