Odds & ends

• Season 4 finale of "The Handmaid's Tale" -- who saw it?? And what did you think?? I understand there is (at least) one more season coming... not sure what they can do to top this, although I guess there are still unresolved matters to build stories around (e.g., what happens to Serena and her baby, and to Janine, still in Gilead...).  The producers have also bought the rights to "The Testaments," Margaret Atwood's sequel (which I reviewed here), which takes place 15-20 years  later, so... 
• I caught the tail end of a documentary on CBC News Network last Saturday night called "The World's Biggest Family," about one man (filmmaker Barry Stevens)'s discovery that he was born from donor sperm -- and that he might have up to 600 (!!) half-siblings. I've seen some of Stevens's previous films on the same subject, and may go on the CBC Gem streaming service to watch the whole thing. (Spoiler alert: he is pro-disclosure and openness.)  
• It's Father's Day this weekend.  Thank you to Melissa & Erik at Live Childfree for flagging this article from the Washington Post: "Father’s Day often dredges up painful feelings for childless men like me." 
• Little Great-Nephew is (finally!) warming up to us!  He is so frickin' cute. (Not that we're prejudiced or anything, right?) On the days we visit him and his grandma (SIL), we set the alarm clock, get up early, and go over mid-morning for an hour or two before he has his lunch (he naps for a few hours after that).  
• Dh said, "Is it weird that I think about him all the time?"  I said, "Do you think anyone would ask that question if he was your grandson instead of your great-nephew?"  
• More vaccine frustration (of a different sort): a recent Toronto Star headline set my teeth on edge: "Burn in the U.S.A.: Canadians who got the AstraZeneca vaccine can’t see ‘Springsteen on Broadway.'" (Or tapings of “Saturday Night Live,” or “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” apparently.) 
• Anyone attending the show, which starts on June 26th, must be fully vaccinated with an U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved vaccine -- i.e., Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson -- and provide proof. AstraZeneca was approved by Health Canada -- and has been widely used elsewhere, particularly in Britain -- but is not approved not by the FDA.  
• Quote: "It could also be just the beginning of bureaucratic vaccine woes, as the world starts to reopen with a patchwork of different approved shots... The no-AZ policy touches on a larger problem...: the lack of international co-ordination on a registry of acceptable vaccines, that will become more of a problem as countries start to open up again." 
• Dh & I (and more than 2 million other Canadians under the age of 65) took AZ as our first dose in good faith back in early April -- despite growing concerns about clotting issues (not to mention the disapproval of my mother, lol) -- at the urging of doctors & politicians who were worried about a rapidly rising third wave of COVID-19, and who told us "the best vaccine is the first one you can get in your arm." For us, that was AstraZeneca. Our prime minister, deputy prime minister, both federal opposition party leaders and several if not all of our provincial premiers all had AstraZeneca for their first shots too. 
• Clotting issues aside, AstraZeneca is highly effective. Maybe not *quite* as effective as the mRNA vaccines, but still pretty damned good protection. 
• It's all kind of a moot point (for now, anyway), because the U.S./Canada border has been closed since March 2020 (although there's increasing buzz on both sides about reopening soon). (And heaven knows, Springsteen tickets are hard to get at the best of times...! -- getting a second shot will probably be easier than snagging those, lol.) But it's the principle of the thing. I know there are bigger fish to fry at the moment, but our governments will have to revisit this, eventually, and work something out.
• Still no contact from the pharmacy where we got our first shots. I've popped on the provincial & regional booking sites a few times over the past several days, without success. I've heard a few people have had success simply by walking into a drugstore and asking if they have any available appointments. Perhaps we'll try that next...??  I hear there's a whole bunch of Pfizer being delivered next week, so...??