It is my personal view that everyone secretly loves dark fruit cake at Christmas and weddings but the cake has fallen so far out of favour that no one is willing to admit their predilection for the alcohol laced goodness. Instead, cooks and brides rely on mince tarts and carrot cake to fill the traditional role served by the dark fruit cake. Only one of our friends here on the island serves fruit cake at Christmas and, what with the pandemic and all, we haven’t had any in years. E and I have decided to take matters into our own hands. We will make our own dark fruit cake for Christmas. It can be frozen, so that is always an option if any of it is left over after the holidays… (as if!) But it has to be made now. The fruit is soaked in brandy for days and the cake soaked in rum for months.. What’s not to like?

E has no lingering effects from his Moderna hat trick vaccination on Saturday. He was up at the wood pile this morning putting in his hour of log splitting. His back is showing its age so he finds that an hour a day does him better than overdoing with the resultant week on his back nursing a hot water bottle. He described his trip to the vaccination clinic, when he had to drive through the anti vax protesters, as ironic and unfortunate, and then accurately described the protesters as cretinous Morlocks spewing their hateful and ignorant garbage. The man does have a way with words doesn’t he?

With the return of the rains we reinstalled the canopy on the back of the truck, hoping to get our winter groceries to the property from the boat in a less than soaking wet condition. We added a couple of heavy cement bricks to the back of the truck at the same time, to help us get up dead truck hill if any snows should come. Yes, in fact, dead truck hill does have dead trucks buried in it. Three to be exact. The weather this winter is supposed to be like the winter of 2009, which we remember well, with lots and lots of snow falling in the area. In fact, if I remember correctly, friends had to dig the snow out of our boat at the marina ’cause it was so heavy, and E’s Dad was unable to get over here to deal with it.

E and I sold our share in the family home to one of his sisters but kept the family boat with one of his other sisters, who also lives here. It is a 24 ft aluminum boat built by Tom Mack builders in Richmond on specifications by E’s father. He sold his 27′ Catalina and switched to the Tom Mack when he moved here full time. E’s Dad was a practical man, a Lieutenant in the Naval Reserves, who retired as the Director of small craft harbors on the West Coast. He knew boats. When we travel in the boat he chose, we are dry and warm, out of the wind and rain, and quite safe in all manner of conditions on the water. It is a great commuter boat with its Yamaha 150 motor on it.

I had heard that having a piece of your wedding cake on future wedding anniversaries was good luck so, when we were married, I froze the top tier of our dark fruit wedding cake and we had a piece every year on our anniversary. It lasted ten years and the marriage 39 so far. One piece per year was supposed to be the secret for a long and happy marriage and I was not going to

mess with superstition.