I got home from Japan on October 11, and felt really tired and jet lagged. On the 15th Kathy came over for coffee, and I was telling her how bad I was coping with it all, and she said are you sure you’re not coming down with something? I said no, it’s just jet lag.

Then on the 16th I woke up extremely sick with a cold, and this dragged on for a week. As I began to feel a tiny bit better, I developed a migraine, and had headaches off and on until just a few days ago. Imagine my mood.

I really couldn’t do much except e mail photos around and put some on Facebook, but other than that I didn’t accomplish anything. The poor dog wasn’t walked for a week so he was quite confused and upset as well.

I managed to follow along with my two writing courses, as they’re on-line which makes it very convenient. I foolishly tried to do something with my new WordPress website, but can’t do one single thing, so had to give up. I’ll have to hire a teenager.

The nice web designer got rid of fruitcake.ca, as people were starting to order, so I told him please close that immediately! One day I hope to have a nice website all about me as a writer. Of course there’ll always be recipes and stories about bees, flowers, dogs and all of that, but the main theme will hopefully be stories I’ve written.

To whit: the novel writing is going abysmally. The outline is due in two weeks, and by God I’m going to have it done. Thus far I have a title, The Revolt of Helga Glasscock, and some vague idea of what the book is about. Strangely enough, it’s not about a woman who decides to open a fruitcake business.

At this point I envision it as a tale about secrets, but told from a humourous viewpoint. Because growing up in the small town of Osoyoos has provided me with a wealth of stories, I plan to include flashbacks whereby Helga talks about her growing up years there.

My pal Beverly from White Rock came for her final visit of the year. We did our usual stint at the thrift stores, and I must say I’m getting really good at saying no. Even if an item is new, of excellent quality and of course dirt cheap as it’s at a thrift store, if I can’t think of a good reason for the purchase, I just won’t make it.

But one thing I got, for which I have no place, but oh well, is a cute side table. It appears someone put nice stone pieces on the top, as it’s so heavy. It was $10 and of course we only go on sale days, so with tax it ended up under $8.00

And as I explained to Bev this can be the first item for my ‘studio’ project, which will begin in the spring. As you may recall, the ‘children’ have been asked to get out of my garage, which will be all spruced up and turned into my very own area. So now I have a lovely side table to decorate around.

The dog and I were huddled by the fireplace all afternoon yesterday as Fortis shut off the power in our area. It was nice, as I read, though what I should be doing is writing. I finally did force out the opening scene of my novel, so that’s a start.

I just got back from an amazing 11 day trip to Japan to attend Nicky and Haruka’s traditional wedding ceremony at a Shinto shrine. You’ll recall they were married here on my lawn in April, but her parents couldn’t attend, so she wanted to have a nice wedding there.

Our trip began in Osaka, where Denis, Nicky and I landed and were met by Haruka. We took the two-hour bus trip to Kyoto, a 2000 year old city where Haruka had found a 300 year old house for us to rent through Air B n B. We then spent three days traipsing about temples, palaces, and a bamboo forest.

It was 30 degrees and very humid, but the house was updated with air conditioning. I had to sleep on the main floor as the steps were so narrow to the second floor I said I’m going to kill myself in the night going down to the bathroom.

In the shower/bathroom, the tub was about four feet deep, and the windows opened out into our own private little garden. So adorable!

Then we flew off to Sapporo and on our way we stopped at a place known as Hell Valley which is called Shikotsu Toya National Park and is an area of hot springs. We stayed at a traditional “onsen” hotel, which means one has natural springs’ hot tubs in the hotel.

Yes, we went in the nude, but men and women are separate, thank God. It was lovely as Haruka and I went to an outdoor tub and were alone there, sitting in the rain. Quite the experience.

After that we headed for an apartment Haruka had rented in downtown Sapporo, her home town, and the site of the wedding. We did things like shop and had a ‘conveyor belt’ sushi dinner at a restaurant with her parents. Literally, plates come by the tables on a moving belt, and you pick whatever you want.

The wedding was on Saturday, and it took the bride and groom three hours to be dressed in their traditional kimonos. Denis and Haruka’s dad were in tuxedos, her mom in a kimono and I wore my own outfit. I could’ve rented a kimono but said why?

