Weekend odds & ends

• It was 24C (75F)/27C (80F) humidex today!!!  
• IT IS NOVEMBER.  IN CANADA!
• I am not complaining -- I am not anxious for days on end of sub-zero temperatures just yet...!  
• BUT!  THIS IS NOT NORMAL!!!  :(   
• We drove out to our old community this (Saturday) morning for our flu and bivalent covid booster shots at the vaccine clinic set up by our family doctor's office -- one in each arm. We had appointments, but by the time the clinic opened at 10, there were at least 30 people waiting in line outside -- a marked contrast to when we got our fourth shots six months ago, and were the only two people there! Nevertheless, we were there early, and in & out relatively quickly. 
• I had booked us for Moderna, since that's what we had last time, but the nurse recommended Pfizer for variety. (Last time we'd requested Pfizer and Moderna was recommended!)  Whatever -- I just want a shot!  :)  We've now had two each of Pfizer and Moderna, along with our very first shot of AstraZeneca (which was the only shot we could get at the time). 
• Both of us have slightly sore arms and we've been tired/fatigued all day (dh napped all afternoon), but otherwise, so far, so good.  
• BIL & SIL were surprised earlier this week when they mentioned Little Great-Nephew's upcoming 3rd (!!) birthday party (with just the family present) -- and realized Older Nephew hadn't yet extended an invitation to us. I KNEW we would be invited, eventually (Older Nephew has never been known for his promptness, lol) -- but it still kind of gives you pause and drags up those old feelings of "otherness" and exclusion and being left outside the "in" crowd (which WAY predate infertility and pregnancy loss and permanent childlessness, going back to my childhood, when I was frequently the new kid in town, on the fringe of things...). 
• BIL assured dh we were invited, adding, "You're almost like family!"  "Ummm, hello, we ARE family!!"  dh reminded him. (Yes, next-tier, to be sure, but still...! -- our family is not all that large...!)(Both of us laughed...  you have to know BIL... his sentences don't always come out the way he intended...!  But I'm glad dh spoke up!) 
• In the "it was fun while it lasted" category:  Bloglovin has been behaving BEAUTIFULLY ever since I posted this on Sept. 23rd. It's been a good six weeks... BUT... Thursday morning (Nov. 3rd), I checked the Bloglovin app on my phone and there were suspiciously fewer posts than normal... went onto my laptop later that afternoon and sure enough, there it was: "Sorry, this page isn't available." And it hasn't been available since then. Sigh... 
• The penultimate (#9) episode of "The Handmaid's Tale" this season aired here on Wednesday night... season 5 finale next week! 
• One thing that's bothered me about this and other episodes this season is the vehement anti-Americanism/anti-refugee demonstrations by the people of Toronto (with gun violence at the very end of this episode). Okay, I realize this is fiction -- and who knows how Toronto/Canada would react in a world where we had Gilead on our doorstep and thousands of Americans flooding our borders??  And it's true that not everyone in Toronto or in Canada as a whole welcomes refugees (or Americans, for that matter) with open arms right now as it is. (As in the show -- and as last winter's protests/occupations of Ottawa and several other cities and border crossings demonstrated -- there is, unfortunately, a segment of the population that would welcome more Gilead in Canada -- perish the thought...!)  
• But we welcomed tens of thousands of Americans (draft dodgers from the Vietnam War) back in the 1960s and 1970s -- many of whom stayed and made Canada their home, even after they were granted amnesty -- and for decades, refugees from other parts of the world have been overwhelmingly welcomed by the vast majority of the population here. The screaming, chanting crowds, the harshly worded signs on display in the show... it's NOT the Canada or the Toronto I recognize. (I find it kind of offensive, to be honest -- to think that the producers & writers would think Canada/Canadians would be like that...! -- even fictional Canadians!)