Yesterday started with great excitement, as I’d been told by the producer of Sounds Like Canada that my business was going to be mentioned again. She said that CBC was going to invite people to write ads for selling fruitcake in July. Marilyn and I were baking our little hearts out anyway, so we had CBC on and heard the piece. It was very funny, because CBC had made up a skit about fruitcake, reminiscent of the fake orgasm scene in When Harry met Sally.

Then, the phone rang, and a nice woman said she and her friend were at Summerhill Winery, and that they wanted to come and buy fruitcake. They’d been on their way to BC from Ontario by car, and heard the interview on CBC last week. So, they had me on their ‘to do’ list. They arrived to the usual cacophony of barking from the three dachshunds. I had to do the usual, “heh, heh, heh, don’t mind them” routine.

They settled on five fruitcakes, and one of them went to the car to get some money. She came in ashen, saying there was a problem. Her friend and I, oblivious to what had occurred outside, were like, “What problem?” She explained that one of the dead Ponderosa pines on our property had been knocked down in a sudden wind gust, and had hit their car!

Sure enough, when we went out, there was the damn tree lying on their vehicle. There was a warning about high winds that day, and it suddenly had gotten dark and stormy, but of course no-one expected a tree to come down right at that moment. Of course I blamed Denis, who was still not home from his motorcycle trip, as he should have removed that tree.

Luckily, the women were super nice, and drove off to find a glass repair shop and make an insurance claim. Marilyn and I resumed our day of baking, wondering what on earth it all meant.

The good news is that the on-line sales have continued as a result of now having been mentioned three times on Sounds Like Canada. One customer sent me the nicest note about how much she adored both kinds of fruitcakes. Something like that just makes a person’s day.

Then today I made another sale to a winery store of Okanagan Fruit and Rum Bars, bringing the total number of stores carrying it to lucky 13! And speaking of that, on Sunday the 13th it’s my birthday. To celebrate, Denis, the boys and I are off to Osoyoos tomorrow to party with my mom and Gerry. My only brother, Freddie, and his wife and girls will be there, too, so it’ll be a Schiller reunion.

And no, we’re not taking the three dachshunds with us. They’re going to stay at home and be lovingly babysat by Fran, a trained vet technician who is able to put up with noisy dogs.