October 8, 2025

Wednesday - Sunny and then cloudy and rainy

This morning I woke up in the hotel and dragged myself out of bed. I got dressed and went downstairs for breakfast. After breakfast I went back to the room and took a shower. When I finished there, I had to complete my packing. I managed to get everything done before checkout time!

I checked out of the hotel and went over to the bus site. I found a nice big locker that I could put my suitcase and my backpack in for a while. I stuffed my things in and paid my money!

After that I went upstairs and had a chamomile tea latte at Starbucks. I killed about an hour there, that was good. I also got stuck back into a play that I’ve been reading and got a big chunk done. 

I decided that I’d go up to the restaurant that I wanted to have lunch at, so I did that. I went up to Caprichossa again and had their lunch special. Today I had a steamed chicken and vegetable pepperoncino. It was good. When I left the restaurant I walked around a bit and decided that I’d catch an earlier bus than I originally planned. 

A little after 2 pm, I bought myself a packet of mints, a bottle of water and got my luggage out of the locker. I joined a huge line of people. Luckily, most of them were waiting for another bus, not mine!

I got on the bus when it arrived, I found a good seat and got my iPod out. I listened to Gowan for a long time and then put on the Hairspray soundtrack until we got back to Tsuruoka.

I got off the bus at S-Mall and got my suitcase from under the bus. I walked over to Baskin Robbins and had an ice cream there. That was very nice. 

When I finished there, I went to Doutor and ordered myself an iced cafe latte. F called me when he finished work and I asked him to join me. He did after a bit. I got him a drink too. 

We relaxed a bit and then left so that we could get some groceries. F had made rice already so he didn’t want bentos. I thought that was a shame as bentos would have been easier. I got a few groceries, hopefully I got enough of the right things!

We came back to the house and I ended up getting the food on the table. F ensconced himself in the washroom, so I had no choice really. I heated up the food we bought and put it on the table. K was up so I made her a plate…which she promptly told me she couldn’t eat. Sigh. I gave it to F instead and then she said that she could eat a little of something. I made her a plate with less food and she happily ate that. F came out eventually and ate, then went right back to the toilet. I finally had to ask him to get out so other people could use it!

I got to do the dishes tonight…welcome back me! and then I came upstairs. I unpacked and set up my computer and when F came upstairs he went straight to bed. I had to delay him a little as I wanted to give him a small present I picked up for him. I got him a bottle opening tool at IKEA. It’s got a corkscrew and a knife in it. It’s something that we can never find when we need it. He promised to keep it in a good place!

After that, I watched Grey’s Anatomy. It was an interesting episode where Jo and her beau finally got married. There were lots of operations that didn’t go very well and people broke up…it was a mess. I guess next week is the season finale. It seems really short to me.

And that’s about it for my day. I’m glad I’ll get to sleep in my own bed with my hubby tonight, but I’m sad that my lovely holiday is over. I had a great time away but didn’t get to do all that I wanted. Still, I did a lot and saw a good friend, so that was excellent. 

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

October 6, 2025

Monday - Sunny and warmish

Today was a good day, but it almost wasn’t! I stayed up much too late last night/this morning. I didn’t get to bed on time. This morning, I had set my alarm to get up for the hotel’s breakfast, but I was so tired I decided to go back to bed instead. no worries. It’s a free breakfast so I’m not losing any money. 

I woke up a couple of hours later and got up. I dressed. I had planned to go and catch a train to the mall, but I missed the train. I wasn’t even dressed at the time. I checked the next train on my phone, but there wasn’t another one for over an hour. However, there was a bus in about 30 minutes so I decided that I’d catch that one. 

I finished getting dressed and went over to the train station/bus area and caught the bus on time. I had a lovely ride over to the mall. I haven’t seen these parts of Yamagata City so it was a treat. I got off the bus outside the mall and went in.

The first thing I did was have lunch. I went to Pepper Lunch in the Food Court. I had the chicken and pork lunch with some rice and a drink. It was nice. After that, I did a bit of shopping. Sadly, there wasn’t that much that I was interested in buying today. I got more decaf tea and a few snacks.  I did try on some shirts at Aeon. Three of them fit okay, but I wasn’t in love with any of them. I was also looking for presents for my bestie and my sister, but I really didn’t see anything that I liked that much. Sigh. I did get myself some socks, that was nice! 

