Odds & ends

• I am sick. :(  I woke up Friday morning with a very sore, dry throat. I thought that maybe once I got up and had my breakfast -- some orange juice, a cup of tea -- I would feel better.  
• I didn't. Saturday was worse. I felt like my head was going to explode. I felt somewhat better (at least in that respect) on Sunday, but my throat was still very sore and I was sneezing and in constant need of a kleenex. By yesterday, my throat was not quite so sore, but I'd started coughing...! 
• I don't get colds anywhere near as often as I used to, certainly not since I was working, and definitely not since the pandemic began and wearing a mask became commonplace. I guess I'm overdue. :(  It's the worst/sickest I've felt in a while (and certainly since pre-covid times).
• I took a rapid test on Saturday (day 2) -- which was negative -- and another on Monday (day 4)(also negative). (Yay? -- but I still feel like crap...!)  
• I couldn't figure out where I might have picked up a bug, since we hardly left our condo unit all week. We'd gone downstairs (cloth masks on) during not one but TWO fire alarms last Sunday, and in & out of a few stores on Thursday (wearing N-95 equivalent masks).  
• I suspect Little Great-Nephew is the culprit. ;)  We spent Tuesday morning last week with him at BIL & SIL's house, and he had a drippy nose -- still recovering from his week at home with his mom, with hand foot & mouth disease. SIL was trying to teach him how to use a kleenex, and to put it in his pocket so he'd have it handy. He wasn't getting it and kept using his hand, lol.   
• I wouldn't have worried so much, but I had a follow-up appointment on Tuesday with the surgeon who did my gallbladder removal. I called on Monday morning and left a voice mail message explaining the situation:  did they still want to see me, even masked? (I doubted it...!). Did they want to reschedule? Switch to a phone appointment?  The doctor wound up calling me yesterday morning, and we had a brief chat.  
• Better now than in a few weeks' time, when we're going to dh's cousin's cottage for the weekend!  and then to Manitoba to see my family!  
• I'm continuing to watch the coverage surrounding the Queen's death. At least the procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster this morning was at a decent hour, lol -- unlike the funeral Monday, which will be at 6 a.m. my time, with coverage beginning at 5 (which is about par for the course for most royal weddings, etc.). But how often do you get to witness history in the making? (even just on TV!) 
• I was trying to figure out who was walking behind the coffin today, besides the obvious royals. I recognized Princess Anne's son Peter and husband Tim Laurence, as well as Princess Margaret's son David (the current Lord Snowdon), but the others were a mystery.  This article provides some further information. 
• The BBC has a live feed online of the Queen lying in state in Westminster Hall, and the public filing past. I've been watching some of it on BBC World, and it's been very moving to see how respectful and emotional people have been. 
• I'm already having trouble keeping up with everything going on re: World Childless Week this week. So much good stuff to read, watch and participate in!  
• From the World Childless Week website: A Norwegian filmmaker is crowdsourcing funding to finish her documentary about involuntary childlessness, "The Mum in Me."  Visit her Indigogo page to find out more and/or donate between now and October 28th. The film will have its premiere at a Nordic documentary film festival in Norway in November, and from January 2023 it will be screened at VGTV, one of the major streaming platforms for documentary film in Norway.
• This article from The Globe & Mail -- about termination for medical reasons -- is a lengthy and difficult read about a difficult and all-too-often hidden subject. It's not for the faint of heart -- it brought back some painful memories for me (our daughter had issues, but her heart stopped beating before we were forced to make any decisions about continuing the pregnancy -- or not) --  but it's very well done. (Beware the comments!)