Mid-month odds & ends

• I'll admit that -- as a former journalist & communicator -- I'm biased, but I wanted to cheer, reading Catherine Rampell's post-U.S. election tribute to the "mainstream media" (on an otherwise dismal day): "This election year, legacy media consumers came out on top."  (Subhead: "We’ve made our share of mistakes, but readers of traditional media understand the stakes of this election.")  
• I know I'm a dinosaur,  but every time I hear people saying they get their news from Facebook or Twitter/X or (God forbid) TikTok (!!), I want to scream. SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT JOURNALISM/THE NEWS!!! 
• (It would have meant even more if the owner of Rampell's paper, the Washington Post, hadn't put the kibbosh on the editorial board's planned endorsement of Kamala Harris at the 11th hour -- and Rampell does allude to this in her article -- but, I digress...).  
• BBC News featured "The real reason for the rise in male childlessness" prominently on its home page recently.  The article quotes Robin Hadley, who is well known in CNBC circles as one of the few men speaking out about involuntary childlessness. 
• "I'm the Witch:" Colleen Addison on Substack and Medium, about how life and fairy tales converge. Absolutely gorgeous writing.  
• The New York Times had an article (on the front page, apparently!), about "The Unspoken Grief of Never Becoming a Grandparent," about dismayed Boomers (always the Boomers, of course...!) whose children are opting not to have children themselves. (Gift link.)  As usual, no acknowledgement of the fact that not all these children may not be CHOOSING not to have children (and that they might be feeling some grief over that themselves...!).  
• My comment here (I've spotted a few from other CNBCers -- there are more than 3500 right now!).  
• Earlier this year, there was a similar article (also on the front page!) in the Globe & Mail, which I wrote about here (includes gift links to the articles mentioned). 
• Also from the New York Times:  "Its Birthrate Falling, Russia Targets Child-Free Lifestyles." Subhead: "The country’s lower house of Parliament passed a law that would ban what it calls “propaganda” discouraging Russians from having children."  This so-called "propaganda" would include "material on the internet, in media outlets, in movies and in advertising that portrays child-free lifestyles as attractive." 
• Clearly (even though many of us did not choose this life), those of us without children must all be portrayed as forever wallowing in our misery, right?  :p   

#MicroblogMondays: Books, bargains and bots

This story began when I got my weekly Sunday email of ebook deals from my ereader/ebooks provider (which I'm not going to name here, this time around -- but I have named it often in the past. Hint:  it's NOT Amazon Kindle!).  

When I clicked over to look at the deals, I was hugely annoyed to see that many of the books listed were not, in fact, on sale. They were listed at full price. 

(Which is often ridiculous -- $15, $20 (Canadian) or more -- for an e-book??! I mean, I realize, writers don't get paid a lot of money, and there are editors and designers, etc., who also need to be paid -- but you're not paying for paper or printing costs -- and I'm sure the publisher is taking a nice chunk of profit for themselves too..!)  

Dh & I have both noticed this happening a couple of times lately.  We've also been annoyed that the deals being offered lately -- both weekly and daily (under $5) -- haven't been that plentiful (e.g., usually well over 100 or 200 books offered in all categories;  recently just 30 or 40 in bargain fiction!) -- or all that enticing/interesting to us. AND, all this past week, a good chunk of the books listed under daily deals in the non-fiction category were actually fiction books! WTF?  

I was annoyed enough on Sunday morning to start hunting for a way to voice my displeasure to the company. Of course, there was no email address. Just a chat box on the website, and accounts on all the usual social media channels. I decided to leave a comment on the most recent post on Facebook.  Here's what I said:  

Is there a reason why so many of the books in your "today only deals" email are listed at full price?? And why a whole lot of books in the "nonfiction books on sale "section are actually fiction books? 

Not too long afterward, I got a response:  

Hi! We are truly sorry that you are experiencing issue, please send us a direct message and we would be more than happy to try and troubleshoot any problems you may be having. Thanks!

Obviously a bot. But a response. 

Okay. I decided to bite. I sent them a DM (via Facebook Messenger) at around 3:10 PM, repeating my original comment and adding:  

This has happened more than once lately (re: the "today only deals"), and the fiction books have been in the nonfiction sale books all week.  Very annoying! 

Then I added links to the pages to show them what I was seeing, and mentioned that I was in Canada.   

Around 3:50 PM, this response:  

Hi! Thanks so much for getting in touch with us. If it’s not too much trouble, could you share the email address linked to your Kobo account and the last awesome book you purchased? We’re excited to help and will get back to you very soon!

(Well, the bot has certainly been trained to be polite & enthusiastic, at least??) 

I was busy and left it for the time being, intending to get back to them the next day. When I woke up this morning, I had this message, sent just before midnight the night before:  

Hi there!

Thank you for reaching out to...

We're delighted to hear from you. We wanted to check in and see if you require any additional assistance. If you do, please don't hesitate to reply to this message. We're always eager to lend a helping hand.

​For any inquiries, big or small, please feel free to visit us at... [help desk link -- another bot, I assume...!] We're here for you!

​Best regards...

I hesitated, but decided to respond, at around 10:15 AM. I gave them my email address and name of the last book I'd purchased, and added: 

My husband is also a Kobo customer and has noticed the same things.  Yesterday's so-called bargains are now expired, but this wasn't the first time we've noticed this, and I'm sure others have also seen the same things.  It's just irritating to open an email, expecting to see bargains and so many of the books are still full priced (and the non-fiction under $5 section is full of fiction!).  We just wanted to make our feelings known, in the hope this can be fixed going forward.  Thank you. 

Responded the bot: 

I'm sorry if you are experiencing this. I understand your frustration regarding this issue. Rest assured that I will help you with your concern. Please send us screenshot of the offers that you want to purchase so that we can review it in our end. We appreciate your cooperation and patience during this process.

