September 30, 2023

Saturday - Cloudy and cold

Well, yesterday I did a load of laundry and I'm downstairs doing another one now! What an exciting holiday I am having!! (Actually, I am, it's just one of those things when you holiday for more than a week.)

Last night we had breakfast for dinner, which is a little funny as I had breakfast for brunch yesterday too. I didn't mind. I'm happy to eat all the potatoes, sausages and scrambled eggs that I can! 

After dinner we watched a couple of episodes of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon and they were quite interesting. Daryl is my favourite character and it is really interesting to see him in a place where he can't speak the language. It sounds familiar to me. There aren't quite as many zombies in Japan though. Well, they don't bite anyway.

 We followed that up with an old movie that I had watched on TV a few years ago, The Judge with Robert Duvall and Robert Downey, Jr. It was fine. I was glad it wasn't full of zombies or something.

I went to bed and did some phone games for a while. However, I fell asleep before I really got ready for bed, so I woke up around 2 am and read my book for a while before I fell asleep. 

I got up around 8:30 or 9:00 this morning and went downstairs. I just had a cup of coffee, no breakfast, so when lunchtime came around I was rather hungry. I had a couple of pita breads with some ham in them. Yum.

I did a catnap on the bed, and then decided to rouse myself. My sister said that as her husband was out for a bit, it was a good time to use the computer downstairs, so here I am.  I realized today that I have been here for 2 weeks already, less than that is left on my holiday. I would still like to do a little shopping, I need some pants and maybe another pair of jeans if I can find them. Long sleeved T-Shirts/tops would be good too.

I'm not sure what we'll do the rest of the day. There was some talk about going out for dinner, so we might do that. I'll try and fill you in later. 

Anyway, come back later if you like and hear all about my exciting times in Canada!

Until tomorrow....

September 29, 2023

 Friday - Rainy and cool

It's been a busy week here in Canada. I went out with my niece on Tuesday. I had an expensive lunch and a successful shopping trip. I got a lovely dress for my party in November on a massive sale, so that was good.

My friend picked me up on Wednesday morning and we went into the city. We had a lovely lunch at The Olive Garden and then a very successful shopping trip in Mayfield Common. I got some jeans, some shirts and some nice undies! We checked into the hotel and had a little rest before leaving again.  We had a light dinner at a placed called Chopped Leaf and then went over to the Jubilee Auditorium. We saw Ain't Too Proud, which is a stage play/musical about The Temptations.  Despite a very talented cast and some great music, it wasn't the greatest play ever. We both liked it but didn't love it. We went back to the hotel and basically went straight to bed!

Thursday, we did more shopping. We went up to Kingsway Garden Mall and had a quick run through a shop before having a nice brunch in the food court. I opted for Ukrainian food, since it is quite hard to get it in Japan (although Costco does sometimes have perogies). It was lovely.  We did a lot of walking around the stores and my friend had much more luck than I did. We ended up in The Bay and I found a coat that was on massive sale. It's not a terribly warm one, but should do for a lot of the Japanese winter, especially if I wear something warm underneath.

We met up with my friend's niece and her husband. I haven't seen the niece for years...probably 15 or 20...and now she's a grown up married lady! It was lovely to see her. She seems quite happy, I'm glad to say.

We had to go our separate ways as we were a bit tired, and they had a long way to drive. We went back to the hotel for a few minutes and then we went out again to go to the restaurant. My friend had made reservations at The Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant. It was amazing. It was expensive, but it was worth it. The food was excellent and so were the staff. We were there for about 2 and a half hours, and were stuffed afterwards. We had cheese and broccoli soup, then a cheese fondue, followed by a coq au vin based fondue with meats and some shrimp and salmon. It was amazing. The veggies were also good. The ending was of course a chocolate fondue and it was so good I wanted to lick out the pot at the end in case we missed some of the chocolate!

We went back to the hotel and were in a food coma. We basically relaxed and watched a bit of TV. I planned to take a bath, but didn't, I read a bit of my book, did a little crochet and then eventually went to bed.

