The monk is conspiring against me and my fruitcake business.  Luke’s wedding date in Thailand’s been chosen, and it’s November 23!  I’ll leave November 18th and return on December 2nd, so that makes for an interesting gap in the seasonal business.

I imagine the Country Woman magazine issue mentioning my business likely hits newsstands around mid-November, so all of this is so interesting!

And you won’t believe this part of it: Denis and Nicky are going, too.  Yes, the whole family’s off to Thailand.  Now I have to find a dog/cat sitter who might also be able to handle some of the fruitcake inquiries.  Surely such a person exists.

But as we well know, worry is futile, so I’ll leave all of the details to the fates.  Right now I have far more immediate worries, such as why I won’t do something about this ring of fat around my middle.  If I’d just stop chowing down on bad carbs, I’d be fine.

Fortunately, I’m on an austerity program as I have to save for Thailand.  This means I don’t have to suffer the indignities of the consignment stores’ dressing room mirrors.  The last thing I need to do is shop for clothes, especially when larger than Bev Oda.

But hold it: I do have one thing to buy, and that’s a nice pink dress for the wedding.  I asked Jan (Supawan) what colours are good luck, and she said pink or white.  As pink’s my favourite colour, I’m taking this as another good omen.

As you’ll recall I insisted to Luke I have to fly Cathay Pacific, and now Luke, Nicky and Denis are all flying China Air.  However, because of their presence on the trip, and because I’m saddled with them, the rest of the trip will be done their way, IE  cheap.

We’re staying at a place in Bangkok that’s $31 a night.  Then we’ll be staying for free in the bride’s village, and then we’re going to a resort on the island of Ko Samui in the Gulf of Thailand.  I think that’ $50/night!  But it’s true, why spend a bunch of money if you’re in a lovely setting.  I’ll be snorkelling like a crazy person.

Today I talked to my prospective daughter-in-law on Skype, and she’s a lovely girl.  At first, I couldn’t understand one single word she was saying, but after a few minutes my ear became acclimatized and then it was okay.  Hard, but okay.

She said she doesn’t drive and is too scared to, and I said well when you live here, you can’t walk everywhere because it’s too far.  It’s always so interesting to watch a new Canadian or visitor as they look at the map, see where they are, and then go, wow, this really IS a big country!

So it was a special Canada Day for me today as I spoke to someone who could only dream of being a Canadian a short while ago, and now it’s going to happen.  Jan was glad to learn about Canada Day when I told her about it.

And that’s just the first of a lifetime of conversations I expect to have with this young woman from so far away who’s going to marry my son.  But imagine the joy of tutoring a newcomer in English and turning out a primo speaker:  The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain!