Monday, January 20, 2025

Annoying things & small pleasures

 Annoying things:  

  • It's Blue Monday today. I've written about Blue Monday (and its origins) in the past, and while it's basically a made-up event, it seems more appropriate than ever this year, due to an unfortunate convergence of Martin Luther King Day in the U.S. with that "other" most un-MLK-like event in the U.S.  'Nuff said. 
    • Also, it's a chilly grey day here, with late morning temperatures of  -12C, windchill factor -16C. It could be worse: at the same time, where my parents are in Manitoba, it was -31C and -43C windchill. (And they moved today's events in Washington DC indoors because the forecast was -5C??)
  • (Maybe more like like "alarming"?)  Politics, current events, etc. I am something of a news junkie, but I've had to turn the channel a lot lately, because I can literally feel my blood pressure rising. I said to dh, "I think I understand a little more about how Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland must have felt back in the 1930s."  :(  
  • Two related annoying things:  (1) Mark Zuckerberg removing fact-checking from Meta platforms -- (not) coincidentally just as You-Know-Who was preparing to take office in the U.S. --which (2) has prompted a bunch of my friends to start exploring alternatives to FB & IG on other platforms (and some outright leaving altogether). (WhatsApp, which some have suggested as an alternative, is also owned by Meta, albeit it has the advantage of being encrypted.)  
    • I'm not at the point of leaving Meta (yet -- too many friends & relatives on there, too many FB groups I'm active in, including a family group that I co-moderate) -- but maybe it's a good thing I haven't had a lot of time to spend on its sites lately anyway??  
    • Trying to find another forum, especially for the groups I belong to, and one that everyone can agree on, is maddening. (How many new apps is this aging late Boomer/early GenXer supposed to install and learn how to use??)  A lot of people are moving over to BlueSky because of the even more maddening things happening on X/Twitter -- but for all its merits, BlueSky is not really an alternative to FB/IG, and certainly not conducive to private group chats. 
    • Speaking of BlueSky -- as I was in this post -- I had a flood of new followers over the Christmas holidays -- again, most of them people I do not know or follow, and most of them men. I went in this week and started blocking them, and now I feel much better!  lol  
  • My left eye has been twitching lately -- on & off, for well over a month now (maybe almost two). I was complaining about it to dh recently while we were watching the news, and he joked that I have to stop stressing out about the Orange One, because he's going to be around for another four years. I said, "Come to think of it, this DID start around mid-November...!"  Hmmm.... 
  • Dh went out to get groceries this morning and brought me back some soup for lunch. And of course my sweater sleeve caught the spoon as I was reaching over to silence a spam call on his  phone (while he was in the kitchen) -- and almost the whole thing wound up on the placemat, tabletop and floor.  (And I was hungry!!)  SIGH... I wound up having toast with peanut butter instead.
  • I've noticed that the most recent box or two of teabags I've bought (Tetley) is now being made from flimsier (presumably cheaper) cardboard. And the teabags themselves are now being made from a different material. I haven't been quite as satisfied with my tea lately, and I'm wondering it that's why? (It's quite possible they've changed the composition of the actual tea itself too, I suppose.)  Shrinkflation, grrrrr..... 
    • I did some Googling and found this on Tetley Canada's website: "Notice some of our Orange Pekoe packs looking a bit different? Don't panic! We're still serving up the same great tasting tea you know and love... As part of our dedication to sustainability, we've upgraded our Orange Pekoe packaging. Our sleeker and more compact carton design means less packaging waste and all Orange Pekoe teas now utilize plant-based tea bags!"  Hmmm.... 
  • Little Great-Nephew #2 is one month old and we STILL haven't seen him!!  :(  We left for Manitoba right after he was born and were away for two weeks. BIL told us because we'd both been sick and because we'd been flying, we were in "quarantine" for two weeks. (!) (Even though we'd both worn masks at the airport & on the plane.) Not BIL's idea, the parents' (!). They were not at all like that when LGN #1 was born -- but of course that was pre-pandemic. (Hoping this weekend may be the time...!) 
  • Back home for two weeks now, and still feeling tired and overwhelmed by all the stuff that we let slide while we were sick/away.  :p   
  • SO DRY in our condo unit (despite running the humidifier constantly -- albeit not at top speed -- too noisy!). I can probably count the number of times the humidity has cracked the 40% mark since we got home on the fingers of one hand (with some to spare). It was below 30% when we returned, and is often below 30% when we wake up in the morning. Constantly applying hand lotion, lip balm and eye drops. 
Scary thing: 
  • Repeat bloodwork to check our cholesterol levels, booked at the nearby lab for the end of the month. If the numbers haven't declined since the last bloodwork was done in late September, we're getting meds prescribed -- and neither of us wants another prescription...! 
Small pleasures: 
  • Spotting a box in my parents' crawlspace with my name written on it in a corner I don't often enter, while hunting for gift wrapping supplies -- which turned out to contain some books and other items I'd been hunting for for several years now. I was THRILLED -- I'd feared they'd been sent to the thrift store by mistake. I couldn't bring everything home with me this time around, but I did pack: 
    • My four university residence yearbooks (including one with photos of dh in it!). 
    • Not just the two or three I remembered, but FIVE paperback novels by D.E. Stevenson that I'd bought at a used bookstore on Portage Avenue in Winnipeg in the early 1980s. (Proof that I'm a longtime fan!  lol) I posted about it on my DES fan group, and the other members were almost as thrilled as I was! (The titles were The Baker's Daughter (my favourite), The House on the Cliff, Shoulder the Sky, The Blue Sapphire and Green Money.) 
    • Another paperback novel that I'd read as a teenager and LOVED: "The Distant Summer" by Sarah Patterson (daughter of British novelist Jack Higgins), who was just a teenager when she wrote it (published in 1976). It's what would be called a "young adult" novel these days -- set in World War II England, and beautifully written. It appears to be the only novel she ever wrote. (What a pity.) 
    • Not in the box, but I also found and brought home my copy of "Nancy Drew and the Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes" by Carolyn Keene. I bought it with the allowance money I'd saved, while on an Anglican Church Junior Auxiliary bus trip to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, when I was 7 or 8 (late 1960s). Cost: $1.59 at KMart.  It's the one Nancy Drew book I wanted to save. :) 
    • My (TV) broadcast news demo reel from journalism school. (I graduated -- gulp -- 40 years ago.) I don't recall what they called the format -- it looks a little like a VHS tape, but it's not VHS, or a format you could play on your VHS at home (assuming you still have one, and it still works!).  I doubt there's a newsroom in the country (in North America? in the world??) that uses that technology anymore. But I brought it home with me. I figure SOMEONE might be able to digitize it for me. I'm sure it would be both a cringe and a hoot to see what's on it!  
    • Also in the box: other books, as well as a few old photo albums (one mostly empty, and one exclusively devoted to photos from concerts my friends & I had attended. Faded 50-year-old snapshots of the Bay City Rollers, anyone?? lol). 
    • My sister pointed out a couple of other boxes in another dark corner of the crawlspace that had my name on them. They were too hard to access just then, and it was towards the end of our visit -- but I will definitely drag them out and go through them the next time I'm there.  (Still hunting for the box that contained my diaries, journals, holiday postcard collection, teenage fan fiction and other early writings/embarrassing stuff, lol.)   
  • Returned to the dentist on Jan. 8th for my twice-postponed checkup and cleaning (not really a pleasure, lol). The dentist said one of my lower left teeth still seems a TINY bit loose, but it's better than it was when I took that tumble in December, and the others he noticed seem to have firmed up. He'll continue to keep an eye on things. The hygienist was not my usual one (she's away on vacation), but told me everything looked good and to keep doing what I was doing. 
  • My knees -- which were KILLING me from going up and down stairs in my parents' SPLIT LEVEL house! -- are starting to recover...! 
  • Finding some cute new clothes for the great-niblings at the mall. :)  
  • Cashing in on my birthday discounts and other offers from various retailers. 
    • Annoying thing:  realizing I had a discount from the mega-bookstore, AFTER I spent my Christmas gift card from dh there! Grrrr....
    • Small pleasure:  I guess I'll just have to go back and buy some more books, right??  Why let a good discount go to waste? lol

