Margaret’s here for the long weekend, but just now is in bed after taking two Gravol. I can only ever take one, so find that quite a large dosage. However, last night she consumed one 3 ounce Cosmopolitan, one 2 ounce Pina Colada, a bottle of white wine and a beer. Amazing for her body size, really.

What happened was a confluence of unexpected events. Freddie turned 70 yesterday, and Nicky and I were to go to Maple Ridge for the party. Margaret didn’t know prior to booking a flight here for the long weekend, but when I told her about it she was fine with babysitting the dog for one night while Nicky and I went.

Then on Friday Nicky came upstairs and announced he wasn’t going to the party, and since we were going to drive together I was a bit disappointed, but said no problem, I would drive myself.

However when I got up yesterday it was pouring rain, so mom phoned and said “You know what a terrible driver you are. You’ll probably have an accident in the rain so don’t go.” I said I didn’t mind and was ready to go, but she insisted, so I said fine, I won’t go.

I then got Margaret at the airport and told her I wasn’t leaving after all. She’d made arrangements for Denis to come over that night to join her, so I phoned him and said to come anyway and then it turned into a small Doyle party.

Mid-afternoon Luke showed up in high spirits, which made everyone thirsty for drinks, and so I mixed up the first one, a Cosmopolitan. I made it with 1.5 oz of vodka, 1.5 oz of Triple Sec and white cranberry juice. That went down their gullets easily, so I made pina coladas next.

I had one and was thrilled it didn’t trigger a migraine. Luke and Margaret also imbibed, and then Denis showed up so Margaret switched to white wine. I stopped after one pina colada, so was perfectly fine. Nicky hid in the basement until after dinner, but then he came upstairs to join the revelry.

At one point one of the kids suggested poker, so they brought out the cards and chips and we sat around the table and played several hands of Texas Hold ‘Em. Everyone put in $5.00. Luke won, so was thrilled as Denis was dropping him off at his condo and he wanted to stop for Doritos on the way home and needed money for that.

Once Margaret had finished the bottle of white wine and a beer, she opened a second one, but only had a sip before heading straight for bed. I found her there, boots and clothes still on. I said should you at least take off your shoes?

No one offered to drink the can of beer. Luke and Nicky had been drinking Scotch he received for the wedding last month from his pal James, so I thought why must we waste a beer as they were chasing the Scotch with a wince and a chug of brew anyway.

I had difficulty falling asleep as I would burst into gales of laughter every few minutes imagining Margaret this morning. Then sure enough when she left the bedroom it was just as I had thought, bad.

It’s hard to believe, isn’t it? I’ve been writing this blog for the past ten years, and it all began because my then web designer Gord suggested it’d be a good thing to do. I recall saying to him I didn’t know how I could possibly write about fruitcake every week, but he suggested I could write about all kinds of things.

He gave me good advice, too. He said the blog shouldn’t be in the style of the vocational rehabilitation reports I’ve spent decades writing, nor should it be the smut-filled raucous e mails I sent to him. Gord said the blog should be somewhere in the middle.

So in the spring of 2006 I began and found I enjoyed it tremendously, and have continued ever since. It’s like a running letter to someone who lives far away and can’t be reached in any other manner. Kind of the way the world was just a few decades ago when one waited weeks for a letter to arrive from overseas.

Of course there have been quite a lot of changes on Hall Road in those ten years. All three of the original band of dachshunds, Arnie, Mojo and Ricky, has died. The cats have surprisingly remained the same all this time.

Mom’s partner Gerry and my pal Liz died. Denis and I divorced. Both boys got married.

All manner of strange and wonderful hobbies have begun, such as having a greenhouse in which I can start prize-winning dahlias, and keeping bees. Last year as you know I was stung silly by those little critters, yet I persevere.

The business has been a roller coaster ride of ideas and accomplishments. I began with one product, Totally Decadent Fruitcake, which I sold by word of mouth. By the next year people opposed to glace fruit asked if I could make a fruitcake with dried fruit instead. I did that, and called it Okanagan Harvest Cake. To appeal to wineries, I later made a smaller version and called it Okanagan Fruit and Nut Bar.

