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: July was month #40 (3 years plus) since the COVID-19 pandemic began. We remain covid-free (knocking wood, loudly...) -- albeit we both have had colds recently (dh first, then me -- multiple negative rapid tests). :(    

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.  (Even Younger Nephew & his wife, among the most ultra-cautious people we know, are planning to venture out to a movie theatre and restaurant for lunch on his upcoming birthday!) We still mask in stores and other indoor public places, albeit we usually don't in smaller/family settings. 

We used to mask in the public areas of our condo building (the hallways, elevators, mailroom, parking garage, etc.), long after the requirement was dropped, but recently decided we could stop doing that (since we rarely run into other people anyway, and certainly not in any great numbers). We had to eat in the food court at the hospital several times recently, while there to visit my brother-in-law & Older Nephew -- so obviously had to remove our masks for that -- but masks were required in patient areas, and you would hope that in a hospital setting, people would be conscious of not visiting or showing up for work if they weren't feeling well...!  

I've told dh recently I'm open to returning to the movies & eating in restaurants, if there's a movie we'd really like to see and a place we'd really like to eat (I'd rather take a risk on eating a nice meal at a nice restaurant, versus McDonalds...!).  I don't want to go to a restaurant just for the sake of going out (which is what we used to do, pre-covid -- Saturday night was eating out night, end of story!).  I'd also prefer to go at a time when it's less crowded and (in the case of restaurants), preferably somewhere with a patio, while the weather is still nice enough to take advantage of that! (But neither of us is in a rush!) 

It was interesting to see a recent news item that the British Medical Journal is calling for a federal inquiry into Canada's pandemic response. Yes, Canada fared pretty well compared to many other countries -- but there were also many things that could and should have been handled differently (e.g., the abysmal number of seniors living in care homes who died)  -- room for improvement in the future.  Personally, I think an inquiry would be an excellent idea -- with the caveat that there needs to actually be some action taken based on the findings. As the article reminds us, a similar inquiry took place after the SARS outbreak in 2003, with very little action taken afterwards. If we'd learned more from the mistakes made then, our covid response would no doubt have been much more effective than it was. 

July was a BUSY month!  -- mostly consumed by BIL's (and Older Nephew's) transplant operations on July 10th. Other things had to take a back seat.  I didn't even have time to read my emails some days!  

Among other things, we:  

• Spent a LOT of time with Little Great-Nephew (yay!) while his parents & grandparemts were otherwise occupied:  all day (8-10 hours) for three days straight at BIL's house (July 4th, 5th AND 6th -- which also happened to be our 38th wedding anniversary...!), plus most of the day on July 14th & 18th at Older Nephew's house (about an hour north of us).  We also got to spend a few hours with him and his grandparents at his grandparents' house yesterday (July 31st).  BIL hadn't seen him in almost a month!  
• Saw (almost) all of the aunts, uncles & cousins on dh's dad's side of the family at a party in his cousin's backyard, on July 2nd -- many of them for the first time since before the pandemic began. One cousin, who now lives in Australia (!), along with her Aussie husband and two small kids, was home to visit. Thankfully, the air quality was good (no wildfire smoke) and while it was overcast, there was no rain, so we were able to stay outdoors most of the time. (Being so close to BIL's operation, BIL & SIL and the nephews did not attend, so dh & I represented our branch of the family.)  
• Took SIL to the hospital downtown where BIL was taken before his surgery, on July 7th. A cousin took her downtown again the next day, and helped her check in to a nearby hotel, where she stayed for the next two weeks, until BIL was able to go home again. 
• Dh picked up & transported both nephews & Older Nephew's Wife to the hospital downtown, early-early on the morning of the transplant surgery (July 10th), hung around the hospital all day while the surgeries were done, and then drove ONW and Younger Nephew home again. He was out of the house for 25 hours, estimates he was awake for about 44 (!) and drove 300+ km (180 miles!).  
• He & I visited both Older Nephew and BIL in the hospital for several hours each on Wednesday, July 12th;  Saturday, July 15th;  Monday, July 17th and Wednesday, July 19th.  We had lunch in the food court downstairs with SIL while we were there, and also got to see several visiting relatives too.
• We stopped by BIL & SIL's house for a brief (masked -- dh had a bit of a cold) visit on Saturday, July 22nd, after his arrival home (three full weeks after he was hospitalized, prior to his operation), and then again on Monday (July 24th) & Tuesday (July 25th). 
• Dh took BIL & SIL back downtown to the hospital for an appointment on Thursday morning (July 27th). I wasn't feeling well (see above), so decided to keep my germs at home, and slept in.  ;)  
• We went there for coffee on Friday night (July 28th), along with a couple of cousins who came by to visit. 
• And then the next day we returned when Younger Nephew brought Little Great-Niece over for a few hours while his wife did the grocery shopping and ran a few errands. :)  It had been two months since we last saw her!!  (even though they live barely five minutes away from us!) 
• Dh took BIL to a nearby lab for bloodwork on Monday, July 31st. (And he's taking BIL downtown to the hospital for a checkup today.)  
• Visited the supermarket on July 5th, 7th and 18th for various errands and grocery shopping; the drugstore on July 3rd & 15th;  and the bookstore and Canadian Tire on July 22nd. 