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Monday, January 13, 2025

#MicroblogMondays: When I'm 64

Yesterday was my 64th (!!) birthday. For months and months now, whenever I thought about this particular birthday, a certain song would start playing in my brain.  (Hint: I'm a lifelong Beatles fan.)  ;) 


Paul McCartney wrote "When I'm 64" in 1956, when he was just 14 years old (!) and recorded it 10 years later for the Beatles' "Sergeant Pepper" album, when he was still just 24. I've heard that when he DID turn 64 (in 2006), his kids & grandkids sent him a recording of themselves singing the song. (He's 82 now.)(!)  

There's a line in the song that has also carved itself into my brain (beyond the opening "When I get old and losing my hair, many years from now..." and "will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 64?"):  it's:  

"Grandchildren on your knee/Vera, Chuck and Dave."  

Paul has five adult children (four with his first wife Linda and one with second wife Heather Mills). He's also a grandfather 8 times over. (Daughters Mary & Stella have four kids each-- none of them named Vera, Chuck or Dave). The kids call him "Grandude," which provided the inspiration for two "Grandude" children's books Paul has written. (Fun fact:  the illustrator is Canadian -- I saw her interviewed on the news a few years ago.)  

Needless to say, Vera, Chuck and Dave have not materialized in my own life (and never will) -- and (obviously) neither have their parents.  :p  I do have two wonderful nephews and three adorable great-niblings (including a new little great-nephew I have yet to meet), and I'm very grateful for any time I get to spend with them. (It's great -- but it's not QUITE the same...!) 

Milestone birthdays (including ones highlighted by the Beatles, lol) certainly do make you think about what was, what might have been, and what may come. Next year I'll be 65 and officially a senior citizen, by just about any measure. (!) 

64 (and 65) seems like a very LONG way off when you're 14 or 24 (which is when I got married). I could never have imagined all the things that have happened in my life, good and bad, since then. (Paul is now 82 (!) -- I'm sure he'd say the same thing.) I certainly would never have thought I'd be childless & grandchildless. (Oh, the innocence of youth...)  

Still, aging also gives you an appreciation for the good things in your life. As my grandma used to say (and as I've often recounted in this blog), "It sure beats the alternative...!"  I may not have children or grandchildren -- but I have a great husband (of almost 40! years now), a pretty great extended family, a nice home, a decent pension & benefits, lots of great books to read, plenty to eat, and my health is still pretty good, albeit my blood pressure & cholesterol are higher and knees a whole lot creakier than when I was 24. Still, I'll take it. As the song says, "Who could ask for more?"  

