That’s what my daughter-in-law said to me the other day, and I said, “I know.” But one forgets, living in Canada, that people in other parts of the world aren’t nearly so lucky. I try to be grateful at all times for all that I have, but it’s helpful to have someone from a country like Thailand point it out.

I’m surrounded by people, friends, family and neighbours, whose incomes dwarf mine, yet I don’t give a whit as I work to live, I don’t live to work. Having time makes me feel wealthy. Plus we know it’s not what you make, it’s what you spend that counts. And as a thrift store aficionado, it’s hard to spend a lot.

Recently Nicky informed me he’s on a diet, so that cuts down on groceries, too. He attends the gym daily, and is tall, slim and well-muscled, so why he’s on a diet no-one knows. But I’m certainly happy with it as then maybe some of my own blubber will go away.

However it’ll have to go away after this weekend, as I’ve two menus planned, one for dinner tonight and the other for lunch tomorrow. I’m going to Osoyoos and will be making both of the meals there. The dinner includes us plus Jerralynn, and for the Mother’s Day lunch James Graham and his wife Julie will be there.

Liz died in December 2012 and Liza in late May 2013, so last year I invited James and Julie to come for Mother’s Day. They loved it so much they wanted to make it an annual tradition and we said sure.

For tonight’s dinner, the menu is seafood casserole a la Brigitte Jordan. This is made with just shrimp, scallops, salmon and cod and about a pound of butter. I’ll make rice, haricots verts Lyonnaise, and gingered carrots. I’ve made a chocolate cake for dessert.

For Sunday’s lunch we’ll start with carrot soup, followed by a chicken salad made with grapes and gently roasted sliced almonds. I’ll accompany the salad, which I’ll put on a nice butter lettuce leaf, with Dijon roasted potatoes and asparagus.

As you may recall, Liz was crazy for meringues so I’ve made those, and as the chocolate cake is actually a four-layered torte, we’ll probably have some of that leftover for dessert as well.

All of this sounds a lot better than the kind of stuff Louie’s eaten this week. Nicky was working on the patio table for me and a bit of WD 40 dripped onto the deck and Louie immediately licked it up. I looked on the can which shows a skull and cross bones and thought this is it, but he was fine.

A while later he’d found a nest of about 10 quail eggs in the xeriscape garden and proceeded to bite into them. I had to wrestle the shells out of his mouth. After three eggs I just took the whole nest and put it over the fence, as my hands were covered in egg by then and I could see this was going to go on for a long time.

So as I prepare for the weekend of food, in the immortal words of Walter White, Let’s cook!