Me (getting annoyed now...):  

The offers have now expired. And I wasn't interested in many of them anyway -- it's the principle of the thing. Thanks anyway. I just hope that in the future, an email listing "deals" really does contain all deals. 

Bot: 

I apologize for any inconvenience and frustration this may have caused you. In the future, please feel free to reach out to us immediately so we can make any necessary adjustments for you.

Below that was this message:  

Your exclusive one-time use promo code is: 75% off  (Promo code xxxx reserved for user)

​Promo codes are discounts that can be applied to specific books in the xxxx Store. Due to publisher restrictions and territorial limitations, promo codes cannot be applied to all books.

​To apply your promo code... [list of detailed instructions] 

Well, okay. It's nice to get offered some sort of compensation for my time and irritation, and 75% is nothing to sniff at. I spent some time this afternoon going through my wish list, selecting a few of the most expensive books on it and filtering to check whether they were eligible for the promo code. (Happily, most of them were.)  I narrowed down my choices, finally made my selection, went through the steps to purchase and apply the promo code... and this message popped up on the screen:  

This promo code has already been used the maximum number of times.

(Seriously?)  

The kicker:  while I was scrolling through my wish list to pick out which books might be candidates for my 75% discount, I noticed that one of the books listed as a "deal" yesterday -- at full price--  was now listed for $1.99!! (Yes, I bought it.)  

I suppose I could have gone back to chat/argue with the bot some more, but I feel like I've spent enough time on it. This is when you really wish for a human on the other end of the chat/email. I feel like it would have been a much faster and more satisfying process -- certainly for me. And I wonder if a human will ever see and consider what I had to say? 

(I'm hoping for better things from the Black Friday sales...!) 

You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.  

A howl in the darkness

We went to bed around 12:30 AM last night, after spending the evening hopping back & forth from one TV channel and one online news site and chat to another, feeling bone-weary and depressed about the dark state of the world right now. 

I woke up around 4:30 AM, and went to the bathroom. Through the duct for the ventilating fan (which leads outside), I could hear the ominous and unnerving sounds of what I first wondered were human screams or sobs. 

I went back to bed, but couldn't go back to sleep. I finally got up again sometime after 5 -- just in time to turn on the TV and hear CNN project Donald Trump as the winner of last night's U.S. election. 

Dh got up at that point too -- and it wasn't too long after that we both heard the same weird howling/yelping noise, coming from outside. Dh opened the balcony door a crack. It was LOUD. Obviously nearby. "Sounds like dogs," he remarked. 

Then it clicked. Coyotes. There are plenty of them in the Toronto area, and there's a bit of a wooded ravine and a creek that borders one side of our property and some of the townhouses behind us -- an obvious place for them for be lurking.  It's been a while, but we've heard them out there howling in the past, and even spotted a few trotting through the construction site, back when the townhouses were being built. 

I'm glad it wasn't a human in distress.   

But it was still unnerving to hear. Especially on this particular morning.   

#MicroblogMondays: One day more...

(Re: the title:  Someone on Threads mentioned they'd been going around humming "One Day More" from Les Miserables all day -- and now I can't get the song out of my head either. You're welcome...) 

I tried to come up with something pithy and original for today's #MM, but (like most of the planet, I'm sure), I can't think of much else today beyond tomorrow's U.S. election. Being Canadian, I don't get a vote -- but -- whatever the result -- we will feel the impact too. 

My mother is American (and cast an absentee ballot), and I have lots of relatives and friends there, across the political spectrum.  I'm thinking tonight of my Grandma, who was an elections worker in Minnesota for many years, and my Grandpa, who once told me he cast his first vote for Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s, because he thought he was "a real nice man."   

We'll be watching the results unfold tomorrow night (and in the days ahead too, I'm sure) and hoping for a good outcome all round. As I mentioned a few posts ago, dh & I are supposed to be watching our diets and trying to lower our cholesterol -- but he brought home a bag of chips for tomorrow night. (If you can't indulge in comfort food/snacks at a time like this...)  ;)  

Keep calm, stay safe, and VOTE.  

You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.  

"Phantom" turns 50?!!

Not THAT Phantom (of the Opera, the hit Broadway musical from the late 1980s -- which is getting to be almost 40 years ago itself...!)(gulp!).  

I'm talking about Brian De Palma's 1974 movie, "Phantom of the Paradise." I was reminded of "Phantom" -- and the fact that it is turning 50 (!!!) years old -- when I saw an event flagged in one of my Manitoba friends' Facebook feeds -- a 50th anniversary celebration at the Burton Cummings Theatre in Winnipeg on Nov. 2nd (tomorrow night, and there's a related event on tonight too).  (The American online magazine Mental Floss has taken note!) 

"Phantom of the Paradise" was a flop everywhere when it was released (appropriately, on Halloween). EXCEPT in Winnipeg (and, by extension, southern Manitoba), where it debuted on Dec. 26, 1974, and developed a huge cult following that has flourished for 50 (!!) years now. (And also, apparently, Paris, France!)  Apparently there's even a 2019 documentary about the city's devotion to the movie, called "Phantom of Winnipeg" (lol).  

I was 13 years old in the fall of 1974 (and turned 14 in January 1975), in Grade 8 at a new school. We'd recently moved to a new town, about an hour outside of Winnipeg.  "Phantom of the Paradise" was HUGE that year. HUGE. It's hard to explain to people who weren't there, who didn't grow up in Manitoba during that pre-online, pre-cable TV era, just how huge it was. (I think we got something like 5 or 6 channels with the rotary antenna on the rooftop -- and not that many more when we got cable! -- and that was it -- which was still a lot more than we'd ever had to that point in the other places we'd lived -- i.e., ONE -- the CBC...) Today we'd probably say the movie went viral.  

