Yesterday I attended a workshop on beekeeping at the Okanagan Bee Farm. It was a very informative four hours. For example, I learned the best success for over-wintering hives is to kill the poor queen each year in July. Isn’t that sad? But apparently it’ll help reduce mites, and secondly prevent swarming.

Chris Boulanger, the owner, said just kill the queen, and you can even throw her into the hive to show the other bees she’s dead. Then after a short while the bees select an egg and it receives royal jelly, and in two weeks you’ve got yourself a virgin queen. She then flies out and mates like mad, and returns to lay eggs faithfully until the next July when she’s murdered.

During the two weeks when the new queen’s developing, no eggs are being laid, and this breaks the mite’s life cycle, so it’s apparently a very green way to rid a hive of mites. I simply can’t recall how the regicide stops swarming, but it does.

Whether I’ll ever have honey remains to be seen, but all I can do is try. Next month I’ll get a hive of ‘nucs’ or baby bees, and then we’ll see what happens. All I know is every two weeks I have to put on my bee suit and inspect the frames, and I already feel a bit dizzy thinking about that part.

Mother’s Day was largely a success until I arrived home from Osoyoos. I had given Luke a ride here as he wanted to drive his terrible red car home. For some reason, early in the evening, I went into the garage and I noticed it was hot.

I went downstairs and told both kids about it, and they shrugged. I went back out and sleuthed around until I found the breakers for the base heaters were turned on! I then stormed downstairs and screamed at them that the electricity bill was going to kill me.

Neither had any idea how those breakers got turned on, so I went to bed in a funk. Just as I was falling asleep, I heard barking, got up, and saw all of the doors were open, and Luke was in the shop working on his car. Louie was out, barking like mad.

I had another screaming fit, got the dog, and went back to bed. Another Mother’s Day done.

A couple of days later I had a proper celebration. I took myself and Liz’ gift certificate to Art Knapps to shop around. I found a lovely bougainvillea that I plan to put out in the summer and then take inside as a house plant. I also got what’s called a hardy Chicago fig tree, so I hope that works out.

Do you love Dollarama? What a great chain that is. I needed a pot for the fig tree and didn’t want to get gouged so went there. I got a lovely pot for $3 and a handy plate to go under it with wheels for easy moving for $2. Hard to beat them for most things.

You know how some lakes “turn over” every spring and fall? I do the same with my shoes. I just moved my 20 pairs of winter shoes into my office closet, and the 20 pairs of sandals into my bedroom closet. I found a couple of pairs to return to thrift, so that’s always a bonus.

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!

Yesterday morning I went to Artie Knapps for some chicken manure and a new sprinkler head, browsed the nursery and bought a few heritage tomato plants, and headed for Staples to do some photocopying.

As I stood at the machine making copies, I felt something tickle my back under my shirt so I put my hand down my neck but couldn’t find anything. A few minutes later I felt it again, around my bra strap area, so put my hand up under my shirt, and felt around. I decided it must be an errant label of some kind.

Once done with the copying, I hopped into the car and headed down Leckie, a four-lane road on my way home. Suddenly a wasp flew out from my shirt, and stung me on my chest as I slapped it away. I veered over to the right to park while avoiding a collision with another vehicle. I got out of the car and stood there, searching the interior for the damned wasp.

I couldn’t find it, and I had to get home, so I re-entered the car and started praying. I prayed all the way, and thought as long as I don’t cause an accident all will be well. I thought I can handle another few stings, but not a car crash.

From a distance I noticed the advanced arrow at KLO Road was blinking and knew I wouldn’t make the light, so I turned off at Fisher Road, which has one of those Local Traffic Only signs, even though it connects to KLO at the other end.

I drove at what I considered a very sedate pace of about 40 KPM and as I rounded the corner some idiot in his yard yelled at me to slow down. I felt like parking, getting out, shoving my fist into his face and screaming at him, “I’ve got a wasp loose in the car, mister, now get outta my way.”

I was elated to see my driveway and parked at the gate where I was met by little Louie, wagging happily. I told him mommy had to find a murderous wasp. I looked and looked, and then I saw it. It had been sitting on the inside of the driver’s door, about two inches from my left shoulder, the whole way home.

I had to play hard ball with the staff at Value Village the other day. I wanted to buy a Gap jacket that was marked at the usurious price of $14.99, however I noticed it had a tear in the lining. I was already planning to use my 30% off card, but still didn’t want to pay $10 for the jacket.

