Right now

Right now...* 

*(an occasional (mostly monthly) meme, alternating from time to time with "The Current"). (Explanation of how this started & my inspirations in my first "Right now" post, here. Also my first "The Current" post, here.)

Pandemic diary/update: November was Month #32 (going on #33) of living with the COVID-19 pandemic. Although our medical system is currently swamped with a triple whammy of covid, flu and RSV, there (thankfully!) have not been any huge increases in the covid stats provided. (On the other hand, there haven't been any significant improvements either...)  The provincial government announced today that it would extend the distribution of free rapid covid tests (which was supposed to end later this month) until June (2023). 

Since June 16th, the government has cut back on its data reporting from daily to weekly (on Thursdays). :(  Certain data categories (such as new case numbers and test positivity rates) are no longer reported. (And of course, the numbers we ARE getting are vastly under-reported). My main source of covid data is the Toronto Star, which tracks the currently available stats here, updated weekly.  Among the latest stats (last updated Dec. 1st):  

• Hospitalizations (people in hospitals testing positive for covid) decreased from 1,969 on Nov. 1st (peak numbers for the month) to 1,210 on Dec. 1st, up 1.1% over the previous week. Low point was 1,174 on Nov. 24th. 
• There were 131 patients with COVID-19 in Ontario's ICUs testing positive for COVID-19 or there for COVID-19 related illness on Nov. 1st, and 118 on Dec. 1st, down 9.2% over the previous week. Peak was 146 on Nov. 13th;  the low point was 117 on Nov. 29th.   
• There were 10 deaths on Nov. 1st, 27 on Nov. 30th and 20 on Dec. 1st. Peak was 39 on Nov. 3rd. The most recent 7-day average was 13.3, up 4.5% over the previous week. (Total pandemic deaths reported: 15,269.) 
• On Dec. 1st, 87.3% of Ontario's total population has had at least one vaccine, 84.0% had at least two, but just 52.5% had received a third dose. (No stats are provided for fourth or fifth doses.)  These numbers have remained mostly static for months now.  

On the personal pandemic front: This was a busy month for us! We remain covid-free -- although we had a close call...!  We are still masking in public places (albeit we usually don't in smaller family settings). On top of dh's solo trips to the supermarket for groceries (about once a week), and for occasional takeout lunches & dinners: 

• We visited SIL & Little Great-Nephew at BIL & SIL's house several times -- including our (mostly) regular Wednesday morning visits on Nov. 2nd, 23rd and 30th. 
• We also dropped by one Saturday morning (Nov. 5th) when both nephews were there to change their tires to winter/snow tires -- they store them in BIL's garage. LGN came with his dad. :) 
• We stayed with LGN there for several hours one Monday morning (Nov. 14th) when both SIL & BIL were feeling sick and needed to rest, until his mom could come pick him up. 
• And (although I'm nudging into December territory here...!) we were there again today for four hours (!) while BIL took SIL to a medical appointment in the city  LGN refused to take a nap (!) but was otherwise really good as gold (as usual!).  
• We went to the supermarket together 3 times. (I haven't spent much time in supermarkets over the past 2.5 years, and frankly, it's a little daze-inducing -- especially at the clip dh races up & down the aisles...! I keep telling him to slow down! --  I'm a browser at the best of times, and I want to take it all in and reorient myself, lol.)(He tells me I'm cramping his style, lol.)   
• On Nov. 4th, we went shopping at Carters/Oshkosh and ToysRUs for LGN's birthday present(s), and also popped in to a kitchenware store, the local mega-bookstore (which was PACKED) and the drugstore (ditto). 
• We got our fifth covid shots (bivalent boosters) AND our flu shots at a clinic run by our family doctor's office in our old community on Nov. 5th. 
• We made the one-hour trip to Older Nephew's house on Nov. 7th to bring an ailing LGN some children's Tylenol that dh had made up at a local compounding pharmacy.  :) 
• We ventured into our old neighbourhood in midtown Toronto for dental checkups & cleanings on Nov. 10th. :p  
• We attended a party with dh's mom's side of the family on Nov. 12th -- without masks (!) -- after which at least one attendee tested positive for covid. (Fortunately, not us!) 
• We visited the drugstore, Mark's Work Wearhouse (clothing), Reitmans (women's clothing) and Chapters (megabookstore) on Nov. 15th. (See "Buying," below.) 
• Dh took BIL to the hospital for a procedure on Nov. 17th (although he couldn't be in the room with BIL and wound up waiting mostly in the car for several hours!).
• We returned to Older Nephew's house on Nov. 18th for LGN's 3rd (!) birthday party with BIL, SIL, the nephews and their wives.  All of us took (and passed!) covid tests in advance. 
• We made a trip to Canadian Tire (which sells much more than tires!) on Nov. 28th to buy a new pre-lit Christmas tree, after our previous one conked out on us! (see "Buying," below)  
• Stopped in at the drugstore again on Nov. 30th en route to see SIL & LGN to check up on one of dh's prescriptions, and picked up a few things while we were there. 