I didn't own a copy of the soundtrack album (a bestseller in Winnipeg, of course...), but thanks to other kids at school who did, plus heavy advertising of the movie on TV, I knew just about every song on it before I ever actually got to see the movie, I think!  ("We'll remember you foreeeeeeever, Eddie...")  

The movie ran for 18 weeks straight at the Garrick Theatre in Winnipeg (and then on & off at other theatres in the city, well into 1976 = about two years). It's "a weird blend of horror, comedy and rock music, inspired by sources like Phantom of the Opera and the legend of Faust."  (Tagline:  "He sold his soul for rock 'n roll.")  You can still sometimes find it, late at night on TV -- often around Halloween (along with another beloved cult classic of the era, the better-known "Rocky Horror Picture Show," which came out a few years later). (I imagine you can find it streaming on some service or other too!)

I posted about this on Facebook, and my fellow Manitobans of a certain vintage were all responding "I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!" Others, of course, had never heard of it, lol. 

Have you ever seen "Phantom of the Paradise"?  

*** *** *** 

Related links: 

• "Fans of Phantom find paradise" (Winnipeg Free Press) 
• "Why Winnipeg?" (about how the Phantom conquered the Peg, in 4 parts) 
• "Go on. Ask. Everyone does."   
• "An overnight sensation." 
• "Paul Williams: Beatle" 
• "Dream it Never Ends" 
• "This Cult Musical Film Was 'Rocky Horror' Before 'Rocky Horror'"
• "Did Phantom of the Paradise Walk So That The Rocky Horror Picture Show Could Run?"

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.)

October was a pretty good month overall (as I noted in a recent post!).  The weather was decent, more days than not (we actually had the balcony door wide open both yesterday & the day before!);  the fall colours took their time to pop out, but they were worth the wait;  we got to see the nephews & great-niblings a couple of times;  we had a nice Thanksgiving with family. Lots to enjoy!   

Pandemic diary/update:  October was month #55 since the covid pandemic began in March 2020, now in Year FIVE. :(   Anticipating an upswing in new cases (as well as flu and colds), the four downtown Toronto hospitals that comprise the University Health Network have reinstated masking requirements for all staff, patients and visitors, other than in food courts, lobbies and other common areas. 

We (still!) remain covid-free (knocking wood, loudly...), and we continue to mask in stores, malls and (most) other indoor public spaces hereabouts, especially if/when there are a lot of people around. (Well, I do -- I know dh has been slacking off again, whenever I'm not around to hand him a mask...!) 

We both got our latest covid boosters on Oct. 20th. (I think this was #9? -- to date, we've had every one we've been offered.)  Dh also got his annual flu shot the same day. I was told I'd have to wait until Nov. 3rd -- the first shots were reserved for those 65+ (! -- I guess there are some advantages to getting older??) -- but fortunately, our family doctor was able to give me one when we went to see him a few days later for our annual physicals, sparing us a third trip!  

Among other things we did this month, we: 

• (I) Spent four Thursday evenings taking part in a Zoom webinar series sponsored by the Ontario Genealogical Society (also known as Ontario Ancestors), exploring various aspects of writing about your family history.   
• Spent a morning at the mall (Oct. 1st), walking, shopping and having lunch. Bought a few things for the great-niblings :)  as well as for myself (see "Buying," below!).    
• Returned to the mall for more of the same, Oct. 22nd...  :) 
• ...and again on Oct. 30th, except this time, we had lunch later at home.  :)  
• Dh had a guys' dinner out at a nearby Italian restaurant with his brother and two of their cousins on Oct. 3rd -- and brought me home a large (and very boozy) takeout slice of tiramisu. :)  (I think I'll keep him. ;)  (It was a huge portion, and I shared it with him!) 
• Spent the afternoon/early evening of Saturday, Oct. 5th, at BIL's. Older Nephew & his wife were at her friend's wedding (she was a bridesmaid), and so Little Great-Nephew was staying with his grandparents for the day. We took him to the nearby park for a while (which I don't think we've had the chance to do so far this year!). Later in the afternoon, Younger Nephew, his wife and Little Great-Niece came, and we all stayed for dinner (BBQ hamburgers & hot dogs).   It was a perfect fall day -- clear, sunny, not too hot, not too cold, just a touch of autumn crispness in the air. A good time was had by all.  :)  
• Walked over to the nearby local lab on Oct. 9th, where we had blood drawn for bloodwork, in advance of our annual physicals.  
• Browsed at the recently renovated mega-bookstore and then shopped for Halloween treats for the great-niblings at the drugstore (Oct. 10th). 
• Returned to the bookstore for a browse on Oct. 24th. Still getting used to the new layout!  
• Celebrated (Canadian) Thanksgiving on Sunday, Oct. 13th, with BIL, SIL, the nephews and their families (including Older Nephew's dog). They ordered dinner from a caterer (it was good!) and stuffed ourselves and generally had a good time.  :)  
• Headed back to our old community for covid & flu shots at our family doctor's office on Sunday, Oct. 20th (see "Pandemic diary/update," above). 
• Back again on Wednesday, Oct. 23rd for our annual physicals. Discussed our bloodwork results -- which showed elevated levels of cholesterol for both me & dh (erk).  He doesn't want to put us on meds just yet -- so we're going to repeat the bloodwork in January and try to watch our diet, lose some weight, and get more active again in the meantime. (Sigh.) 
• Went with dh to a local supermarket on Oct. 24th to buy a grocery gift card for Older Nephew & his wife, to help them out while she's off work and on unemployment benefits, waiting for the baby to arrive. (We did the same thing when Older Nephew was off work for several months last year, after donating part of his liver to save his dad's life in a transplant operation.)  
• Delivered the gift card when we drove with BIL & SIL up to Older Nephew's on Oct. 27th.  He was home with Little Great-Nephew;  his wife/LGN's mom was at a shower. A nice visit. :)  
• Went grocery shopping with dh on Oct. 28th.
• Visited the nearby art gallery where I have a membership with dh... and a gazillion schoolkids, lol. We'd decided masks weren't necessary, based on the mostly empty parking lot -- so that was a surprise!  (I guess the school buses dropped the kids off and then left!  lol) It was a gloomy, rainy day, so we couldn't walk around the property and enjoy the dwindling fall colours, as we'd hoped.  Nevertheless, we enjoyed touring the galleries (as usual -- I think our last visit was in January for my birthday, so there were lots of new exhibits to look at!) and then lunch in the cafe.  
• Celebrated my 17th (!!) blogoversary!! (Oct. 31st) 

