December 14, 2013

Saturday - Snowy and cold

A good day.  

I got up fairly early this morning.  F was still at his doctor and he'd left some bread in the maker.  I took it out and took care of it all for him.

He came back and we relaxed for a while.  F called a chiropractor for me and he said I could get in at 1 pm.  

We had lunch….together! at the Komagi Park buffet. It was quite nice today. I didn't want to eat too much as I was going to the chiropractor.  After lunch, we drove to the office up there.

This chiropractor was very different from the other one I went to.  The first one I saw was basically all business.  I would lie down on the table and he'd get to work.  This guy was different.  He had me bending and moving and he'd ask questions.  In other words, I had to be awake and think about things!  F was on hand to translate of course, and it was a tad difficult for him.  Today's guy even gave me homework and suggestions for things to do to improve how I feel.  I think I like him better!

After we finished, we came home for a few minutes.  We decided that we'd go to the internet cafe for F to get some massaging chair time, and then go directly to Mikawa to see the movie.  We did that.  I wasn't able to get a massaging chair at first, but it only took 15 minutes or so to get one.  I hadn't even really sat down properly before they came to get me.  

We both ate our dinners at the internet cafe and I watched a bit of TV, dozed and finished one of my books (Dead on Arrival).  I even started a magazine too.  

We drove out to the mall and saw Gravity.  It was great.  A very original film that surprised me in how engrossing it was.  

We drove home and had a quiet evening in.  I've been watching TV and F has been on his computer for most of the night.  It's been rather nice and friendly.  

I'm not sure what we'll get up to tomorrow, so don't hold your breath.  We'll also be away for a few days so don't miss me too much! I have to go.  Night!

December 1, 2013

Sunday - Rainy, clear in the evening for a while

An okay day.

Today when I got up I didn't feel that great.  I went back to bed and slept for another couple of hours.  Then I got up.  F slept for a bit too.  

In the afternoon, I had some tea and a piece of bread, F wanted to go out to see a movie.  I wasn't too bothered, but didn't mind.  

We drove out to Mikawa Mall and had a light dinner (or as I liked to call it, lunch!) then went upstairs and bought our tickets to Captain Phillips.  We both thought it was a good movie.  Tom Hanks really is a good actor.  The Somali actor Barkhad Abdi was excellent too.  

After the film, F and I drove out to the bookstore to pick up our nengajo book.  We spent a few minutes looking for one and finally got one that we both agreed on.  

We came home and have spent a quiet evening at home.  I'm feeling better tonight than I did during the day.  I had a nagging headache for most of it, but it's mostly gone.  

Tomorrow I'm not sure what I'll get up to.  I have a few things to do, and I plan to write my Christmas cards so that I can pop them in the mail soon.  They must get off soon or else!  That's it for me.  Night!

November 4, 2013

Monday - Sunny then rainy

An okay day.

I got up fairly early and went into the living room.  F was up and watching something on TV.  He made me some toast and then we decided to go out to the movie.

We drove to Mikawa Mall and went to see the Percy Jackson movie, Sea of Monsters.  It was rather fun.  The mall was really crowded. Before the movie we tried to have lunch, but it was quite difficult.  I had a tuna crepe, F had a basket of chicken and fries.  We had to wait in a huge line for popcorn, so we each got in a different line and the first one to the counter was the one that ordered.  F made it first! 

I liked the movie.  Admittedly, I haven't read any of the books, but I thought it was fun.  It isn't a necessary movie by any chance, but it was a good time really.  

After the movie we did a little window shopping and then went to Sakata's Aeon.  We looked around there, didn't buy much, but did have a late lunch.  I had Subway, F had …ramen!  Of course.  

We came back to Tsuruoka and did a little shopping.  We went to the jigsaw puzzle/otaku type shop first, and then to the kitchen goods shop.  We got something at the first place, and nothing at the second.  

We came home for a while and relaxed.  After 7 we decided to go out for dinner.  We had sushi at Kintaro.  At first, it was really quiet there, but after a while a busload of people came in and it started to get busy again.  That was fun!

We bought a few groceries and then came home. We had a nice, quiet evening at home.  I watched quite a bit of TV and did a little crochet.  I worked on a project that I'm doing for Van and I finally got it to work. The first time I tried it I was tired and on cold medicine so I couldn't get it to work, but tonight things went very well.  