25 years ago in July (1998), we were "riding the rollercoaster" of a pregnancy that had always seemed a bit tenuous and had suddenly become very uncertain. On the advice of my ob-gyn (who headed off on vacation for most of the month, while leaving me in the care of the geneticist he'd referred me to), I cancelled my planned vacation with my family in Manitoba, and waited an agonizing 24 days (!) for the results of my amniocentesis -- which ultimately turned out to be normal, and revealed that we were having the daughter we had both secretly wanted. 

Meanwhile, I had two more ultrasounds -- which showed the baby falling further and further behind growth norms -- and a fetal echocardiogram, which showed "very poor" circulation. Nevertheless, we started shopping for nursery furniture, and Cousin/Neighbour's Wife started planning my baby shower for the September long weekend...   

• July 1998: Riding the rollercoaster (long) 

I'm finding it hard to believe July is over and suddenly, that first week of August is staring me in the face again... it happens every year, but obviously this year, there's some added clout...!

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Also right now:  

Reading: With everything going on in my life right now, this was NOT a banner month for reading for me.  :p  My "books ahead of schedule" stat on Goodreads sadly dwindled (at one point, I only got the message "You're on track!" -- which I guess is better than being behind, but...!).  :(  In the end, I did finish 2 books in July (reviewed on this blog, as well as Goodreads & StoryGraph, & tagged "2023 books").  

• "The Fair Botanists" by Sara Sheridan (the August choice for my Gateway/Lighthouse Women NoMo Book Club). (My review.)
• "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd (the September choice for my Gateway/Lighthouse Women NoMo Book Club). (My review.) 

This brings me to 27 books read to date in 2023,  60% of my 2023 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. :)  I am currently (for the moment, anyway...!) 2 books ahead of schedule to meet my goal. (I started the month at 3 books ahead of schedule.)  

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 am 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 6. I missed that discussion, but hope to take part when we cover Chapter 7 in mid-August! (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 October: "Over the Top" by Jonathan Van Ness
• For November: "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" by Alan Bradley (my suggestion! -- a book I love, albeit one I read before I started this blog, so I don't have a review to point you to!)  
• 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

• 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 (I assumed in July, but nothing has been posted yet?) Meanwhile, book #5,  "The Brutal Telling," is on the horizon as one of my next reads...! 

Last month, I mused about possibly joining yet another online book club discussion/readalong on Substack, for "Middlemarch" by George Eliot. As I admitted then, much as I'd like to participate, I need yet ANOTHER book club/readalong to follow like a hole in the head, and this past month was simply NOT the time to start!  Regretfully, I have not joined in. (Yet??)  ;)  

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

• "Good Night, Irene" by Luis Alberto Urrea 
• "George VI and Elizabeth: The Marriage That Saved the Monarchy" by Sally Bedell Smith 
• "This Bird Has Flown" by Susanna Hoffs 
• "Bad Vibes Only" by Nora McInerny 
• "Love, Pamela" by Pamela Anderson
• "Hello Beautiful" by Ann Napolitano 
• "In Memoriam" by Alice Winn 
• "Walking With Sam" by Andrew McCarthy 
• "The Lincoln Highway" by Amor Towles 
• "Homegrown" by Jeffrey Toobin 
• "The Half Moon" by Mary Beth Keane 
• "Platonic" by Marisa G. Franco 

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Watching:  An abundance of kids' cartoons, while spending time with Little Great-Nephew, whose favourites include "Sunny Bunnies," "Peppa Pig," "Grizzly and the Lemmings," "Paw Patrol," "Blues Clues" and "Blaze and the Monster Machines." (I'm not going to link to them all...!)  I had to laugh when I found myself singing the theme song from "Go Jetters" (another LGN favourite) in the shower one morning...!  ("Guided by a unicorn..." lol)  

I also tuned in to a couple of sessions from the online Childfree Convention over the weekend of July 29th & 30th on their YouTube channel -- including a session early on Sunday morning with Jody Day of Gateway Women and Katy Seppi of Lighthouse Women discussing common ground and alliances between the childless and childfree. Well worth watching! 

Listening:  After a too-long streak of days in which wildfire smoke/poor air quality/oppressive heat &/or humidity made it a very bad idea to open the balcony door, it was finally nice enough to throw the door side open. Unfortunately, that was also the same evening (a Friday night) that one of our neighbours -- possibly/probably from the townhouse complex behind us -- chose to blast music at top volume (and not a genre of music that I particularly appreciate either).  Sigh. :p  

Heardle Decades: Stats as of July 31st: 

• Heardle 60s:  78.0% (244/313, 109 on first guess), up from last month. Max. streak: 14. (Current streak: 7.) 
• Heardle 70s:  79.2% (42/53, 26 on the first guess), up from last month. Max. streak: 7. 
• Heardle 80s:  34.8% (56/161,  29 on the first guess), up slightly from last month. Max. streak: 4. 
• Heardle 90s: 50% (26/52, 10 on the first guess), down from last month. Max. streak: 4. (Current streak: 3.) 

