8:15 a.m.

What a fine, fine morning. I have just been out on the deck in my nightie, uncovering my bedding plants, and it is so gently warm and gorgeous I did not want to come back in. But there are also swarms of voracious mosquitoes and my legs are bare, so I’m better off in here until I’m properly dressed against the little beasts.

Barney’s off with his class on a field trip to Batoche and Fort Carleton today, so Farmboy drove him to town to catch the bus before 8. He was pretty excited; I would be, too. It should be a fascinating excursion. I could have volunteered to go along as a supervisor but I’d be a basket case after 12 hours with 31 Grade 5s, so perhaps one day the four of us will make our own trip there as a family outing.

I know nothing about Fort Carleton, but Batoche was the scene of a fierce battle between Metis and the federal government back in the day, and now it has been made into a museum complete with historical village.

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Late yesterday afternoon I went to the funeral home to meet with the buyer of our cabin, and the lawyer whose services we are using to draw up the papers.

I was half an hour early, so I asked the undertaker how he’d gotten into the business. He told me his life story, then he said “Do you want to see?”

I said “Um, not if there’s a body in there.”

“There isn’t,” he said. “But I can show you what I do.”

So he did. He showed me the embalming tables, the pressurized machine he uses to pump fluid through the veins and arteries of the body, the instruments he uses to cut into the neck, the wires and screws he attaches to the gums to keep the mouth closed. He described the whole process to me in detail.

Before leaving I said, “You deal with dead bodies all the time. When I’m at a funeral, I always keep an eye out for the spirit of the person who has just died, because I’ve heard they stay around for a few days. Have you ever had any experiences that convince you there is life after death?”

“Oh yes,” he said, “mostly if the person I’m working on is someone I know. I often get a feeling that someone is present with me.”

He’d told me how he hopes the cabin will be a place that his two daughters can come with their children. I said my own kids are disappointed that we’re selling the cabin. His immediate kindly response was “You are welcome to go out and stay there any time you like, just give me a call.”

I may just take him up on that sometime.

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We haven’t gotten far with the garden. Farmboy put in a few potatoes on Sunday (see above) but other than that I’ve only just finished planning how to mix up the veggies for optimum growth. Corn doesn’t like potatoes or tomatoes; onions don’t like beans; carrots don’t like dill. But turnips adore peas and sunflowers love potatoes. Stuff like that.