Today, I've already had a lot of fun! After we checked out of the hotel, we went to breakfast at Cora. It is a new to me breakfast chain. They close in the afternoon apparently. I had what they called a breakfast poutine. It was great and filling. I picked up the bill for that as my friend had been driving all the time and made all the reservations and such during our staycation!

We did a bit more shopping. I got some pyjamas and another souvenir for my husband at one place, then we zoomed over to the new mall near the International Airport. I didn't have a ton of luck there, but I did get a pair of shoes. Yay. We had a diet root beer and some onion rings at A&W and then did a bit more shopping. I didn't have much luck clothes wise, but did get some chocolate at the Lindt outlet shop. I'll be saving that for Japan and enjoying that over the next few months. 

My friend drove me back to my sister's house and we hugged goodbye. We hope to get together sometime next week if there's time. We both had such a good time together!

And that's it. You are up to date with me!

I hope it has been worth waiting for this update. Come back later if you like and see if I am able to write more. Until next time....

September 24, 2023

 Sunday - Clear and cool

Yesterday was a pretty good day. I went out with my sister in the morning to buy a few things at the grocery store, then came back to the house. I spent the rest of the day in. 

In the afternoon I watched the 4th and final episode of Inside Man. It was really good and did keep me guessing. 

My sister made Beef Bourguignon for dinner last night and it made the house smell amazing!  When dinnertime came, it was just as good as it smelled. She'd never tried the recipe before and wasn't sure if she got it right, but I think she did! 

After dinner we watched another episode of Severance and then the John Wick: Chapter Four film. I'm afraid I nearly fell asleep on John Wick. I love Keanu, but there was just so much repetitive killing that it got a bit boring after a while.  

It was around midnight when we all went our separate ways to bed. My poor nephew has a bit of a cold, I hope I don't get it too. I did my phone things and was going to read, but fell asleep and woke up around 3 am. Oh dear. I went back to sleep soon after and slept until 6:30, used the loo, and then went back to sleep. I didn't wake up until 10 am when one of my alarms went off. It's the weekend so no big deal, but I didn't expect to sleep so late.

And that's where I am now. My sister and I did a bit of shopping already today and now I'm doing laundry. It's such an exciting life I lead! 

I'll try and update tomorrow, but no promises. The next few days I might be a bit busier so it would be difficult to use the computer. 

Come back late if you like and hear all about my day. Until next time....

September 23, 2023

Saturday - Cool but sunny

Well, Thursday was a good day. I didn't go out at all that day, but I think I needed it. I watched a bit of TV and went to bed at a reasonable time. I still woke up in the middle of the night.

Friday was a good day. I got up, showered and had breakfast, then got ready to meet my friend. I was prepared for her to come really early, as she usually does, but she was basically on time. She got stuck at a railway crossing waiting for a train!

We headed into Edmonton and had lunch at Earls. It was nice. She had a stir-fry that she liked a lot, I had a Poke bowl. The waitress asked me if I was okay with raw fish before she took the order to the kitchen. I inwardly lol'd at that. Lunch was quite good. We shared a dessert and couldn't finish it and then left to go over to the cinema. I found out later that my sister and niece had gone to the same restaurant but probably just after we left!

We went to see A Haunting in Venice, the latest Branagh-Poirot film and we really enjoyed it. And the cinema....the seats! Oh my goodness. After the movie my friend asked me if I'd like those seats in my local cinema...I said yes, but I'd rather have them in my house! Comfy reclining chairs with leg rests. Oh my. I think I'm spoiled to see any other movie now! We each had popcorn and a water...movie was fun and just the right amount of spookiness. We had a great time!

After the movie we visited Roots, a clothing store. They have plus sizes too, and had a big sale on. I ended up getting myself a long dress that I can wear around the house in summer and a pair of sweatpants. Those will come in handy in winter in Japan when the house is freezing. The saleslady who rang up our purchases was very friendly and a lot of fun. It made shopping there seem even better than it was.

We made a quick stop at a Starbucks for some tea as I was dying of thirst. Well, not literally, but it felt like it. I think it was all the salt in the popcorn. 

