August 23, 2025

Saturday - Hot and muggy

I woke up this morning around 9 am. I went downstairs and then came back to the room. I knew F was there, but I didn’t see him. Today, his sister took their mother to Day Service. 

I went back to bed for a bit of a snooze. I dragged myself out of bed a couple of hours later and got dressed. I was waiting for F to come back up to the room, but he didn’t for ages. After having one of our “conversations” about where to have lunch, we decided to try the place in Kushibiki.

We drove out of the city to the Kushibiki area. The fields are so green and the hills are looking very beautiful.  It’s a lovely drive out there. We were able to get into the restaurant this week, but all the tables were busy, except one on the floor. No thanks! They offered to let us sit at the counter and that’s what we did. We did a bit of a combo meal. F had fried rice and I had the pork, black mushroom, egg and veggies plate. We shared a bit of our dishes with the other person. It was nice that way, except I didn’t feel full afterwards.

We drove back into Tsuruoka and went to S-Mall. I took my handbag into the leather goods store to see if it could be fixed. I bought one off Amazon last year…it’s my usual combo of purse and backpack. I really love it, but one of the strap holders at the bottom has come off. It is a leather purse so I’m hoping that it can be fixed. It’s my first time with a real leather purse and I really love the bag. The store is going to check if it can be fixed. I’ve told F that I’m willing to pay up to 10,000 yen to get it fixed as that’s what a new one would cost. 

Since he helped me with that, I took him to Doutor and bought him an iced coffee. I got myself a decaf one too. We spent an hour or more just relaxing and vegging with our phones. 

When we were ready to go, we went to Gyomu Super along the street. I needed some things and they are a good and cheap place to get them. I got some baby cheese squares, some kimchi, some potato salad, some frozen veggies and some cereal. I did get a snack and some sunflower seeds so it wasn’t all practical things.

We came back to the house and it was hot inside. I came upstairs and turned on the AC. I stripped off my outer clothes as I was starting to sweat. It was 34 degrees in our room. Ack!

I relaxed with some YouTube and my computer, drank some tea and waited for the room to cool down. F came up to the room around 6 pm. We talked about dinner, but he had to feed his mother first. He ended up giving her some of the lunches that I made later in the week for her, the ones she doesn’t eat right now. 

When F came back upstairs we talked about dinner and F suggested Hana, a fish and tonkatsu place. The food is good but it is a bit expensive. Sigh. I said okay, but I probably shouldn’t have. 

We drove over there and were able to go in. I ended up having tonkatsu and F had a kaisen-don, or raw fish on rice. For some reason, the restaurant brought his out right away. He’d basically finished eating before my meal was ready. So, I was bored while he was eating and he was bored while I was eating. I think mine came about 15 minutes after his. Wouldn’t you think that they would hold his in the back until mine was nearly ready? I know, not the Japan way.

We paid and left. F wanted to go to the grocery store and we both went in. He wanted something for K’s breakfast (and his too.) We paid and left, but on the way back, F realized that he forgot to buy batteries for the sensor light in the genkan. He was going to 7-11 but I suggested the other grocery store as it would be cheaper. Probably. 

We went to the store, got batteries and then came back to the house. We put away the groceries and I headed upstairs again, while F fixed the light. I think.

I relaxed with more YouTube and at 11 I watched FBI. It was a tense one about some trafficked young women in New York. 

I followed that with some work on my column! I just did a little, but I rewrote part of it. I watched a lot of YouTube and that’s about it. We didn’t go to a movie tonight. I had wanted to of course, but F said he didn’t want to go. He didn’t even let me tell him about the films so there’s that. For the record, there were two movies in the area in English. It’s not a big deal as neither of them were must sees for me, but I would have enjoyed being out of the house in someone else’s air conditioning!

That’s about it for me for today. I’m not sure what we’ll do tomorrow but I think we’ll try going to the concert at the aquarium. I also think that I’ll be doing the regular grocery shopping too. Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

August 17, 2025

Sunday - Hot and Sunny, cloudy later on, with rain at night. 

I slept in this morning, but it’s Sunday. Aren’t we supposed to sleep in on Sunday? I went downstairs around 10 am and then came back to sleep in the room. I snoozed for a bit, but did get up and dressed before noon. I went downstairs to see F and he was sitting in the living room. We talked about lunch and I said I’d like some yakiniku and suggested either going to a place in Tsuruoka or a place in Sakata. He chose Sakata!

He called over and made a reservation. We got in the car and drove to Sakata. For some reason,  F put on some not very good music on the trip to Sakata. I told him that it was okay but on the way back I wanted to listen to the Bridget Jones’s Diary soundtrack! He was okay with that.