Soon I was in Urban Fare in Coal Harbour, some Buy-Low stores, Stongs Market in Vancouver, Edible BC on Granville Island, and locally in many stores and wineries. I was featured in a series CBC Radio did on small business, and was contacted by The Bay and asked if I wanted to supply them with fruitcake. I declined stating it would likely kill me.

All along I had at most one baking helper, starting with Sharon, then Gord, and finally Marilyn. I really couldn’t see myself able to bake more than the four thousand Marilyn and I did at the peak in 2007 and the thought of expanding didn’t appeal to me.

Another idea I had was to make chocolate bark, as I’d bought dried cherries from Oliver and thought that’d make a great product. However, after standing there tempering chocolate a few times, I had my web designer take it off my website.

Two years ago I decided I’d reached my original goal, which was to have a solely home-based business. I told the stores I wouldn’t be selling to them any more, and have returned to the two original products, selling to faithful customers locally and via the site.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

We had 27 adults and three children, two cats and a dog at the wedding here at the house on Saturday and it all went swimmingly. The weather was unusually nice for April; it was like a day in June. We’d planned on a garden wedding with no Plan B so that was very lucky.

I spent about ten days preparing as I made all of the food, so made a list of what to buy and what to make, and then frozen dishes as they were made. The menu was coconut curried beef, honey/soy/garlic chicken, salmon, roasted potatoes, Mexican bean and rice salad, Greek Salad and buns.

I was happy when it was all over though, as four separate guests stayed at the house overnight, so prepping the food and cleaning for the wedding was one task, and then getting four guest beds ready was another. As this proved to me, I really could run a B and B here. Not that I want to, but I could.

Much easier and with less involvement than prepping for a wedding has been the sale of my perennials. I ran an ad on Castanet, which is free, and have sold a ton of plants. Who knew? Most people seem to like the idea of mature plants that’ll sprout into an instant garden when planted.

The reason I had so many to sell was due to my desire to revamp the lower vegetable garden. On one of the garden tours I took years ago I was enchanted by a garden that incorporated flowers and vegetables. However, as it turns out, it doesn’t work. The perennials grew so large I had very little room left for any vegetables at all.

Beverly brought me a beautiful piece of stained glass she made. I hung it in my living room window and it adds so much to this Bohemian-style house. I love stuff like that. She also gave a lovely piece to the kids as a wedding gift.

Nicky and Haruka went to Vancouver for a couple of days, but then returned smartly for Nicky to start his new job as a manager at Telus. She’ll fly back to Japan next week, and then continue working there until she receives her permanent residency. Hopefully that’s going to go a lot faster than it did with Jan and Luke.

So now I have two wonderful Asian daughters-in-law who’ll both be here in Kelowna, so far from their own families. Should there be any grandchildren, I’ll be the sole gramma here for them! I was far too attached to my family when I was those women’s ages to contemplate such a thing.

During my first marriage in Prince George, Stanley got an exchange opportunity to Rhode Island. At first I thought why would we go so far from home? I was already far from home living in Prince George. But we went, and it was a great experience.

And the world’s a much smaller place now, too. For instance James, the best man, held his phone so that Haruka’s mom could observe the ceremony from Japan. When Luke and Jan were apart they Skyped 24 hours a day. She’d be asleep, but Skype was on.

It’s not like it used to be, when phone calls were too expensive and letters took weeks to arrive. Then you could say my God, that’s a brave person to move so far from home. Nonetheless, I feel a huge responsibility to ensure happiness for these gals.

You may have suspected I died, but I’ve just been very busy with Nicky’s future mother-in-law’s visit from Japan. I’m also making the food for their wedding, plus want the house and yard half-decent, so right now I’m immersed in all of that.

I was fortunate to find a teenaged kid willing to clean the sunroom roof, which is a death-defying task. One must climb onto the flimsy roof and clean without stepping onto the glass panels which shatter like fake glass in old Western movies.

I can do all of the cleaning outside of that myself, and so have been doing that for several hours per day. Mrs. Sawaya arrived last Thursday afternoon, so I wanted to have the place all ready for her visit, as she’s not able to attend the wedding. I knew this was it for her, so had to pull out all stops.