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

Also right now:  

Reading: I finished 4 books in October (reviewed on this blog, as well as Goodreads & StoryGraph, & tagged "2024 books").  

• "Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert (October book for my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club) (also a Barren Bitches Book Tour selection from October 2008, the early days of this blog! -- discussed here;  related post here). (My review.)
• Miss Buncle’s Book by D.E. Stevenson, in advance of my DES fan group's read, which began on Oct. 7th -- noted below under "Current reads." (We'll finish in mid-December, and I'll count this as a re-read then!)(Original 2015 review here;  most recent review here.) 
• "Persuasion" by Jane Austen (the November pick for my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club). (My review.) 
• "The Marlow Murder Club" by Robert Thorogood. (My review.)(See also "Watching," below!) 

This brings me to 31 books read so far in 2024, 69% of my 2024 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books.  I am currently 6 (!) books behind schedule to meet my goal. :(   

Current reads: 

• "Miss Buncle’s Book" by D.E. Stevenson, for my DES fan group. We began reading this together on Oct. 7th, and will finish in mid-December. I'll count this as a re-read then. (Original 2015 review here;  most recent review here.) 
• "Living the Life Unexpected" by Jody Day.  I'm once again taking part in a chapter-by-chapter group read of this CNBC classic!  The most recent meeting covered Chapter 3.  This is the 5th (!) time I've read this book, or the earlier version of it ("Rocking the Life Unexpected").  (Most recent review, with links to earlier reviews, here.)  
• "The Mirror and the Light" by Hilary Mantel (book #3 in the Thomas Cromwell Trilogy) -- part of a year-long "slow readalong" hosted by Simon at Footnotes and Tangents.  We started during the week of July 21st.  I chose to focus on some of my other books over the past couple of weeks, and as a result, I'm currently about 9 weeks behind the reading schedule (! -- gulp...), at about 34% read -- hoping to catch up, eventually...! We will finish the group read at the end of December. 
• Simon will be repeating the Cromwell Trilogy slow readalong in 2025 for paying subscribers. I highly recommend the experience!  Details here!  
• FYI -- participants have dubbed this one "Wolf Crawl,"  lol.  :)   
• "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy (!). As I wrote here, I need another book club/readalong obligation like a hole in the head  ;)  but nevertheless, I'm taking part in a year-long readalong of this book, hosted by Simon at Footnotes and Tangents -- a chapter a day for a full year, which began Jan. 1, 2024. (And I'm really enjoying it!)  Currently at about 86% read.  
• If you've always thought about reading W&P, Simon will be repeating the readalong in 2025 for paying subscribers -- and I highly recommend the experience! Details here!  
• "L.M. Montgomery and Gender," an essay collection edited by E. Holly Pike & Laura Robinson. Slowly working my way through, in between the other books...! 

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. ;)  

• My L.M. Montgomery Readathon Facebook group will be reading assorted short stories by the author over the next few months, before beginning a new book in January (to be announced). (I love LMM, and her books are usually fast, easy reads -- but I have to admit, it's nice to have a bit of a break to catch up on other reading!) 
• For my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club: 
• "The Christmas Orphans Club" by Becca Freeman (read earlier this year and reviewed here). (December) 
• "The Windsor Knot" by S.J. Bennett (read in 2021 & reviewed here). (January).  
• "Yellowface" by R.F. Kuang (February). 
• For my D.E. Stevenson group:  This list of upcoming books should keep us busy through 2025 or even into early 2026!  (A couple of the books are ones we covered shortly after I first joined the group back in 2014 -- you know you've been around for a while when....!)  
• Peter West (likely start January 2025) 
• Miss Buncle Married (original 2015 review here).
• The Two Mrs. Abbotts (original 2015 review here).
• Crooked Adam 
• The Four Graces (original 2015 review here). 

• For the Notes from Three Pines (Louise Penny mysteries) Substack Readalong: The last discussion was for book #3, "The Cruellest Month," posted in June 2023 (no further posts/books since then).  I've continued dipping into the series on my own, between other book club obligations. Book #6, "Bury Your Dead," is the next one on my to-read list! 
• Other books on my priority list: 
• "We Solve Murders" by Richard Osman. (Because, obviously...) 
• "What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust" by Alan Bradley (Flavia de Luce #11).  