(Well -- we might ask -- but we don't always GET, do we? But we can be grateful for what we do have, especially at this stage of life...!) 

You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.  

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Sunday, January 12, 2025

"Peter West" by D.E. Stevenson

"Peter West" is the one novel by D.E. Stevenson that my DES reading group has never read together in its 25+ years of existence. Most of the members who have read it before have commented that it's not among their DES favourites. 

Just a few chapters in, I could see why.  

This was Stevenson's very first published novel (serialized first and then published in book form in 1923), and it contains some of the hallmarks of many later DES novels -- it's set in a small village (Kintoul) in Scotland, with some lovely landscape descriptions, a strong sense of morality, loyal servants/retainers, a sympathetic minister of the local church, etc.  But Stevenson here is still very much an author finding her voice. 

The title character, Peter West, 35, has watched Beth Kerr, the daughter of the local boatman/ferry operator grow up into a beautiful young woman. As the Goodreads blurb for this book says, "Peter is a lonely man with a weak heart and few family members and friends."  Both are manipulated by their families into marriages to other people, but this only serves to strengthen their feelings for each other. Will true love triumph? (You probably already know the answer, lol.) 

Stevenson was very much a woman of her class and times, and that's often reflected in her books.  Generally, however, it's not as blatantly obvious in her later books as it is here. I'm willing to forgive the occasional cringeworthy word choice or sentence when the rest of the book is good. "Peter West," however, contains some real clangers that are pretty jarring to our modern sensibilities. 

Peter is about 35 and while we don't know exactly how old Beth is (I'm guessing probably around 16-17?), she's described -- in Peter's own words & thoughts -- as a child -- which, from a modern perspective (again), seems slightly icky.  

The book was somewhat redeemed near the end when Beth explains to a friend that "I just felt it was my right to have a happy life, or at least one not utterly sordid and miserable.. may be more selfish than our mothers, but at least we are more able to face life, and are truer to ourselves."  What an enlightened feminist statement for 1923!  

But overall, this a much darker, more melodramatic/overwrought and less charming story than Stevenson's usual/later fare. I love most of Stevenson's other novels that I've read to date (and I've read a lot of them) -- and I don't regret reading this one -- but I doubt I'll be returning to this one anytime soon.    

I struggled with the rating for this one. 2.5 stars for StoryGraph, and I debated whether I should round that up or down for Goodreads. It had its good points -- and it pains me to give a DES book such a low rating -- but ultimately I can't put it on the same level as other DES books I've read and rated at 3 stars. 

2 stars it is.  

I'll count this one as a re-read when we finish our chapter-by-chapter group read & discussion in late March.  

This was Book #2 read to date in 2025 (and Book #2 finished in January), bringing me to 4% of my 2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 1 book ahead of schedule to meet my goal.  :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2025 tagged as "2025 books." 

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Friday, January 10, 2025

"Others Like Me" by Nicole Louie

"Others Like Me: The Lives of Women without Children" by Nicole Louie has been on my radar since it was published in North America a few months ago. (Katy Seppi will be interviewing the author in a Childless Collective event later this month.) 

Louie is childfree by choice, and has known since she was fairly young that she was not interested in having children. Driven by an insatiable curiosity about the lives of "others like me" -- and struggling with others' acceptance of her decision (or lack thereof...!) -- she interviewed dozens of childfree and childless women from around the world about their personal stories. The book cleverly interweaves Louie's own story with those of 14 of the women she spoke with.  

Louie was born in Brazil and spent her childhood there, but has lived all over the world, including Sweden, the U.K. and Ireland (where she now resides), and her interview subjects also come from diverse backgrounds. This gives the book a multicultural flavour that I really enjoyed!  

I loved how the book ended, with these words (and I don't think I'm giving anything away here...!): 

It's the uterus that is empty. 

Not you. 

Not your life. 

4 stars on Goodreads and StoryGraph.  

This was Book #1 read to date in 2025 (and Book #1 finished in January), bringing me to 2% of my 2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) on track to meet my goal.  :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2025 tagged as "2025 books." 

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Monday, January 6, 2025

Right now

Right now...* 

*(an occasional (mostly monthly) meme, alternating from time to time with "The Current"). (Explanation of how this started & my inspirations in my first "Right now" post, here. Also my first "The Current" post, here.)

I am late! (lol) I normally try to post "Right now" on or around the first of the month. But to say December threw me for a loop would be an understatement... I am SO FAR BEHIND on everything. So this December/early January summary (and the rest of January, next month/early next) will be a bit of a mishmash, but it will all get get sorted out, eventually...! 

December was busy, getting ready, not only for Christmas, but to go away for Christmas/New Year's -- and to welcome a new little great-nephew! who was born shortly before we left.  (We still haven't seen him yet, but hope to do so soon!) The gloomy grey and cold weather was offset somewhat by the pretty Christmas decorations & lights in malls and homes, including our own tree, which we put up early in the month.

We arrived at my parents' home in Manitoba on Dec. 21st. On the one hand, it feels like we didn't do a whole lot. On the other, we really WERE busy (especially me!) -- prepping for (and recovering from!) Christmas, helping out my elderly parents with meal prep & cleanup and other assorted things around the house, playing cards (almost every night), and being entertained by almost-daily visits from Parents' Neighbours' Daughter and the youngest Little Princess (#3, now 16 months old).  I had very little laptop time (and I find it difficult to type out more than a couple of sentences on my cellphone...!)! 

Pandemic diary/update: December was month #57 since the covid pandemic began in March 2020 (now in Year FIVE, going on SIX). :(   We (still!) remain covid-free (so far as we know... knocking wood, loudly...) -- although dh came down with a nasty cough/cold in late November (and brushed off my suggestion of testing...). He felt pretty tough for about a week (which kept us mostly at home), then started feeling better, albeit the cough lingered for a while longer. 


I did test -- twice -- both times negative. Nevertheless, it was the worst cold I've had in quite a long time, with a very nasty & long-lasting cough and a lot of fatigue for the first week or two (no doubt because all the coughing kept me awake at night...!).  As a result, I didn't quite finish my Christmas shopping (and had to scramble for stocking stuffers in the few days remaining before Christmas once we got to my parents' house). We couldn't go to BIL's to see Little Great-Nephew, let alone to the hospital to meet his baby brother, our new Little Great-Nephew #2, who arrived just before we were scheduled to fly west for the holidays. :(   

By then, I felt slightly more human, but still had a pretty bad cough. So I masked up at the airport & on the plane -- as I would have, anyway (and will do again on the return trip). (I'm mostly better now, but the cough lingered for almost the entire two weeks I was at Mom & Dad's.)   

We continue to mask in stores, malls and (most) other such indoor public spaces hereabouts, especially if/when there are lots of people around. (Well, I do -- I know dh has been slacking off, whenever I'm not around to hand him a mask...!) (Non-maskers are still in the vast majority, but I noticed a lot more people masking at the airport and on our flights than I've seen lately.) 

I thought this was a great piece in the Toronto Star recently, which asks "Why doesn’t Doug Ford’s government want you to know if you have this dangerous disease?"  Here's how it opens:  

Once upon a time, rapid tests for COVID-19 were widely available and free of charge at groceries and pharmacies. Public health sent a clear message: results matter.  The current absence of tests is a striking departure that implies testing is no longer relevant and that SARS CoV-2 has ceased to be a threat. Both are false. 

The scarcity of rapid tests is Ontarians’ most recent loss to their ability to gauge COVID-19.  First came the shut-down of Ontario’s Science Advisory Table. Then Ontario stopped providing timely data to Canada’s Long-term Care Covid Tracker, leading to its closure. Two months later, funding for nearly all of Ontario’s wastewater surveillance sites ended. 

No one should be fooled into thinking that COVID-19 no longer matters...

Among other things we did this month, we: 
  • Assembled the Christmas tree and brought the boxes of decorations (as well as our luggage) up from our storage locker (in the parking garage in the basement of our building)(Dec. 3rd). 
    • Decorated the tree! (Dec. 4th)
  • Did a little Christmas shopping at our local Chapters (bookstore), Carters (children's clothing) and Laura (women's wear) on Dec. 5th, while dh (with a nasty cough) waited in the car. 
  • Drove into midtown Toronto for checkups & cleanings with the dentist (Dec. 10th).  Mine had to be postponed (first until Dec. 18th and then into early January) because I took a tumble and then came down with a cold!  :p  
  • Visited Katie at the cemetery, and then had haircuts, lunch, and did some Christmas shopping at the mall in our old community (Dec. 13th). 
  • Travelled to see my parents & sister over the holidays (and got back home yesterday). :) 
    • Since we got here, we've been out a few times, shopping for last-minute stocking stuffers, drugstore sundries and healthy snacks & other food at the grocery store (including some fresh fruit, crackers, Greek yogurt and sparkling water). 
  • Went out for coffee one afternoon last week with a woman who contacted me via Ancestry, after noting that I had some of her ancestors on my posted tree there.  Turns out: (1)  we are not related, BUT we have cousins in common (one of my great-great uncles married one of her great-aunts -- and then married her sister, after his first wife died!  (2)  she & I were born in the same town, and thus she knows lots of my relatives -- her husband worked with one of my cousins, her dad curled with my uncle, and our parents knew each other quite well too, and (3)  she now lives in the same town where my parents live! (And (4):  She doesn't have children either.)  We had a very enjoyable chat.
  • Went with dh to the supermarket this morning to load up on groceries and restock our rather bare cupboards and refrigerator!
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Also right now:  