She doesn’t speak any English, and I don’t speak Japanese, so we had to rely on charades and Haruka for help. I received Mrs. Sawaya’s beautiful navy blue kimono and obi which she wore when she was young, and I’ve hung the kimono on the wall.

On Friday the four of us went downtown and walked along the waterfront, had lunch at the Cactus Club right on the lake, and then went up Knox Mountain for a small hike and a view of the city and lake.

On Saturday we headed north to Vernon, looked at Kalamalka Lake and went over to Fintry Provincial Park and hiked up to Shannon Falls. That’s always hard on the old calves as it’s a mighty steep climb up hundreds of stairs to the top.

On Sunday we drove south to Osoyoos, had lunch at mom’s, went to the view point at Anarchist Mountain, and drove home on the east side of Okanagan Lake for a different vista. The weather was fantastic all three days.

Then poor Mrs. Sawaya had to fly home on Monday morning, after just three days and four nights in Canada! She has a job cooking at a school, and they only have these short breaks, unlike here where one would have a month or two off to travel.

I’m also busy re-vamping my lower garden, and dug out a lot of perennials which I hope to sell. I’m planning on having just vegetables down there as with water shortages one doesn’t need to be watering decorative plants that one doesn’t even see.

I also have a death-defying job to do with the bees. The beekeeper said I’m to reverse the two hive boxes, so I have to do that today. I know that means very angry bees, so will suit up from head to toe, with boots up to the knees after last year’s horrible incident where they swarmed my ankles and I couldn’t walk for three days.

The wedding’s in 12 days, so all I should be doing is cooking, but instead I’ve had chiropractor, dental and hair appointments, and also a lot to do with the Liberals. The defence minister arrives this week and we’re holding a social event for him on Friday.

But while Nicky’s at work I hope to put Haruka to work here to help me with some of the preparations, so it’ll all get done. Right now I’m wondering how, but I’m sure it will.

I’m kind of surprised at the amount of time one must devote to being a volunteer on a board for the Liberals. We’ve met at least 10 hours to date, and I had a small meeting last week with just my volunteers on the Events Committee. Who knew?

But it’s also tremendous fun because we’re all always on the same page, and so that makes for instant camaraderie. Also, I like those people, and it’s enjoyable to plan upcoming events knowing we all have the same goal in mind: re-election.

I put the pollen patty into my bee hive, and I’m hoping for the best, I.E. honey this year! It’s a lofty goal, but maybe I’ll be successful given how active my bees appear to be. The beekeeper told me to get a bigger hive, as otherwise they’ll swarm if they get too crowded.

I got a hive at Buckerfields, and then I had to e mail the beekeeper and ask him if I got the right parts, as it appears my new hive is going to be some wide, squat kind of a shape. He said yes, that’s right, as each box will then be easier to lift as the deep supers are extra heavy when filled with honey.

So with the bee project under way, being the kind of over-enthusiastic devourer of life that I am, I decided to get the greenhouse man over for some help. First of all, he had to fix an arm that no longer automatically lifts the pane when it gets too hot.

Then I said to him how can I use this thing for more than two months of the year? I’ve only ever been able to keep plants in there in the spring due to the intense heat. He said I really do have to get a fan, as otherwise I’ll never get proper use out of it.

But here’s the tricky part: the greenhouse is in the lower yard, far from any source of electricity. I was advised against a battery operated fan, and Wayne, the nice greenhouse man, said just get a long extension cord.

I measured it out, and I need 120 feet of extension cord which will run up the hill, over the paved driveway and plug into the garage. I said to Wayne, really?? Are you sure?? And he insisted it’s going to be fine.

Now I have the fan, and today I’ll go to Rona for the extension cord. I kind of like trips like that, as the customer service person is invariably a male, and I have the great pleasure of seeing their foreheads move back about an inch when I explain what I’m shopping for.

I sold 4 fruitcakes last week, which is a big week off-season as months can go by with nary a sale. Both were for locals who’ve ordered before, and as word of mouth and the repeat customers grow, perhaps last week won’t be an anomaly.

I want to find a white board at thrift so I can place it at the bottom of the driveway and write daily specials on there for passersby. I.E. Tomatoes or Flowers. Of course given the low traffic on Hall Road, I may be like the kids at the lemonade stand, consuming the stuff myself.