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

• "Demon Copperhead" by Barbara Kingsolver. 
• "The Friday Afternoon Club" by Griffin Dunne 
• "Sandwich" by Catherine Newman 
• "Rift" by Cait West 
• "The Prince" by Stephen Maher 
• "Network of Lies" by Brian Stelter
• "Apprentice in Wonderland" by Ramin Setoodeh 
• "Connie" by Connie Chung 

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

Watching:  

• "Moonflower Murders" on PBS, the adaptation of the Anthony Horowitz novel, which I finished reading just as the series started.  I enjoyed both book & TV versions hugely.  :) 
• "The Marlow Murder Club" on PBS, adapted in four parts from the Robert Thorogood novel, which I started reading before the first episode, and finished just after it aired (see "Reading," above). 
• I thought "What a pretty little town, I wonder where it was filmed?"  Believe it or not, there is actually a town in England called Marlow, and the TV series was filmed there! 
• "Wolf Hall" on PBS, based on the books "Wolf Hall" and "Bring Up the Bodies" by Hilary Mantel, both of which I read earlier this year (click on links for my reviews). An adaptation of "The Mirror and the Light," the final book in the Cromwell Trilogy (which I'm reading right now -- see "Reading," above) will begin airing in March 2025. 
• Too much American/election news (CNN).  :p  :(    

Listening:  We listen a lot to the Stingray classic rock and 1970s channels (part of our TV package)... I've recently been listening to the 80s channel as well, for some variety. (Maybe it will help boost my scores for my Heardle 80s game, lol -- see below!).  

Playing:  

• Heardle Decades: Stats as of Sept. 30th: 
• Heardle 60s: 76.6% (573/748, 227 on first guess), up 0.1% from last month. Max. streak was 15.
• Heardle 70s: 79.1% (385/487, 214 on first guess), down 0.6% from last month. Max. streak: 18. 
• Heardle 80s: 40.9% (147/359, 56 on first guess), down 0.2% from last month. Max. streak: 4. 
• Heardle 90s: 26.6% (123/463, 25 on first guess), up 0.2% from last month. Max. streak: 4. 
• NYT Connections: 
• At the end of September, I'd completed 64 games and won 77% of them, including 33 "perfect puzzles" with zero errors (i.e., more than 50%!) and a maximum winning streak of 13 (and counting...!).  :)   
• By Oct. 31st, I'd completed 95 games and won 78% of them, including 46 "perfect puzzles" and a maximum winning streak of 15. :)   

Following:  

Eating/Drinking:  

• Takeout: The usual soup & pizza slices from the supermarket, once a week or so;  wood oven pizza, California Sandwiches (veal for dh, chicken for me) and Swiss Chalet rotisserie chicken (with a baked potato). 
• For (Canadian) Thanksgiving dinner:  BIL & SIL ordered from the catering department of a local supermarket, and it was very good!  The package (for up to 10 people) included two turnkey breast rolls, mashed potatos, mixed root veggies, a Caesar salad, buns, gravy, cranberry sauce and about two dozen? mini-cannolis.  :)  SIL added stuffing (from a mix), sauteed rapini and a green salad, and the nephews bought some pies (apple, pumpkin & pecan). We all took home leftovers. :) 
• Had lunch with dh at the cafe at the art gallery where I have a membership (which includes a 10% discount on food there), on Oct. 29th.  It's a very limited (and pricey) menu, and I opted for a Caesar salad, which I'd had when I was there for lunch with some former coworkers a couple of years ago (pre-pandemic).  (With my tomato allergy, a Caesar salad is a "safe" choice for me.)  
• It was all right -- but nothing spectacular, and certainly not worth the $18 (Canadian) it cost!!  and it was NOT the same salad I remembered either. Then I remembered that they changed food service providers recently. Oh well.  Next time, we'll probably just have coffee/tea & pastries...! 
• More beans and lentils, more fresh fruits & veggies, fewer cookies, since getting my cholesterol readings...!  I'm not cutting out sweets entirely, but definitely cutting down/back!  

Buying (besides books, lol):  

• New clothes for Little Great-Nephew & Little Great-Niece, including both Halloween and Christmas-themed PJs!  (Presents for Halloween, Christmas, LGNephew's upcoming birthday, and "just because.")
• A couple of Henley lightweight sweatshirts (or should that be heavy T-shirts??) from Old Navy for dh.  
• Some new long-sleeved ribbed Henley T-shirts from Gap Factory Outlet, for myself. 
• A couple of soft, cuddly, baggy Henley sweaters at American Eagle. (They call them "plush T-shirts"! -- why not call them what they are -- sweaters?!)  
• Candy cane flavoured lip balm by La Neige from Sephora. (I have tons of lip balm, but I like peppermint, and I couldn't resist scooping up a seasonal special...!) 
• Plane tickets to visit my family at Christmastime.  :)  (At almost double the price we paid to go there in the summertime...! :p  )(That WAS a good deal! -- still...!)  

Wearing:  Got a few more wears out of my capri jeans/yoga pants and bare feet (inside) or sandals (outside), early in the month -- but soon had to put on my long yoga pants/jeans, socks & shoes, longer-sleeved T-shirts, and a jacket (outside), as the weather got colder. (Sigh.)  

Enjoying:  The fall colours!  It felt like they were a little late this year, but once they started popping out, they were pretty spectacular!  

Appreciating:  Our family doctor -- (a) that we have one (when they are so hard to come by right now...!) and (b) he's really great!  :)  (Even when he's delivering a lecture about cholesterol, lol.)

Trying: To make better food choices and be a little more active = lose some weight and lower that cholesterol!  (I'm already taking prescriptions for high blood pressure and a sluggish thyroid -- I do NOT want to add another one!)  

Wondering:  Have I lost any weight yet? It's been a whole week-plus! (lol)  

(ETA:  I weighed myself this morning and I AM down slightly from the last time I stepped on the scale! Yay!)  

Noticing:  Christmas commercials on TV -- ALREADY!  A full week (or more) before Halloween!! Yikes!! 

Prioritizing: Catching up on "The Mirror and the Light" by Hilary Mantel (for my "Wolf Crawl" slow readalong), versus starting another book right now (tempting as that idea is...!). I am WAY behind (see "Reading," above) -- but, at the moment, I'm pretty much caught up on all my other book club obligations, or managing to keep pace with the other chapter-by-chapter reads, which gives me a little more flexibility in what I can read.   