Reading: I finished 5 books in December (reviewed on this blog, as well as Goodreads & StoryGraph, & tagged "2024 books").  
  • "The Windsor Knot" by S.J. Bennett, the January pick for my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club (previously read in 2021 and reviewed here;  most recent review here).   
  • "Miss Buncle’s Book" by D.E. Stevenson, read chapter-by-chapter with my DES fan group. (Original 2015 review here;  review from my initial re-read in October here;  most recent review here.) 
  • "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand" by Helen Simonson. (My review.) 
  • "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy (!). As I wrote here, I needed another book club/readalong obligation like a hole in the head  ;)  but nevertheless, I took part in a year-long readalong of this book, hosted by Simon at Footnotes & Tangents -- a chapter a day for a full year, which began Jan. 1, 2024. (And I really enjoyed it!) Review here. 
    • If you've ever thought about reading W&P, Simon is repeating the readalong in 2025 for paying subscribers, starting Jan. 1st -- and I highly recommend the experience! (and yes, I'm probably doing it again!). Details here!  
  • "The Mirror and the Light" by Hilary Mantel (book #3 in the Thomas Cromwell Trilogy) -- part of a year-long "slow readalong" hosted by Simon at Footnotes & Tangents (which participants dubbed "Wolf Crawl,"  lol) -- about 40 pages per week.  :)   
    • We started during the week of July 21st.  I chose to focus on some of my other books over the late summer/early fall, and as a result, was 9 weeks behind the posted reading schedule at one point (erk). I managed to catch up over the past two weeks and finished on Dec. 30th!  Review here. 
    • Simon is repeating the Cromwell Trilogy slow readalong in 2025 for paying subscribers. I highly recommend the experience! (and am considering whether I'm up to another round of it myself...!). (Yes, I'm nuts...!)  Details here!  
This brings me to 37 books read in 2024, 82% of my 2024 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. (See my 2024 Reading Year in Review post!) 

Current reads: 
  • "Anne of Windy Poplars" by L.M. Montgomery (called "Anne of Windy Willows" in the U.K., with some text variations). My L.M. Montgomery Readathon Facebook group started reading & discussing this book together today (Jan. 6th). This will be our last book with our wonderful administrator of the past five (!) years, Andrea, who is moving on to other projects. I just (re)read this one right at this time last year, so I chose not to read it through (again) on my own first (as I normally would), but I will count this one as a re-read when we're done. (My previous review here.) 
  • "Others Like Me" by Nicole Louie. (Not a selection for my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club, but Katy Seppi will be interviewing the author in January!) 
  • "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy, with Footnotes & Tangents. One chapter a day for an entire year -- round #2!!  Yes, I couldn't resist -- I'm doing it again!  (See above.) (And if I slack off, well, having done it once already, I'm good...!).  
  • "Living the Life Unexpected" by Jody Day.  I'm once again taking part in a chapter-by-chapter group read of this CNBC classic!  The most recent Zoom meeting (which I missed) covered Chapter 5.  This is the 5th (!) time I've read this book, or the earlier version of it ("Rocking the Life Unexpected").  (Most recent review, with links to earlier reviews, here.)  
  • "L.M. Montgomery and Gender," an essay collection edited by E. Holly Pike & Laura Robinson. Slowly working my way through, in between the other books...! 
Coming up: Most of my book groups have their next reads plotted out for a few months in advance -- and listing them here helps me keep track of what I should be reading next. ;)  
A few recently purchased titles (mostly in digital format, mostly discounted ($5-10 or less) or purchased with points): (I haven't added links, in the interest of getting this posted sooner vs later...!) 
  • "Long Island Compromise" by Taffy Brodesseur-Akner
  • "The Widow's Guide to Dead Bastards" by Jessica Waite
  • "The Wedding People" by Alison Espach 
  • "Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret" by Benjamin Stevenson 
  • "Conclave" by Robert Harris 
  • "Precipice" by Robert Harris 
  • "Charlie's Good Tonight" by Paul Sexton 
  • "A Well-Trained Wife" by Tia Levings
  • "The Saturday Place" by Alice Peterson 
  • "Intermezzo" by Sally Rooney 
  • "Earth to Moon" by Moon Unit Zappa 
  • "What I Ate in One Year" by Stanley Tucci 
  • "Walking Disaster" by Deryck Whibley 
  • "The Art of Power" by Nancy Pelosi 
  • "Over Work" by Brigid Schulte 

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Watching:  
  • "Wolf Hall" on PBS, based on the books "Wolf Hall" and "Bring Up the Bodies" by Hilary Mantel, both of which I read earlier this year (click on links for my reviews).  The first of six episodes aired on Oct. 27th;  the last aired on Dec. 1st, and I hugely enjoyed it. It really brings the books to life! 
    • An adaptation of "The Mirror and the Light," the final book in the Cromwell Trilogy (which I'm reading right now -- see "Reading," above), with most of the same cast members, will begin airing in March 2025 on PBS. (It's already been seen in Britain.)  Looking forward to it! 
  • Endless game shows, including The Price is Right, Family Feud, Let's Make a Deal, and Cash Cab (as well as vintage game show reruns, some of them 40 years older or more...!) -- which my dad LOVES (and which drive dh absolutely bonkers...!), while at my parents' house over the holidays!  (My sister confessed that SHE's the culprit who added the Game TV network to their favourite TV channels! lol -- and she has lived to rue the day...!)  
    • Also re-runs of "The Big Bang Theory," which are somewhat more tolerable...! 
Listening: Beyond our usual listening fare (Stingray music channels, including Classic Rock and 70s), we were also listening to the 80s channel and Christmas/seasonal music, while at home!  

Playing:  
  • Heardle Decades: I mostly slacked off on playing Heardle while I was at my parents' house.  Stats as of Jan. 5th (but really more like Dec. 22nd): 
    • Heardle 60s: 76.5% (613/801, 242 on first guess), same as last month. Max. streak: 15.
    • Heardle 70s: 78.4% (422/538, 237 on first guess), down 0.4% from last month. Max. streak: 18. 
    • Heardle 80s: 39.4% (162/411, 61 on first guess), down 0.7% from last month. Max. streak: 4. 
    • Heardle 90s: 28.8% (148/513, 30 on first guess), up 0.9% from last month. Max. streak: 5. 
  • NYT Connections: 
    • By Nov. 30th, I'd completed 125 games and won 79% of them, including 62 "perfect puzzles" with zero errors and a maximum winning streak of 15.  :)   
    • By Jan. 5th, I'd completed 161 games and won 81% of them, including 78 "perfect puzzles" with zero errors. I maintained my maximum winning streak of 15.  :) 
Following:  

Eating/Drinking:  
  • We continued our efforts to eat healthier since our family doctor warned us about our rising cholesterol levels back in mid-October.  By the time we left for the Christmas holidays, I was down about 6 pounds. (Dh had lost more than 11 -- MEN, right?? lol)  
    • I couldn't NOT indulge in some of the holidays goodies that I generally only get to have once a year (turkey, gravy, stuffing, cabbage rolls and perogies, shortbread and butter tarts) -- but I made an effort not to OVER indulge, watch my portion sizes and make the healthy-ish choices. (This was complicated by the fact that my 85-year-old dad does a lot of the cooking, and has never met a pound of butter that he didn't want to slather all over everything...!  Lots of roasts -- beef, pork, chicken and ham, as well as turkey -- mashed potatos whipped with sour cream and half-and-half and veggies loaded with butter and/or cheese.)  Dh & I made a few trips to the local grocery store to stock up on our own (healthy(er)) snacks, including Greek yogurt, apples and clementine oranges, almonds, Triscuit thins, and sparkling water (as an alternative to pop/soda).  
    • I was delighted (and relieved) to step on the scale this morning and find I'd only gained 0.2 pounds while we were away. (Then I was annoyed to find that dh LOST 2+ pounds (!) -- for a grand total of 14+ to date.  Good for him, but WHY is it always easier for men to lose weight??). The battle continues...!  
    • More bloodwork to come this month. Hoping neither of us will need another prescription, depending on the results! 
Buying (besides books, lol):  Christmas and birthday presents, including things for dh, Little Great-Niece, Little Great-Nephew and his baby brother!   

Wearing:  Our heaviest/warmest winter jackets and boots (December/January in Manitoba!!).   

Enjoying:  Our Christmas tree (and other decorations), and the extra light it gives off at this time of year (which tends to be dark, grey & gloomy in southern Ontario...!).  (We left it up while we were away, and will likely take it down later this week.)  

Missing:  Receiving Christmas cards and displaying the photos people send on my refrigerator! -- no thanks to the Canada Post strike, which began Nov. 15th. The workers were ordered back to work on Dec. 17th, but there's a big backlog to deal with, and by the time we returned yesterday, we'd only received two cards in the mail so far.  And even pre-strike, I've noticed that fewer and fewer people are sending out Christmas cards these days.  :(   I didn't get any done myself this year (didn't see the point when I didn't know if or when I'd get to send them out), and am debating whether to send something out this month or just skip this year all together...?? 

Appreciating:  Heat!!  lol  My sister & her partner drove us to the airport yesterday morning with minimal/NO HEAT in their car!!  There was enough to keep the windshield/windows clear of frost, thankfully, and my parents sent blankets with us, but it's an hour's drive, and those last 20 minutes were pretty chilly! Besides the blanket over my lap/legs, I had my tuque/hat on, coat hood pulled up, scarf pulled up on my face, gloved hands shoved inside pockets, and was wiggling my toes inside my boots to try to keep the circulation going. The temperature outside when we left was -25C, with a windchill of -33C (by the time we got into the city, it had warmed up (??) to -21C).  (That's -33, -27.4 and -5.8F, respectively.)  It was funny to get to Toronto and hear people complaining about how cold it was (it was a relatively balmy -3C/+26.6F, lol).  

Noticing:  My knees (and the left knee in particular) have been KILLING me, after two weeks at my parents' split-level house, going (hobbling) up and down stairs between the three levels. I've had knee issues for well over 15 years now, but stairs just seem to exacerbate things, and I am so thankful to live in a condo, all on one level!  My elderly parents -- both of whom have mobility issues and use canes outside and sometimes inside the house -- insist that it doesn't bother THEM...!  

Prioritizing: I did a lot of that this month...!  Our respective colds really cut into the time we had for Christmas shopping and other prep work before we left for the holidays -- and while we were at my parents' house, I had very little uninterrupted time to myself. I really had to think about what I REEEEALLLLY NEEDED to get done, what would be good to do if I had some time, and what I could let go or postpone till after we got back. I glance at my social media feeds now & then but I'm sure I've missed a ton of news from friends. Likewise, I scanned my emails and flagged the ones that need immediate attention, but most of my newsletters and the like have sat unopened.  I have two weeks' worth of new Ancestry DNA matches to look at (for my mom & dh as well as myself), and have barely kept up with checking my Kobo wishlist for anything on sale, let alone checking out the daily deals. Sigh... 

Trying: To maintain my focus on what needs to be done first/most, now that we're back home (and to not get distracted by my phone, lol).

Wanting: To get organized for the new year (struggling so far...!). 