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Also right now:  

Reading: I finished 5 books in November (all reviewed on this blog, as well as Goodreads, & tagged  "2022 books").  

• "Remarkable Creatures" by Tracy Chevalier (November's pick for the Gateway/Lighthouse Women NoMo book club.) (My review.) 
• "The Palace Papers" by Tina Brown. (My review.)  
• "Anne of Green Gables" by L.M. Montgomery (chapter-by-chapter group read with my LMM Readathon Facebook group, which began in early July and finished mid-month). (My original review as a solo reader, and my re-review, now that we're done.) 
• "Navigating the Messy Middle" by Ann Douglas. (My review.) 
• "The Light We Carry" by Michelle Obama. (My review.) 

This brings me to 46 books read so far in 2022, which brings me to 102% of my 2022 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway) 5 books ahead of schedule. :)  

Current read(s): 

• "Etta Lemon: The Woman Who Saved the Birds" by Tessa Boase (alternate title: "Mrs Pankhurst's Purple Feather: A Scandalous History of Birds, Hats and Votes")(the December book for the Gateway/Lighthouse Women NoMo book club).  
• "Sarah Morris Remembers" by D.E. Stevenson (with my DES book club. I'll count this as a re-read once our chapter-by-chapter group discussion is finished in December). (My original review.) 
• "The Menopause Manifesto" by Dr. Jen Gunter. 

• Within the private online Gateway Women (now called Lighthouse Women) community, we have two groups discussing Jody Day's book, "Living the Life Unexpected" -- one group that's more conducive to UK/European/Australasian time zones, and mine, which is mostly North Americans. Since January, we've been meeting on Zoom to discuss one chapter per month, and we recently discussed Chapter 10 together. If/when we complete the full 12 chapters -- likely early in the new year -- I'll count it as another re-read. :)  

Coming up: 

Most of my book groups have their next reads plotted out for a few months in advance -- and listing them here helps me keep track of what I should be reading next. ;)  

• For my D.E. Stevenson group:  
• "The Empty World" (after Christmas) 

A few recently purchased titles (mostly in digital format, mostly discounted ($5.99 or less) or purchased with points):  

• "Talking to Canadians" by Rick Mercer (for points) 
• "Funny Girl" by Nick Hornby (for points) 
• "The Secret Guests" by Benjamin Black (for points) 
• "The Spectacular" by Zoe Whittall (for points) 
• "Killers of a Certain Age" by Deanna Raybourn 
• "Dinners With Ruth" by Nina Totenberg
• "Counterfeit" by Kirstin Chen
• "The Appeal" by Janice Hallett 
• "Carrie Soto is Back" by Taylor Jenkins Reid 
• "The Diamond Eye" by Kate Quinn 
• "Downton Shabby" by Hopwood DePree
• "Like a Rolling Stone" by Jann S. Wenner 

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Watching: The last two episodes (9 & 10) of season 5 of "The Handmaid's Tale." One more season after this, and then the same producers will begin work on adapting "The Testaments," Atwood's 2019  sequel to "The Handmaid's Tale" (reviewed here)!  

Coverage of the U.S. midterm elections, earlier in the month (mostly on CNN). 

The 109th Grey Cup -- the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL), in which the Toronto Argonauts defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in Regina, Saskatchewan, by one point!  I was cheering for the Bombers -- as I have since childhood (as much as I pay attention to these things, which isn't a lot...!) -- but I was not UNhappy that the Argos won. The CFL is a much bigger deal out west than it is here, and in a market where more people follow the more glamourous NFL than the homegrown league, they need the win and the publicity more than the Bombers!  

The Grand Prix of figure skating -- several events this past month;  finals next weekend in Turin, Italy. 

World Cup soccer -- well, dh is watching, lol. Italy did not make it there this year (gasp!! -- the locals are NOT happy!  lol), but Canada did!! for the first time in nearly 40 years!! (and I think that was the first time ever then?). They didn't win a single game, and only scored one goal total  -- they've now been eliminated -- still, it was great to see them there! :)  

We finally got around to watching a documentary about Gordon Lightfoot, "If You Could Read My Mind" (also the title of one of his most famous songs). He recently turned 84 (! -- he's older than my dad, in fact!!), and that beautiful crystalline voice is mostly gone -- but he still packs them in at Massey Hall every year in downtown Toronto (he was the last act to perform there before it closed for renovations a few years ago, and the first one back when it reopened last year) -- and in his prime, he had few equals as a singer-songwriter. (He was also something of a Canadian sex symbol when I was growing up in the '70s, lol.) If you're in Canada, you can stream it on CBC Gem.  