Tomorrow I'm not sure what I'll get up to.  I'd like to to a couple of Postcrossings if I have time, maybe some craft work and a few emails that I've been putting off I think.  That's about it for me. Got to go.  Night!

October 19, 2013

Saturday - Sunny and warmish

I woke up early this morning but was able to go back to sleep and didn't get up until after 9:30.  F was at the doctor.  I got up, watched a bit of Nigella and then had a shower before watching Elementary.

After a while I woke F up and suggested lunch.  We went to Grado where we both had the salmon in a spicy oil sauce.  It was really nice. We set out after our meal to look at the fall leaves.  We didn't really see any, but ended up looking at the 16 Buddha statues on the coast in Sakata.  They were very cool.  

We drove around for a while and then drove back to Mikawa and stopped at the mall.  I was feeling quite tired and I had a headache, which I've had most of the day.  We had dinner in a mall restaurant and then went to see Diana.   It was okay.  It wasn't great, but I'm not sure it deserved as many bad reviews as it seems to have received.  I was worried that I wouldn't be able to stay awake as I was really feeling the jet lag.

After the movie, we drove back to Tsuruoka and bought a few groceries.  We came home then and I watched the new season of Pretty Little Liars and then the Project Runway Finale.  I think the right person won!  Yay!

And honestly, that's about all that happened to me today.  My headache is still with me, I'm really tired and now I'm going to take a pill and go to bed!    I'll try to download my pictures from today soon.  Night.

October 12, 2013

Saturday - Cool and a little windy

A good day today.

We all were able to get up late today. It made a nice change for everyone.

After breakfast, Van and Zach drove Kate and I into the city.  I bought a new suitcase and then they took charge of it.  Kate and I had a Subway lunch and then headed off to the LRT station.  We boarded a train for downtown.

We got off at Churchill Station and found the entrance to the Art Gallery of Alberta.  We paid and went in.  We had a great time in the Gallery.  There were some photographs of up north,  an exhibit of watercolours from the V&A, and a spooky exhibit called something like "The Lady Spider".  That was really cool and kind of scary!

After we finished looking at the galleries, we went to the gift store and then over to the mall.  We found the movie theatre and found that if we went in right away, we could see Runner, Runner.  We did!  It was quite a good movie actually.  It had Ben Affleck, Gemma Atherton and Justin Timberlake.

When the movie finished, we headed back to Edmonton Centre and looked at the bookstore. I bought Katie a new book and then we started to head home.  Kate called her mum to let her know we were on the way, and we caught a train back to Century Park.  We were just pulling into the station when Van called to see where we were.

We drove back to Beaumont and Van & Joe made dinner.  We had home made healthy chicken nuggets and French fries.  It was really nice.

After dinner, we watched a movie, Men in Black 3.  I fell asleep a few times, but rallied near the end and stayed awake.  After the movie, we all were tired and headed off to our beds.  I'll be in bed in just a few minutes!  Good night!

October 6, 2013

Sunday - Sunny and warm

A lovely day!

Yesterday my friend met up with me in Beaumont and we drove into the city.  We ran a few errands, had lunch and then did a lot of shopping.  We checked into our hotel and relaxed for a while.

After a while we headed over to the movie theatre and went to see The Butler. To be honest, I was disappointed by the film. It felt like the greatest hits of a person's life and I never connected to the character.  In a way, it felt very Remains of the Day-ish.  Of course both films were about butlers, but different countries and stories.

We were both very tired by the time we got back to the hotel, so went to sleep fairly quickly.

This morning we got up before 9 am and went to the pool.  We didn't really "swim" but we floated and gabbed, basically having a great time.  After an hour or so, we went back to our room, finished packing up and then checked out.  We had brunch in the hotel's restaurant and it was great.  I had salad, crab, sausages, you name it.  I even ended up with bread pudding.  Very yum.

After lunch we did more shopping and it went very well.  My friend did very well and to be honest, so did I!  I got some lovely clothes.

We finally had to call it a day and she brought me back to my sister's house.  We hugged and said our farewells.