But for now it’s off to buy the seeds and bedding plants for my summer dreams.

Because the bees survived the winter, I asked the bee keeper what to do next, and he said “get pollen patties.” Just the name sounds good, so I raced out to Buckerfields and got a couple. Now I have the somewhat scary task of opening the lid and placing one across the frames, hoping I don’t enrage the bees.

I enraged myself last week as I had to gather all my paperwork to get ready to drop it off at the accountant’s. Each year at this time I scream at myself “why?” But I know every December as orders come in, I scribble a note on a piece of paper, and don’t make a proper invoice, and then I have to do it in February, crying.

The Women in Business magazine in the Capital News had a very nice article about me and the fruitcake business. Our neighbourhood carrier dropped four extra copies in my mailbox as I’d run into him on the dog walk, and told him I needed them for my mom.

I received one lone local order for a Harvest cake as a result of the article, and a nice elderly woman called to inquire. She said she used to make fruitcake but doesn’t any longer. I told her about mine, and she sounded keen until I said $15.00. At that point all enthusiasm vanished, but I’m fine with that.

I took the mags to Osoyoos as mom and I spent last weekend with my nieces Sunny and Julie. They came up together from Maple Ridge, and had the tremendous joy of selecting art they’d like, then loading it up for the drive home.

I also taught them how to make my gramma’s cookies, the Spitzbuebchen, so that recipe’s safely been passed along and I can die in peace. Over that one thing, anyway.

Here’s something fantastic that happened to me on the dog walk. I should back up and say all my life my dad would come into the house holding something he’d found along the road. He had eagle eyes.

The other day I spotted a small agate about the size of a large blueberry, and picked it up. I brought it home, and said to myself this is a sign from dad something bigger’s about to come my way.

Since quitting the gym due to the dreaded migraines, the dog and I have been walking further and further afield, often for an hour. I’ve been scouring the ground as we walk or run along, and then yesterday on Spiers Road, of all places, I spotted two patio loungers in the slough beside the road!

Last year I’d browsed sites looking for metal loungers with a mesh back and seat, and here they were, free. I quickly walked home with the dog, hopped into my little Honda and parked on Spiers. I had to go down quite a steep bank, and wouldn’t you know it, those things are heavy!

However I hauled one up, struggled it into the trunk, and drove home with the lid open, as it was such a short distance. I unloaded it and drove back to retrieve the other one. Sure, they’re a bit worse for wear after their time in the slough, but really as Larry David would say, they look “pretty, pretty, pretty good.”

Since I began to realize I had migraines, and wasn’t hungover constantly (they both feel the same, curiously) I started to keep the recommended migraine journal. Over time, it became evident that not only does alcohol trigger them, but exercise does as well. So after all these many years, I had to tell the gym to cancel my membership!

I have so many friends there, and will miss those women terribly, but I have to get out of this pain cycle. I feel good, go to the gym and do a class, and then the next day I have a migraine and can’t do anything at all. It just doesn’t seem worth it.

Yesterday when I walked Louie he decided to take a very long walk, and we were gone for 50 minutes. I figure if I can wing my weights around a bit, walk the dog, and try not to eat like Mike Duffy I should be okay. In any case, I’ll continue the journal and report back.

Certainly if I ate like Nicky, I’d weigh the same as Kirstie Alley in no time. On Sunday I made a nice pot roast for us, and as well as mounds of meat, carrots and potatoes, Nicky smothered the entire plate in a full cup of thick gravy.

I had an interesting dream whereby a friend and I were going down a building, and through various doors, to get to the main floor. Once we swung through the last door, and as we were about to exit, the outer doors closed and we were trapped in this box.

When I woke up I wondered what kind of a box I feel trapped in, and realized the dream showed me I couldn’t return where I’d been, nor move forward until a puzzle had been solved. After that I decided to quit the gym, but I’m not sure if that’s what it was about.

There are two neighbours that border my vegetable garden area, and the other day one of them dropped dead. Norm was so loud that when they first moved here about 15 years ago, I recall asking Denis if he was on our driveway. It turned out he was down at his own house, but I could hear him all the way up here. A man filled with life. Not!

