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: June marked 39 months (3 years plus) that we've been living under the shadow of COVID-19.  (At least, *I'm* still feeling its shadow, even if everyone else seems to have moved on...!) 

This past month, Canadian policy leaders met in Ottawa to discuss lessons learned from COVID-19.  Paul Wells, a well-known Canadian political commentator, wrote about some of the things discussed there on his Substack newsletter. I don't agree with all of his analysis, but it was an interesting read overall, and I'm glad these discussions are being held (because too often, they're not).   

On the personal pandemic front: We remain covid-free (knocking wood, loudly...) -- and we while we have ventured out more often lately and even loosened up -- just a smidgeon!  ;)  -- we're still a lot more careful than most people we know.  We still mask in stores and other indoor public places, albeit we usually don't in smaller/family settings.  

Dh has been chafing a bit at wearing masks lately, tired of being "the only one" -- albeit I can usually spot at least one or two other people in the supermarket who are wearing them when I go with him. I'll concede that masks probably aren't necessary if we're in a big store/space with not too many other people and we won't be hanging around too long -- and we've mostly stopped wearing them in the common spaces of our condo building (hallways, elevators, parking garage -- we rarely encounter other people there anyway) -- but if it's s smaller space and lots of people around us, then yes, I'm still wearing a mask!   

On top of dh's solo trips to the supermarket for groceries (about once a week), for occasional takeout lunches & dinners, and to see/help out his brother, together we: 

• Saw Little Great-Nephew 6 times: 
• Stayed with him while BIL & SIL attended medical appointments on June 6th & 14th (a 7-hour day!). 
• Dropped by on June 21st, 26th & 28th for a while. 
• Also saw him on June 22nd when dh's aunt & uncle, with their visiting (from Australia!) daughter & 1-year-old grandson, stopped by BIL's while in the area to shop. (LGN was NOT happy having to share the spotlight -- or us! -- with the visiting cutie! lol) 
• Went grocery shopping at the supermarket together twice and picked up takeout lunch there on the way home from BIL's one other day.   
• Other shopping trips to Chapters (bookstore, twice), Reitmans (women's wear), Carters/Oshkosh (children's clothing), Shoppers Drug Mart and M&M Foods (frozen/convenience foods). 
• Treated ourselves to our first gelatos of the season on June 20th (finally!) and ate them in the car. (They do have patio tables outside where you can sit, but it was both very windy and very sunny out there that day.)
• I went (solo) to our condo's annual meeting on June 7th. (Dh went by himself the past two years -- he hates meetings, lol, so I figured it was my turn...!)  (There were about 35-40 people in the room (out of 122 units in the building), which made it slightly crowded. Guess who was the only one wearing a mask??)
• We went to a members' preview of a major new Tom Thomson exhibit that was opening at the McMichael Gallery, where I have a membership. I don't know a lot about art, but I appreciate it  :)  and I love Thomson and the Group of Seven, whose work is considered iconic in Canada. (As mask-wearers, we were definitely in a minority, but we weren't the only ones!)  
• We ventured to the mall (where we were again in a minority of mask-wearers) on June 26th to get dh a new cellphone and do a little shopping.  We even had lunch in the food court (gasp!). (It was a little more crowded than I was really comfortable with, but dh had been hankering after some of the Thai food they serve there, so...)  This was our first time there since we went to watch Little Great-Nephew get his photo taken with Santa in early December. I can still probably count the number of times we've been there over the past 3 years (since the pandemic began) on the fingers of one hand. We're thinking we might try to start going back again a little more regularly -- it's nice to get out & walk around (albeit my knees aren't always happy about it...!).  
• We also went for haircuts yesterday (Friday, June 30th). Our stylist wasn't wearing a mask! for the first time in 3 years!!  (Her young daughter has severe asthma, and she has been VERY careful.)  But then, nobody else was there besides her & us. 

