More odds & ends

• It's September 11th, again, 15 years later. The retrospectives on TV still have the power to make me cry. I wrote my own personal 9/11 story here back in 2008.
• The Toronto Star told, again, my favourite 9/11 story today.  It seems weird to have a "favourite 9/11 story," but from the day I heard it (reported on CBC), not long after September 11, 2001, it has been my favourite. Maybe because there's a Canadian angle, maybe because it's a heartwarming, feel-good story from what was generally an awful, awful day -- about enduring bonds and people in horrible circumstances risking their lives to help each other, and beating the odds to survive. 
• As Mali suggested in the comments a few posts back, I tested my waterproof mascara this weekend by applying a double coat just before I jumped in the shower. Worked like a charm. :)  (Thanks, Mali!)
• Some of you (Mel, lol!) were asking about Oldest Nephew's new puppy and whether (as I speculated) dh & I would be puppy-sitting while he & his bride are on their honeymoon in a few weeks' time. Funny, but that was the first thing I thought of when I heard they were getting a puppy -- couldn't/shouldn't they have waited until AFTER the wedding??  I guess the same thought (finally) dawned on Nephew, because a week or so ago, he approached his dad. "Ummm, dad, do you have any holiday time left this year?"  (In fact, BIL & SIL are taking some time off after the wedding to recuperate.)  So they will be looking after the puppy, and we're off the hook (whew!).  Nephew & Fiancee are also looking into doggie daycare &/or a kennel for the actual wedding day. Kids, right??! 
• I had an abdominal ultrasound done on the Friday before the Labour Day long weekend re: my gallbladder (because of my apparent gallbladder attack back in early July), and the dr's office called me with the results on Tuesday. Yes, I (still) have gallstones (I was originally diagnosed with them back around 2002-03), and the gallbladder IS slightly inflamed. Removal (surgery) is an option -- but he suggested a wait-and-see approach (as did my previous dr and the surgeon he sent me to back then for a consultation) and advised me to try to avoid high-fat foods. (Erk!!) Aside from having all four wisdom teeth out at once when I was in my early 30s (and I'm not even sure that exactly counts?), I've never had surgery and I'm not anxious to start at this stage of my life...!
• I may have blogged about this before, but when I was initially diagnosed with gallstones, I did a lot of reading about them online -- and I learned that there is a link between high levels of estrogen and gallstone formation. Many women first experience gallstones during or just after pregnancy, when their estrogen levels are elevated.  My estrogen levels during some of my fertility treatment cycles (2000-01) were sky-high at times. Makes you wonder, doesn't it...?  
• I haven't had a lot of time to sort out my thoughts about Scottish politician Nicola Sturgeon's announcement about the miscarriage she had when she was 40 (she is now 46, and remains childless), which is why I haven't blogged about it before now. In a nutshell -- part of me is glad she spoke out because, as she said, every woman who speaks out about pregnancy loss &/or infertility helps to enlighten others and normalize the conversation about what has been a highly taboo topic. But part of me (and a few other childless/free women I know) winced to see yet another female politician of a certain age (hello, Theresa May!)  confessing to a lost pregnancy &/or infertility issues. See, they seem to be saying, I DID want to have children, really!  -- I'm not quite the cold heartless scheming ambitious bitch you think I am!  I realize this could be my own insecurities talking, of course. ;)  But, as this opinion piece points out, why should childless female politicians (or any of us without kids, by choice or otherwise) have to explain our choices to others?  (Different Shores also had a great blog post expressing this viewpoint: "Explain yourself, childless woman.") 
• Scanning the headlines on Google for this story, words like "sorrow" "tragedy" "heartache" and "painful" leap out -- e.g., "Sturgeon reveals heartache over miscarriage."  Interestingly, I read the Sunday Times article in which the miscarriage was announced by Sturgeon's biographer, and there is nowhere Sturgeon is directly quoted where she refers to her miscarriage in those terms.