We came back to Beaumont and she dropped me off. We'll be getting together next week for our little shop/staycation. I'm already looking forward to it.

At my sister's, they were barbecuing steaks for dinner, so we ate soon after I arrived. We had steak, corn on the cob, bread, salad and it was all lovely. I really enjoyed it. 

After dinner, we watched an episode of Severance...most people fell asleep on it...and then a movie called To Catch a Killer but IMDb had labeled it as Misanthrope. It wasn't too bad at all. 

We all went our separate ways around midnight. I stayed up for about an hour more, but went to sleep and mostly slept through the night. I got up this morning around 8:30 I think. 

Well, that's me up to date. I have no idea what I'll get up to over the next couple of days. Come back later if you like and hear all about my VayCay in Canada!

Until next time.... 

September 21, 2023

 Thursday - Cool but sunny

Yesterday wasn't a great day if I'm honest. I'm sure most of it was up to me. I'm still quite jet lagged, and tired too a lot of the time.

I got up and had breakfast, then watched a bit of TV while my sister did her workout downstairs. I couldn't get her cable channels to work, found out later I had the wrong remote! I watched stuff, and it was fun. I also did a couple of loads of laundry, and hung them to dry. They seem to take a lot longer to dry here than in Japan! And, I did a bit of crochet. That was relaxing for me.

After lunch, we went to the grocery store. I picked up a few things for Japan...things like gravy mixes and some more smoked paprika. I got a huge bottle because it was plastic and also big! I use a lot. I got some drink mixes too. I find it hard to drink things here. I don't like soda and everything else is so sweet. I did bring some instant barley tea with me, but I can't get the proportions right so it tastes a bit off.

In the afternoon, I watched a couple of episodes of The Walking Dead on Netflix. I had recorded these ones, but in the last week ran out of time to watch them. They were rather good. We had an early dinner, pizzas all around. I made mine and it was rather nice. It had Alfredo sauce as the base, then I put on some ham, olives, pineapple, green onions and cheese. Yum. It got criticized for not having enough stuff on it, but honestly, I liked it a lot!

Neither my sister nor I had slept that well the night before, so we were getting on each others nerves, so I just left the kitchen and went to my room. I took a nap for a couple of hours and then woke up. It was 8 pm ish and I decided to go to bed. I changed into my pyjamas and slept until midnight. 

Around 1 I started doing my usual things on my phone and then around 2:30 I went back to sleep and slept quite well until around 7 am. I'm feeling quite a lot better now.

I had a nice breakfast and some decaf coffee so I feel almost human again!

Tomorrow, my BFF and I will have some lunch and spend some time talking to each other so I'm sure I'll have a great day. 

That's all you get for now. Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. 

Until next time....

September 20, 2023

 Wednesday - Cloudy and cool

Yesterday was a pretty good day. After I blogged, I had lunch and then my sister and I headed out to do some shopping. We visited a couple of stores but didn't have any luck. Then, she went to the Superstore to get some groceries and I checked out their clothing section. They had plus sizes and some quite good things. A few things were on sale too, so I ended up with some sporty leggings in a psychedelic print, a sports top, a blouse and a pair of pyjama bottoms. I was quite pleased.

We had to go to another grocery store too as some of the ingredients she needed were hard to come by. I picked up some snacks, some decaf coffee pods and some lunch meat. I'm really enjoying the wonderful range of lunch meats available here. Japan's are rather dull and not very tasty. 

We came back to the house and after a while my sister cooked dinner. She roasted some chicken breasts and served them with some orzo, and asparagus. I had some lettuce with mine too. They were very nice. 

They made me watch another episode of Inside Man and then I basically went to bed. I had woken up at 6:30 that morning and hadn't been able to really sleep longer. I was tired.

I woke up around 2:00am today and stayed awake until 5ish, then went back to sleep and slept until 7:30 or so I think. Jetlag is a drag!

