I’ve never had dahlias blooming past Halloween, so the weather’s strange here as well.  Though of course compared to the East Coast, it’s wonderful, but it’s very evident the world’s getting warmer.  Just now I looked out to see a little swarm of tiny flies manically circling and circling in a small ball over the hedge.

But we know how suddenly things can change, and it’s not unusual for it to go to minus 20 here in the Okanagan in mid-November.  That’s about the time I should be boarding my plane for balmy Bangkok for Luke’s wedding.  I’m starting to get excited about meeting my prospective daughter-in-law.  I’ve never been a mother-in-law before.

I have two weeks to get ready for the trip, and that means two weeks to do all of my fruitcake prep for the season!  Once I return on December 3 I don’t think I’ll have the strength to do anything buy ship.

As it turns out, Luke didn’t have yellow fever, and told me the name of what it was, but I quickly forgot it.  In any case, I went to the Travel Clinic, and said, “load me up.”  One of the shots, either typhoid or tetanus, hurt like the dickens, and the next day it felt like my shoulder had been kicked and consequently lamed, by a mule.

This week I not only got the shots, but also travel insurance, had my teeth cleaned, and my hair cut and dyed.  Because I don’t want to do any laundry on the trip I bought some extra underwear.  I believe I’m now almost completely ready for the ordeal before me.  Today I’m on my way to Osoyoos for the rest of my travel gear.

Gerry, at 97 and mom at 87, have ceased being world travellers, so I’m going to use some of their stuff. They have a couple of giant suitcases, as well as neck pillows, adapters for power plugs and pills for terrifying, unexpected diarrhea.  Once I get home with one of the giant suitcases tomorrow, I can start to pack the gifts I have for the fam.

It’s very difficult to know what a rice farmer in a tiny village in the jungle wants or needs.  I’ve been told chocolate is very popular, so went to Costco and stocked up on several boxes.  I got Old Man Bunyung (my age apparently) one of those fancy multi-function tool sets, so he can fix the hut as needed.

You’ll recall my neighbour built a huge house across the road from me, though as I’m on a hill, I always have the advantage of being able to block unpleasant views.  Because instead of looking at trees as I used to, I’ve spent the past several months looking at workmen.  Though I haven’t needed a blind on my dining room window for 22 years, I do now, so I ordered one of those nice cellular ‘top down, bottom up’ kind.

This way I can block out the house, but still see the trees and sky above the blind so it should be acceptable.  You know when you’ve never had window coverings, something like that can be very traumatic.