I went into the 3 Coins store and bought myself a pair of over-ear earphones. I charged them up and so far I love them. I have a hard time wearing things in my ears, but these go over my ears, so they are quite comfortable. They also haven’t fallen out/off yet so that’s a big relief. I tried wearing my old in-ear earphones while I did dishes once and one fell out and went down the drain! Not very good for the earphone!

I stopped and had a doughnut and a decaf iced coffee at Mr Donut. That was a nice break for me. I did a little more shopping and then I decided to leave the mall. I was tired and didn’t want to be there much longer. 

I checked the schedule for transit back to Yamagata station. The train wouldn’t be there for a while, the bus would come in around 15 minutes. I decided to take the bus back.  I again had a nice bus trip back to the station. I couldn’t see as well on the trip back as it was dark, but it was still nice.

I came back to the hotel. On the way, there was a big group of people carrying a mikoshi, or mini-shrine. It was rather a fun Japanese moment. I have no idea what the shrine was about but it’s okay. I’ve never seen anything like that in Tsuruoka. 

Mikoshi on Main Street!

I went up to my hotel room and relaxed for a bit. F and I texted a little. I decided to go out later and have my dinner. I went to a chicken izakaya near the hotel and had a nice meal there. I had some grilled chicken, some fries, some tofu and some chicken skin gyoza. Everything was very nice and I enjoyed my meal. 

I came back to my hotel and relaxed a bit. I took a shower and then turned to my trusty YouTube to catch up with my favourite YouTubers. 

I had a quiet evening in. I have to get to bed soon as I do have to be up early tomorrow. I need to catch a bus into Sendai and then hopefully I’ll meet up with my friend and do a little IKEA shopping!

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

October 5, 2025

Sunday - Rainy and humid, warm

I got up reasonably early this morning, at least for me. I had to finish packing. I was nearly done, but I needed to do a little more. 

F kept getting on my case about going for lunch because my bus time was coming up. It wasn’t that close, honestly. Finally, I was done and I took my suitcase and backpack downstairs. We put them in the car and then we went off to the Daiichi Hotel for lunch. I was able to have the weekly special, but F wasn’t. He had a seafood doria but didn’t like it too much. Mine had a tomato-ish sauce so I was a little disappointed. It was good, but I was worried about the sauce.

We finished lunch a little before 2pm. We paid and then walked back to the car to get my luggage. We walked over to the bus depot. I used the washroom, and then when the bus came in, I hugged F goodbye. He helped the driver put my suitcase in the luggage compartment and I got on the bus. 

I had a pleasant ride to Yamagata. It was lovely being high up in the bus, so much different than our car. I could see so much more. When we were going over bridges, I could see down below. It wasn’t sunny, that was both a good thing and a bad thing! I didn’t have to close the curtain, but it was a bit dull outside the bus. I listened to music on my iPod and that was very nice too. 

In Yamagata, I got off the bus, giving the driver my ticket and asking for my suitcase. After other passengers got off, he gave it back to me and off I went. I went over to the hotel (just across the street from where the bus lets me off) and I went in. I used the washroom first and then I checked in. 

The front desk clerk did ask for my passport, but when I reminded her I was a resident it was fine and I didn’t have to show it. (That’s a good thing as I don’t carry it with me!) I paid and then went up to my room. I’m on the top floor but my room is far away from the elevator and it is quiet. 

I relaxed for a few minutes and then went out to do a little shopping and perhaps have dinner. I went to the station’s drugstore and picked up some distilled water and a few other things. I got some baked goods in the bakery, I got some rooibos tea in the import store and I checked out the restaurant. 

It’s a bit of a tradition for me to go to the Caprichosa when I come to Yamagata. It’s a very nice pasta restaurant in the station. Tonight I had the set for one person so I could chose a salad, a pasta and a drink for a set price. I had the restaurant’s special pasta tonight so I had to pay a little extra, but it was worth it. 

I did a tiny bit of shopping after dinner, but the station shops were closing. I went back to the hotel and discovered a convenience store next to the building. I got my coffee creamers there and went back to the hotel. I dropped off my goods but remembered that I wanted a special pillow for my feet so I went downstairs again. I got it, came back to the room and made myself comfortable.

I’ve had a quiet night in. I meant to watch something on my computer, but I didn’t get around to it. I’ve been watching a bit of YouTube as usual!

My plan for tomorrow is to catch a train over to the Tendo Mall. It’s a big mall with a lot of great shops. I have friends and a sister that I need presents for in the next few months, so I’d like to do a bit of shopping for them. 

Hopefully I’ll be able to come back and update this blog tomorrow night! Come back later if you like and hear about my day. Until tomorrow…. 

September 24, 2025

 Wednesday - Hot and Sunny

I woke up this morning when my alarm went off. I got up, went downstairs and did not go back to bed! Instead I got dressed and a little while later, F and I left and drove over to the bank. I made sure that I had all the stuff I needed (and a few things I didn’t!) and we went into the bank to close my account. It went a lot better this time than it did last time! We did have to wait a while but that’s usual for Japan! I finally got my money and then we left. 

We drove to another bank that I still use and I deposited the money, well, all but the coins in the account. I used the bank machine so I would get charged if I put coins in. 

After that, F and I headed over to Komeda Coffee for some coffee and a bite. They offer a “free” breakfast before 11am with our drinks. We each got the same food, a half piece of really thick toast plus some egg paste…basically egg salad. It was nice.

When we finished, we walked over to MaxValu and bought some food for K’s lunch and food for the day. We picked up a couple of onigiri for ourselves as well. 

We drove back to the house, I put away my important stuff. F gave his mother her food and soon after that, we got on the road. 

F was going to Yamagata to pick up his credit card. He lost it a week or so ago when he was there for work. It fell out of his wallet. He got a letter from his bank about it telling him that the police station in Yamagata city had it. Now, I told him that he probably should check with his bank to see if the card was still active, but he didn’t. Was it the same bank that we were in this morning? Yes, yes it was. Could he have asked? Yes, yes he could have. 

So, we got on the road to Yamagata. It was a lovely day for driving in the mountains. We had good visibility and it was sunny and warm. We made a pitstop at Sagae, our usual Michi-no-eki (road service area), walked around a little, used the loo, and then got back on the road and went into Yamagata.

F drove to the police station, went in and got his credit card back. The person who found it didn’t ask for a reward, so that was good. I asked F if he was sure that the card was still good. He was.

We decided to make a quick trip to Costco. Our membership is still on until the middle of October. I was given a strict budget and I did a little shopping. I got some of my favourite cheese, some canned tuna, some bagels, some socks and an umbrella that I can use as a parasol (it was much cheaper than the ones in the shops here in Tsuruoka). Most importantly, I got a case of A&W Root Beer! I’ve been missing that this summer. I sadly put back some sausages from Alberta…they looked amazing but…we paid the bill and it came in just under budget so that was good. While I was shopping, F decided to check his credit card and stuck it in the Costco bank machine. It ate his card. Of course it did! 

F ended up calling his bank and they’ll get him a new card next week or something, but honestly! I told him that they would have cancelled his card because if you have both the police and the bank involved that is what they have to do! It’s to protect him. Why didn’t he ask about it at the bank this morning???

We decided to have something to eat at Costco. I had a ham and cheese croissant. That was really nice, but quite big. F had a hot dog and then we both had ice cream. The flavour de jour was Marron or chestnut. It was quite nice and not as sweet as I was expecting. 

After some time eating and drinking, it was time to leave. We got back in the car and drove back to Tsuruoka. We stopped in at Sagae again to have a quick break. We listened to music on my iPod and that was nice. 

We got to Tsuruoka and decided to go grocery shopping. I bought food for the next couple of days. F and K need breakfast tomorrow and on Friday, I needed stuff for my lunches as well. We paid and came back to the house. 

We brought our shopping into the house and K was up in the living room. I ended up heating up her bento and giving it to her, plus some drink. I separated the bagels I had bought and put them in the freezer. While I was in there I saw something odd. Last week I bought a bag of frozen French fries but didn’t use them. They were now open and closed with an elastic tie. What the heck?  I checked with F to see if he’d maybe opened the bag to give K some but he hadn’t. It turns out that K was looking in the freezer as she often does and decided to try eating one of the fries. One. She didn’t like them while they were frozen and not cooked. My mind was blown! I was planning to use the fries tomorrow and that is what I’m going to do, but honestly…F wrote her a note and told her that the only thing she can eat directly out of the freezer is ice cream. I’m sure she’ll forget again, but I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

F and I left the house and went over to Gusto. We had their select-a-meal again. It includes drink bar and the soup of the day plus we got to pick three dishes. I had spicy chicken, pepperoncino pasta and bacon, and a chicken and kale salad. It was really nice. F had a burger, curry and rice and some fried chicken. 

