Back to school (and other odds & ends)

• Suddenly, fall is in the air. The weather has been noticeably cooler and less humid, albeit still mild enough to be quite pleasant most days. We spent a peaceful, lazy Sunday (recuperating from our day with Great-Nephew, lol) with the balcony door wide open, and very little outside noise. Ahhh!  
• Today is the traditional first day of school in my province -- and some kids are heading back today, although the rest will trickle into classrooms (or onto Zoom calls) at staggered times over the next week or so, depending on what options their local boards are offering and what their parents have selected. (Although my social media feeds have been flooded with "first day" photos from friends & relatives in the U.S. for a month already!) 
• This year, of course, on top of the usual "back to school" hoopla, there's the added layer of COVID-19 and endless anxious conversations around that for the last several weeks: "what's your school district doing? what are the options being offered? are you sending your kids or keeping them at home?"  etc. etc. I must say, I do NOT envy parents (or teachers!) who have to make these difficult/impossible decisions!!  But the constant buzz-buzz-buzz is hard to ignore, and adds yet another layer to an already difficult time of year for those of us who are living without the children we wanted, yet subjected to endless conversations about other people's families.
• Last year, I came up with my own "first day of school post" on social media.  ;)  I decided not to do it again this year. It doesn't seem right to make light of things when there's so much anxiety & tension around the return to school this year. (Plus, it's a wee bit  overcast & chilly this morning (14C/57F at 10 a.m.) to be sitting on the balcony, lol.) But... there's always next year, lol.  ;) 
• A couple of CNBCers I follow on Twitter responded to a Twitter post from a UK company that grants parents an extra day off on their child's first day of school. While there were many kudos and words of effusive praise in the comments, there were also a few comments from childless/free people asking whether the company would also grant an extra day off to its employees without children. ("Hello... what about us??")(Seems fair enough to me...!) 
• In a similar vein, the New York Times examined long-standing tensions between parents & non-parents in the workplace and how they've been exacerbated during this pandemic -- specifically in the context of Silicon Valley tech companies. There are currently more than 1,500 comments on the article, and while there are the usual cries of "selfish!" (on both sides of the coin), I thought the level of discussion was actually pretty thoughtful and even-handed, at least among the comments I read (specifically in the NYT Picks and Reader Picks categories). Several astute readers pointed out that if fingers are to be pointed, they should ultimately be pointed at the companies and their human resources policies and benefits.  
• Apparently, one of the wildfires that's sadly ravaging southern California right now (covering more than 7,000 acres) was sparked by a pyrotechnical device set off at a gender reveal party (!!).  If you HAVE to have a gender reveal (and I know a lot of people question their necessity in the first place...!), there are a lot safer ways to announce "pink or blue"!  
• In the "TMI" category, I found out while scrolling through Facebook this week that a(nother) high school friend is going to be a first-time grandma, and a friend from our support group already is. (This was within the space of a couple of minutes.) Another high school friend recently welcomed her SIXTH grandchild -- born on her wedding anniversary. Happy for them, of course, but... :( 
• In the sad & sadly growing category of "my childhood musical heroes are dropping like flies," Ian Mitchell of the Bay City Rollers died this past week. :(  He was just 62. No cause of death was given but I saw several Twitter posts that mentioned throat cancer (likely smoking-related). He was just 17 when he joined BCR in 1976, and stayed with them just 7 months... but during that 7 months, he took part in recording the band's "Dedication" album (here in Toronto), and toured with them across North America that summer -- including a stop in Winnipeg on August 15, 1976. It was my very first concert, age 15 (my 15th-row floor ticket cost all of $6.50). We waited with a small group of fans outside of the arena for the band to arrive -- the limo did not stop but zoomed past us into the underground garage -- but we captured a fuzzy photo of  Ian, smiling and waving at us from the back window. He looked completely terrified the entire time he was onstage, barely heard amid the din of hysterical, shrieking teenaged girls, poor kid. He was a cutie... thanks for the memories. <3 (More of my Roller-related memories here.)