I asked for a supervisor, and pointed out the tear, and they said okay 20% off. Then I got to the till and said a supervisor said 20% off and I want to use my 30% off card. They tried to balk, but I held my ground, and so got the jacket for half price, which is all it’s worth. It’d be $5 at the most at any of the other thrift stores.

I got an old White sewing machine for Jan for $20 that works beautifully. She used to work in a sweat shop in Bangkok before she began cooking, so I think she’ll like having it around for little projects.

Soon it’ll be time to plant the heritage tomatoes, and all of this has to be done in the heart of Wasp Country. How something so small can strike so much fear is a mystery.

Louie turned two on April 1st, and today it’s Mango’s 11th birthday. Wrecks will turn 12 on May 10th, God willing. So we have a lot of pet birthdays to celebrate over a short time span. They never get gifts, though, as they’re so unappreciative of them.

At the time of Louie’s birthday I noticed he was sneezing like mad and thought he must have a cold. Then I realized he has seasonal allergies. Apparently age two is often the time dogs can develop allergies, and this little genius began right on the very day he turned two.

I give him children’s Benadryl and it seems to help a bit, as do windy days. Yesterday on our walk we met the mail man, and he said he has allergies, too. It was windy and he said just like Louie, his symptoms were a lot milder that day as a result.

Luke and Jan’s wedding/welcome to Canada party went swimmingly. I made dinner for 30 people, and it was so easy I want to help others to do it for themselves as well. As with any party given by Martha Stewart, it’s got to be executed with military precision. Detailed shopping lists, followed by daily To Do lists, so that by the day of the event there’s almost nothing left to do.

It was a big effort for many people who travelled here from out of town. Freddie and his family came, which was great as the next morning was Easter Sunday, so I had a massive egg hunt for the little grandchildren. Jan and Haruka (Nicky’s girlfriend) had never experienced Easter, so partook of the hunt and loved it.

Luke and Jan slept in the guest room, so Margaret had to bunk in my office as I have a single bed in there. In the morning she said she was in the midst of a lovely dream only to be awakened by the sneezing, snuffling and gagging of the dog at 2:00 AM.

When Nicky came upstairs he said he’d also been awakened by the dog, and I said, “Huh!” I was sleeping several inches away, and they were either down the hall or downstairs, and heard the cacophony. When I’m sleeping, I’m really sleeping.

The kids love telling stories of how when they were small they’d be standing by my bed, talking, and I wouldn’t wake up. These would be summer nights, and they’d be up ranting around until all hours, and I went to bed at my usual time, whether still light outside or not.

They said it scared them for someone to be sleeping like a corpse, not able to be awakened by anyone or anything. It’s some sort of strange gift, I guess.

Last Saturday Petra had a surprise birthday lunch at her house for Kathy which was fun. I’d seen Kathy at the gym that morning, and she said her friend Bev was picking her up and they were getting Petra for a birthday lunch out at a restaurant.

I said well that sounds like fun, and chuckled to myself. We were told to arrive by 11:30 and hide our vehicles. At about 12:15 Kathy walked in and we screamed surprise! and she was truly surprised so that was great.

I should plan surprise parties for the pets on their birthdays and see if they appreciate those, but I doubt they would.

I’d hate to see what I’d be like flying 15,000 km away from home to live in a new climate and culture, yet Jan’s doing amazingly well. I bought her a lightweight zipperless hooded grey sweat shirt which she wears non stop over her T shirts, but I said to her you’re going to have to buy warm things. Can you imagine coming from 35 degrees C to here in March?

Jan’s very open to learning how things are done, and I always start etiquette lessons with, “Here in Canada we…..” and then explain the custom. She always replies emphatically with, “Okay mom!” and I must say once she’s been told something she does it that way each and every time thereafter.

Just now mom phoned to say she’d taken Jan shopping at Sonia’s, a nice boutique in Osoyoos. Mom said she’d bought Jan a lovely long dress for the party next Saturday, so that’ll be great as with her figure she’ll look adorable dressed up like that. Just like a living doll.

Kathy had a lovely birthday dinner party for Petra last week, and their friend Bev brought along her friend Ken, so there were seven of us. As always, Kathy had the table set so beautifully. I should buy more accoutrements for the dinner table as it sure makes every dinner an event.

Once we got into the evening Ken told us about something magical and wonderful that we simply had to check out on line. We all said what’s it all about, and he said he couldn’t say, but we needed to look at it. He said it’s called Zeitgeist, and asked if we’d heard of it.

The next day I Googled it and went Oh my God, as Zeitgeist is some nutty conspiracy theory site, filled with insane rants and bizarre theories. I e mailed and Kathy and said “Um, Ken’s a conspiracy theorist, did you know that?”