He was 64 and planning retirement next year. I often thank Old Man Holmes-Smith, my grade 12 English literature teacher, as we learned excellent quotes such as Do not ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee (Dunn). Hence when someone dies, I always think man, that could’ve been me!

Next week a Woman in Business magazine insert will come out in the Kelowna Capital News, and I’m one of the people being featured. It was so nice of a young reporter to contact me. Due to my age, when I arrived and saw he was about the same age as Nicky I thought the poor kid!

Can you imagine interviewing an old bag about her business, and then that business is fruitcake? He didn’t take notes but recorded the conversation. At one point as I was expounding on the virtues of fruitcake, he yawned. I really felt for him at that moment.

I don’t know why, but for some reason I told him I’m trying to write the memoir of Nuttier than a Fruitcake, so he may include that in the article. If so, I might actually finally have to do it!

I told the nice cashier at Lakeview Market my son’s engaged to a Japanese girl and she (of Japanese descent) said “don’t you already have a Thai daughter-in-law?” I said yes I do, and now I’ll have a Japanese one, too. I said obviously I was such a terrible mother they had to go right outside their own race to get the bad taste out of their mouths.

Nicky and Haruka plan to get married in a very small ceremony, either here or Japan. I suggested they might meet halfway in Hawaii and marry there. All we know is it’s likely to occur in April.

That’s the good news and other than that, the bad news is mainly around the continued broken appliances around here. I got a new washing machine at Christmas, a new fridge in January, and now the water softener is broken, and will be $800 to replace.

But with the amount of minerals in our water all of the pipes’ll be filled with gunk if I don’t buy a new water softener. It took a while for me to realize it’d stopped working, as I thought I was just having an awful lot of bad hair days.

Louie, the feisty dachshund, was barking for about twenty minutes, so I thought he must be seeing the deer, as they always make him bark like that. It went on and on, and so I went out to see. I could hear him down the hill where he likes to shout at the deer.

I walked over and as soon as I did, a bobcat he’d treed saw me and jumped from its perch on a branch and sprang off. He went after it, but the cat was almost flying it moved so fast. We’d seen tracks in the snow around Christmas, but didn’t know what kind of animal made them.

I wonder if that’s the animal that attacked Wrecks, causing the abscess he had a while ago. It’s always hard to know as we also have a large raccoon population and they hate cats, too.

The other week I got a form letter from the BC government stating all food producing businesses now have to complete some onerous forms around food safety. I threw this straight into the garbage, and then yesterday I got a call from someone in the Ministry letting me know about free workshops to help us with these new processes.

As he’d e mailed me the dates, I replied to him saying really? I said I took Food Safe and had a business license which involves a health inspector coming to your place. I said you want more from all home-based food businesses in BC?

So every food vendor at every outdoor market will have a food safety plan? Will every on-line cookie and cupcake business be contacted to do this? It seems expensive, unnecessary if the person has been inspected, and antithetical to entrepreneurs who loathe more forms. Why all the red tape given all some of us have gone through to be in a food business to begin with?

So many questions about our illustrious provincial government, and so little interest in complying with their make-work assignments. I wonder how this will pan out.

I attended the Liberal AGM on Sunday, ran for the position of Organization Chair, and won. There was another woman running, but once I’d crafted my speech I knew anyone coming up against that would have a tough go. Because I wanted to win, I pulled out all stops, and mentioned my lifelong history of Liberalism, as well as the fruitcake business, which brought predictable laughter.

I started with a quote from Sir Wilfred Laurier, and ended with the motto of the Royal Family, so basically covered all my bases. In any case, I’m now on the executive of the local riding association, and feel thrilled as I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. I adored campaigning last year, and want to continue working for my party.

Nicky’s in Japan visiting Haruka for two weeks, and it’s very nice to be able to have dinner ready for myself in five minutes. When he’s here I make something decent for dinner, but on my own I’m quite happy with odd food.

Well not odd, really, but just fast. The other day I made lentils, and so I just reheated those for dinner. Total cost about 25 cents. Or, I quickly fry a bit of chicken and garlic and throw it over Romaine lettuce for a nice chicken Caesar salad.