Van and family came home soon and a little later they called me and asked me if I'd like to have dinner with them at the dim sum restaurant they go to.  I of course said yes, and we drove to the city to have dinner.  It was great and it was nice to have dim sum again.

We had a quiet evening at home.  I called a couple of friends to make plans to meet up.  Hopefully one of them is going to be able to meet up on Tuesday, another may be able later on in the week.

And that was my weekend. It really was wonderful.  It was relaxing and fun, and very much an enriching expense for both of us.  Tomorrow, I don't really have plans, but I'll let you know what I got up to. Talk to you later.  Night.

September 22, 2013

Sunday - Sunny and warm…nice day

Quite a good day.

I got up around 11 today.  It wasn't really late, and it wasn't really early! It was earlier than usual though.  I showered and a little later, F and I went out for lunch.  We went to Grado and had a lovely meal there.  F had fish with a tomato rosemary sauce and I had chicken with a butter-shio mushroom sauce that was very good!  At lunch, F asked about going fishing.  We haven't gone for ages and it wasn't too hot or sunny for me today.

We got ready to go out and then headed over to the port.  Unfortunately, it was busy, so we kept driving!  We drove down the coast and then finally stopped at Yura.  We parked and walked along the wharf. It was busy, but finally found a place at the end. We threw our lines in, and for the next couple of hours fed the fish!  There were many little fish in the water.  

Around 5 it got cold so we decided to go.  We packed up.  F had caught one little fish, which he gave to another family.  We drove off to Mikawa Mall.  

At the mall, we had dinner in a Japanese restaurant. It was actually quite good.  I had a mushroom noodle dish and I enjoyed it a lot.  F had fish and noodles, so he was quite happy.  We walked the mall after and even looked at a Roomba on display in Jusco!  I probably won't get one soon.  I'd love one though.  

After a visit to Mr Donut, we walked back to the theatre and went to see Elysium.  It was okay.  I like Matt Damon a lot, and I quite like Alice Braga since Predators, so I enjoyed their characters.  I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who likes cerebral, non-violent movies.  

When the movie finished we drove home and have spent the evening together and have gotten on famously. F has been watching some of my TV, which is nice for a change.  I did a bit of crochet during Lost, so I have now gone past the bit that I had done before I frogged everything.  Yay for that!

I'm not sure what we'll get up to tomorrow, but be assured, I'll let you know when I can.  Got to go.  Night!

September 18, 2013

Wednesday - Warm and sunny, gorgeous day

I got up this morning a little late. I was tired, but managed to drag myself up!

I watched my TV, had some of my yummy bread with yogurt and then got dressed.  Around 1 I got ready and went out.

I biked over to the theatre and saw A Room With a View again.  Such a great film with so many wonderful actors and actresses, Judi Dench, Denholm Elliott, Maggie Smith, Simon Callow and that's just the "oldies".  How about Daniel Day Lewis, Rupert Graves, Julian Sands and Helena Bonham-Carter for the younger set?  It has been years since I have seen the whole thing and to see it again on a big screen was just perfect!

After the movie I biked home again, stopping only at a bakery to pick up something for my late, late lunch.  I came home and relaxed for a while.

F came home as usual.  He did say hello when I greeted him, but that was it.  He didn't say anything else to me.  He changed into his pyjamas, took a bath and went to bed.    

I made my dinner, using the food I had gotten myself last night and it was good. I had some chicken stir-fry, bread and cup soup.  I probably should have made myself some couscous, but didn't.

F did appear later on, I'm not really sure what he did, but as usual he had great bangings and clangings in the kitchen.  He set the bread maker for himself for the morning, despite insulting me last night when I offered him the bread I made for his breakfast today.  Nice move.  

After our initial greeting this afternoon, he never spoke to me, and I had no reason to talk to him.  

I watched a lot of fun TV tonight, did some crochet and a little bit of writing of my next column. I need to write a letter, which is something I should get on with.  

I'm really glad that I went out today. It was a bit frivolous, but it gave me such a lift to go out in the sunshine and see a wonderful movie.  Too bad there aren't any more movies to go and see tomorrow.  Wonder what I'll get up to?  Come back and find out.  Night!

