May 4, 2024

 Saturday - Hot and sunny

Today started not very well, but did get better. I woke up early and had to make a trip downstairs. I came back to bed and F got up. When he came back to bed a bit later he started crushing his beer cans to put in the garbage. I had almost fallen asleep again, but that woke me up so I protested rather loudly. He wasn’t too happy with me, but honestly…if your partner is sleeping or trying to, why on earth would you do something noisy and annoying right next to them?

I finally managed to sleep a little longer but got up around 11. It’s a national holiday, why wouldn’t I sleep in? I got up and got dressed, but F went back to bed and fell asleep! He slept for a while and then got up and went downstairs.

I wasn’t sure what the plan was. Usually we go for lunch but it was getting too late for that. I made myself a cup pasta thing and of course, F came back up to the room and asked if I’d like to go for lunch. I asked him to wait until I finished my pasta soup!

I suggested going to Kappa Sushi and F was okay with that. We drove over there and got in right away. We had a fairly decent lunch. It was nice because we could both order what we wanted so that we could eat as much or as little as we wanted. 

After lunch, we went over to Yamaya, the liquor/imported food store. I went there and wanted to buy some A&W Root Beer, but they didn’t have any. They only had cream soda which I’m not even sure if I like it. We did get some snacks and a few other things there. 

We came back to the house for a while and relaxed. I watched some YouTube and had a couple of drinks too. 

F made his mother some dinner and then he asked if I’d like to go out. I suggested going to Gusto for dinner because it is cheap and cheerful and F agreed. We drove over there and the parking lot was full. F wanted to give up, but I suggested hitting up the Yamaya in that area first and then coming back in 15 minutes. Well, we tried that. Yamaya didn’t have Root Beer either, so we left without buying anything. We drove back to Gusto and it was still full. F said that he didn’t want to go there after all and suggested another place to eat…a much better place. I didn’t think we’d be able to get in, but I like the place so said yes.

We drove to Bal Barracho and we were able to get in. Woot! We had a lovely meal there. We each had a appetizer plate and then shared a plate of hand made gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce and a plate of ribs. We both had a non-alcohol umeshu which was nice. I loved the appetizers and the gnocchi, I liked the ribs but didn’t love them. We left a bit after 9 pm and came back to the house. 

I relaxed for a while and then went downstairs and took a shower. I came back upstairs before 11 and watched the FBI series crossover. I realized about 5 minutes in that I’d already seen it, so I didn’t watch it too carefully. I did do a bit of knitting during the first part of the show. I did quite a bit today.  Yay me.

Since it finished, I’ve been catching up on my YouTube and doing my blogging. 

F wants to go to his favourite onsen tomorrow and he wants me to go too. I don’t want to take a bath as I find the water too hot for me, but I might do some knitting in the lobby or something. Fingers crossed anyway!

That’s it for me for today. I’m not sure what tomorrow will bring, but I hope it is good. Come back later if you like and hear all about my Sunday. Until tomorrow….

May 3, 2024

Friday - Hot and Sunny

I slept in this morning. F got himself up as he usually does and made breakfast for himself and his mother. Then, he went off and had a massage. He had asked me last night if I wanted to go out with him and go to the mall for a bit, but I said no. I planned to sleep. And did!

I got up while he was gone and got dressed. I spent a few minutes at my computer and then he was back. We talked about places to go and have lunch and as he often does, he mentioned a bunch of places that I don’t like or have no idea what they are like. He always tells me I’ve been to places, but I’m quite sure that I’ve never been there. Anyhoo, he mentioned a place that sounded horrible, then wanted to go to his eel place again. I suggested calling there to make sure that they were open and that we could get a counter seat. He didn’t want to. He was getting whiny again, so I said I’d go there with him. We arrived on the street and of course they weren’t open. Honestly, calling would have been a good idea. 