While God knows we all have a right to our own opinions, some are just too off the wall to be taken seriously. And as you know, I’m good with strange ideas and odd people, so it’s not like I’m closed to stuff, but the conspiracy theorists are just nuts in my opinion.

And speaking of whacky, the other day I went to a few thrift stores after the gym, and then came home and tried to exit my car, and couldn’t. I had to crawl out the passenger side, and no matter what I or Nicky did, the door wouldn’t open.

I dropped it at a shop where it took them hours to figure out what was wrong, and they eventually had to order a part which had to be couriered. I was therefore without a car for four days, but it turned out to be fine, except for the bill of over $600.

On Saturday I drove Nicky’s hot rod to the gym and grocery store, Sunday and Monday I practised what wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet would be like and loved it, and on Tuesday Kathy picked me up and took me to the gym and drove me back home.

By Wednesday I was mobile again, ready to shop myself rotten for Luke and Jan’s impending party.

After waiting for what seems like quite a long time, Jan’s arrived in Canada and she and Luke are currently at Hall Road. Denis went to pick them up at the airport on Thursday, and they arrived here around 10:30 PM. They basically just went straight to bed, though Jan had a heap of presents on their bed to look at first.

Then on Friday, Jan’s first official day in Canada, I took her to the Oriental Market and down the Asian aisle at Superstore for supplies. She felt a lot better seeing familiar food items, and when we got home she made herself a nice Thai lunch.

She wanted to wash the dishes and Luke and I said no they’ll go into the dishwasher, and she said what’s that, as she’s never seen one. Turning on the stove was equally difficult, so there’s a lot to learn in a new culture and country.

Luke’s on crutches from a badly bruised foot so was lucky to get wheelchair service through the airports. Just like when I told you mom and I flew and she was in a wheelchair, he highly recommended it whether you need one or not. It’s just so fabulous to be pushed to the front of all lines.

However this is going to make driving his truck to Osoyoos too difficult, so Nicky’s volunteered to drive them. They want to get to the little pink house in the orchard so Jan can start her new life in Canada in their own little home.

We haven’t had a drop of rain and the ground is totally dry, so I guess I have to haul out the hoses and start to water a bit. I planted 72 zinnia seeds and some have already sprouted, so I’m very excited. I’ll put them into the greenhouse in a couple of weeks and then plant them out when it’s safe to do so. I always have such great hopes for these types of projects.

Another of these hopes is the plumeria stick I smuggled in from Hawaii. I’ve planted it and it says not to touch the pot, so I’ve pointed it out to everyone and said don’t even breathe near that thing. Apparently the roots are so delicate even if they do sprout, a knock on the pot might be the end of the project right there.

On Monday I’m ordering the cake for Jan and Luke’s wedding party on April 4th, and will start to buy the stuff I need for my menu. I just love doing events like that, so I’m pretty much ga ga with excitement over it. I’m thinking of going quite ethnic and spicy, and having things like curried chicken and Thai curried rice.

Freddie was fretting about how his children would have to leave the party early due to their toddlers needing to go to bed, as everyone’s staying at motels due to lack of space here. However he then came up with the brilliant idea of renting an RV and parking it on the property, so the partying can be hard and non-stop.

Last night Denis came for dinner, so it was the two of us, plus Jan and Luke, Haruka and Nicky. As mom says about the international flavour, “we’re Liberals.” However I explain it by saying I must’ve been such a traumatizing mother that they both had to right outside their race for mates.

Mom turned 90 on February 25th and we had a huge dinner party for 45 people on Saturday night, the 28th. Jerralynn and I made the food, and mom spent days prior to the event organizing furniture so all of the people could sit throughout the house if they wanted to.

Jerralynn made chicken drumsticks in teriyaki sauce, meatballs, spinach salad and a potato casserole. I made an asparagus salad and the salmon, and I’d bought buns and the cake from Costco. It looked nice, but tasted like a Costco cake would taste, IE, meh.

Stu Wells gave a lovely speech and we drank a toast to dear mom. Then I said I had a few words to say, and had written out a little speech. Basically I explained how I got Jean Chretien to send a beautiful note for mom’s birthday. I said I knew mom expected some type of surprise, and I had to come up with one.

About a week before her birthday I thought I’d better figure out how to get right to the top for a congratulatory letter. I recalled my old French Canadian boyfriend Gaby had told me his niece was a lawyer who worked in the same firm as Mr. Chretien. I e mailed him and said can you get her to ask Mr. Chretien to send a letter?