September 13, 2013

Friday - Hot, muggy and sunny

A good day.  I woke up early this morning when someone kindly rang my apartment phone and then hung up.  Thanks for the wake up call!

After Pretty Little Liars I took a shower and spent the next while getting ready to go out.  When the time came, I went outside and waited for my friend.

We met and had a lovely afternoon.  We did rather more driving than we meant to, as we tried to have lunch in the suburbs, but the restaurant was full.  We came back into Tsuruoka and had lunch at Moku-Moku.  It was fine, and we had a nice chat.  We followed that up with McDonalds to have more discussion on a topic that is on our minds lately. 

When I got home, I changed and went out to the lobby and swept it.  It's our month to do the maintenance and I've been remiss this month.  I know that F does it fairly often, but I tried really hard to get some of the cobwebs that appear, and also to clean some of the corners of the building.  

In the evening when F came home from work we both changed to go out and then drove out to Mikawa.  We couldn't agree on food as usual, so he went to one restaurant for ramen, I went to another for pasta.  He was done and was sitting outside the window of my restaurant before I even got my salad.  I was quite annoyed.  How long does it take to cook fresh pasta anyway?  From experience I know, not long at all.  I've done it myself.  It's usually about 2 or 3 minutes.  

Anyway, when I finished eating and paying, we went upstairs and went to see The Wolverine.  It was fun, but not the movie I hoped it would be.  It was a bit odd sitting in the theatre with many Japanese people watching Japanese "attractions".  Bullet Train-check, Ninja-check, Samurai-check, Pachinko-check…you get the idea.  I laughed a lot at the movie, but not always in the way the filmmakers wanted me to.  Still, all in all, I love Wolverine and after the end-scene (shortly after the credits start) I can't wait to see the next film. 

We came home and had a fairly quiet evening.  I did a bit of crochet. I'm happy to say that I'm nearly done my doily.  It's looking quite good.  F went to bed fairly early, after all, he worked a full day today.  

Tomorrow I'm not sure exactly what we'll be doing, but we will have a lovely dinner out. I'll hopefully be able to blog tomorrow night and let you know all about it.  Night!

September 7, 2013

Saturday - Cloudy then rainy

A good day.  I got up a bit late as I didn't go to bed until very, very late last night.  Or early this morning if you prefer.

I checked email and then went back to bed for a while.  When I got up again, I cleaned up the tatami room.  I have been asking F to help me clean it up so that there is a path to the closets.  He always said he would, but of course, never did.  I re-arranged a lot of things in the room and made a path.  I also discovered that although my stuff was in the way, he was the worst offender.  He had tons of junk just sitting in the room.  I got some of it ready to toss, others I just shoved into a corner for him to deal with later.  

I took a shower and then he did too.  We spent ages trying to agree on a place for lunch, finally decided to go to the Komagihara restaurant again.  We didn't have the buffet, we ordered from their menu.  It wasn't bad, I just didn't want Japanese food today.  

We hacked around the shop area, didn't buy anything, then headed over to the geeky toy store.  We weren't able to find what we wanted exactly, but we did get something.  Afterwards, F wasn't feeling that well, so I suggested coming home for a while.  When we did, F took a nap, and after a while, I did too.

We got up later, drove to Mikawa Mall, had a quick and not nutritious dinner, then went to see Man of Steel.  I liked it, with reservations.  I didn't think that the film was as good as it could have been, but I did think that Henry Cavill made a good Kal-El. I'll be interested to see what else they do with the story.  

We came home afterwards and F set up the bread maker and then went to bed fairly soon afterwards.   The weather at the moment is playing havoc with his back.  I am glad for the coolness, not so happy about the humidity.  

Anyway, that was my day.  I am going to try to get to bed fairly soon.  I need some sleep.  Got to go.  Night!

August 24, 2013

Saturday - Rainy, sunny, and rainy again

I got up this morning and F was making bread and the next time I got up he was sitting on the couch watching YouTube.  I had a shower, got dressed and basically demanded that I get to watch CSI!  It was on earlier in the week but someone watched boxing instead.  To be fair, he was fine with it.  He took a nap on the couch.

I took a nap on our bed, and before I knew it, F came in too.  The two of us had a nice afternoon nap!