Wanting: A magic wand to make all the items on my to-do list miraculously resolve themselves...! 

Hoping:  That Little Great-Nephew had fun trick-or-treating last night.  :)  (I'm sure he did! -- but I'm betting his parents had just as much fun as he did or more!  lol  They love Halloween!)  He went as Optimus Prime and had an awesome costume.  

(Little Great-Niece did not go out trick or treating this year -- she's still pretty little -- but her parents did dress up her up as a pumpkin and sent us photos!)

 

Missing:  Seeing all the little ghosts and goblins on my doorstep (one of the few things I miss about living in a house!). 

Anticipating:  That it's going to be Christmas before we know it...!  

 

Loving:  Spending time with the nephews and the great-niblings this month.  :)  

Feeling:  A little sad that October is over -- it's been a pretty good month (and November has never been a favourite of mine -- even in non-U.S. election years!  lol).  Increasingly nervous about upcoming events -- i.e., the U.S. election, and how things will play out, not only there but here in Canada and around the world.  I think I can safely predict that (a) it's going to be VERY close, and (b) either way, the next few weeks & months (at least!) are NOT going to be pretty.  :(    

17!

Seventeen (17)(!!) years ago, on Halloween night in 2007 -- 9 years after the stillbirth of our daughter, and 6 years after my last infertility treatment -- I hit "post" here for the very first time, and started my journey down another road less travelled: blogging.  

I'm not sure what more I can say about the past 17 years that I haven't said in my previous years of blogoversary posts. (And I will admit that this post is more or less an update of the ones I've written on this occasion in recent years!)  The blogging world has changed in a huge way since 2007 (most recently morphing into Substacks) -- but for me, blogging has been (and continues to be) a joy and a release and a comfort, and it has enriched my life in so, so many ways.  

I can't let this particular blogoversary go by without mentioning the person who encouraged me to start blogging. :) I'd been lurking around Mel's blog for a few months, throwing out the odd comment and then pulling up a stool and posting in the Lushary (Mel's virtual bar, fondly remembered), before finally taking the plunge. Getting to meet Mel (and her family!) this summer -- after 17 YEARS (!) of online friendship -- which led to so many other wonderful friendships and connections -- was one the highlights of 2024, and certainly of 17 years of blogging to date! 

This year hasn't been quite so prolific in blogging terms as some recent years -- 123 posts so far (including this one), versus 146 to this point in 2023, 163 in 2022 and 178 in 2021 (which turned out to be my most prolific blogging year so far). Still, not too shabby...! ;)  Somehow, I still keep finding things to write about... and I am very glad that people keep reading and commenting!  

Whether you're new here or whether you've been here the entire time (and I know a few of you have!) -- THANK YOU!  ❤

*** *** *** 

Blogging stats, 17 years later:  

 
Number of years blogging: 17

Published posts (including this one): 2,495

Average # of posts per year: 147

Average # of posts per month: 12 

(So far in calendar year 2024, I've published 122 posts -- 123, including this one -- a minimum of 8 posts (in February) and as many as 20 in one month (September -- thanks to World Childless Week and its daily themes!).)

Published comments: 12,474 

Page views (all time): 1,959,495 (!!) 

Followers (on Blogger):  155 

Past blogoversary posts here.

First blog post ever here! :) 

"The Marlow Murder Club" by Robert Thorogood

I think it was Mel who first put "The Marlow Murder Club" by Robert Thorogood (who also writes the "Death in Paradise" murder mysteries, adapted for TV and shown in North America on PBS).    

Then I heard that a "Marlow" film adaptation would be airing in four parts on PBS, starting Oct. 27th, and decided I'd try to get it read (or mostly read) before then (between book club obligations...!).  (I didn't quite finish by then, but enough to ward off any spoilers in the first episode!) 

Like the similarly titled "Thursday Murder Club," "The Marlow Murder Club" has older characters -- well, one, anyway -- at its centre. Judith Potts is a somewhat eccentric 77-year-old, living in the faded mansion near Marlow that she inherited from her aunt, sipping whisky and designing crossword puzzles for publication. 

(In the TV version, Judith is played by Samantha Bond -- "Aunt Rosamund" in "Downton Abbey," as well as Moneypenny in several James Bond movies. She's actually the same age as me -- 63!)

One evening while skinny-dipping in the Thames (!), Judith hears a gunshot coming from her neighbour's property -- and when she rushes over to check on him, she finds him dead, with a bullet hole in his forehead.  The local police think it's suicide, but Judith suspects otherwise -- and decides to start investigating for herself.  Along the way, she's assisted by dog-walker Suzie and the vicar's very proper wife, Rebecca (Becks), as well as the exasperated police officer (Tanika) assigned to the case.  

When another body turns up, they realise they have a serial killer on their hands. Can they figure out whodunnit before the murderer strikes again? (Judith is immediately certain she knows who the killer is -- but is she right?)  

Judith can be slightly annoying in her certainty and her refusal to play by the rules -- but that's also what makes her an engaging heroine. As with "The Thursday Murder Club" books, it's nice to see a fearless older woman who defies stereotyping in a lead role (with some great younger women in supporting roles). On the other hand, I found some of the writing kind of basic and not quite satisfying. (**MILD SPOILER HERE**)  Case in point:  at the climax of the story, Judith has a soliloquy -- at gunpoint -- in which she explains whodunnit, how and why. It goes on for pages and PAGES, and I found myself thinking that if I was the person with the gun, I would have done an Indiana Jones and just shot her dead to shut her up!  ;)  lol    

On balance, this was no "Thursday Murder Club" -- but it was still relatively entertaining, with enjoyable female characters. I think I'm actually enjoying the TV version a little more than the book (based on seeing just the first episode) -- but I'm still glad I read the book first! 

