October 4, 2026

Sunday - Sunny and warmish

I woke up this morning around 10 when F came back to bed. I made my trip downstairs and then went back to bed for a little while. I woke up in the afternoon and got up. F slept on for a while and then got up and suggested going for my lunch. He didn’t want to eat anything so I asked to go to the Indian restaurant that I like.

We got dressed and drove over to the restaurant. We were the only customers as it was about 20 minutes before their lunchtime was over. I did ask if it was okay to come in and the guy said it was. 

I ordered the saag keema curry with naan meal and F ordered Masala chai. He was given a salad and a soup as well. I did say that he wasn’t having food too and the guy said it was service (free) so that was nice! My meal was great, but I ended up wearing a whole bunch of it. My poor shirt, luckily it wasn’t the first stain on it but it turned very green in places!

After our meal, we paid and left. We went over to the PAL shopping area and I did the weekly grocery shopping. I got food for the next couple of days. F stayed in the car as he still isn’t feeling great. He’s dizzy all the time and I’m wondering what is going on with him. 

After the shopping we came back to the house. I put away the groceries and then headed upstairs. I spent time on my computer and F had a snooze for a while.

Around 6:30 he gave his mother the bento I got her and then we decided to go out. He suggested a gyudon shop. I wasn’t terribly happy, but it was fine. We went to the shop near MaxValu. It was quite busy, but we did get a table. F had his usual gyudon with a raw egg and miso soup, I had pork curry with cheese and a caesar salad. Mine was fine and yes, I know that I had curry twice in one day. So what?

We just came back to the house. I thought my movie started at 9pm, but it was actually on at 10pm. So, I got to watch an episode of Widow’s Bay and enjoyed that. At 10pm I finally got to watch Heretic with Hugh Grant. Wow! I enjoyed it and thought that Hugh is much more talented than he gives himself credit for! It was good, a bit weird at the end, but I’m glad I finally got to see it.

Since midnight I’ve been doing my end of day things and getting ready to go to bed. Today, I finally got my quilt out. I’ve been using my summer towelket and a blanket for the last month or so, now I’ll be warm in bed. 

We’ll have to start using the heater soon. It had gotten surprisingly cooler over the last couple of weeks. 

That’s about it for me for today. Come back later if you want and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow…. 

October 3, 2026

Saturday - Warm and sunny, cooler later on

I woke up a little before 9 am. On Saturday I tried to wake up after 9am as F and K will have left. I made a trip downstairs and then came back up to the room. F came up to grab his wallet and then he left with K.

I snoozed for a bit longer. I had prepared my clothes and stuff to take last night, so I had time. I got up around 10, F took a shower around then and got dressed. 

We made it over to the doctor’s office in time and checked in. We hurried up and waited in the lobby. I managed to finish my book, Michael Ondaatje’s The Cat’s Table. I liked it, but because I kept it only for reading at the doctor’s office I lost the plot a bit. It was a good book though.

We got our 3 minutes with the doctor, F got his shingles shot and we made appointments to get our flu and covid shots next month. 

We left after getting our medicines and walked to the parking lot. We talked about lunch. F wanted Japanese and then suggested okonomiyaki. I thought that was a good idea, so we went off to the place near our old apartment. We each ordered one okonomiyaki, mine was cheese and curry, F had shrimp. They were great. We shared an order of gyoza as well.

After lunch we went to a drugstore for a moment and then went over to Komeda Coffee. We were able to get in right away, which doesn’t happen that often. I had a decaf iced coffee, F had a hot coffee. 

We came back to the house after our coffee. I came upstairs and spent time on my computer, F stayed downstairs to welcome his mother back.

F made his mother some dinner and then we talked about our evening. I suggested a movie, and we actually had a choice of three tonight. We decided to go to Machi-ne Kinema in Tsuruoka to see The Drama. 

First, we had dinner. We went to a nearby Chinese restaurant. I ordered some kara-age (fried chicken) and I suggested F had an egg and shrimp dish. It took a long time to arrive as they were quite busy tonight. Still, we had a lot of time and we were finished eating an hour before the movie. 

We drove over to the drugstore near the cinema and went in. We picked up a few things and a couple of drinks for the movie. After we paid, we drove over to the cinema and went in. We paid our money and then got in to see The Drama. We both liked it. I do think that the big thing wasn’t as big as the characters thought it was, but what do I know?

After the movie, F and I came back to the house. I watched The Hunting Party episode that was on tonight. I had to watch it through the DVR, but it was fine. Kelsey Grammar was on it tonight, that was a surprise. 

F has gone to bed, he’s tired and I’ll go to bed soon too. 

I have no idea what we’ll get up to tomorrow. We will have to buy our groceries for the next few days and I hope that we’ll get out of the house for a bit. 

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

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….