All of this was done by the Century Royal Hotel and they had a van which took us to the Hokkaido Shrine. There the beautiful Shinto wedding ceremony took place, with about 15 Sawayas on one side, and two Schiller Doyles on the other.

After the ceremony, in which we all drank Sake as part of it, we went back to the hotel for everyone to change into more comfy clothes, then up to the revolving restaurant on the 22nd floor with a gorgeous view of Sapporo. There we were treated to a most divine eight course dinner that was truly to die for.

The next day the five of us (Haruka’s dear mom Yuka joined us) headed to the town of Niseko where Haruka works. It’s a ski resort and it has a breathtakingly beautiful volcano which is known as ‘Little Fuji’. On the way we stopped at a town by the sea call Otaru which I was nuts about.

And then it was time to fly home, and as usual, I arrived home feeling like a bag of merde due to the extreme time change. It was worth it though.

We all knew it had to happen one day, we just didn’t know when that day would come. But now it appears that within just a few short months I might have the opportunity to live minus any offspring. After 30 years, I have to admit I’m kind of excited about it.

Probably wrong for a mother to admit it, but given the length of servitude, I think I’d have even Mother Teresa’s blessings on this. And like many momentous events, it happened completely by accident.

I’d gone to Osoyoos for a memorial for my old friend Joe Miller, and spent the night at mom’s. I arrived home on Sunday to see the green hide a bed from the basement cut into four pieces and thrown onto the perpetual garbage pile in the yard. Luke and Nicky happened to be standing in the carport.

I left the car like a hornet after an annoying hound, and screamed, “What happened to the hide a bed?” Nicky said “It stunk. Remember I told you it stunk, and even you said it smelled dusty downstairs.” He seemed aware of the fact his continued existence was precarious at this point.

I explained I hadn’t confirmed it was the hide a bed, and in any case, it’s my house, my yard and my stuff, so even if it stank to high Heaven, it’s all mine and nothing is to be sawed into pieces. Ever.

I went into the house, madder than a wet hen, and completely at my wit’s end over those kids. After a few hours of thinking and e mailing vile invectives to friends about my offspring, I made a simple decision: Everyone Out.

Gerry Bruck often told me of mammals that have to chase their offspring from the burrow once they get a certain age, and I always thought that sounded so harsh. However now I get it, I really do. Some offspring can’t be coaxed off; they have to be ordered off the premises.

And really, at 27 and 30, I think they can get started with their own dear lives. Haruka’s arriving at the end of November, and she wants to find a place for them to buy, as she doesn’t want to live in my basement. I love her.

Then I thought heck, if Nicky’s outta here, why not ask Luke to move his tools out of my garage, and then the accumulated garbage will be kept to a very small amount. And a bonus will be I can use the garage for any number of fun things. I can have my own ‘studio’ and say that while tilting my nose upwards.

So I’m now excited about the future of Hall Road, and have a new website which will take over from fruitcake.ca. This one is monischiller.com, and is still in the process of being born. Once that’s up, fruitcake comes down, and my writing life is official.

Denis, Nicky and I are off to Japan next week, and the dog and cats will have their very own house sitter, so I can relax and enjoy sushi, geishas and shrines by the thousands. I’ll report in after I return mid October. Sayonara.

Margaret was here because we were having a party to celebrate Luke’s 30th birthday. We’d had a fun family lunch and then the next day when Denis was visiting I mentioned the special ‘onsen’ hotel we’re staying at in Japan. I said it sounds like some traditional style of Japanese hotel or something.

Margaret immediately Googled onsen, and then started to laugh hysterically. We said what’s so funny and she read out how they are spas, where men and women are separated because it’s all done without any bathing suits on, IE nude. I said oh dear lord, poor Nicky walking in there with his dad!

So I feel kind of intrigued by Japan already, and I can imagine the exciting things we’re going to get to see. We’re spending three days in Kyoto, then the rest of the time in Hokkaido where her folks live. So it’ll all be a whirlwind.

Yesterday Mike the House Painter came over to learn the drill for the house and pets as he’ll be house sitting. He mentioned Luke and I said no, I think it’s better for you to be here. Luke likes Louie, but he dislikes the cats, and so I know it wouldn’t work.