Nobody seems to be wearing their N-95 masks indoors anymore -- but they may want to wear them (should be wearing them??) outside, because of the wildfire smoke. The closest fires to us are several hundred kilometres/miles away, in northern Ontario and Quebec -- but apparently that's close enough (as communities even further south in the U.S. have discovered too...!). There have been several times this past month (including the past few days) when Toronto has held the dubious distinction of having the worst air quality in the world. :(  

25 years ago in June (1998), there were "dark clouds on the horizon" of my pregnancy, as the blog post I wrote about that time 10 years later is titled. My plans to fly west in mid-July to visit my parents & grandparents were interrupted when, mid-month, the results of my triple screen bloodwork -- followed by an ultrasound -- signalled possible abnormalities. I was sent to see a geneticist and had amniocentisis (which I had originally opted not to have) on June 26th -- and then began an inhumanely long wait for the results. Meanwhile, I was advised to cancel my vacation plans and stay close to home, "in case of adverse results." (!) 

• June 1998: Dark clouds on the horizon (long post) 

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** 

Also right now:  

Reading: I finished 3 books in June (all reviewed on this blog, as well as Goodreads, & tagged "2023 books").  

• "Mothering Sunday" by Graham Swift, the June pick for my Lighthouse Women Nomo Book Club. (My review.)  This was a re-read for me (my previous review here). We had a fun Zoom discussion on June 25th. 
• "A Rule Against Murder" by Louise Penny (book #4 in the Three Pines/Inspector Gamache mystery series, titled "The Murder Stone" in some markets. (My review.) 
• "The Bullet That Missed (The Thursday Murder Club #3)" by Richard Osman, for my Gateway/Lighthouse Women NoMo Book Club (for July). This was a re-read for me (my previous review;  my re-read review).  Zoom discussion date TBA (generally late in the month). 

This brings me to 25 books read to date in 2023,  56% of my 2023 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. :)  I am currently (for the moment, anyway...!) 3 books ahead of schedule to meet my goal. 

Current read(s): 

• "The Blue Castle" by L.M. Montgomery. My LMM Readathon Facebook group read this book together back in fall 2020, and our group admin -- who is taking a well-deserved summer break -- is re-running posts related to this book over the summer.  It's one of my favourites, not just of LMM's novels, but of any book I've read ever. (Reviews here, here and, from an earlier book-related post, here.) I will be following along, chapter by chapter, and count this as a re-read when we we're finished (in November).  
• "Sarah's Cottage" by D.E. Stevenson, with my DES group.  I will count this book as a re-read after we finish in early August. (My original review here.) 
• "Living the Life Unexpected" by Jody Day.  Re-reading (for the 5th time, I think!) and discussing one chapter per month (for the second time) with a group of other childless women within the private online Gateway/Lighthouse Women community. If & when I/we complete the full 12 chapters (likely early in 2024), I'll count it as a(nother) re-read. We recently covered Chapter 5;  Chapter 6 coming up in mid-July! (My most recent review -- with links to previous reviews -- here.) 

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 Gateway/Lighthouse Women NoMo Book Club (for August): "The Fair Botanists" by Sara Sheridan.  
• For the Notes from Three Pines (Louise Penny mysteries) Readalong: After a bit of a hiatus, discussion resumed on book #3, "The Cruellest Month" (which I read in April and reviewed here), on June 7th.  It wasn't mentioned, but I'm assuming book #4 (see above) will be next (in July?). Meanwhile, book #5,  "The Brutal Telling," is on the horizon as one of my next reads...! 
• For my D.E. Stevenson group:  This list of upcoming books should keep us busy through 2024, and maybe even into 2025!  (A couple of the books are ones we covered when I first joined the group back in 2014 -- you know you've been around for a while when....!)  
• The House on the Cliff (after we finish "Sarah's Cottage" in August -- see above)
• Bel Lamington 
• Fletcher’s End
• Miss Buncle’s Book
• Peter West 
• Miss Buncle Married
• The Two Mrs Abbotts
• Crooked Adam 
• The Four Graces

AND... not that I need yet ANOTHER book club/readalong to follow... but I recently learned about one on Substack for "Middlemarch" by George Eliot. This is a book that I read (and enjoyed) in university (it was my favourite English prof's all-time favourite book) -- but that was.... ummm... a LONG time ago, lol.  I've often though of giving it a re-read. As I said, I need another reading obligation like a hole in the head, but this does seem like a perfect opportunity... they're covering chapters 6 & 7 tomorrow (July 2nd) -- so it would be relatively easy to catch up at this point. Hmmm....  