We arrived a little early for our reservation but it seemed like they had no idea what to do with us. We basically just joined the queue! Still, we really didn’t have to wait very long. We both had the bibinba lunch with some meat to grill and it was nice. However, the bibinba part didn’t show up for ages. We actually had to ask where it was!

We left Sakata and went back to Tsuruoka. It would have been nice to stop and shop or something, but F wasn’t into it. Sigh. I did get to listen to my music though!

We went to the grocery store back in Tsuruoka and I bought the groceries for the next couple of days. F came in with me but wasn’t as annoying as he usually is! Not quite anyway. The only thing is that when I ask him for ideas or suggestions he never has any. Drives me crazy. 

We came back to the house and I unpacked the groceries. I went upstairs afterwards with some of the food for tomorrow. I chilled out with my computer for a while and waited for the room to cool down. F came up and after a while said that he’d clean the air conditioner filter. I suggested that he wait until the room was a little bit cooler! To be fair, he did. When the room was cooler, I gave him the vacuum cleaner and he got to work. He also washed the filter.

He turned the AC back on and after a slight hiccup (the filter was peeking out the top) the AC was cleaned and back in use. Yay.

F seemed surprised that I didn’t buy anything for his mother’s dinner…but he was with me when I went shopping. If he had wanted something we could have bought it then! He knows that I don’t cook on the weekends. So, he went downstairs and made something for her dinner. Then, after 8 pm it was our turn.

We went out to Gusto tonight too. We went to the other Gusto though. Tonight I had my favourite pasta there. They have a fresh pasta with a lemony cream sauce with avocado, shrimp and ham. It’s very nice. I had small fries with it. F had a burger patty with a fried egg and some rice. We both had the drink bar.

Dinner was good and I enjoyed it. I dunno about F! We came back to the house afterwards and headed upstairs. 

I relaxed and wrote an email to my best friend. I owed her one. Then, I watched a bit of TV. I watched an episode of Buffy. I’m still in the second season I think. I still don’t really “get” the Buffy love yet. 

Ive been watching some YouTube while I’ve been blogging and doing my other internet stuff. Tomorrow I’m back to my boring little life and I’m not sure just what I’ll get up to. Come back a bit later and find out! Until tomorrow….

August 14, 2025

Thursday - Hot and sunny

I got up this morning when my alarm went off. I went downstairs and then came back to the room and went back to bed with a few alarms set on my phone. I watched a couple of videos and then snoozed. 

I woke up about half an hour before I was due to leave! Yikes. I hurriedly got up and dressed. I did a couple of things around the room and then went downstairs. I got to the bus stop about 5 minutes early. It was a little funny because I was wearing a big sunhat and I was looking at my phone while I was waiting. I never looked up so I was surprised when the bus stopped right in front of me!

I was the only person on the bus for quite a while. I rode the bus until the end of the line, S-Mall. I got out, bought a couple of things at the Daiso on the second floor, then went downstairs. I decided to buy lunch at Pizza Hut, but they told me it would take about 30 minutes. Yikes. I didn’t have that much time. Instead, I ended up at the bakery and bought a few things. I ate in the back of the bakery.

I caught the bus back to Sanno-machi and first up went to the post office and made a deposit. Yay! More coins in my account! Then, I toddled over to the drugstore and bought a few things for the house and myself. I walked back to the cinema and went in. 

I bought my ticket and a few minutes later I was in my seat and watching Bridget Jones’s Diary. The Digital Remaster was being shown in my local cinema for a week for the 25th anniversary…or maybe the 24th since it came out in 2001. It was great to see it again on the big screen. It’s been ages since I watched it and I had forgotten just how funny it really is. And…how gorgeous Colin Firth and Hugh Grant were….Oh and tonight when I was trying to explain about the movie to F, he couldn’t remember who Hugh Grant was and kept getting him confused with Hugh Jackman! When I figured out who he was talking about it was very funny!

After the movie, I wrote up a quick movie note for the board at the cinema and then left for my bus stop. I should have waited in the cinema for a few more minutes, but I got to the stop about 10 minutes too early. 

The bus came to the stop, I got on and had a lovely ride until I got to my stop. I got off the bus and walked back to the house. Just outside the yard, I remembered that there were some overhanging branches and weeds that were just waiting for a person on a bicycle to run into them. I opened the house and put my backpack inside, then grabbed a pair of shears from the garage and cut down the offending branches that I could reach. I gathered up the branches carefully as one of them had thorns and disposed of them. 

I went into the house. I saw K and she looked okay. I was a tad worried about her as she’s old and doesn’t always look after herself on hot days. 