F went out briefly to buy dog food and to deliver it to his house, then we went out for our food!  We went to the Komagihara buffet and it was quite nice.  I ate a lot, but not too much.  It was my first and only meal of the day, so I think it was okay.  

After dinner, we drove out to Mikawa Mall and went to see White House Down.  I thought it was a hoot.  It was so funny.  Really.  I'm not sure if it was supposed to be as funny as I thought it was, but I laughed a lot.  I was the only person in the theatre laughing though.  I enjoyed it. It was an action film, but not a "dumb" action film.  Plus, it had Channing Tatum in it and he's quite easy on the eyes!

We came back to Tsuruoka, grabbed a few groceries at the store and then came home.  We had a quiet evening.  F stayed up with me for quite a while, even through Project Runway.  

That was mostly my day.  It was okay.  I'm not sure what we'll get up to tomorrow, so please come on back and we'll see!  Got to go. Night!

August 18, 2013

Sunday - Hot, mostly sunny

A good day.

We both went to bed last night after daylight came up, so I think we both slept a bit late.  F was up before me of course, but even I got up at an almost civilized time.  

We had lunch at Kintaro Sushi. It was busy today, probably as a last hurrah of O-bon.  I'll be glad when people go home!

After lunch, we went to the Chido Museum.  The display we saw wasn't that interesting for me, but F seemed to like it, even though he'd already seen it.  He took his mother a few weeks ago.  

We drove down to the Komagihara market to have a drink and later an ice cream cone.  That was rather nice.  We looked at veggies too, but that late in the day there wasn't much left, plus it would have to sit in a hot car until we went home.  Not a good idea really.

We drove to the Machi-kine theatre and went to see Star Trek Into Darkness in 3-D!  I was delighted to see that the film was being shown in English with Japanese subtitles, even in 3-D.  The norm lately is to show it in Japanese in 3-D and then the 2-D in English.  I don't care a lot about 3-D in all honesty, but it was cool in this film.  I loved the movie.  You know me…I'm a Trek fan and a Benedict Cumberbatch fan, so I enjoyed it tremendously.  

We had dinner after the movie in Bikkuri Donkey, then bought groceries for tomorrow's dinner.  I'm going to do garlic pork I think, with a biggish salad.  

We came home and I watched a bit of TV while F made bread for the morning and played with his computer.  I also did up 3 postcrossings as a few of mine have either expired or arrived.  I'll likely have to do more soon.  

That's really about it for today.  It turned out to be a pretty good weekend.  Hurray for that.  Night!

August 12, 2013

Monday - Hot, sunny and humid

A good day.  I did get up a little late this morning, but when I did I took a shower.  F and I had some bread and then we went out.  

We hit up City Hall first to see about getting the new Juki cards.  We each got one.  I wanted one that showed my name without my middle name.  Here in Japan when you have a middle name, they don't know what to do with it and they smoosh it into your first name.  The workers at City Hall hadn't really heard about using nicknames, but we all stuck it out and finally I was able to get a card that shows both my full name and my usual name.  Woot.  

We left in the middle to give them time to make the cards and then had lunch.  We also went to the main post office to pick up some more postcards.  Lunch was good, we went to S'kase and I had the dadacha-mame pasta with salad. I added on tea and dessert too.  F had udon and sushi and liked his.  

We picked up our cards and then went driving.  F took us up to Mt. Haguro area, and we even went up to the shrine at the top of the mountain.  I had forgotten how beautiful it is up there.  Really gorgeous.  We walked around, I bought more postcards and then we drove back to Tsuruoka.  

F went to take his mother shopping, but she'd already gone by herself.  He's going to take her tomorrow for the heavy stuff.

We left our apartment around 7 and went for tonkatsu to the big restaurant.  They were really busy tonight and there were too many people waiting in front of us.  I suggested another place that does tonkatsu, a one man show kind of place.  We went there, and got right in.  He made the tonkatsu right in front of us and it was very good.  We finished our yummy meal and then we left.

We went to Machi-Kine to see Quartet.  It is a little movie directed by Dustin Hoffman and starring Pauline Collins, Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay and Billy Connolly.  It was a lovely little movie about retired musicians.  The main cast were all former singers in the movie and were quite wonderful in their parts.  We both really enjoyed the movie.

