April 2, 2008 - Wednesday

Warm and sunny. Yay.

Some good and some bad things today. Mostly good though. I got up this morning at 9:32 in order to watch the news. It was on...it finished at 9:35. What??? NHK has gone and changed the times again. I hate them! It was on at a perfect time for me. I could get up, have coffee and relax into my day. Now the news is fighting with baseball and other boring things.

Fumihiko and I had lunch at the Daiichi Hotel today. It was okay. Not great. After that, he drove me to the post office and went on his way to the hospital for his MRIs.

I mailed my package and a card for my nephew to Canada. After that, I walked back to the mall, but I took the long way! First I went to a drug store and had a good poke around. Half the store is dedicated to clothing. I didn't buy anything but I did have a good snoop.

After that, I went to a kissaten. That's a very traditional style coffee shop, in a more European style than the places I usually go! The coffee is generally expensive but you can stay all day if you like, at least that's what I've read. This little place, Coffea is on a back road near the drugstore and the grocery store. I've been there once before, but it was about 8 years ago! When I left Tsuruoka to work up north I forced myself to go there and have a coffee because I'd always said that I was going to. I went again today. It was lovely inside. There were a couple of customers, but it was quiet and cool. I had a cappuccino and it was possibly the best one I've ever had! It was tiny, but so good. I didn't even add any sweetener. While I waited for my drink to be made, I read more of my novel, Motor Mouth. It's a hoot. I just enjoyed my me-time! When I finished my coffee, I reluctantly left the cafe and headed on my way.

I went back to the mall and did a bit of "window shopping". I was looking for a cd with a song or songs by Natalie Cole, but I couldn't find any. I have a cd of Nat King Cole, but none by his daughter. We were studying them in one of my classes this week, but the students aren't familiar with their work. No luck. Or, rather, I did find one, but it was in a set of 4 cds....one song and the set cost 2500 yen. It's not terrible, but I wasn't interested in any of the other songs on the cds so.... I said no!

I hacked around the 100 yen shop but left without anything. I was in one of the downstairs stores, choosing a card for friends that have just had a baby, when I got a call from Fumihiko. He was done. He came over to the mall and we went to Doutours (too busy and noisy these days) and had an iced drink.

Our next stop was to go to Fashion Place Ikeda. It's an older Japanese style department store. No escalators, just stairs! They have reasonably priced children's and baby clothes. We got a couple of small things for our friends and had them wrapped up. After that, Fumihiko took me to a convenience store and I sent off some books to my friend in the south part of Japan. Finally.

After that, I was expecting to go home, but Fumihiko just started driving. We went past the mall, so that wasn't where he wanted to go. Hmm. Where? Getting close to Sakata, Fumihiko said to me, "Where's that place you wanted to go shopping?" Huh? I had no idea what he was talking about. Apparently I'd told him that he always drives past a place that I'd like to go and shop at! I asked him when that was and he couldn't remember. Men! I told him that one place in Sakata that I've always wanted to go to was the old warehouses on the river. They're a tourist spot, but I've never been. However, it was now almost 6 pm and I thought they'd be closed. We got there at a quarter to, and Fumihiko wanted to look around. We did walk around a little but the place was nearly empty! There was a museum with a Hina doll exhibit, but I told Fumihiko that I didn't want to visit it for only 15 minutes. We wandered through the gift shop and didn't buy anything. Then, with 5 minutes left before 6 someone had to visit a men's room. There was one open in the back of a produce shop near the museum, so he went there and I bought produce. I got a small cauliflower, broccoli, some onions, asparagus, and a cabbage. It was all locally grown and most of it was cheaper than in the grocery store. Yay.

We drove around a little in Sakata and I asked about dinner. We ended up having dinner in another hotel, the Hotel Rich and Garden. It was nice, and wasn't busy. It was a bit expensive, but cheaper than the other place that Fumihiko suggested first.

After dinner we came home via the grocery store. Tomorrow I'm going to do a roast in my slow cooker so I needed more veggies to put in the bottom.

We came home and had a quiet evening. We watched the new show Damages with Glenn Close. I love Glenn Close, but I'm just not sure about this show. I'm not sure if Close is channelling the Marquise de Merteuil with pants, but she's not a nice lady! Fumihiko already hates her. I think I'll watch the show without him next time.

And basically that was my day. Tomorrow, Fumihiko is back to work and so am I. Wish us luck. Night night!

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