I went upstairs and basically stripped. It was 32 degrees in my room. I got it cooled down and I relaxed in front of my computer for a while. F called around 5:30 and I reminded him to get some bentos for us. He was surprised that I wanted bentos for all of us, but with me being out today I thought it was a good thing to spend some time with K. 

He came back to the house around 6 pm. I was in the kitchen and when he arrived I heated up the bentos. He had got two smallish bentos for me and K. They had a tempura shrimp, bamboo shoots and mushroom and bamboo rice. I wasn’t sure that I’d like it, but it was okay. I wouldn’t pick it for myself, but I did eat it. F got himself a big one with fish that he complained about being too thin. The fish, not him!

After we finished eating, I washed the bento boxes and left them to dry. We had to wait a while for K, F’s sister to come over and drop off some food for us, but then we got ready to go out. 

F and I drove to PAL and went to the drugstore there. We bought a couple of drinks for the road and then drove off to Yunohama to see the fireworks. We were supposed to leave Tsuruoka a whole lot earlier so when we arrived in Yunohama, all of the good parking spots were taken. Finally F found one and we walked a bit towards the beach. 

It's hard to get a good picture of fireworks on an iPhone!

The fireworks show was supposed to last for 10 minutes, but was really only six! Still, it was nice. We haven’t planned to go and see the big hanami in Tsuruoka this year, we might watch it from the windows upstairs if we feel like it this year. 

We drove back to Tsuruoka and stopped at a grocery store. We needed something for K’s lunch since I hadn’t cooked tonight (no leftovers) and also, ended up getting a couple of treats as well. 

Then, we went through a gyudon shop’s drive through and got some food. The bentos earlier seemed small to me! I got a cheese gyudon and F just got a regular one. 

We came back to the house and ate. I watched some YouTube and then The Rookie. It’s been on so long that The Rookie isn’t the rookie anymore! I quite like it anyway. 

F fell asleep while I was watching my show and only woke up a little when I went downstairs around midnight to take down K’s breakfast. (I can’t leave it in the kitchen too early or K will find it and eat it and then have nothing for breakfast.)

So that’s about it for my day. It was so good to get out of the house. It was so hot though, it was quite horrible to be out, but I’m glad that I finally did it. I had wanted to go out yesterday, but I think going out today was the right choice. I was tired when I came back and having to cook on top of that would have been too much. 

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

August 3, 2025

 Sunday - Hot and sunny

I woke up fairly early this morning, for a Sunday! I looked at the thermometer and it was already 29 degrees in the room, verging on 30. I went downstairs but before I did, I turned on the AC. 

When I came back to the room it was much cooler. I went back to sleep for a while and it was lovely getting to sleep in without guilt!

I got up later when F came up to the room and talked about going out. He had asked if we could go to see a cruise ship come into Sakata and I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea, but decided it is nice to be able to do something with him! I got dressed, but F took a bit of a snooze. He claims he wasn’t sleeping, but there was snoring so….

Finally, we got up and left. I suggested just stopping at a convenience store to pick up something for my brunch. F was surprised that I didn’t want to go to a restaurant, but he wanted to  see the ship arrive. 

We drove out to Sakata and found the port. I was surprised how far out of the city it was. There were some booths set up to sell local products to the people on the cruise ship. We had a brief look at them but they were expensive and things that I didn’t need. It might have been nice though if I was on the ship. We were too late to see the ship arrive, but it was cool to see the huge ship up close. 

Norwegian Spirit 

We stayed a few minutes and then left. It was so hot and there was no shade at all. Although I had put on sunscreen before leaving the house and I wore a big hat, I was feeling the sun. F wanted to stop by the other port in Sakata, so we drove there. 

We went into the food court area and looked around. F wanted some food, so he ordered some. I got myself a blueberry lassi at the place I usually order fish and chips at. It was lovely, if a tad expensive.

I saw this sign from the car and got a chuckle at it.
It says,"Falling Love with Squid". 

Next up, we drove back to Tsuruoka. I’m afraid I fell asleep on the way. I suggested that we go and do our grocery shopping before going back to the house. F was okay with that. 

I went into Mina and picked up the food. I forgot to get myself lunch meat, but I’ll survive. I got stuff for dinner for the next couple of days too. I came back to the car and we drove to the house. 

I put the groceries away and then went upstairs. The room was 34 degrees so I’m afraid I did a bit of a strip as I turned on the AC! I also turned on my water pot and later had some tea.

I relaxed for a while. F came upstairs and then decided to feed his mother the bento I bought her. I got her a fish one with her favourite fish so she liked it.