Luke’s nerves are bad as he’s waiting to be called to the rigs, but so far nothing. His boss told him there’s a drill coming up in Saskatchewan, and so he’s waiting every day for this to begin. It’ll be one of life’s miracles, given the current price of oil. I heard on CBC yesterday it’d cost more to buy a barrel of Coca Cola.

I was all set to attend a mosaic workshop at Fusion Glass on Saturday, but the weather conspired against me. We had a bit of a snowstorm, and I couldn’t shovel my way out of here. Then on top of it, as I was valiantly trying to do so, I slipped on hidden ice and banged the back of my head really hard on the concrete.

I stood up immediately and felt the back of my head, sure there’d be a hole from the impact, but all I felt was a growing lump. No blurred vision or weird headache, so figured I wasn’t concussed, just bruised. In any case, I phoned Fusion Glass and told them I couldn’t make it and they replied no problem as there’ll be other workshops.

Alison and Maryjoy happened upon each other while buying avocados in Mexico. They’re both there with respective family members on separate holidays. Small world, eh? My pals Kathy and David are off to Ixtapa soon, and John Patterson and wife are off on a Caribbean cruise. I have to pretend to be thrilled for everyone who’s headed to a hot climate.

We have nothing but gray skies, snow, slush, and general unpleasantness here. Last year around this time I was preparing to fly off to Hawaii to spend a week with Sam and husband Peter.

It appears I’m very jealous and upset by all of these people and their fancy pants trips and lack of my own. Once I’m retired, I really do hope I’ll make the effort to leave this valley every January for at least a week. Otherwise the overcast skies can drive one nuts.

But then there’s my precious dog, who doesn’t give a whit about the weather, as long as he knows where I am. So instead of grousing, I should try to be more like my dog.

I bought myself one of those adult colouring books for Christmas, and find myself spending hours a day, colouring. It’s very meditative and relaxing. I need it, as I got myself into a tizzy over trying to join the local Liberals’ executive.

At the thank you party for volunteers in November, the president said please attend the AGM in January and consider running for a position. I thought what a good idea, as I enjoyed my bout of volunteering in the past year. I replied to an e mail in December, listing the positions to which I wanted to apply, and heard nothing further.

This week I got an e mail from the nominations chair stating, “Currently, all of the executive positions have an interested candidate. You are more than welcome to let your name stand for any of them, which would mean a contested race voted upon at the AGM. There are also Director at Large positions available as well.”

I replied, gosh that’s odd, as does that mean my e mail arrived later than those who were slotted into those positions? I added shouldn’t an election occur first, and then people get on the executive? No reply to that, but then today I got an e mail inviting me to a “meet and greet” which is occurring today (“sorry for the short notice”) and “was planned outside the nomination committee.”

I replied with thanks, stating I’d be there for sure. This should be interesting, non?

I’m in the midst of binge-watching House of Cards, so maybe I’m just in an overly suspicious frame of mind regarding what’s going on. Which is why the colouring books have been wonderful as the adrenalin surges over some of these messages have been tremendous.

Luke received the fantastic news that he may shortly be reporting to an oil rig in Saskatchewan for a couple of months of work. It appears his company’s called Lucky Luke’s Consulting for a good reason, given the huge numbers out of work.

Last night as I took the dog out for his night time bathroom break, I saw both James and Luke’s cars in the driveway. I heard them gaming away downstairs and thought it’s just like old times. The kids are downstairs partying like it’s 1999. Maybe I’m in some kind of a time warp.

Certainly the colouring is reminiscent of a time long ago, and I remember I used to adore my pencil and wax crayons as a child. I started this latest colouring project with wax crayons, but soon found pencil crayons are the way to go. I’ve coloured some very nice pictures and have amassed a stack of them already.

At the same time, I listen to LP’s by the Beatles, Cyndi Lauper, The Boss, Elvis Costello, and Tina Turner, reliving the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Luke was born in 1986 and it appears my penchant for music stopped around that time.

I’m so glad I bought myself a cheap small record player so I can colour and sing myself into a happy mood. It’s as though I found my own individualized meditation method that puts me into a calmer zone. Rock on!