Yesterday was Grey Cup.  I had hoped for a closer game but it was fun to watch all the same.  Interesting interceptions, some great passes and with Canadian football, up to the last minute there is always the chance that the losing team can pull off a win.  I felt so badly for the Calgary coach.  He looked as though he was wishing the whole thing would just go away and let him go home.  Well, it did end, but not before the Stampeders fell apart on the field.  Clearly frustrated, the players started to become annoyed with each other, definitely a recipe for defeat.  Nevertheless, it was good football. 

The interesting thing about this 100th Grey Cup was reading the comments on-line afterwards.  Were most of them about the game?  Nope!  Canadians from far and wide ripped apart the half-time show!  While I have a lot of respect for Gordon Lightfoot and his music, I really do think it is time he stopped doing big public performances.  I never really relaxed during his performance as I thought the poor man may just fall over.  He seemed so frail and weak.  His voice is still on key, but very weak.  The rest of the half-time show was pretty disappointing.  Justin Bieber's performace was predicable.  I guess the bubble gum set can relate but I found it the same as every young singer's performance these days.  Lots of the same dance moves.  I think he even lip-synched the songs.  Marianas Trench must have had sound technical problems because you could hardly hear the back up singers.  I thought the music ok, but not 100th Grey Cup worthy!  Carly-Rae Jepsen was also just the same as all the stuff I see on voice and singing competitions on tv.  Baby voices.  I guess I'm just too old.  What happened to music that made a statement, like in the late 60's and the 70's?  If this is what sells these days, then so be it.  I just think the Grey Cup half-time committee could have done a waaaaay better job at selecting real Canadian talent.  Even the rendition of O Canada stunk.  It was weak and could have been sung at some smokey cheap hotel lounge.  O Canada should be strong and proud.  The Grey Cup rendition was weak and insipid.  Just my opinion.

Every year I do a bulk order of dried fruit, nuts, seeds, baking chocolate and other such items from Rancho Vignola in Armstrong, BC.  For the fall order a minimum of $500 is needed.  Some friends and I go in together so we can order larger amounts to get the economy that larger quantities of each product affords.  It is cheaper per pound to buy 20 or 25 pounds of an item rather than 5 pounds.   One year, when I first ordered from Rancho Vignola, I bought 25 pounds of organic coconut.  Do you have any idea how much coconut that is?  The sack was as large as a sack of grain!  I had coconut for years.  As a matter of fact, this is the first year I ordered coconut, and ordered 5 pounds.  Sheesh!  I have to keep reminding myself that we are not a family of 6 any more!  Anyway, yesterday I weighed and bagged the builk items and sorted everything into boxes for each person's order.  It is always fun seeing everything nicely in their boxes.  This year I ordered candied ginger.  I love ginger.  I find that right now, given my angry stomach, the candied ginger is one of the only things I want to eat.  Food has really lost it's appeal and I struggle to find anything that even remotely looks and smells appetising.  Going back to the Rancho Vignola order.  I was going to say that in order to have fresh seeds and nuts and dried fruit, the only way to get it here is to bulk order then put them in the freezer.  Once you have had actually fresh nuts compared to the rancid things we get in the store, you will never go back to store bought.  And, by buying in bulk, the price is pretty well the same, or even better.  If you calculate that small package of nuts you buy in the store into price per pound, you will be very surprised.  Plus, I order everything organic which just is not availble here.

Things are quiet on the farm.  The sheep are on hay so it is just a matter of throwing a bale or 2 in the pen once in a while and keeping the heated water bucket full.  The garden is under snow until spring.  The summer machinery is winterized and put away.  The insurance is off the pick-up truck and on to the landcruiser.  Now is the time to turn to the inside of the house.  De-cluttering is in order, especially after I viewed the pictures of daughter Rebecca's house on-line.  They are moving to Williams Lake and their house is up for sale.  Wow!  It looks beautiful.  So, why wait for selling, I say to myself?  We have stuff from parents and grandparents that we never use.  Silver, especially.  Gone are the days when we had formal dining rooms and formal china and flatware.  Our house is small.  Time to dung it out! 

Here is a picture of our driveway and garden fence after a snowfall. 

Bye for now.