We left the restaurant and came back to the house. At the house, I went upstairs and changed out of my nicer clothes and put on some house clothes. I did up the garbage in the bedroom first, leaving the bag for F to use too. I headed down to the kitchen to work there.

I did the usual garbage there and then discovered that there were some boxes of really old food. I just threw most of it out. It was either really disgusting or the foods were years out of date. I hope the gomi pick up will take the bags tomorrow. 

F took the bags out to the station (Shh! Don’t tell anyone). I went upstairs and got ready to take a shower. I went downstairs again and showered and then came back to the room. I didn’t watch any TV tonight, but did watch quite a lot of YouTube. I haven’t watched much recently!

And that’s about it. It was quite a day and I never expected it to go the way it did. Hopefully the next couple of days won’t be too exciting. Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

December 1, 2024

Sunday - Rainy at times, cool and clear at others

Well, today turned out okay, believe it or not. I went to bed at my usual time, late again. However, I had set my alarm for 9 am. I got up, went to the washroom and then came back to bed after that. F got up and made breakfast for his mother.  I got up and got dressed and then spent some time at my computer. At 10 am F came back in the room and asked me if we could go to Yamagata! We decided to go. He had eaten and I had bought myself a sandwich last night, so we found the Costco bags and our cooler and put them all in the car. We started out on our way.

There was quite a bit of snow on the ground in the mountains, but the roads were good and clear. We made really good time and took a break at the Sagae rest stop as usual. They are completely redoing the washrooms on the usual side that we use, so we sneaked over to the other side of the building and used those new washrooms. They were nice! Everything has been redone and is bright and shiny. There is one problem though, there aren’t enough sinks. In the women’s side, there are about 5 cubicles, one regular sink, and one lower sink for wheelchair users or children. That’s not a lot.

F bought some croissants at the bakery and then we continued on our way. I had hoped to stop in at a couple of stores on the way to Costco as we usually do, but we didn’t. We did stop and have lunch at our usual yakiniku place. It was really good. We each had a bibinba and some meat, plus a drink. F added on extra meat for himself. I don’t like organ meat generally, so skipped that. 

When we finished we headed straight to Costco. It was busy so took a little while to find a parking space. We had to park on the roof which was a change. We were also much earlier than we usually are so had more people to deal with.

F gave me some money (not much) to go shopping with. I was a tad perturbed that we’d come and didn’t have a lot of money but would try and make it work. I could kick in a little if necessary. We went in and walked around for a bit. F got tired and went to have a seat, then came back when he couldn’t find one. I’m a little mean, but I’m the kind of person who goes down every aisle looking at stuff. They move goods so often here, that it is hard to find things otherwise. He got tired and left. He didn’t come back so obviously found a seat. 

I got most of the stuff on my list. Sadly, they didn’t seem to have any of my Havarti cheese at all today, but I got something else instead. I hope it’s good. F had picked up a couple of things for the car and himself, I was a bit salty that those things had to come out of my budget, so F had increased it a little. 

I got some pineapple spears, some radishes, some guacamole, smoked sliced chicken for my lunches, bachelor pack rice, potatoes, and a few treats for me (that I sometimes share). 

I paid and met up with F. Usually, we take everything to the car and pack it away, then come back in and have a snack and a drink. Well, he didn’t want to do that. So, I parked the cart behind him and went and bought myself a drink and got an ice cream. Today’s flavour was a sweet potato ice cream and it was surprisingly nice. I had the mixed version with vanilla. 

We headed back out of town after we loaded the food in the car. We stopped a couple of times for washroom breaks and then got back to Tsuruoka. 