He forwarded her reply, which said she no longer worked there, but here is the office number. This was on the weekend, so I mulled that over, wondering what to do. But by Monday I thought what an they do, shoot me for asking, and dialled the number.

Mr. Chretien’s nice executive assistant answered, and said a whole bunch of words in French, none of which I could understand. I was expecting, “Hallo ici le bureau de Monsieur Chretien.” You know, grade 6 French taught at Osoyoos Elementary School.

I didn’t know what to do, so went for the Rube Alert, and replied, “Hallo! Hallo! I’m phoning from BC.” Denise Labelle instantly switched to English, listened to my stammered request, and was very kind. She said, “Well bien sur, Mr. Chretien will do that for you!” She gathered the contact info, and said a letter would be sent by Fed Ex.

She also sent me the letter by e mail, which was a good thing, as she’d given Fed Ex my address incorrectly, so it didn’t arrive on time. But now I have the signed copy all ready to hand over to mom when she visits later today. She’s driving Jerry Jr to the airport as he’s on his way back to Manhattan.

Besides Freddie and me, there were three grandchildren and three great grandchildren in attendance. Jerry took a group photo so I hope to have that soon to post on Facebook. The youngest person was one and the oldest was 90.

Louie also attended the party, and everyone just loved him so much. He adores little girls so he spent quite a bit of time with Journey and River, and they enjoyed playing with him. Sadly I left his stuffed donkey behind, and he’s been searching the house for it. Let’s just say he has a “special relationship” with the donkey and leave it at that.

So now with mom’s party done I can concentrate on Party #2, Luke and Jan’s reception.

I said to Luke several times, be sure to get a coat for Jan, she’ll need it when she gets off the plane in Vancouver. He said why would I get one here when I can buy one in Thailand for way less? As I could easily find one at thrift for under $10 I wondered how much less they’d be, as well, would they be down-filled, given their climate?

On the afternoon of his flight we were packing the suitcase with chocolate and gifts for “the village” which means the Bunyungs and extended family members. Luke suddenly said, “Did you get a coat for Jan?” I said I hadn’t as he told me many times not to buy one, or I would gladly have done that, but as he told me not to, I didn’t.

I can’t imagine what that’s going to be like, Jan having never been out of the tropics in her whole life, arriving in Vancouver mid-March with no damned coat. Oh well.

Last week I went to Freda Hesketh’s funeral at the legion in Osoyoos. It was great as mom and I got to sit in the family section, and so we should, given mom’s been friends with Freda for almost 70 years. Lynn gave a really nice eulogy, and then afterwards the nice women of the Legion had made those beautiful little sandwiches and squares I just go bananas over.

I nearly didn’t make it as I noticed a green coloured fluid dripping from the engine area of my car. I had the radiator replaced just a year or so ago, so asked Luke, Nicky and Denis, all of whom were lolling about my house messing it up, to go and diagnose the problem.

Luke quickly found a broken metal ring, and as we have Honda replacement parts by the dozen, he found an exact match and promptly fixed the problem. That kind of ingenuity saves me an awful lot of money.

He’s arrived safely in Thailand, and of course Jan met him at the airport. They were heading off to the wilds of Ubon Ratchathani with the suitcase filled with Belgian chocolate. I posted on Luke’s Facebook page: Are the Bunyungs bingeing on bon bons in the boonies?

I went door to door campaigning for the federal Liberals on Saturday, and it wasn’t too bad except my feet hurt as I was wearing the wrong shoes. I was unfortunately paired with a man who was one of the founding members of the BC Reform Party! Can you imagine? Now he’s a so-called Liberal, and I had to explain all manner of Liberal party philosophy to him.

We walked for two hours, and it was a sunny and lovely day. We talked to some nice people, quite a lot of Conservatives given we were in the Mission area of Kelowna, and at the end we had one bone fide crazy person. Always a good time to be had! I’ll be doing it again soon I’m sure, given the scuttle butt is the writ may be dropped earlier than October.

Today after the gym I plan to hit the Helping Hands thrift store as it’s 50% off for seniors on Tuesdays. I’m hoping to find a cute outfit to wear to Jan and Luke’s reception, which will be held in early April to introduce Jan to our world.

After a terrifying morning where all flights out of Kelowna were cancelled, I managed to get my flight to Vancouver after all. I was due to leave around 1:30, and after a three hour delay due to backed-up flights from the morning’s fog, we left for Vancouver and I caught my connecting flight to Honolulu.

Renate, now called Sam, met me at the suitcase carousel and put a fake lei around my neck, greeting me with “aloha!” and a hug. Even though it was 10:00 PM the temperature felt wonderful and warm.