Eating/Drinking:  Not that well, I must confess. With everything that's been going on right now, we've both been too exhausted to do a lot of "real" cooking. Lots of takeout and frozen convenience foods.  Lots of bagels for lunch in the hospital food court!  

On the other hand: we've been enjoying local/domestic strawberries & blueberries in season!  Yum!  

Takeout dinners included rotisserie chicken (Swiss Chalet); takeout pizza slices, soup and rice bowls from the supermarket; pasta (chicken madeira rigatoni from Moxies) with key lime pie for dessert (on our wedding anniversary); California Sandwiches; and thin-crust wood oven pizza. 

Buying (besides books, lol):  A couple of new power bars/surge protectors -- after dh spilled iced tea all over the one in the living room that I usually plug my computer in to...! 

   

Wearing: Shorts and tank tops while the weather is hot & humid.   

Trying:  To start getting ready for bed at least half an hour before I want to turn out the lights: it always takes more time than I think (and more time the older I get...!)  to turn off & put away all my electronics; change into my PJs;  brush, floss & rinse my teeth/mouth and put on some lip balm; sit with a warm compress on my eyes for at least five minutes (recommended by the opthamologist I saw) & then add lubricating drops -- plus, while I'm sick, take some cold meds and gargle with a glass of warm salt water (before brushing my teeth!).  (Thank goodness I don't wear makeup much these days, or I'd have to build in time to remove that too!)  

Noticing:  How awful Toronto traffic is, especially in the downtown core (as described in this post), and especially since I don't get downtown very often these days (let alone in a car)! 

Enjoying: A respite from extreme heat, humidity and wildfire smoke:  we did have a few hot/humid days recently, but also several, before & after, when we've been able to leave the balcony door wide or partially open for most of the day, enjoying the fresh air (yay!).  

Appreciating: The friends & relatives who contributed to a GoFundMe to help cover expenses and lost income for BIL & (especially) Older Nephew as they recover from their surgeries.  Also, other members of dh & BIL's family who have stepped up to help out in other ways too -- one cousin & her husband in particular, who live nearby. There were times when both Older Nephew & his wife and BIL & SIL needed support at the same time -- and dh & I can't be two places at once...!    

(Yes, Canada has universal health care -- neither BIL nor Older Nephew has been or will be charged a cent related to the surgery itself or the care they received in the hospital. Prescriptions, however, are generally not included -- although some provinces have drug plans for seniors & children, and some costs related to transplants are covered by a special provincial government fund. Some workplaces offer employees (& sometimes retirees) at least some prescription coverage through their medical benefits plans. Not sure about Older Nephew, but BIL will be paying about $120 out-of-pocket per month for all the drugs he needs, post-op (although he won't be taking some of them forever). But there are other related costs -- e.g., SIL's hotel room near the hospital (it was arranged & partly subsidized by a generous cousin who can take a tax writeoff on the expense later), SIL & Older Nephew's Wife's meals while downtown, hospital parking (! -- we pay at least $25 every time we're there), gasoline, lost wages while off work... many workplaces offer short and long-term disability insurance as part of their benefits, but not everyone has that, and it rarely covers 100% of lost salary. Etc. etc...)  

Wanting: Still haven't had that pedicure I mentioned last month...!  

Wondering:  How Little Great-Nephew is going to like the day camp for toddlers that SIL has enrolled him in for August...!  It's just two mornings a week for two hours each, but it will give her a (much-needed, especially right now!) little break. Also, LGN hasn't spent much time with other kids his own age, or time away from family members, and this should give him some valuable exposure to those experiences before he starts school in September (eek!).  She's taken him to weekly toddler storytime sessions at the library, on & off these past two years, and he's loved that. 

Worrying:  About the unusual weather/climate change, and what kind of a world Little Great-Nephew & Little Great-Niece will be growing up in...  :( 

Prioritizing: Being there for BIL & SIL, Older Nephew, his wife & Little Great-Nephew, and supporting them however we can right now as they recover from their surgeries. 

Hoping:  That I'll be able to book a trip west to see my parents & sister soon... although I suspect we probably won't be going until (Canadian) Thanksgiving in October (as we have several times in recent years).  Waiting to get to the point where our help won't be needed quite so much, so that we can make those arrangements!  

Loving:  Spending time with Little Great-Nephew. He's such a joy -- and September (and school!!) is fast approaching (after which we won't be seeing him as often as we have)...!  :(  

Feeling: VERY happy (and relieved! and thankful!) that both BIL's and Older Nephew's surgeries ultimately turned out well. Exhausted, after all the stress and running around of the past several weeks. In awe of just how fast this year is zooming by...!