Since we were in the area, I suggested going to Arpeggio and F was okay with that. We went to their parking lot and parked, and walked over. They were quite busy and the owner told us that we’d have to move from our table at 1:30 when the people that reserved it came in…which we agreed to do. We ordered but it took a long time before our food arrived. F had ordered the Kobachi (?) tray which is ten food items which looked very nice and I had the chicken tender set meal. Mine was big and was very nice. 

After our meal we went over to the Chido Museum. I have a membership so the two of us can get in for free anytime. We did go into the newly reopened building and have a little look. I said to F that I wouldn’t go upstairs. Today my knees have really been bothering me and I didn’t want to risk going upstairs when there are a lot of people around. The stairs in this building aren’t even and they are a bit winding as well. Honestly, going up stairs isn’t too bad for me, but coming down I’m really slow and it is quite painful. The museum was busy so I didn’t want to hold people up. 

We checked out the main exhibition hall and they had a display of katana again. I told F at the door to take his time and enjoy himself. It’s his “thang” after all. I toured the room and then had a seat for a while to wait. 

We finished up our museum visit by checking out the garden and the pond at the back. It was lovely and sunny today and looks as nice as usual. 

From the museum, we decided to go for a drink at Komeda Coffee. We drove over and were surprised to be able to get in right away. We got a seat and then ordered. We shared a Ghana cake thing and each had some iced coffee. They’ve also started selling Kakigori again, but it wasn’t quite hot enough today to try it.

We came back to the house to check on K and see if she needed more food. She really didn’t! On the way back to the house, we saw the little yakitori shop was open and busy. Since F and I were having a little problem about picking a dinner place, I suggested ordering yakitori for our dinner. He called them and placed an order and then we drove over to pick it up. 

We came back to the house and upstairs.  We had quite a bit of yakitori and it was really good. I especially liked the chicken nankotsu as it had a lot of meat on it.

I watched a bit of YouTube and was relaxing for the evening, I thought. Around 8 pm, F asked me if I’d like to go for a drive. I was a tad surprised, but said sure!  We tried to go to the ski hill in Kushibiki, but didn’t really find it. There aren’t many lights in that neighbourhood and of course the ski hill is closed this season anyway.  

Next up, we tried to find an observation point to see the view of Tsuruoka. We finally found it after a couple of wrong turns. We were the only people there for a while so we got out of the car and took a few pictures. I suggested to F that we make out since it was a good place for that and he was game! I got a nice kiss and a big hug…which was rather sweet. I still don’t think he knows what making out is, but that’s okay. We saw a car on a road near us stop and turn around and I said to F that they were probably looking for the place where we were…sure enough, a couple of minutes later, the car drove into the observation point. 

The lights of Tsuruoka!

We decided to leave and let them have the area to themselves. We drove back to Tsuruoka and went to MaxValu to pick up a few groceries. On the way, I said to F that I wanted something with vegetables since our dinner was all meat…well, there were a few bits of negi (long onion) with it. He actually complimented me on my cooking by saying that he is really glad that I always make a lot of vegetables with our meals. Wow! I wasn’t sure that he noticed. 

We picked up a few groceries, but not really anything that we could eat right away. F got stuff for breakfast for K and him, and I got a few staples for the kitchen that I needed. 

Then, we went to McDonald! F had a burger and fries, I had a bacon potato pie and fries (the app had a coupon) and a small drink. While we were eating the restaurant kept playing the “get out” song and announcing that they were closing soon. The store didn’t close until 11pm and it was barely 10 pm. It did seem strange.

We came back to the house and put away the groceries. I came upstairs, changed into my pajamas and watched a new to me show on Apple TV+, Sugar with Colin Farrell. I really liked it and at the end of it I really wanted to let it play the next episode. However, it was midnight and F was, as he often is these days, complaining about my late nights. I did quite a bit of knitting during the show too, so the ribbing on the hat is very nearly done. Maybe two or three more rows. That should be good. I hope this one fits better!

And that’s it. I’m not sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow, but today turned out rather well. I hope tomorrow will too. Come back later if you like and find out. 

Until tomorrow….