I do have plans to see my bestie on Friday. We'll have lunch and maybe go and see a movie if is is possible. We'd both like to see the new Branagh film, A Haunting in Venice I think it is called. 

It's been getting a lot cooler today. Next week it should warm up a little, but it is a big change for me. We don't have the humidity which I am so glad about. It's nice not to sweat all the darn time!

Okay, well that's enough. I want to get back to my vaycay. I'll try and update tomorrow but may skip Friday.

Until next time!

September 19, 2023

 Tuesday morning - Sunny and cool

Yesterday was a pretty good day.  After lunch, my sister took me into Edmonton and I did a little shopping. I did rather well. I bought some new socks, a few shirts and a new bra! I'm not sure if the bra is really the right size though. It was so uncomfortable. I have others that are similar so I'm hoping it'll relax a bit!

I managed to stay awake and reasonably lucid until 9:00pm last night.  I had dinner with my nephew and sister and then watched part one of a series that they said I had to watch. It was good! It was Inside Man with Stanley Tucci and David Tennant. I hope I get to watch the rest of it. 

But, by 9 pm I was too tired to function, so I went to bed and slept for a few hours. I woke up around 1:30 am, played with my phone for a while and then went back to sleep. I woke up again around 6:30 and dozed on and off until I got up this morning.

It's been quite a strange thing being able to understand everyone though. I went to the bank yesterday to exchange some of my money and I could do it all by myself. I didn't need help from F or my phone's Google Translate. 

I've also been a bit nervous to hear about the homeless problem in my city and how certain areas of the city aren't really safe anymore. My sister is advising me that if I want to use the LRT system (Light Rail Transit) that I should go with my nephew as he's a strapping lad and likely wouldn't get messed with. That's a big change. 

I hope to be able to get out and about by myself and do a bit more shopping in Edmonton. Today, my sister and I might do a Costco run or go somewhere else, it just depends what she needs to do. If I go to Costco, I have to remember to tell them I'm an International Member...don't ask me how I know that!

Anyway, must be off. Will try to update tomorrow....

September 18, 2023

Monday - Cool but smoky

I made it safely to Canada. It was a bit of a nightmare getting here though. 

My plane from my local airport was late leaving Shonai, so it made getting through customs and Immigration in Haneda a little hairy. I didn't really have time to eat at the airport and I was hungry as lunch was hours earlier. I made it though.

The flight to Canada was fine. I didn't sleep much, I watched a couple of movies and enjoyed them. I watched Everything Everywhere All At Once and it had English subtitles so I could understand the whole thing this time. Woot. I also watched Marcel the Shell with Shoes On and liked it a lot. 

Customs and Immigration in Canada were fine, but what wasn't fine was the long walk through the airport to drop my big suitcase. Last time I did this trip there was a place to drop off my bag very much closer. I bought a sandwich in the airport that was Vegas priced. It was excellent, but expensive. And of course, my flight from Vancouver to Edmonton was delayed by half an hour. I dozed a lot in the waiting area, and most of the flight!

My sister and nephew met me in the airport and brought me back to the house. I was so tired but managed to let dear F know that I had made it safely.  

Yesterday I took things fairly easy. I did a little shopping at Walmart and the grocery store...picked up some pita bread. Yum. I had a 4 hour "nap" in the middle of the day and woke up around 8:30 pm. Oops.

I'm quite surprised at how expensive food is here in Canada. Japan doesn't seem as expensive anymore. So, things are going well.  

It's still morning here on Monday. I usually update late at night, but won't be able to do that this trip.  I'll try and write more tomorrow or later depending on when I can use the computer!

Until next time....

September 15, 2023

Friday - Hot and Sunny

F got up early today so that he could go to the hospital and just before he left he woke me up. I asked him to today! I wanted to make sure that I was up in time to register for the Convention in Yokohama. I was up, dressed and did in fact, register for my convention. Woot! I’ll have to try and pay for it from Canada!

F came back from the hospital and checked his mother. She said she wasn’t hungry, so we went out for lunch. I suggested going to Cocos and that’s what we did. I had the lunch pasta again, and F had a hamburg and oyster fry. He didn’t like his much, I loved mine!