We bought a few groceries after the movie and came home.  F made bread and took a shower, I blogged, did a little crochet and relaxed.  

I had a great day.  It was quite relaxing for a change and yet we got a few necessary things done. Tomorrow I'm going to write some more of my column and hopefully get it done.  Wish me luck with that!  Night.

August 11, 2013

Sunday - Hot and muggy

A good day…really.

I got up late today. It was around 12…oops.  After a while F asked that we go out for lunch and he picked Patio, the restaurant in S-Mall.  I didn't want pasta again, so I had a hamburger and fries.  It was good, just too much ketchup on the burger.  

After lunch we headed to the Tsuruoka Art Forum.  We went to see an exhibition of photographs from Tohoku and Hokkaido.  It was very interesting and we took a long time looking at the photographs.  I was very pleased as they had a lot of introductory information in Japanese AND English.  Really good English. There were some local photos there, and some photos of natural disasters of the past in Tohoku.  I enjoyed learning about the spread of photography in Northern Japan and loved seeing the photos.  I noticed that men tended to be dressed in western style clothing, while in all but one case, the women were dressed in kimono. It was a great exhibition.

When we finished at the Art Forum, we went to Mikawa again.  We had dinner at F's fish restaurant there.  I didn't mind as he'd let me have pasta the night before.  The food was okay, but I didn't think it was great.

We went to see Pacific Rim tonight.  I enjoyed it.  I like Guillermo del Toro's work, and this one was fun.  It was great to see a Japanese actress in a leading part too, with no romance between her and any of the characters…although there was a hint of it at the end.  I did think it was odd that there were hardly any other female roles in the film.  Certainly there weren't too many important ones.  There was a female Russian pilot but she didn't get to say very much.  However, I did like the movie much more than any Transformers film!

We came home after the movie and had a veggie sort of evening.  F isn't doing that well. He was cold in the theatre (I was using a fan through most of it) and has now fallen asleep on the couch.  I'll have to get him off to bed soon.  

That's it for me.  It really was a good day! Night.

August 10, 2013

Saturday - Muggy, humid and hot

A good day.  I got up to watch Nigel, but Martha Stewart was on instead.  The good thing is that she was only on for 30 minutes and not 60!  After the half hour infomercial, Gilmore Girls was on and it was a good'un.  I think the show might be off soon for a while. I should check, but I don't want it confirmed!

At 12 I went and took a nap. I only meant it to be for 15 minutes, but woke up an hour later. Still, I felt much better, so that was good.  Instead of going out for lunch, we had leftovers from Thursday's dinner.  It was really nice to eat at home to be honest.  We actually managed not to fight either.  

We went to Mikawa soon after lunch to see World War Z with Brad Pitt.  It was quite scary, and quite quiet.  I enjoyed it to be honest.  It wasn't a dumb movie at all.

After the movie we had dinner at the mall's new pasta restaurant, then did a little shopping (I got a new shirt), and then we went for a drink.  Following that, we went for a drive.  I wasn't expecting to go for a drive and so hadn't gone to the ladies room before we left.  Mistake!  F took us to see the fireworks but AFTER we arrived, he checked and found there weren't any that night.  Just before he parked, I had asked him to find me a washroom somewhere.  We ended up driving back to Tsuruoka.  Sorry darling!  If you'd warned me we were going on a long drive I would have used the mall facilities….but you didn't.

We bought a few groceries at the shop and then came home.  We watched a bit of telly, I did a bit of crochet.  I finished my doily in the morning and also started a quick scarf for myself.  I'm a little under halfway done, but it's going well.  

And that's about it.  I'm watching Bones while blogging.  It's been a good day…hopefully tomorrow will be too.  That's it for me.  Night!

July 21, 2013

Sunday - Sunny but muggy, a few clouds

A good day.

I went to bed late this morning/last night, I don't think F went to bed at all.  He said he napped on the couch a bit, but I'm not so sure!

I got up around 11, the same time F went to bed for a nap.  I spent a bit of time on my computer and then took a nap too.  We slept for a bit, but got up and went out for sushi finally.  We went to the far away keitensushi place.  It was good, but I wasn't very hungry.  It's a bit sad actually, as the food was good.