A few recently purchased titles (mostly in digital format, mostly discounted ($5-10 or less) or purchased with points): 

• "Romantic Comedy" by Curtis Sittenfeld (discounted paperback) 
• "Yellowface" by R.F. Kuang (discounted paperback) 
• "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd. 
• "Exiles" by Jane Harper. 
• "The Villa" by Rachel Hawkins. 
• "The Book of Delights" by Ross Gay. 
• "Meet Me By the Fountain" by Alexandra Lange 
• "The Secret Book of Flora Lea" by Patti Callahan Henry 
• "Hang the Moon" by Jeannette Walls
• "The Hole We're In" by Gabrielle Zevin 

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** 

Watching: I finished watching all six episodes of "Funny Woman," based on the Nick Hornby novel "Funny Girl" (my review of the book, here). It deviates from the book, particularly in the later episodes, and most notably by injecting a modern/feminist sensibility into the story that was not present in the book, and not especially evident (or at least AS evident as portrayed here) at the time. 

For example:  

• There's a scene, in episode 5, in which scriptwriters Bill & Tony take a wide-eyed Sophie to a gay bar, where they all ingest some illicit substances... they were definitely gay in the book, but this scene was entirely made up. 
• Sophie's roommate, Marjorie has an expanded role in the TV show (and overall, I did like her): she becomes a budding feminist (definitely not in the book) and member of a consciousness-raising group (which I think was more of a 1970s thing?).  
• And in a bit of colour-blind casting, the roles of producer Dennis and journalist Diane are played by South Asian and Black actors. I really liked both actors, particularly the one who played Dennis -- and true, race was not specified in the book -- but the casting choices were not particularly true to the reality of the time.  

I gave the book 3 stars and I'd probably give the TV series the same. Amusing, but not (as the title would have you believe) hugely funny. I did love the Swinging London/mid-1960s fashions, decor and music, though, which were period-perfect!

I also watched the 1975 documentary "Grey Gardens" on TCM -- about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's eccentric (to put it mildly...) aunt & cousin ("Big Edie" and "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale), who lived in a decrepit mansion in the Hamptons, along with umpteen cats -- and raccoons. It's considered a cult classic. (I had some very weird dreams the night after I watched it...!) 

On PBS's "American Experience" series, we recently watched a documentary called "Casa Susanna," about a retreat in the Catskills outside of New York City that provided community and refuge for transgender women and cross-dressing men in the 1950s and 1960s, as recalled by some of the people who went there and their family members. We had no expectations going in, but both dh & I found it quite moving.   

Listening:  Last month, I wrote about the passing of Gordon Lightfoot, a Canadian cultural icon and national treasure: 

...as I read the obituaries and appreciations and comments, and as people named their favourite Lightfoot songs, I found myself thinking, "Oh yeah, that one.. Oh yeah, THAT one!" and "I forgot about that one!!"  