We then spent a happy week of daily beach walking, site seeing and thrift store shopping. Because we were always out over lunch we’d find a nice restaurant. In the evenings we ate at home because Sam and Peter don’t like to go out, and by then I was exhausted from the sun and sea air.

One day we got up before dawn to beat the bus loads of tourists and headed to Hanauma Bay to snorkel. It’s a marine preserve, but I have to say I was a bit disappointed compared to the snorkelling on the Big Island. There weren’t any colourful urchins on the coral, which was bare.

But it was still great to be snorkelling, and I took an underwater disposable camera, thinking I’d be able to take photos. I forgot I can’t see a thing without reading glasses, and so putting the camera to my face did nothing for me. I had to point into a school of fish and hope for the best. I can just imagine how those 27 shots are going to turn out.

We took two day trips to the north end of Oahu which is rural and really lovely. I enjoyed being up there, stopping at fruit stands and speaking with eccentric locals. On our second drive we went all the way over to the historic town of Haleiwa, heading southward on the other side of the island. It’s a really cute spot to visit.

On the opposite end of the scale we also went to Honolulu and strolled along Waikiki Beach. I found it really beautiful too, even though stacked with tourists, whereas at Kailua Beach were we walked daily, there are only a handful of people.

We walked through the enchanting Royal Hawaiian Hotel, which is pink and was built in 1927. We had a drink in an adorable thatched roof themed bar and grill called Dukes. It was all very chi chi.

Then on top of the general happiness at being in Hawaii, and doing it all for a song as I was staying with someone and being chauffered around, I got a call from mom saying Luke and Jan found out Jan received her permanent visa to come to Canada! I was so happy for them, it made my holiday a complete dream.

The only fly in the ointment was Sam’s husband, who was a Canadian and became not only an American citizen, but a Republican. He explained to me Obama was born Barry, but changed his name to Barrack. I replied calmly I didn’t think that was right.

Fox News was on 24/7, praise was heaped on Bill O’Reilly, and you’d be really proud of me but I didn’t get into a single argument.

Tomorrow at noon Denis is coming to pick me up and driving me to the airport. First I fly to Vancouver, hang around the airport for three hours, and then at 5:30 PM my plane leaves for Honolulu. I’m really excited about it.

Due to my prior experiences, I plan on taking a couple of sandwiches with me. When Marilyn and I flew to Kauai in 2009 our plane left around the same time. The staff of our airline were kind enough to announce there was no food whatsoever on the flight, so if anyone wanted food, to please go to a vendor and get some.

Because I’m loathe to pay $12 for a tuna sandwich, I plan on making my own at home. I also have a couple of books ready to go, and will probably cause some sort of a sensation as I sit and read, turning pages, while every other human peers at a screen. The younger ones will come and ask me what it is I’m holding, and what I’m doing.

I finally got with the program, and attended a federal Liberal volunteer meeting on Wednesday night. There were perhaps 16 of us, with 4 party officials IE the riding president, campaign manager, and so on in attendance. I’m looking forward to the upcoming campaign.

Nicky was shocked when I told him I was leaving the house after dark and going to a meeting. His new Japanese girlfriend is surprised how neither he nor I leave this house. I said to her we have an expression that goes the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

I’m also going to re-visit beekeeping, despite my prior negative experience. You’ll recall my hive came infested with a fungus that killed the bees, and then in the spring a mother bear and her three cubs came and demolished the wooden hive.

This time I’m getting what are called nucs, or baby bees. Also, I’m getting a nice clean hive and I’m attending a workshop given by the vendor on May 16th. That way surely to God I’m finally going to achieve my goal of being a beekeeper.

I went to both my GP and chiropractor on Friday, still on my quest to solve the migraine problem. My GP ordered neck X rays as she thinks I may have arthritis in there, but as I said to the chiropractor afterwards, what will it mean if I do? What does a person do about it as there’s no cure for arthritis?

Mom pooh poohed arthritis and pointed out I have no neck pain, and I agreed, but said I have headaches and a grinding sound in my neck, so perhaps I do have it. If I do, all the sites say one has to do physical exercises to strengthen neck muscles. What the heck I’m doing at the gym four times a week I don’t know.

So in other words, no one knows why I have migraines, and I’m continuing to explore treatments on my own. Now I’m taking a supplement called tryptophan which is recommended for migraines, and also upping the vitamin B6 and water. This doesn’t bode well for the next few decades, does it?

But in the meantime, I have the opportunity to absorb one full week of vitamin D, so that should do this old carcass a lot of good. Aloha!