There are currently two other Marlow murder mystery books available, and another one on the way -- plus a second TV series planned for 2025.  

I was going to rate this 3.5 stars on StoryGraph, rounded down to 3 stars on Goodreads, but I'm deducting the half-point for that far-too-long climactic reveal. 3 stars all round.  

Point of interest: Watching the first episode of the TV version -- prior to finishing the book -- I thought "what a lovely little town, I wonder where they filmed it?" I did some Googling and -- would you believe, there is actually a town in England called Marlow, and the TV series was filmed there?? AND -- as I discovered when I finished the book and read the author's bio -- Robert Thorogood actually lives there!  

This was Book #31 read to date in 2024 (and Book #4 finished in October), bringing me to 69%  of my 2024 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 6 (!) books behind schedule to meet my goal. :(  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2024 tagged as "2024 books."    

#MicroblogMondays: Personal odds & ends

• We took a drive up to Older Nephew's on Sunday with BIL & SIL for a few hours. There are still some lovely colours on the trees... but we had some strong winds late last week, and more and more trees now have bare branches. :(   November is coming... sigh... 
• Dh & I both had our annual checkups with our family doctor this past week. We both had bloodwork done in advance, and received the results before we saw the doctor -- so we knew a lecture was coming (erk!).  He was very nice about it (we love our doctor!) -- but he made it clear we both need to lower our cholesterol levels and lose some weight -- i.e., make better food choices, exercise more -- and indulge a little less during the Christmas holidays -- or else yet another prescription will be in each of our futures :(  -- something we would obviously like to avoid. (Both of us had higher cholesterol readings vs last year, but dh's was up significantly -- my HDL/LDL ratio was actually better than his!) We'll repeat the bloodwork in January to see if there's been any improvement.   
• Since then, dh has been going through our refrigerator & cupboards with the zeal of a new convert, lol. I've been trying to tell him for a while now that we need to be buying and eating more fruits & veggies. He's been doing most of the grocery shopping since the pandemic started (and he kind of likes doing it without me tagging along and slowing him down, lol).  I think he'll be making some different choices now...! 
• BIL introduced him to an app called Yuka. You scan the barcode on a food label and it will rate it -- which products are good for you and which ones you should avoid (on a scale from "bad" to "excellent"). (Sometimes that's fairly obvious, of course -- but there are some surprises, too!)  Apparently it also does cosmetics & skin care products too. (Haven't tried that yet!)  Dh has been having no end of fun scanning everything in the cupboards, refrigerator and on the supermarket shelves since then, lol.  
• Want to bet dh will drop 10 pounds in the time it takes me to drop 2?  :p  (Isn't that always the way with guys and weight?) 
• So far, we haven't done much in the way of intentional exercise, but we're going to try to remedy that soon with some walking, on days when the weather is decent.  We've been a little more active/out & about this past week than we have been. It all helps. 
• On the bright side, my other bloodwork results were pretty good, and my blood pressure was excellent, especially for me: 120/82.  :)   
• (Speaking of blood pressure...) Older Nephew's wife gave us all a bit of a scare this past week. :(  She's pregnant (with another great-nephew!) and due in mid/late December; she'll be having another C-section just before Christmas. At her most recent ob-gyn visit, though, her blood pressure was abnormally high, and her ob-gyn sent her straight to the hospital to get checked out.  Fortunately, all was well;  mom & baby are fine. The doctor offered to support her in leaving work early to reduce her stress levels, and we're all glad she took the doctor up on that. She's now off work, on unemployment/disability insurance until the baby is born and her maternity leave benefits kick in.  
• I can't WAIT until the U.S. election is over (while dreading it at the same time). It is SO close (HOW??!!) -- the tension just keeps on building, and it's exhausting.  (And I'm Canadian!! -- it's not even "MY" election! -- although it most certainly affects us too.)  
• I'm seeing lots of posts from U.S. friends mentioning how they are "doing their postcards" -- writing and sending postcards to encourage total strangers to vote in the upcoming election. It's not the first time I've heard people mentioning writing postcards during election season either. I have no idea when or how it started (and I'd love to know if it's actually effective!) -- but it must be an American thing, because I have never heard of it being done in Canada (or elsewhere), and I have certainly never received such a postcard myself. (Lots of flyers and other promotional material from candidates and political parties, yes. Postcards from total strangers, no.) 
• I saw my FIRST Christmas commercial this past week -- on Oct. 24th!  (From Old Navy -- I also saw one from Wayfair.)  TWO MONTHS out from Christmas Eve!!  Good grief!! -- It's not even Halloween yet, people!! 
• I know some people object to Christmas ads, decorations, etc., until after Remembrance Day (Nov. 11th). I think that's respectful -- but I recognize that ship has long since sailed...!  But waiting until after Halloween is over? I don't think it's too much to ask...!) 
• I finally booked our flights west for Christmas. Ridiculously expensive (travel within Canada always is, at the best of times), but what can you do?  I should have done it earlier, of course, plus we'll be heading there a little later in December (and staying a little longer into early January) than we have in recent years. Obviously, the closer to Christmas, the more expensive it gets. Also, we tend to travel on weekends, which makes it easier for my sister & her partner to transport us from & to the airport, neither of us particularly likes taking red eye-flights, which tend to be cheaper, etc. etc.  Oh well. 
• Does anyone else find booking travel as stressful as I do?? Actually travelling, not especially -- and dh's particular stress point is waiting to board, especially when we're travelling with carry-ons only (will there be enough room left in the overhead bins by the time we get in there??) -- but I get very tense while booking flights. Am I choosing the best flight? departure time?? seats???  etc.  Am I keying things in correctly?  Am I making a horrible error that will be difficult and/or costly to correct??
• Plus, honestly, EVERY TIME I book a flight or check in online on Air Canada, they've changed something about the process.  The options are presented differently, the screens look different. This time around, I got one email to print off. No online summary that I could print, no PDF to save (which I always like to do). Sigh.  
• Let the holiday shopping begin!!  lol  

No links this time around... more soon! 

