As you may recall, I bought a mated queen from a Czechoslovakian beekeeper at the end of July, and I put her into my queenless hive.  She chewed through the marshmallow plug and escaped her cage, so I felt hopeful as she obviously must’ve made her way into the hive.

Lorraine came last week to help me inspect, and sadly, the Czech queen is dead!  There was some three-week old capped brood, but nothing recent, indicating she tried to lay some eggs, but then died or was killed.  Bummer.

I now have to order yet another ‘nuc’ hive for next spring.  No one tried harder than Lorraine and me to get that second hive going.  I’d put in a frame from the old hive, she’d put in a frame.  Then she put in a whole box of frames.  Finally we put in the mated queen, and still nothing.

Like the gardener’s cry of “next year!” I find it applies well to beekeeping too.  Hope springs eternal and all of that.

And speaking of hope, I’ve taken my first singing lesson, and just loved it, so have signed up for a full year.  I met the nice teacher yesterday and at the end of the first lesson I asked if she thought there was any hope, and she replied “of course!”  So let’s see what happens with that.

As you may know, I like to belt out songs at any opportune moment, yet the singing is not so good in that it’s mostly flat and out of key.  I said to Charissa, all I want is to be able to hold a tune, and to complete a song in the same key I began in, which she felt was all doable.

After the lesson I was invited to my friend Carol’s on the west side, and had to fight heavy traffic to get there, given the invite was for Happy Hour.  But it was worth it as I just adore her home on the edge of Glen Canyon.  We could hear the coyotes howling at the bottom of it.

She’s taken decades of Tai Chi and Qi Gong and I said I’d love to do that, too.  I looked at a class here in Kelowna, and it appears the beginner class would entail two lessons a week.  I’m torn, given my need to go to Osoyoos every two weeks to visit mom, to fit these in.

I now have weekly singing and chiropractor, then add the twice a week Tai Chi plus monthly Reiki and you can see a scheduling problem.  Who knew retirement would be this busy?

I bought some so-called “cull” peaches from Pacific Fruit Stand which are just 30 cents a pound as they’re very ripe, so have some bruises.  I don’t care, as I made two batches of lovely peach relish, as per Petra’s recipe.

However because I won’t be brought to heel by a recipe I usually decide to substitute for items I don’t have.  The fruit stand didn’t have chilli peppers, as called for, but instead had jalapenos.  As a result, I have what I’ve now labelled Spicy Peach Relish.  It’s HOT.

Our friend Jim and his friend Lorrin came to stay with mom for two nights, so I went down there for one of them.  Jim works like a crazy person, so I now find I can annoy people just by saying “and here I am, with absolutely nothing to do all day!”  Mom tried to help by saying “but you’re busy….”

Here’s the kind of things I’m busy with.  I went to a dollar store and bought an assortment of funny cat and dog toys for Louie.  The two little mice I bought make a funny sound whenever they’re touched, and I got a squeaky mink and a pink pig that makes crinkling sounds when bitten.

Louie loved all of it, and became particularly perturbed when the little device that makes the noise came out of one of the mice, and continued to make its noise whenever touched.  He would bite the mink and look puzzled, trying to figure it all out.  At one point the little device got under his bed and he went berserk.

Other things that captivate my time include making nice food for mom, which I then freeze and take to her whenever I visit so all she has to do is microwave.  I’m never out of chocolate or coconut, as I seem to be on a constant bender of macaroon production.

I made them for my pal Petra in the spring, and as her son Kevin and wife Cindi were visiting, they ate them and said they were fantastic.  I was invited over again on Saturday, and they were also going to be there, so I knew damn well I couldn’t arrive minus them, so I didn’t disappoint.

Further time is consumed by watering and dead-heading, as well as cutting mature dahlia blooms and putting them into vases around the house.  Now that Margaret lives here I Google restaurants in Okanagan towns and make plans for day trips we can take.

Naturally thrift shopping remains a constant, and I never come home anything other than exhilarated.  I think it must be what keeps golfers going.  The other week I got a Calvin Klein jumpsuit for $10.00.

One can’t write well without reading, so part of each day is consumed with that.  I’m in the midst of that older novel, Memoirs of a Geisha, and am enjoying being in 1930’s Japan.  I pity the fool who doesn’t read.

If bored, I tackle one of the Liberals or mom’s assignments.  As the Events Coordinator for the local Liberal riding association, I have to book us into things and then make sure we’re stocked with all the buttons and brochures.

Right now mom wants a ‘heritage style’ queen sized, off-white bedspread, so that’s quite the assignment.  I went to the Bay and Walmart, then looked at Amazon and Wayfair and can see it’s going to be a time-consuming challenge.

That’s why when mom said I was busy, I replied “yes but it’s all things of my own choosing.”  I’ve wanted to be at home since I had to go to school at age 6, so I’ve waited an awfully long time for this and plan to wallow in it.  Jim’s going to have to wait his turn.