F wanted to go out but he wouldn’t suggest any place for us to go. I finally came up with a couple and F picked one of them. We went over to China House and were lucky enough to get a table.

I ordered the yurinchi - a crispy chicken with a sour sauce with lots of onions on top as a set meal, and F had his favourite yakisoba with five different toppings. He liked his, I really enjoyed mine.

After we finished eating we headed over to Machi-kinema to go and see Paddington In Peru. We drove there and parked, bought our drinks and then our tickets. We ran into an old student of L’Eikaiwa and said hello to her. I remembered her, she wasn’t my student, but we often chatted after classes. 

We watched the movie and it was great. I think the first two movies were better, but this was still really good and I enjoyed it a lot. I did get a little teary in places too. 

We came back to the house after the movie and I came upstairs again. F set up the rice cooker for me and I turned on the AC in the room upstairs.

So, that’s about it. It’s been a pretty good day really. I may have a sunburn, but I don’t think it is very bad as I’m not in pain so that’s good. 

Tomorrow, if I can rouse myself, I plan to go out again to Machi-Kinema and see another movie. If I can’t I’ll have a quiet day at the house I think. Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

July 21, 2025

Monday - Hot and sunny, humid

Today was both parts happy and sad, but it was a good day overall. 

In the morning, F and I got up fairly early. We had to go and meet my nephew at 7:30, so we were up early. Well, early for ME! We met him at his hotel and took him to Cocos for breakfast. On national holidays and weekends they open at 7:00am for breakfast. It was very nice! I had a combination plate with some waffles, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and I added on drink bar too. We all seemed fairly happy with our breakfasts. 

A little before 9 am, we left the restaurant after we paid. We drove to the station, watched while my nephew bought a few things and then went through the gate. We had helped him find the right side of the station to board the train. We waved him off as the train left the station. We couldn’t see him, but hoped that he saw us! Throughout the rest of the day he texted me with updates as to where he was. He made it safely to his airport hotel. He’ll be leaving Japan tomorrow.

After we left him at the station, we went to a grocery store first to pick up something for F’s mother, then, headed back to the house. I went upstairs and started to cool down our room. Then, I tried to take a nap. I didn’t really manage. First, my friend texted to see when we were planning to come and then F wanted to leave soon so no nap yet.

We drove over to Sakata, stopping on the way to buy a few drinks for lunch. We decided to bring a family box of vanilla ice cream cups too. 

We had a lovely time with my friend. She’s recently had some big changes in her life and has been so busy that we couldn’t even get together. She prepared some “make your own sandwiches” for us and it was delicious. After lunch, F stretched out on her couch and basically fell asleep! I felt sorry for him. We’ve been non-stop this weekend and this was the first time we could relax. After a lot of lovely conversation, we left my friend’s house and drove back to Tsuruoka. I couldn’t stay awake at all! F stopped in at a 7-11 to get something printed but it didn’t work. He wanted to try another 7-11 so at that one I got out with him and bought myself an iced cafe latte. He got ice cream and bought one for K as well.

Back at the house I went upstairs where the temperature was a horrid 34 in our room. Yikes. I turned on the AC and basically stripped and had a bit of a nap. F came upstairs a bit later too and we both relaxed for a while.

Later on, he made his mother something for dinner and then we went out for ours. I chose Gusto for tonight. It isn’t the best place, but it’s not too expensive and they have decent air conditioning!

After dinner, I had to buy groceries. We went to PAL shopping center and I bought food. I was just about to check out when I saw F come in the store. He told me he wanted shampoo, so I suggested he go to the drugstore. I even gave him a shopping bag for him to carry his bottle!

When I had finished shopping, I checked out and then went to join F at the drugstore. Of course, he was nearly finished and then we walked back to the car with our shopping. I had the heavy groceries and he didn’t offer to help carry them. Sigh.

On the way back, he tried stopping at another convenience store to get his printing done, but the website was still down. I pointed out that it was a national holiday today and probably the website was down because of that. He had tried 3 different places to print a document and none of them worked so I think I’m correct!

Back at the house, I put away the groceries and then went upstairs. I probably should have had a shower tonight, but I just didn’t want to do that! I had a relaxing evening and even watched the season finale of Severance, which my nephew had strongly suggested I do. It was great, but my internet died 17 minutes before the end! I got it fixed, but it was annoying!

F has been sleeping for a while. I’m glad. He’s walked a lot, eaten a lot and been out and about so much. I am glad that today was a little bit of a lighter day. He’s back at work tomorrow and I feel bad for him. 

Anyway, that’s it for me today. I’m not sure what I’m going to do tomorrow, but I think I’ll let you know tomorrow night! Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….