(Someone on the show called his "Song for a Winter's Night" "the most Canadian song ever." I'm not sure about that, lol -- but I do love it!)  

(NOT watching: After reading the book, I PVRd "Magpie Murders" on PBS, but haven't watched any of the episodes yet...! And I STILL haven't progressed beyond the first two seasons of "The Crown"...!) 

Listening:  I'm still enjoying the daily Heardle challenge(s), including the decades versions -- although (as you'll see from the stats, I do MUCH better on the 60s & 70s versions than the others...!). Current stats as of Nov. 30th:  

• Heardle (original/all decades): 30% (36/120) correct, including 9 on the first guess. 
• Heardle 60s:  82.7% (67/81), including 36 on the first guess. 
• Heardle 70s:  67.8% (59/87), including 38 on the first guess. 
• Heardle 80s:  45.1% -- (37/82), including 14 on the first guess. 
• Heardle 90s: 34.1% --  an improvement from last month's 31.5% and 26.7% in September!  -- (28/82), including 7 on the first guess.  

Eating/Drinking:  This was a good eating month. :)  

• The catered menu at the party celebrating dh's cousin's marriage and forthcoming baby included lasagna (which I couldn't have, because of my tomato allergy), tortellini in cream sauce (which I could), chicken cutlets in mushroom sauce, potatos, mixed vegetables, salad, and an amazing array of fresh fruits and desserts. (We all went home with plates full of leftover cannolis and biscotti.)   
• LGN's mom/Older Nephew's wife -- who is a great cook! -- also had quite a feast for us all for LGN's 3rd birthday party mid-month, including homemade gnocchi and alfredo sauce (in deference to my tomato allergy), sausages with potatos and peppers, and a delicious salad with balsamic vinegar dressing. The cake was an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. :)
• And for Saturday night takeout recently, we had that uniquely Canadian treat, available only at this time of year -- a Festive Special from Swiss Chalet!  lol  It's a quarter chicken (white or dark meat, cooked on a rotisserie), served with dipping sauce, stuffing, cranberry sauce, a dinner roll, choice of french fries, potatos or salad, and a small box of Lindor chocolates. (In the past, the special included mini-Toblerone bars instead of Lindor chocolates.)  This year, the meal also includes a $10 cash voucher, redeemable at a future visit.  
• I'd never heard of Swiss Chalet before I came to Ontario -- it was the first place Future Dh & I went for dinner when I first arrived in London (Ontario) for school in May 1983 -- and while it has a presence in other provinces now, it still seems to be a mostly Ontario thing. Despite the name, there's not much that's "Swiss" about it -- although years ago, the waitresses used to wear dirndl dresses! It's a chain of  "family" restaurants, with a reasonably priced menu which, although it has expanded more in recent years, has always specialized in rotisserie chicken. 

Buying (besides books, lol):  This was an expensive month...!  

