Odds & ends on a Friday night

• We're still on a bit of a high from spending Halloween with Little Great-Nephew last weekend.  It was such a nice, fun, family time. It felt good to be included. 
• I'll admit I felt a little funny taking all the photos (and then watching the door and handing out the candy while LGN went trick or treating with his parents, while BIL watched TV and SIL tended to the dog). BIL & SIL stayed inside while dh & I headed outside to take photos of Older Nephew, his wife and LGN sitting among the pumpkins on their doorstep (with their cameras & ours), before they set off for LGN's very first trick-or-treating. I couldn't quite understand it... if I was fortunate enough to have a grandchild (and especially one as adorable as LGN, lol), my camera would be out ALL THE TIME, never mind on such a milestone occasion as his first Halloween as a trick-or-treater.  
• Then I figured, "Well, BIL & SIL both have phones/cameras too -- nobody's stopping them from coming outside to take pictures too! -- or even just to watch!"  
• And I also realized that they probably figure they don't HAVE to take photos, since they know I always do (and I always share my best photos -- in our family text group, since I've been asked not to share them on social media... )
• (That's a story that I thought I'd told here -- but I did a search and eventually found the post I was looking for... in my drafts folder, lol.  It's kind of a long & slightly ridiculous tale (shades of junior high, IMHO...), and it's not entirely my story to tell, which is why I hesitate to post it. Let's just say I respect the wishes of the person doing the asking, although there's another person behind the request that I have some issues with...!)(The parents are fine with me sharing, btw.)   
• (I will say this, though: As a childless woman and very proud aunt & great-auntie, I have to ask:  Who do I get to show off??  When is it my turn??  Why do moms & grandmas get to have all the fun??)   
• Cute kid story, recording for posterity (a proud great-auntie is entitled once in a while, isn't she?):  Dh & I went to see LGN at SIL's house this week, as we usually do. We took him for a walk with his wagon -- he rode to the park in it, and then pulled or pushed it or just walked (while dh pulled it) on the way home. 
• All along the way, people either still had their jack o'lanterns on their doorsteps, or had set them out for the recycling/compost truck to pick up. LGN would excitedly point to each one as we passed by and say "Hockey! hockey!!"  lol  (Only he pronounced it "Ockey! Ockey!")  We first heard him do this at home, pointing to a jack o'lantern wall hanging.  The pumpkin face kind of DOES look like an old-fashioned goalie's mask...!  (How very Canadian of him, eh?  lol) 
• There's been an uptick in new COVID-19 cases in Ontario over the past week... not a huge leap (yet), but noticeable. (Sigh.) This news comes almost exactly two weeks after capacity limits were lifted on all public gatherings, in restaurants, bars, gyms, etc.  Coincidence?  (One other possible factor: the weather has turned colder, sending more people to gather indoors.) 
• This is going to sound judgmental (okay, it IS judgmental...!), but I'm getting SO tired of dancing around other people's blase attitudes and downright carelessness about COVID.  I know we're all sick and tired of pandemic life and restrictions, but we're never going to beat this thing (or at least get it under control) if people don't be more careful and take precautions, even if they're fully vaccinated. A couple of recent examples that have me feeling irritated/exhausted: 
• There was a sudden death in dh's extended family, just before we left on our trip out west. (65 years old, suspected heart attack.) Can I admit? I was secretly quite relieved that we were away for the funeral... because that entire branch of the family is not vaccinated. (BIL & SIL attended, and went to a family lunch afterwards at a private home ( = masks not required), but even BIL admitted he didn't feel comfortable being around so many people, unmasked, especially knowing some of them were not vaccinated.)  
• Dh & I got both flu shots & haircuts back in our old community this morning. We really like our stylist (which is why we keep going to her, despite the distance), and she is always careful about COVID protocols herself (her young daughter has severe asthma) -- but I am not always comfortable about the new salon where she started working this summer. The owner has rarely kept her mask on whenever I've been there, and the client of another stylist was not masked either today (in violation of provincial rules). (Vaccination status of both unknown.) 
• Fortunately, there were only three stylists working (including the owner) and three clients when we were there (dh waited in the car while I had my hair cut, and then vice versa), and the salon is spacious enough to allow for lots of distancing between chairs. 
• LGN's 2nd birthday is coming up, and there is going to be a family party. It should be something we're looking forward to -- and we are. BUT:  
• One invitee is sick right now. With a very bad "cold". (We think. We hope.) This person has been double-vaxxed, but we all think/hope they should get tested before coming to the party -- especially since the guest of honour is too young to be vaccinated. So far, they haven't. 
• Another invitee has not been vaccinated. We're secretly hoping they will do the right thing and not come. (I like this person, but if they do come, I will be keeping my distance...!) 
• As I mentioned in another recent post, I've been spending some time over the past few weeks cleaning up my laptop files, ever since my sister's partner managed to retrieve the ones from my previous (dead) laptop and consolidate them with the ones on my current laptop. I've been deleting a lot of duplicate and no-longer-wanted old emails in my main email account, as well as my Gmail account. I don't use that one very often, but I still had four years worth of mostly unread Google Alerts and marketing emails piled up, which I deleted en masse...! 
• My on-and-off digestive issues/gallstones?/whatever it is has reared its/their ugly head again this past week or so   :(  (which is probably one reason why I'm a little cranky tonight, lol). Sitting here on the couch with a heating pad and brewing a cup of chamomile tea, having just popped a couple of ibuprofen and applied some essential oils -- all of which seem to help. (Sometimes.) Send healthy/healing vibes, please!