After lunch, we went to a convenience store to pay a bill. I got us some drinks and then we drove to Mikawa. F had to bring paperwork to his office about his days off, so he called someone and they came out to the car. 

Our next thing was to go to the post office and yes, you guessed it, make another deposit! I made a slightly larger one today. It was 500 yen and I put in 10 yen coins. Hurray for me. I’m putting this project on pause now, but I did re-home many coins, so I’m glad!

We came back to the house and relaxed for a bit. Well, F did, I worked on my packing. I think I got it done. I’m not sure if my suitcase is too heavy though. I may have to take two rather than putting one inside the other. 

After a while, we went out for dinner. We gave K the bento that she didn’t eat last night. We planned to go to one udon place, but when we got there, it had already closed. We took the scenic route as F seemed to forget where we were going. We tried to go to the other place, but on the way, we changed our mind and went for Chinese food instead. It was good!  I had Yurinchi, a sort of sour fried chicken and F had ramen and a starchy thing on rice. 

We came back to the house after dinner and I tried to get F to help me weigh my suitcase. I’m still confused and not sure if it’ll be okay. It probably will be though. 

I took a shower after a bit and then came upstairs again. I tried to explain to F how to use the DVR. I’ve asked him to record one show for me, The Walking Dead and next week it gets a bit complicated. I hope he knows what he’s doing. I hope!

And that’s about it. I’m trying to wind down and calm down. There’s so much that I haven’t done yet and I’ll just have to let it go. It’s okay I think. I think I have done the necessary things. I think!

Anyway, I don’t know how much access I’ll have to a computer over the next month, so blogging may be sparse. I’ll hopefully catch up with you all next month. Until next time!

September 14, 2023

Thursday - Rainy at times, sunny and humid

I woke up this morning and was hot and sweaty again. Sigh. F snoozed quite late and so did I today. He gave his mother something to eat and got dressed. I suggested having lunch at F’s favourite restaurant today and he was happy to say yes. 

We drove over there and had a pretty good meal. Today it was swordfish (cooked) and sashimi. The only bad thing was the miso soup was horrible. It had myoga (a type of ginger) in it and it was so strong that you couldn’t taste the miso. I left most of mine.

After lunch, we stopped at a post office and I made another 50 yen deposit! I also made a payment, paid my membership fee for next year for my women’s group and then I took out some money too.

F and I headed over to Cafe B-Flat and we had something to drink and a dessert. We had free drinks today as we’d filled up our cards, I didn’t want to just get free drinks…sounded mean to me!

We visited a bank for F and then a grocery store so that we could pick up something nice for K’s dinner. We were taking ourselves out for a fancy dinner so thought she should get something good too.

We came back to the house and relaxed for a while.  I was on my computer for most of the time. Around 5 pm, I went over to make sure that F was awake. We were planning to call a taxi at 5:30 so we needed to get ready. 

We both got a bit spiffed up. I wore a black shirt and a pair of checked pants, F wore jeans and a shirt. It did take a while for the taxi to come, and then when it did, the driver seemed to take us the long way to the restaurant. I was worried that he’d forgotten that the restaurant moved last year!

We got there a couple of minutes late and were seated quickly. Dinner was great. F had a couple of glasses of wine with dinner, but since I don’t like wine, I didn’t have any. I had some still water from a local glacier. F and I mostly had the same foods but they changed a couple of dishes for me as I’m sensitive to tomatoes. Everything was good, there was only one dish that I didn’t exactly love, but even that was good. Here's a few pictures of our anniversary dinner. Yum!

After our meal they called a taxi for us so we had to hurriedly pay, and then we left. This time the driver got us back much faster. 

We had a quiet evening in. I watched most of a movie that was on TV and then The Rookie. That was quite good tonight. F and I have been quite quiet. 

Tomorrow F has to go to the hospital and see his doctor and his physiotherapist. I have to get up early for me lately and try to register for my women group’s convention. 

Then, I have to finish packing my suitcase because I leave on Saturday. Ack! I’m worried about how much I have to do still.