• Plane tickets home for Christmas.... ouch!  Much more expensive than our Thanksgiving trip ('tis the season, I guess...!). I'm not sure non-Canadians realize just how expensive it is to travel within Canada (which seems such a shame, being a disincentive for Canadians to travel more within our own country... going to Florida, or Las Vegas, or New York City, etc., is often cheaper, and I know many people here who have been to those places regularly, but never been to Halifax or Banff or Vancouver). There are only two major national domestic carriers (Air Canada and WestJet), so they have a virtual monopoly.  Dh once did a rough estimate of just how much money we've spent going back & forth to Manitoba to visit my family, over the past 37 years -- generally twice a year, summer and Christmas. OUCH. We could have done a LOT of other travelling (or other things) with that money... but... you can't substitute time with family (and, these days, aging parents)... or at least I can't. I know people who haven't been "home" to visit their families in years, but that's just not me. 
• I bought myself a new Advent calendar. It's marketed for children, but I'm a big kid myself when it comes to Christmas (lol), so...! I've had another one for years that I love -- a felt tree, with grommets to hang little felt, looped ornaments on -- but they easily fall off, which is something of a nuisance. With this one, both tree & ornaments have velcro on them!  -- so we'll see if it works out better! 
• I also treated myself (once again!) to an "Advent calendar" from my favourite sterling silver jewelry maker -- one beautifully wrapped surprise to open every day for the 24 days leading up to Christmas -- including jewelry pieces (bracelets, earrings, necklaces and rings) she's created especially for this project, plus other items from local craftspeople that she loves. It's a pricey splurge -- but a bargain at less than half the full cost of paying for all 24 items individually. I missed the first one she did in 2020, but got one last year (and posted about it here several times during the holiday season!), and it was a wonderful present to myself!  "Opening a lovely new surprise every morning was a real boost to the spirits, and I only wish I had bought one [in 2020], the first time it was offered. I highly recommend the experience! (and if jewelry isn't your thing, there are lots of other cool advent calendars out there for cheese, wine, perfumes, cosmetics -- and chocolate, of course!),"  I wrote here. 
• Presents for LGN's birthday. :)  I ordered him a counting book -- "Dozens of Dachshunds" (I knew even if he didn't like it, his mom would!  lol) -- and we bought him some clothes. 
• Christmas presents. :)  So far, I've bought something for SIL, something for my sister -- and a pawprint ornament kit for Older Nephew's dog, lol.  It's a start...!   
• I took advantage of a Black Friday/Cyber Monday week sales to do some online shopping:  I ordered my Christmas cards, stocked up on my favourite foot cream from L'Occitane. and bought a couple of Tile tracking tags to try out in our luggage. :)  
• Pre-Black Friday, I ordered some holiday-scented essential oils for my diffuser and some lip balm online from Saje. 
• Dh actually let me drag him into Mark's Work Wearhouse, which carries women's clothing but is primarily known for men's casual and workwear. We walked out with two pairs of sweatpants and two long-sleeved tops. (Yay me! lol)  Wearing jeans (especially for extended periods of time) is irritating the eczema on his legs :(  -- and it's a LITTLE too chilly outside now to be wearing shorts!  lol  He wears flannel PJ pants around the house (he has several pairs, most of them plaid or otherwise patterned), but I suggested he might want to get some dark-coloured sweatpants to wear outside the house for trips to the supermarket, etc. 
• And we wound up having to buy a new (artificial) Christmas tree (as described here). 

Wearing:  Despite my qualms about the risks in attending dh's cousin's party on Nov. 12th (well founded, as it turns out...!), it WAS fun to get (relatively) dressed up for the first time in eons, and put on makeup (ditto!).  I wore dark blue Lucky Brand jeans and a black camisole under a pretty floral print blouse that I got on the sale rack at Zara for just $14.99, pre-pandemic, and had never worn. Of course I forgot to take photos. One of the cousins did take a photo of dh & me as we were leaving. I was hoping he might send it to us, although he hasn't yet...! 

And... I've been wearing my Old Navy waffle-weave Christmas PJ tops around the house since mid-month!  (I've assembled quite a collection over the past few years, and ordered a few new ones this year too!)  I wore one of my newest ones, with big Christmas trees on it, today when we were babysitting LGN, who seemed fascinated by it.  :)  (The top by itself doesn't seem to be available anymore, but here's what it looks like.  :)  ) 

Noticing: How much earlier it's getting dark outside now, since the time change earlier this month -- like, around 5 p.m. :(   And of course it's going to keep on getting darker until we reach the winter solstice later in December. 

Appreciating:  Our new Dyson humidifier/purifier (which we bought last month). It's gotten a lot chillier and dry-er over the past month, and the humidity in our unit has been as low as 37% some mornings (we haven't been leaving it on overnight, although we might eventually have to...!).  It's been fun playing around with the settings -- we can do it remotely on an app too! -- and so far the maintenance/refilling has been a breeze. 

Enjoying:  The extra time we've been able to spend with Little Great-Nephew this month.  :)

Wondering:  Whether he will remember any of this when he gets older??  (He's 3 now... I remember a few things from when I was 3...!)

Wanting:  More time to get everything done that needs doing this month...!! 

Prioritizing: Christmas stuff... especially since we'll be heading west in just a few weeks' time (eeekkkk....!!)!  

Contemplating:  Whether I have time to do any Christmas baking this year?? (Not that we need it...!) 

Hoping:  To get to the mall next week to do some much-needed Christmas shopping...!  We haven't been to the one I'm thinking of since the pandemic hit (and I can count the number of times we've been to any other malls since then on the fingers of one hand...!). 

Trying (and failing!): To think of something to write for this prompt!  lol   

Loving:  Our Christmas tree... the extra lights on the tree really brighten up the room (especially when it gets so dark so early now...!).  

Feeling: A little depressed by the advent of early darkness and colder weather -- but looking forward to the holiday season, and to going "home" for Christmas!  Thankful that November doesn't suck quite as much as it once did (lol).