In Tsuruoka, after much questioning from me, and no answer from F, decided to eat first. I suggested Gusto and that’s where we went. It wasn’t very late at the time, around 6:30 I think. We got a table and I decided to have their fancy meal and would even pay for it if F was upset about it. He wasn’t. He ordered curry. My meal was quite nice. I had some starters, some cauliflower soup (very nice), my main was a very good hamburger patty in a nice gravy with mashed potato (needed more) plus a boiled egg in red wine. I chose a baguette to come with it, and then the dessert was a blancmange with hazelnuts on top. It was nice, but nothing too special. I really enjoyed my meal, F liked his curry. 

We left and then went to Mina shopping center to do more grocery shopping. The regular kind. F again didn’t give me very much money so I kept myself reined in and only bought what I strictly needed so came in under budget. 

We came back to the house where we unloaded the car and put things away. I refilled our kerosene tank and then F carried it upstairs for me. Yay! We had a fairly quiet evening, nothing too exciting happened. 

I decided to watch a movie off the DVR and watched The Accountant, the movie with Ben Affleck. I’ve seen it before, it’s a bit of a favourite for me. 

And that’s it. My day turned out much better than I thought it would. I’m not sure how F is doing and I’m a bit worried about him if I’m honest. I’m worried about a lot of things at the moment. 

Coming up this week I’m hoping to maybe get my hair cut and I have to send out my greeting cards as well. First, I have to write them! Wish me luck with that. Oh, and the Christmas tree. I’d like to put it up soon as well. 

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

October 10, 2024

Thursday - Cloudy and cooler

Well, I’m back at my desk in Tsuruoka. I’m not sure that I want to be back, but I am. I had a very odd day, but it was quiet, which was good.

I woke up this morning, showered and then did a last-minute pack. I had bought myself something for breakfast, so I ate in my room and then got ready to leave.

I checked out just a couple of minutes past 11:00am. I took my suitcase and my backpack over to the other side of the station and found a locker big enough for them all. I went back into the station and went to the train waiting room and just waited for a while! 

Eventually, I did go for a walk in the building. I thought about going for lunch, but the restaurant was busy. I went to Starbucks instead and spent about 30 minutes there. When I finished there, I went back to the restaurant and I went in. 

I had a lovely lunch at Capricciosa today. I had one of their lunch sets so I had a nice salad, Carbonara and dessert. There was also a drink bar, but I didn’t really take advantage of it. 

When I finished lunch I had about 40 minutes to get my stuff and get over to the bus stop. It wasn’t too bad really. I found a washroom, used it, and then went downstairs and got my stuff out of my locker. I walked slowly over to the bus stop and got into line. 

It was a bit daunting because the Tsuruoka/Sakata stop is the same one as the Sendai stop, so there were two buses at almost the same time. I knew which bus to take, of course, I just didn’t know which line to be in! In the end, the Sendai bus came first and most of the people got on that one. My bus came next and I brought my suitcase to the cargo hold and a worker put it in for me. 

I got on the bus and found a seat. I relaxed and read for a little while, then closed my eyes to relax more. I woke up about an hour later when the bus stopped at one of the stops. I woke up again when I realized that F was phoning me! I couldn’t answer him on the bus, so I texted him and let him know where the bus was.

We arrived at S-Mall and I got off. I got my suitcase. I didn’t see F so I toddled off to the ladies room and when I came out, F was there. He had just finished work, so I wasn’t upset with him at all. 

We went shopping at the grocery store and I bought things for dinner tomorrow, and my lunch tomorrow too. F picked up something for his mother’s dinner and then we headed back to the house.

He gave his mother her dinner, I put some of our stuff away and then I took some of my stuff upstairs. F brought my suitcase upstairs, bless him! He changed into normal clothes and then we left for dinner.

We headed towards a soba restaurant, but it was closed today. We went to Cocos instead. F had beef curry and rice and I had a hamburger steak with a bun and drink bar. We also used one of my coupons to get a small order of fries for free. We shared those. 

After dinner, we came back to the house. I watched a couple of TV programmes that were on tonight. I watched Wild Cards and then Yellowjackets. I enjoyed both of them, although Yellowjackets got highly weird. It’s an interesting series!

And that’s about it. F is sleeping away. He said that he hadn’t been sleeping very well when I was away. On the other hand, I slept really well, except I didn’t sleep enough!

Anyway, that’s me for tonight. I’m back. I had a great time and spent a bit too much money, but did get some things I needed, so that was good.

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