Anticipating: Looking forward to getting to meet Little Great-Nephew #2 soon!!  (Not enough photos posted/sent by his parents & grandparents while we were away to satisfy us...!) 

Wondering:   Will 2025 FINALLY be the year we get to do some serious travelling?? (particularly since we have a big anniversary coming up...!)  (And if we do, will my knee hold out??)

Loving:  Being back in my own bed again!! 

Feeling: Sad that Christmas always comes & goes so quickly. Sad to leave my elderly parents. (But happy to be back home and in my own bed again!) Nervous anticipation for this new year:  will our cholesterol levels be low enough to avoid additional medication??  
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Wednesday, January 1, 2025

2024 Reading Year in Review

I started doing a specific "Reading Year in Review" post in 2020. I figured that since I was doing an overall year in review post (which includes some book information anyway), and a blogging year in review post -- and since keeping track of my books is a big thing I normally do on my blog -- my reading life deserved its own year-end wrap-up post too.  :)  

(Note:  I have not linked to all the books mentioned here, but they are all reviewed on this blog.) 

How did I do?  

I increased my Goodreads Reading Challenge goal from 36 books in 2021 to 45 books in 2022, kept (and met) that goal for 2023, and retained it for 2024. Unfortunately, it became apparent by mid-year that it was going to be a stretch to reach it! (largely because I took on a few more book clubs/readalongs, including ones where we were reading & discussing some pretty LONG books!). 
  • My Goodreads 2024 Year in Review report tells me I read 37 books with 15,320 pages (versus 48 books with 16.980 pages in 2023 and 50 books with 17,047 pages in 2022). That's 8 books below my goal of 45 or 82%.  (My best result ever: 59 books in 2021.) All the books I read were reviewed on this blog and tagged "2024 books." 
    • The shortest book I read was "Things I Don't Want to Know" by Deborah Levy (167 pages); the longest was "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy (1,938 pages). 
    • Average book length was 414 pages (up from 353 pages in 2023). 
    • The most popular book I read ( = most shelved by Goodreads readers) was "Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert (2.7 million readers);  the least popular was "No One Talks About This Stuff" edited by Kat Brown (279 readers).   
    • The highest-rated book I read was "My Effin' Life" by Geddy Lee (4.68 stars). 
    • My average Goodreads rating in 2023 was 4.2 stars (same as the last two years).  
  • In 2021, I also started tracking books on The StoryGraph, which provides slightly different stats (and even more, with a paid subscription -- although I don't have one of those!). 
    • StoryGraph reports that I read 37 books with 15,658 pages (slightly more than Goodreads recorded). 
    • Average time to finish:  2 months (!). (This would be because of the readalongs I take part in...!) 
      • Fastest read/least time spent:  "The Cost of Living" by Deborah Levy (3 days).
      • Most time spent:  "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy (362 days, at one chapter per day, with a few days off along the way). 
    • The top "moods" of my books were overwhelmingly "emotional" (value: 17) and "reflective" (10), followed by "lighthearted" (9), "mysterious" (5), and "informative," "funny," "dark" and "challenging" (4).    
    • The vast majority of my books were medium-paced (66%). 26% were slow and 9% fast. 
    • 64% of my 2024 books were 300-499 pages;  19% were less than 300 pages and 17% were over 500 pages. 
    • 81% of my 2024 books were fiction;  19% non-fiction. This is a big change from recent years! (I credit the many book clubs I take part in, which mostly focus on fiction.)
    • My most-read genre in 2024 was historical, followed by literary, then contemporary and romance.     
    • StoryGraph also tracks the format of your books, but selects print as the default. 68% of my reads this year were recorded as digital, 32% print.  Note that some books do not have a "digital" option, in which case I choose print. 
    • Most-read authors in 2024:  D.E. Stevenson (6 books), followed by L.M. Montgomery (4 books) and Hilary Mantel (3 books).  
    • Average rating 4.06 stars. (Unlike Goodreads, The StoryGraph allows fractional star ratings.) 
    • Most shelved book:  "Persuasion" by Jane Austen (161,000+ users). Least shelved: "Queen High" by C.J. Carey (just 16 users). 
    • Highest rated:  "No One Talks About This Stuff" edited by Kat Brown (4.56 stars;  my rating was 5 stars). 
    • I explored the work of 14 new authors, read 15 books that were part of a series, and revisited/re-read 11 books. 
  • Once again this year, fiction choices outnumbered non-fiction (many of them re-reads, but still...!):  24 fiction, 13 non-fiction.
  • Re-reads -- which I started counting as books read in 2020 -- accounted for a good chunk of my 2024 total (11 according to StoryGraph -- see above). Some were books that I read on my own and then immediately afterward as part of a group readalong/discussion, while others were books that I've read in the past and revisited this year.  
  • Online, the Childless Collective Nomo book club (I'm one of the hosts!), D.E. Stevenson fan group, L.M. Montgomery Readathon on Facebook, and slow readalongs with Footnotes & Tangents on Substack helped boost my 2024 reading totals and provided me with a lot of reading/discussion pleasure. 
    • My book groups were responsible for 19 of the 37 books I read in 2024 -- almost half!  I read 12? books as part of the Childless Collective book club or in preparation for other book-related discussions (including finishing Jody Day's "Living the Life Unexpected"), 6 for DES (3 different books, each counted twice as re-reads), and 4 for the L.M. Montgomery Readathon (2 different books, both counted twice as re-reads). 
Goals for 2025: 
  • As noted above, I ended the year with 37 books read. I did not reach my Goodreads Reading Challenge Goal of 45 books (nor did I come anywhere near equalling my 2021/best-recorded total of 59 books, when my goal was 36).  Nevertheless, I've decided to maintain my goal of 45 books in 2025 ( = 3.75 books per month on average)(and hope to do better...!). I may be repeating one or both of my slow readalongs of "War & Peace" and the Cromwell Trilogy, which took up a lot of my reading time this year -- but I think this is still a realistic & reachable goal for me right now (albeit a bit of a stretch one!). 
    • I've read more than 45 books in four of the past six years (2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023), and almost 45 (i.e., 43) in 2020 -- so 45 books still seems very do-able.  But I'd be thrilled to be able to improve on that goal, too!  
    • While I'm grateful for my book groups and the boost they give to my reading totals, and while I intend to keep up with them in 2025, I'm hoping to be able to read more of my own choices this coming year too.  :)   
2024 Highlights:  
  • Like so many people, I tried reading "War & Peace" by Leo Tolstoy... once. It was 40+ years ago, and I think I got about 60 pages in before abandoning ship. But I always thought I should give it another try... someday. When I first heard about the Footnotes & Tangents slow read in late 2023, I was deep in other book club/readalong obligations and figured I needed another one like a hole in the head... but it was an irresistible opportunity, and I took the plunge. As 2024 draws to a close, I am so glad I did. One chapter per day is entirely do-able, and the character wiki, daily chat threads with other readers and Simon's weekly context posts all contributed to an enormously enjoyable (and -- dare I say? -- fun!) experience. I'll very likely be back for another round in 2025! Thanks, Simon, and thanks to the other W&P-ers for what's turned out to be one of the highlights of my year. ❤
  • Likewise, "Wolf Crawl" -- Footnotes & Tangents' "slow readalong" of the three books in Hilary Mantel's Cromwell Trilogy -- was an amazing bookish experience this year. An absolutely stunning feat of writing, storytelling, characterization and historical scholarship (along with a healthy dose of imagination!).  
  • It's always very hard for me to pick a single book as "the best" that I read in any given year. I read some really good books this year -- very few disappointments or "meh" choices -- and I gave lots/most of them four and five-star reviews on Goodreads. (4.2 stars was my average Goodreads rating.)  A few of my favourites, in no particular order (I haven't linked to them here, but they're all reviewed on Goodreads, StoryGraph and this blog): 
    • "A Death in Diamonds" by S.J. Bennett 
    • "My Effin' Life" by Geddy Lee 
    • "Wolf Hall/Bring Up the Bodies/The Mirror and the Light" by Hilary Mantel 
    • "Widowland/Queen High" by C.J. Carey (both re-reads) 
    • "You Are Here" by David Nicholls 
    • "Code Name Helene" by Ariel Lawhon 
Did you meet your reading goals for 2024 (if you set any)? What great books did you read this past year? 
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2024 Blogging Year in Review

