Odds & ends

• Unfortunately, all local library programming -- including the book club meeting I was going to attend -- was cancelled last night because of the weather -- record snowfall (in the range of 25 cm, or about 10 inches), not to mention extreme cold/windchills. (It is STILL snowing, on & off, this morning!) I am thinking I will sit out next month's meeting -- do I really want my introduction to a book club (and to its members) to be with a book called "The Mothers"??  But I WILL try again in the near future. 
• Another nearby library branch has a book club that meets tomorrow night to discuss "Beartown" by Fredrik Backman. I only just started reading the book last night. Think I can finish 400 pages in a little over 24 hours (not including sleep time)??  If not (ummm, probably not!), the first book club, the one I was going to attend last night, will also be discussing "Beartown" at a future meeting.  :) 
• On the bright side -- no shovelling to do at our condo :)  and no messy commutes to deal with, because we're retired & don't HAVE to go out unless we want to. (We often go to the mall on Tuesday mornings, but we're staying put today!) 
• Thank you all for the recent birthday wishes! In addition to the articles on aging that I mentioned there, I found this one by a favourite columnist (Elizabeth Renzetti of the Globe & Mail):  "Create till you drop, and other lessons from late bloomers." Loved this passage at the end: 

"Has there ever been a more suffocating phrase than old lady? It is a pillow to murder ambition, historically. But perhaps not any more, as we choose new directions for these long, long lives. Maybe we can take back the phrase, break it and shape it anew. Old lady painter. Old lady writer. Old lady, victorious."

• Check out Mali's recent series on menopause as a childless woman (four posts to date -- here, here, here and here). Related reading from other childless/free bloggers: 
• "The Childless Menopause" by Jody Day of Gateway Women. 
• "Childlessness and the menopause" by Berenice of Walk in Our Shoes. 
• "Go To The Head of the Class" and "The Change: For Reals" by Pamela at Silent Sorority. 
• I stumbled onto a new childless/free living site recently and took a scroll through their Twitter feed.  I "liked" a whole bunch of recent posts and responses there, although I didn't contribute to the conversation myself. When I returned a while later, however, I was slightly stunned to learn I'd been BLOCKED.  Now, one of the conversations I was responding to had to do with abortion/medical terminations -- which I know is a contentious subject -- but the site was emphatically pro-choice, as am I. I'm not a very experienced Twitter user -- I like/retweet far more than I actually tweet or comment myself -- so I'm a little at a loss as to why I was blocked -- unless perhaps the sudden volume of my "likes" led them to believe I was some kind of bot??  What do you all think? (I am sure many of you out there are far more experienced Twitter users than I am...!)  Anyway, sort of strange/funny/ironic that someone who has been living & writing about the childless/free life for almost 20 years now in various forums should find herself blocked by another childless site...!