May 2, 2024

 Thursday - Sunny but cool

I woke up really early this morning…at 7:30 am. F had already left. I made a trip downstairs and did the thing where I come back upstairs and get dressed. I did go back to bed for a couple of hours, but did get up earlier than I have in ages.

When I got up, I sorted out my laundry and took a load downstairs. Today I did 3 loads of laundry over the morning and afternoon, so that was a good thing. It’s hanging up all over our bedroom!

I had a quiet morning and afternoon apart from the laundry. I watched the news and some YouTube, but honestly, not that much YouTube! Over my lunchtime I watched another episode of The Great British Sewing Bee. It was good, but I really was not on the same level when I used to sew. 

F called to say that he was on the way back so I went downstairs and got a start on dinner. Tonight I made a stir-fry and also a cucumber pickle kind of thing that K really likes. We also had potato salad from the store and for a change, no salad.

It took a while but I finally got it on the table. I called F down and woke K up so we had a nice dinner. For a change, most of the food disappeared. F even had seconds and maybe thirds! K was happy to have that cucumber pickle.

After dinner I did the dishes and then headed upstairs for a break. After an hour and a bit I came downstairs again and took a shower. 

I went back upstairs and watched The Rookie offshoot Feds. I’m not sure that I want to keep watching it. It wasn’t great, but it was okay. 

That’s about it since then I’ve been watching YouTube and blogging. 

We don’t have any plans for this holiday. I wish we had something, but nope. It could be difficult. 

Come back later if you like and hear all about my Golden Week holiday. Until tomorrow….

May 1, 2024

Wednesday - Cooler and muggy

I woke up before my alarm again, made a trip downstairs too. Back in my room I put on some of my clothes and had another nap. I got up later and today made porridge for my breakfast. It was nice.

I had a quiet day. I worked on my next hat a couple of times and decided that I’d do a ribbed brim. I’ve got it started and seems to be going well.

In the afternoon I watched a bit of YouTube and then went downstairs to get my lunch. I brought it back up and watched an episode of The Great British Sewing Bee. It was about the 60’s and was a cool episode. 

F called after 5:30 today and said he was coming back. We got into an argument about some food. His sister must have come over today and gave his mother some bamboo soup. Well, K had just left it on the stove. It didn’t have a cover and it was full of pork and bamboo. F wanted to have it for dinner and I told him that I wouldn’t have any because I didn’t think it was safe leaving food out like that. He tried to tell me that it was safe, but I said it wasn’t. He started to harangue me about it so I hung up on him. I don’t even like bamboo soup, so why would he try to make me eat something that I didn’t like and would most likely make me sick?

I went downstairs a little later and got started on dinner. I wasn’t even sure if F would eat dinner with us now, so I was a bit nervous about having him back. After he arrived, he disappeared upstairs so I texted him and asked if he’d have dinner with us. He said he would, so I got busy. 

Tonight I did burgers from the store, French fries in the air fryer, salad, and some sautéed mushrooms. I also opened a packet of gravy and made that up too. I got dinner on the table right around 7 pm and called F down. 

He came downstairs, but went into the kitchen and heated up the leftover soup and served it to his mother and himself. I’m glad that he didn’t give me any, but I was rather annoyed that he delayed dinner to do that. It wasn’t necessary and meant that no one ate as much of my food. Whatever.

I did the dishes afterwards, but I left the bowls that 

F used for the soup on the table. K brought them into the kitchen for me and I put them on the table. I wasn’t planning on washing them. 

I washed and dried dishes while listening to my podcasts. After that, I had to do the garbage up for the week. There was an extra bag that has been on the floor all week. I opened it and it was mostly K’s garbage. She’d put an aluminum can in it and a pet bottle, both of which aren’t allowed in with burnable garbage. I sorted that out and got the rest of the garbage done.

I went upstairs and did my garbage in the room. During the day, I had cleaned off some of my desk so I was throwing things out and it filled up my bag too.

F did his garbage and then he took it out to the station. We went out to get some food for tomorrow. I picked up stuff for dinner tomorrow and breakfasts for F and K as well. 