A hat tip to Mali, whose post "2016: Looking back on the blog" has inspired me to do the same for the past several years. Also to Mel, whose Crème de la Crème lists from 2007 to 2012 prompted me & other bloggers to review our posts from the year past & pick out our favourites to share.  (There was a list in 2006 too, but that was before I started my blog.)  If the Crème de la Crème list still existed, one of these posts would probably be the one I would have submitted. :) ) 

*** *** *** 

2024 was not as prolific in blogging terms as the past several years have been. 2021 was my best year ever in terms of numbers of posts (213). I ended the year with 146 posts -- ranking #8 (of 18!) in terms of numbers of total posts for the year, just below 2015 with 150 posts. 

That's (still) an average of 12 posts per month. My least-chatty month was February, with 8 posts. My most verbose was September, with 20 (thank you, World Childless Week 2024!  lol)  Not bad, especially after 17+ years of blogging!  

I don't check my blog stats very often, but I had a look at the ones for the past 12 months, and (as of this afternoon), I had 471,000+ views and 242 comments this year (page views way up from last year, but comments down). The top-viewed post of 2024  (that was written/posted IN 2024 -- was this one, with 300 views since it was posted on Nov. 6th (less than two months ago!).    

In addition to posts about or related to childless/free issues or other adoption/loss/infertility issues, I tried to do a "Right now" or "The Current" post at the beginning of each month, participated in 39 #MicroblogMondays this year, and reviewed all 37 books that I read in 2024.  

I also wrote a lot about other things going on in my life, including aging, retirement, memories of the past, being an auntie & great-auntie, dealing with service people, and condo living. There were lots of "odds & ends" posts, passing along and/or commenting on news items, blog & Substack posts and podcasts, etc. (usually ALI-related) that piqued my interest,.as well as lists of recent "small pleasures & annoying things."  And the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic (now in its FIFTH year, and heading into its SIXTH) continued to provide PLENTY of fodder for blogging!! 

Here are a few of my favourite/noteworthy posts from 2024, or ones that say "2024" to me -- in more or less chronological order (from oldest/earliest in 2024 to most recent): 

January: 
February: 
March: 
April: 
May: 
June: 
July: 
October: 
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