In all honesty, I’m not sure if I’ll update tomorrow night. I might like to spend a bit of time with my husband. I’m also not sure how much updating I’ll be able to do while I’m away. If I’m not able to update, please understand. I want to be with my family and friends, it’s been so long since I’ve seen them all. 

Until next time…

September 13, 2023

Wednesday - Sunny and much too humid for me!

I got up this morning a bit late. I’d asked F to make sure that his alarm didn’t go off and wake me up and of course…it did. Sigh. I finally dragged myself out of bed and started moving around. 

F’s sister came by to pick up her mother and take her to the doctor. We decided to go out after a bit and have our lunch. After a bit of discussion, we decided to go to the Daiichi Hotel’s restaurant. We had a lovely lunch there, but after we ordered I discovered that I had already unpacked my discount card from the hotel. Oh dear. Still, lunch was very nice and was worth it really. I had roast pork and F had suzuki (fish). He doesn’t really like that type of fish, so I don’t know why he ordered it!

After lunch, I made a quick run upstairs to get a crochet hook from Daiso. Of course, I got a couple of hooks and a few things for my trip, but really didn’t spend too much.

I met up with F in the car and we went back to the house. He dropped me off and after a few minutes he went on the search for nashi. On the other hand, I got busy in the house.

I did three loads of laundry today and hung them up in my room. I did a little bit of packing, but not as much as I should have. I decided to put my smaller suitcase inside my bigger suitcase. That’s how I plan to take it, but I’m a bit worried that it might be too heavy. 

F came back to the house and around 6:30 he made some dinner for his mother. We talked about going out and I suggested going for udon since it is cheap and we had an expensive lunch. We got in the car and started going when F asked if I’d like to go to our favourite yakiniku place. I reminded him of the cost of the lunch, but he turned to go to the yakiniku place…okay. 

We had yakiniku and it was very nice. We ordered our usual plate plus some kimchi and a caesar salad and some oolong tea. We really enjoyed it. 

On the way back from the restaurant, we decided to pick up a few things from the grocery store. I asked F if he had anything for his mother’s breakfast. He didn’t want anything before that!

We came back to the house and it was so hot in the house that I just started sweating. Yuck. I changed my clothes and then went downstairs and did the garbage up for the kitchen. I cleaned a few things out of the fridge and also set everything up for the next few days. I hope F remembers to do the garbage up while I’m gone.

I took a bit of a rest before Grey’s Anatomy and then watched it. I started a new craft project with some variegated yarn that I bought last weekend. I’m going to take it with me in case I have the urge to work on something while I’m at my sister’s house. It’s a shawl and it looks like it’ll be a good travel project.

After Grey’s Anatomy finished, I went downstairs and took a shower. When I was finished I wanted to get back in again. It is so humid that it is hard to tell if it is humid or I’m sweating again! Yuck.

I came upstairs and watched a few YouTube videos and got some things done on my computer.

That’s about it for me for today. Tomorrow we are having a fancy dinner for our anniversary and I hope to get more prep done for my trip. I’m running out of time!

I’ll try and update tomorrow night, but it is possible that I won’t have time. It depends how our evening goes if I’m honest!

Come back later if you like and see if I was here!  Until….?

September 12, 2023

Tuesday - Hot and humid, rainy at times

Last night I had asked F if he’d go out and leave me in the house for a while, after we had lunch. This morning, when I woke up because of his noise, he told me that he was going to have a massage at 10:50. While that was fine, it was hardly after lunch. There is almost no food in the fridge for me so I would have to wait until he came back before I could eat. 

I was a bit perturbed, especially since he didn’t turn off his alarm and I had to do that! However, I did get my butt out of bed and I did get a few things done, so hurray for that! I got my suitcase out and wiped it down, then got my big suitcase as well. That poor suitcase really needed cleaning. It’s been stuck in a corner for 3 years. It was very dusty! 