After the movie we didn't know what to do, so F drove us out to the mall.  We finally decided to go and see a movie, so we spent a bit of time in the mall.  F bought himself some clothes, I drooled over some yarn, but didn't buy any.  I did get some new socks though.  

We had Java Kulas at Seattle's Best, mine was a fruit one and was nice.  Then, we went upstairs to see Fast & Furious 6.  I was expecting to hate it, but to be honest, I thought it was a lot of fun!  Obviously, not a deep, must see movie, but as there was nothing else in English at the cinema that we hadn't already seen, it was cool.  I laughed a lot at it, F napped on and off!

After the movie we drove back to Tsuruoka and picked up a few things at the grocery store.  F got some unagi and I got some kim chee beef, which was better than it sounds.  We came home and ate.  

F had a fairly early night tonight, and I should try and get some sleep soon too.  It was a surprisingly fun day. Night!

June 30, 2013

Sunday - Warm and sunny

Today was an odd day.  It really was.

F went over to his mother's house this morning to do some work in the garden.  He'd asked me to call him when I got up so that he would have an excuse to leave if he wanted to.  No problem.  

I got up, called him, but he said he was already on his way home.

At home, he fed me some of his bread that he made. It was good. He keeps finding these interesting recipes on the net! We couldn't really get our stuff sorted out and it was quite late when we decided to leave.  We wanted to see a 5:40 movie, but needed to eat lunch first.  

We decided to have lunch at the mall, and left our apartment around 3.  It would give us lots and lots of time really.  We got to the mall.  F checked his wallet, but couldn't find it.  He asked me to wait a minute and he'd check the car.  He did.  No wallet.  He decided to drive home and look at home.  I was afraid that he'd decide not to come back to the mall, so I came home too.  He searched.  No wallet.

He called his mother, no wallet.  He went over to the grocery store as he'd bought stuff there this morning.  No wallet.  Then, he had a brainwave.  He looked in the glove compartment.  There it was.  

By this time it was almost 5:00pm and I thought he wouldn't want to go back to the mall.  I was wrong.  

We drove back to the mall, got the tickets for the movie, and then got something to eat.  F had ramen and I had a crepe with tuna and pizza toppings on it.  It was good in an odd way.  We went to see Gambit which was okay but not great.  Really not great.  It did have Colin Firth so I was happy, but I wouldn't recommend it to non-fans.  Unless they liked Alan Rickman, and even then….

After the movie we had a drink in Seattle's Best, but F left twice during our drinking time.  It was so annoying.  We had dinner in a Cocos behind the mall, and it was okay. Nothing special really. 

We came home via some blooming long way that F wanted to check out for bugs.  He didn't bother to tell me that was what he was doing until we were halfway there.  Sigh.  After that, the grocery store. We're going to try and go out tomorrow night after he finishes work and see if we can see the fireflies.

We came home and had kind of a frustrating evening together.  I asked him to help me with some financial stuff that we've been trying to fix all year, but it was too late at night to do it.  Still, we started it and I think that is good.  

He's set up the bread maker again for tomorrow, as I asked for some normal bread for sandwiches.  He likes making bread! 

Anyway, that's it for now.  I hope to talk to you tomorrow.  Night!  

June 29, 2013

Saturday - Hot and sunny

A good day.  

I got up this morning in enough time to watch the end of Nigel Slater ont telly.  (I have to tell SpellCheck that "ont" is in fact a word, sort of.)

I settled in with my crochet for Gilmore Girls.  It was a fun episode with a spa.  I got a few rows done and enjoyed myself.  

I got dressed and after a while F and I went to Grado for lunch.  It was really nice.  He had pork, I had chicken in a gorgonzola sauce.  Yum. The restaurant even comped us some dessert because we brought them another bag of newspapers.  That was nice of them.

In the afternoon, we went to the Chido Museum.  F renewed his membership and we went in.  I was really happy for him because it was the katana exhibition this week.  It's the thing he looks forward to most of the year.  He didn't like the fact that they were mostly new katanas though.  We enjoyed ourselves in the museum and then we left.  

