Life and such

Money is weird. It comes and goes. Mostly, it goes. It’s just one of those things. I did manage to get myself a new computer the last time a big chunk came in. I told myself if I could find something that suited my needs for less than $400 I would treat myself, fully expecting that I would NOT find one for that price, and hey presto, I did. I need to get a jump drive to move some files from my old computer to this one, or slave the old hard drive, or use it as an external drive or some such. That last thing sounds most reasonable.

Last weekend was my daughter’s dance recital. She was supposed to do two performances on Saturday, but was really sick with swollen throat glands, fever and so on, and was only able to do one. Took her to the pharmacy and spoke to the pharmacist to find out what would help, since the clinic was closed. By Sunday, she was much better and that was the performance I had tickets for. She’s quite good, and I have to get A’s camera and borrow the chip out of it so we can post pics and videos. Some of the kids are amazingly good dancers. One boy has been accepted at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet for the summer–the first male dancer from Atlantic Canada to be accepted there in 70 years! He’s soooo good. And he’s only been dancing for four years.

Golfing continues to be fun. It’s our Wednesday thing, still. If I had a few bucks, I’d take a few lessons, and maybe one of these days I will. I think I’d like to hit the driving range near here. I think I mentioned the self-serve driving range to you? You put your money in a jar, grab a bucket of balls and have fun. There’s a fairly expensive hoity-toity looking golf course across the road, and apparently one day a couple of guys drove up to the driving range, took a bucket of balls and played without paying and then left. The hidden video camera got their license plate number, and when the owner went to the golf course later on (maybe even a day or so later), he saw the license plate. So he spoke to the folks at the club, who know him well, of course, and got them to page the owner of that plate, and in front of an entire crowd of people, when the guys turned up, he told them they owed him the $5 for the bucket of balls. Embarrassed the hell out of them, because, let’s face it: if you can afford to play a round of golf at a hoity-toity course, you can pay for a $5 bucket of balls. Hope they felt like shit. Too funny.

On the way home from golf is a meat store which is my new favourite place to pick up any form of meat. I will not likely ever become a vegetarian, but I do have concern about what goes into the animals I’m eating. This is no ordinary meat store. It’s a farm, with the meat store attached. Everything they sell, they raise, slaughter and butcher right there. The animals are outside, enjoying life while it lasts. The family only gives drugs to the animals if they get sick–no steroids, no hormones, nothin’. You can get beef, pork, lamb, mutton, kid, goat, llama, emu, venison, elk and boar, as well as duck, chicken and turkey, all of which they raise there. They make their own sausage (the kind you cook and the kind you can eat as is, like pepperoni). A and I tried the venison and wild boar sausage and it was so good! Last week after golf, I picked up six smoked pork chops. I haven’t had smoked chops in years and years, and they’re insanely delicious. There was an Asian couple in front of us buying pig legs and pork belly. It made me think how great it must be for them, coming from a culture where meat is not mysterious to one where it’s all hidden, to be able to GET pig legs and belly.

This place also, so I’ve heard, allows for Muslims and Orthodox Jews to come in to slaughter their animals according to the rituals prescribed by their religion and customs. That is so cool. My daughter was in the city talking to a Jamaican cab driver who asked where she was from, and when she said Windsor, he asked if she knew this place. Apparently, he and friends and family get mutton delivered from there. All in all, I’m quite happy to be able to get meat from a family farm which has better prices than the grocery store, anyway, and has fresher products from animals who lived happy lives.

Got to dash right now and see if we can get a dress taken in for prom for my daughter. The joys of teens!!!