I am a little disappointed with F. I had asked him to plan a night out for us tomorrow night. He doesn’t work on Friday, so I suggested going to an izakaya for our dinner. Because of the holiday, he would have had to book a taxi and the bar early, but he didn’t. I suggested this to him a few weeks ago and then reminded him this weekend and nothing. Oh well. 

Tonight I watched something off the Fire Disk and  then turned it off. They are going to take off The Closer, but I don’t think I’ll get quite as obsessed with it as I did over Fringe. I mostly promise. I did more knitting while I watched. 

That’s about it for today. I’ll try and do a bit of laundry tomorrow and try to get set up for the weekend. I hope it goes well…wish me luck!

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

April 30, 2024

Tuesday - Cooler and muggy

I woke up this morning before my alarm went off. I made a trip downstairs and then got dressed. I took another nap and got up a bit later. 

I went downstairs and made my breakfast and brought it upstairs to eat. I watched some YouTube and then some news on TV. I even finished my hat today.  I did the last few rows and then darned in the ends. Woot! After a while I went downstairs to make my lunch. I actually saw K for a few minutes when I was down there.

I came back upstairs to eat lunch and I watched an episode of a TV programme that I recorded on Saturday. It was fine.  I turned off the TV for a while when I was done, in favour of some YouTube.

After 5:15 F called to say he was coming back. I changed and grabbed some towels to change the ones downstairs. I went downstairs and got started on my day’s dishes. After F returned, I got started on cooking.  

Tonight I did chicken in the toaster oven, plus baby leaf salad, beets, and asparagus.  I also included a cup soup tonight. F had set up the rice cooker last night, so we all had some rice with dinner too. It went over quite well if I’m honest and tasted pretty good too.

I did the dishes after dinner and listened to a couple of podcasts while I did that. I said goodnight to K and then went upstairs.

F was upstairs and asked if I wanted to go out. No. I didn’t. I spent quite a while on YouTube but at 11pm I watched FBI: Most Wanted. It was an okay episode.

F is sleeping and I wouldn’t mind going to bed soon too as I’m a tad tired again. I’ve started on another hat. I’m hoping that this one will be closer to the right size. The one I just finished is a bit too big. I’ve decided to change it up a little bit too, I’m going to start with a ribbing rather than a rolled brim. That’s the plan at the moment.

Anyway, that’s about it for me. Tomorrow I’m doing burgers and fries for dinner. I think I’ll make some gravy and we’ll see what else I can come up with!

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

April 29, 2024

 Monday - Hot and Sunny

Today was a different day and it was rather nice. I woke up around 9 again and made a trip downstairs. I went back to bed for an hour or so.  F came back to the room before 10 am and got back into bed. I had set my alarm to wake me up around 10 and then again at 10:30 so that F wouldn’t be angry when we couldn’t get into the restaurants again. Well, I got up, got dressed and then realized that F had fallen asleep!

After a while, I decided to go back to bed for a nap myself. F did ask if I wanted to go out for lunch, but to be honest, I didn’t. I was still rather full from last night. F agreed with me that he was too!

F made an appointment to have a massage later on and in the meantime, we ate the bread things that F had bought us yesterday. We each had a croissant and coffee, then later a cheesy bread thing. 

Around 3:40 we left the house. F dropped me off at S-Mall and I did some shopping and then took myself off to Doutor for a drink.  F showed up a while later but he wasn’t doing that well. He was having problems from last night’s meal. 

After a bit, we left the mall and went to the grocery store. I bought the groceries for the next couple of days. I’m hoping I bought enough!

We went back to the house and I put away the groceries. F gave his mother her bento and then he came upstairs after a while. I was upstairs already.

Around 8pm we decided to go and have dinner. F asked for Nagomi, and I said it was okay, but if they were closed I wanted to go to Cocos instead. Well, we drove by Nagomi and the lights were off, so we went to Cocos. I had a double burger meal and it was okay, F had a fish meal, which he didn’t like that much. We shared an order of fries…Cocos has the best fries!