You would shriek with laughter being around here, as the batteries in my landlines finally stopped re-charging, so I had to buy new phones. I took them home, opened the box, and carefully unfolded the instructions. Slowly I tried to put in the batteries, couldn’t, and had to go out to the garage and ask Luke to do it for me! Oh my God.

Then yesterday I thought my creative writing course had started, but of course it’s on-line so that’s another hurdle. I was going berserk for about two hours, was nearly in tears, then got an e mail saying it starts next week.

You can see how happy I am I’m now able to imbibe one cocktail per night again. I’d had 18 months off due to migraines, but am much-improved, and thank God for it daily on the dot of 4:00 PM. It must be a bit disconcerting for the kid to be able to set his watch by the sound of the blender like that.

I was hugely successful with the bees, as I managed to get seven frames of honey. I have them sitting in a Tupperware container, as even though I have the extractor, I’m waiting for the recommended honeycomb cutting knife. It heats, so apparently is well worth waiting for, according to the beekeepers I’ve asked.

When I lift the container, it feels like there’s about 20 pounds of honey in there, so that’s a good beginning. And you’ll recall the bees swarmed and moved out in April, so the 20% or so who remained had to work like crazy to fill these frames. And because of that I felt really bad stealing all of it from them.

I phoned the president of the local beekeepers association, and he said yep, everything above the queen excluder is for the beekeeper to take, so go ahead. I did, but it made me feel like a real heel.

So now the fun begins once I cut the combs, spin the frames to release the honey and pour it into jars. Lorraine my beekeeping friend said the entire kitchen will be sticky once done. Fun!

You may recall I got a bird feeder a couple of months ago, and moved it several times before the birds finally decided they liked the spot. Now that they found it, I have to be on top of keeping it filled with sunflower seeds. I never thought of that aspect of it. But of course like flowers, once acclimatized to a feeder, birds want food.

And then the bees challenged me again, and this time it was over the removal of their honey. I don’t blame them, as they work so hard to fill those frames with honey, and then the beekeeper goes Yoink! and grabs all of the honey frames. They were mighty upset, yet in double layers of clothing, I felt safe.

At first I was sure I couldn’t do it. I watched some videos of how to take the honey frames from the bees, then spent days e mailing people and talking to myself while walking the dog. I begged myself to do, using guilt. If I didn’t do that, the mite poison pad couldn’t go on, and so the bees could perish over winter.

Finally that worked, and I put on a long sleeved shirt and long pants. Then the bee pants, bee jacket with netted hood, knee high leather boots and leather elbow length beekeeping gloves. I lit the smoker and made sure it was going strong with a thick plume of smoke.

Thus armed, I headed to the hive with an empty Tupperware container. I took off the lid, then used the hive tool to pry off the top. I then carefully pried apart each frame, filled with capped honey, and lifted it out. Once out, besides having an awful lot of bees buzzing around, I realized those remaining on the frames were not leaving.

On one of the videos a calm beekeeper, wearing only a hood, and nothing else, took out the frames and then said one shakes it hard, and the bees fall off. I gave the frame a good shake. One or two bees may have fallen off. I became desperate and hit the entire frame on the ground, and indeed, that knocked the little blighters off.

Seven of the eight frames had honey, so I put them into the Tupperware and brought them up here where we wait for the heated comb-cutting knife and honey extractor to arrive from Amazon. Once done apparently the entire kitchen is coated in honey.

I slapped a stinky mite killing pad on top of the box, and will start to feed them honey syrup in hopes they have enough honey in the lower two boxes for themselves for the winter. I worry about them.

But that was some measure of success, as was getting birds to the feeder, so I’ve been in a giddy mood lately. To celebrate I have a vanilla cake in the oven, which will be served to my pal Petra when she comes for Kaffee und Kuchen tomorrow afternoon. I have to say, that’s one of my favourite activities.

I’ve totally decided against chickens, and even having vegetables down in the lower garden again next year. I just can’t stand doing all of that stuff when I have a full garden of dahlias and other flowers up here, which I actually prefer. I think I have to stick with bees and flowers in the future.