I got a few things done while F was away, so that was very good. I put a few things into my suitcase and got a few things done in the room too.  F came back and gave his mother lunch. After that, it was our turn, and we went out to Jiro, near my first apartment in Tsuruoka. We had the same thing, a hamburg and mixed fry. It came with rice, miso soup and a drink. We picked iced coffee.

We popped into a drugstore to get a few things for F and also me, then ended up coming back to the house. We headed upstairs and I did a bit more work on getting ready for my trip. 

F took a nap and a bit later, I went downstairs. I mentioned to him that his mother was most likely waiting for her dinner, so we should get her something. He made her dinner with something that he had bought earlier. After that, we went out.

F suggested the Chinese restaurant on the other side of the park and I was fine with that. We had the same kind of food as last time, but this time, F ordered crispy noodles for his stodgy noodle dish and it was much better than usual. We had a nice meal and left the restaurant nicely full.

We went to Mina after that and I went in and did a little grocery shopping. I got something for K’s brunch tomorrow and I got myself some mugi-cha to take to Canada with me. At the house I realized that it’s actually made with Canadian barley. Isn’t that funny!

Back at the house, I put away the food I bought, then I watered the plants outside a little. One of the planters is under the eaves of the house so it doesn’t get a ton of the rain.  I went upstairs and did a few more things. I did a bunch of printing and photocopying for my trip. Woot. I also did a load of laundry, how can I forget that?

At 11pm I watched FBI: International. It was an odd one, but that’s okay. I’m not going to get F to record that for me, but he has to do The Walking Dead for me. It is put into the DVR already, but since he hasn’t fixed it yet, he’ll have to turn on the TV until the show is over! Can you tell how bitter I am about this? It’s been 9 months and he hasn’t bothered to figure out what is wrong with the DVR. 

Anyway, my trip is looming closer and I have a lot to do. Tomorrow I’ll do more laundry, I need to get it dry before I leave. 

F is talking about going out again tomorrow, I hope he waits until the afternoon!  

Okay, I’m out of here!  I’ll probably post for the next couple of nights, but I may skip Friday night as I’d like to get a good night’s sleep. We’ll see how it goes.

Until tomorrow….

September 11, 2023

Monday - Hot, sunny and oh so humid

We slept in this morning. I decided to not get up early in the morning to watch the news. I didn’t think that 11 minutes of British news was worth it. It wasn’t today anyway.

I slept until a bit late today, but we had no plans so no big deal! F went downstairs and made his mother lunch and then it was our town. We went out. I had suggested going to Arpeggio and F was okay with that. We went there and got in right away. We both had soboro don and it was very nice. 

After lunch we visited a drugstore and I picked up a few last minute things for the trip and also for the next few days. It was more expensive than I thought it would be!

We came back to the house and relaxed for a while.  I watched YouTube and then went over to the bed for a bit of a nap. I didn’t actually nap though, I read a book that I have been reading for a few days. 

F made his mother some dinner and then we talked about going out. We waited until 8 pm and then just went to Gusto. It was boring and quiet, but that’s not a bad thing really. We both had side dishes as main dishes, plus the drink bar as well. 

We came back to the house after dinner. We took the plastic garbage out to the gomi station. Finally I got rid of my plastic bottles. Whew!  After that, I walked to the local temple. Today would have been my mother’s birthday and I just wanted to pay tribute. It was also my father’s birthday last month and the anniversary of his death so I had a lot of reasons to go. I walked to the temple, did my thing and then came back.

I noticed that I had left a light on in the car, but F had locked it, so I called him and asked him to unlock the car from upstairs and I’d turn off the light. He did, and then I did! I went into the house and then watered the plants outside.

I went upstairs and after a little rest I took a shower. I really needed it! For the rest of the evening I rested and watched YouTube. Today sadly, I didn’t do very much to get ready for my trip. Tomorrow, F is going to go out in the afternoon and I’ll use some of that time to get my suitcase ready and maybe even packed! Or laundry. My mind boggles! I really need to get some of this stuff done soon.

Anyway, that’s about it for me. Not sure what will happen tomorrow so come back later and find out. Until tomorrow….