After our meal, F took me to the grocery store and I bought one more bread thing. It’s nearly the end of a seal campaign from a bread company. They give away crockery if you save enough seals. I’ve already received 3 bowls and I’d like one more. Hopefully, I can go and pick it up after a day or two.

F filled up the car with gas too and on the way back, his odometer hit 10000 km. We stopped  (it was in a safe, non-busy part of the road) and took pictures!

We came back to the house and I came upstairs. F followed a bit later. I went downstairs and took a shower and then came back upstairs.  I didn’t watch any TV tonight, but I did check the recording schedule for tomorrow. 

And honestly, that’s about it. F is sleeping and will have to go back to work tomorrow. It’s only a short week though, he’s off on Friday and Monday too. 

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

April 28, 2024

Sunday - Hot and sunny

I woke up first this morning around 9am when I had to make a trip downstairs. After that, I went back to sleep for a while. Well, I tried to. F came in the room and made noise so I had to try and cover my ears. I finally fell asleep again. I ended up waking up a couple of times and finally got up a little later than usual. 

F wanted me to pick a place for lunch today and I surprised myself by asking for a Japanese restaurant. It surprised and pleased F too. I got dressed and then we headed out to the restaurant. Unfortunately, when we got there, there was no parking left. 

I suggested trying a restaurant in Kushibiki that we often went to in the past. We drove out there, but it too was very busy. Since we didn’t want to wait longer, we went back to Tsuruoka. F wanted to try the soba place again. When we got there, there was parking, but there was a lineup of people out the door. F wanted to get in line and I didn’t as it was full on sun. I can’t handle the sun, especially not at 12:30 in the afternoon. He made me get out of the car and line up with him, but after a few minutes of the line not moving, we decided to move on. 

We went to Kissa Marina and were able to get seats at the counter. A group very nicely took a floor table instead of the counter for us. Neither of us is good at sitting on the floor these days. I had a lovely meal of salmon and mushroom Japanese-style pasta with soup and salad and oolong tea, F had a yakiniku-donburi with soup, salad and an iced coffee.  I liked mine, he said that his was too salty. I did find my soup to be too salty, but the rest was fine. 

We came back to the house after lunch and F sorted out his fishing gear. He went out at one point too to get his mother some food. Around 3 pm I decided that I should really get myself ready for going out so that I didn’t slow things down. I sorted out some clothes that I could wear and changed into them.

About 3:30 or so we got in the car and went towards the coast. F kept driving past his usual fishing spots and we ended up quite far south. Finally, he stopped at a place and we set up. By now, it was around 5 pm.  I let F know that sunset was at 18:31 so we didn’t have a huge amount of time. He prepared the fishing rods and I baited mine and dropped the hook into the water. 

We were there for an hour and a half but didn’t have much luck. The water was extremely clear and I could see the bottom of the harbour. There were starfish on the bottom and I could sometimes see small fish try to eat the bait on my hook!

Around 6:20 I did actually catch a fish. It was tiny and apparently semi-poisonous and is the kind of fish that bites. F told me later he was bitten by the same kind of fish when he was younger and it really hurt! F took the fish off the hook and threw it back in for me. So, that was it. Our fishing trip. Poor F didn’t catch anything. 

We called it a day at 6:30 pm and drove back to Tsuruoka. We discussed where to go for dinner and followed our old tradition of going to the yakiniku buffet after a day of fishing. We were able to get in right away and for the next couple of hours had a huge meal of mostly yakiniku! Neither of us wanted to eat anything else afterwards!

We came back to the house and came upstairs. F went to bed soon after, I’m still up, but am tired too. F wants to go to the restaurant we couldn’t go to tomorrow quite early. I’m not really in favour of that as lunch is later than 11 am in my opinion, but I don’t want him cranky!

Anyway, today was a good day, so I hope that tomorrow will be as well. Come back later if you like and find out what happens. Until tomorrow….