F took off driving and didn't tell me where we were going.  We ended up in Haguro at the museum.  We arrived at 3:50 and it was supposed to close at 4:30.  We went in, but not to the paying area.  We looked at the books in the gift shop, I got some postcards, and we bought drinks from the vending machine.  

We came home for a while after a nice drive.  We vegged at home and then decided on dinner.  We went to Aki for Okonomiyaki and it was great.  The restaurant wasn't very busy tonight.  The cook was bemoaning the fact that last night he was busy, but tonight he wasn't!

We left and made a quick stop at home before going to the theatre.  We had an appointment with Tyrannosaur.  It was great.  It's a really dark movie, definitely not a happy movie, but with interesting people and good writing.  A good indication of the film's worth, F didn't fall asleep at it…first time in ages!

We came home via the grocery store and the gas station.  We had a quiet night at home.  We watched a bit of TV, F set up the breadmaker, and then went to bed.  I'm still up, but it is ridiculously late and I should be in bed.

Sunday, F has to go to his house, and we might go to a movie in Mikawa later on.  Not sure what else will happen.  That's it for me.  Night.

June 23, 2013

Sunday - Warm and sunny

A good day…no-really!

We had a slow start to the day today, but after a while we got ourselves up and out.  F was up early of course, he even made us a mini loaf of bread.  We had our lunch at a soba chain restaurant, then he suggested a movie. It was fine with me, so we drove out to Mikawa.

We went into the mall and bumped into the same student I bumped into on Friday!  She'd even been to see the movie we were going to see.  F asked her to call me if she wanted to get together sometime.  

We went to see The Great Gatsby and I was really surprised.  I don't like the novel, I had to read it at Uni and thought the people were useless and basically pretty dolls, but this film was different.  I'm actually quite surprised that I liked it as much as I did.  F however fell asleep for part of the film.  Poor guy, he's doing that a lot these days.

After the movie we went shopping.  I needed to get a present for my niece, so we did that, then hit the kitchenware department for my replacement spatula!  We finished our mall time by going to Seattle's Best and having Java Kulas.  Yum.  

When we got to the car, F suggested going to Sakata for dinner, so we drove their and decided to go to an Indian restaurant.  We went and had a really yummy meal.  We had their Couple Set.  

We left and headed back towards Tsuruoka.  F wanted to do something else, but I said it was okay, but only if we stopped to use a washroom!  We stopped at a bookstore and had a quick look around. I found something else that would make a good present for my niece and we got that too.

We just came home and I stayed home for the rest of the night.  F popped out to the grocery store for CCR.  I told him that was how he had to remember it.  Cheese, Chocolate and Ramen.  Well, I didn't care about the ramen, but the chocolate I did care about.  

We watched a bit of TV.  F made more bread for the morning (that's why he needed the cheese!) and finally went to bed.  I should get there soon as I'll be going out in the afternoon with a friend.  

That's it for me.  It was a busy but fun day.  Night!

June 22, 2013

Saturday - Sunny and warm, rainy at night

A good day.  

I got up just in time to watch Gilmore Girls and it was great as always!  I did a little crochet. Afterwards, I spent a bit of time on my computer, then headed back to bed!  I was tired.

After a bit I got up, got dressed, before F did! We went out for lunch to Patio in the mall, but it wasn't a success.  My meal was good, but F's wasn't and the waitstaff took a long time.  F was really angry with them and almost walked out of the restaurant.  I was surprised. He's usually not the impatient one.

Following lunch, we went over to the Bussenkan, the tourist area.  My niece wanted some touristy stuff, but there wasn't too much. I did get her something though.  F and I had an ice cream afterwards and then came home for a bit.

We headed out again around 6 to have dinner.  We went to Hirabokujo, the tonkatsu restaurant. It was really nice.  The surprising thing is that it was F's choice.  I tried to remind him that lately he hasn't wanted meat, but he was sure about this place!

We headed over to the movie theatre after we finished and went to see After Earth.  It was okay, but not great.  I actually enjoyed Oblivion more than this movie, because it had a more interesting plot. 

We came home and spent a fairly quiet evening together.  I did more crochet, F did his usual watching TV and computer at the same time.  It was pleasant to be honest.

I'm not sure what we're going to get up to tomorrow. I'll be sure to fill you in tomorrow night.  Until then.  Night!