At risk of having my citizenship revoked ;)  I will confess that I had no Lightfoot albums/CDs in my collection. I decided to remedy that by ordering a copy of "Gord's Gold," a collection of (some of) his greatest hits. Some of the titles were unfamiliar to me -- but as soon as I heard the music: "Okay, I know this one... okay, I know this one too..."  :)  As it turned out, I could sing along with or was at least passingly familiar with just about every song on the album -- all of them wonderful. :)  

Heardle Decades:  My stats for the 70s & 90s versions mysteriously vanished during the month, meaning I had to start all over again. :p  Oh well, maybe this time around I'll actually improve my stats?? (I can only hope...! -- although my 70s scores weren't bad...). Stats as of June 30th: 

• Heardle 60s:  77.3% (218/282, 101 on first guess), down from last month. Max. streak: 14. 
• Heardle 70s:  78.3% (18/23, 10 on the first guess), WAY up from last month (before my stats got deleted...!). Max. streak: 5. 
• Heardle 80s:  34.3% (46/134,  24 on the first guess), up from last month. Max. streak: 4. 
• Heardle 90s: 54.2% (31/24, 7 on the first guess), WAY up from last month (before my stats were deleted...!). Max. streak: 4. 

Eating/Drinking:  Takeout dinners on Saturday nights this month included teriyaki rice bowls (twice) and Italian sandwiches from a local chain (twice -- veal cutlet with tomato sauce for dh, chicken without sauce for me).   

Buying (besides books, lol):  

• Some cute outfits for both Little Great-Nephew & Little Great-Niece at both the Carters/Oshkosh store and at Old Navy. 
• At Reitmans (a Canadian women's wear chain), I bought two pairs of lightweight cotton cropped cargo pants (one in dark olive green and the other a cream/off-white) and two tank tops, all on sale (four items for about $65 Canadian -- not bad these days...!). 
• At the mall (see above), I bought myself T-shirts at both Old Navy and Lucky Brand, some sundries at the drugstore, and matching classic Beaver Canoe T-shirts at the Roots store (iconic Canadian label) for dh's cousin's two kids (a girl, almost 3, and a boy who just turned 1), who are visiting from Australia. A bit of Canadiana to take home with them!    

Wearing: Enjoying my capris & sandals.  :)  

Trying:  To go with the flow and not worry too much about things that are beyond my control.  (Easier said than done, of course...!). 

Noticing:  That everything seems so much more expensive lately than it used to be, not all that long ago -- groceries, personal care items, books (ouch!)... 

Also noticed, when we were at the mall, that many stores still aren't as fully stocked as they were, pre-pandemic. Maybe that's a good thing, though -- sometimes they seemed almost overwhelmingly crammed with stuff in the past!  

Enjoying: My nice, CLEAN balcony door/windows!!  Dh helped me do them on June 19th. Our schedule was clear that day, the weather and air quality were finally good enough and I thankfully found my motivation!  lol  For me, it's a great mood booster! 

Appreciating: Being able to open the balcony door and let some fresh air in (between periods of poor air quality from wildfire smoke further north :(  ).  

Wanting: To get a pedicure. It's been more than three years (pre-pandemic) -- actually, almost 4!  The last time I had one was in September 2019, for Older Nephew's Wife's baby shower (!). Manicures I can take or leave -- but I do enjoy a nice pedicure once a month or so in the summertime, when my toes are on display!  (Even before the pandemic, the nail techs at the salon where I go wore masks to protect themselves from the fumes.)  Not sure when I'm going to be able to schedule one, though...?  

Wondering: Whether I'll be able to make it "home" to visit my parents & sister later in the summer, or whether I'll have to wait until fall?  (It will depend on how things go with BIL...) 

Worrying:  (Still) About BIL's health issues (including impending major surgery -- very soon), and the impact it's having on the rest of the family, including dh, SIL & the nephews, and even Little Great-Nephew.  :(   

Hoping:  For a good outcome all round. 

Waiting:  (See "Worrying," above...!) 

Prioritizing: The essential stuff, and letting the "nice to do's" slide.  

Loving:  Getting back to the art gallery with dh.  (The last time we were there was on my birthday in January. I think the time before that was pre-pandemic.)  I am so glad I got the membership there. I so enjoy going there, and I'm glad to support such a worthwhile national and local cultural treasure.    

Feeling: Like the summer is already going by too fast, when it's really only just begun...!  (Like, what happened to June??)  Slightly frazzled, trying (and often failing) to get everything on my to-do list done.