You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.  

#MicroblogMondays: I love October :)

If I hate November (as I have often moaned in this blog over the years...!), I think I can safely say that, on the flipside, I love October.  Especially when it's like this October has been (so far, at least!). The temperature late this afternoon reached 26C with a touch of humidity making it feel like 28C (78F & 82F, respectively) -- not especially normal for this time of year, perhaps, but nice, just the same.  We have had the balcony door wide open for most of the day. 

Overall, the weather this month has been pretty good. Even if it's been a touch chilly some days (and certainly in the morning, with the thermometer hitting close to freezing some days -- we've had to turn the furnace on, and yes, it HAS been running!), it's often been clear & sunny as compensation.  It's gloriously so today. :)   

And the colours! It felt like the leaves took their time to start changing colour this year, but this past week, they've started popping out, big time. Dh & I drove back to our old community on Sunday afternoon, to get our covid & flu shots at our family dr's office, and I was kept busy trying to snap some photos out of the (unfortunately dirty...!) car window. I've posted a couple below.   

October is also Thanksgiving for us Canadians, and with all due respect to American readers, personally, I think the timing is so much better than late November. It's closer to harvest season (hereabouts, anyway), the weather is better, it's not so close to Christmas, and there's no Black Friday the next day to send you rushing out to crowded malls.  ;)  (Not quite so much football, either, lol.) You won't see vast hordes of Canadians jamming the highways and airports to get "home" for the holiday, but if family happen to be nearby, they often do gather to share a good meal and visit. We got to spend the Sunday of the Thanksgiving weekend with BIL & SIL, our nephews and their families. We had the meal (mostly) catered, and a good time was had by all.  :)   

25 years ago, I'm not sure I would have written a post like this. October 1998 was the month I went back to work after the August stillbirth of my daughter -- only to have to leave work again, two days later, when my beloved grandfather died at age 86. Not quite a full year later, but still in October (1999), my wonderful Grandma followed him... and a few days after her funeral, while I was still at my parents' house, my aunt's husband died, less than a week after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. 

I'm thankful that, these days (and certainly right now), I can enjoy October again. 

You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.  

I am (still) a Prairie girl at heart -- but I have to admit, 
autumn in Ontario is spectacular!

Oh, those colours!!  

Good news for bereaved parents in Ontario :)

Appropriately, during Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month, too! 

For years now, I've been jealous to hear about loss mom friends in other provinces/American states/countries who have been able to obtain a government certificate of stillbirth -- official or otherwise  -- to honour the brief existence of their baby.  

So I was very happy to see this article in the Toronto Star today! (Hopefully not behind a paywall... if so, saving to the Pocket app/site and opening it there often works!) Those of us who have lost babies to stillbirth in Ontario, as far back as 1944, can now apply to Service Ontario for a commemorative certificate, at no charge. It notes that "British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba also offer commemorative documents for stillbirths, but Ontario is the only province to end fees for stillbirth registrations."  

I have a little certificate that the nurses gave us at the hospital, with Katie's tiny hand & footprints on it -- but something from the government seems so much more "official," if you know what I mean, even if it's only ceremonial. I just submitted an application online!  :)    

Here's a link to the Service Ontario website with information about the certificate and how to apply.

(I suppose I could have made this my #MicroblogMondays post, but I was so excited, I couldn't wait to share!)  

"Persuasion" by Jane Austen

"Persuasion" by Jane Austen is the November pick for my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club.  

In a previous book club novel, "Queen High" by C.J. Carey (reviewed here and here), "Persuasion" was the heroine's favourite novel -- and she's saving it to be "corrected" last -- i.e., rewritten/censored to make the heroine more docile and palatable to the Nazi overlords. She knows that, when her work is done, the final remaining original copy will then be destroyed. (Shudder.)  Part of the novel is set in Lyme Regis, the setting of another one of our previous picks, "Remarkable Creatures" by Tracy Chevalier (reviewed here). 

So when my co-host suggested we should read "Persuasion" together, it seemed like it would be a good fit.  

At 27, Anne Elliot is one of Austen's older and more mature heroines. She was briefly engaged when she was 19 to a young naval officer, Frederick Wentworth -- but her family disapproved of the match because of his lack of money and social status, and the relationship ended. 

Eight years later, the tables have turned:  Wentworth has made a name for himself in the navy -- and a lot of money -- while the Elliots have fallen into debt and been forced to leave their ancestral home and rent it out -- to Wentworth's sister and her husband. Wentworth is now home from abroad, and looking for a wife. And Anne has never forgotten him...  

"Persuasion" was the last of Austen's six novels to be published in her lifetime, in December 1817.  By today's standards, her books may be a little slow and wordy.  But human nature is still very much the same, and Austen is a keen observer. I especially love how she shows us Anne's inner turbulence when Wentworth reappears in her life -- watching him from the window of a shop in Bath, aware of his presence at a concert, silently willing him to come speak to her... I was reminded of feeling that same sense of excruciating longing and hyper-awareness of the presence of the boy I was interested in, when I was a teen/young adult... (There's a reason why Austen's books are considered classics!)  

I've read three Austen novels in the past -- "Emma" (studied at university), "Pride and Prejudice" (between terms) and "Sense and Sensibility" (around the time the movie version came out, starring Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet -- the one movie I dragged dh to that he didn't end up liking! lol). Needless to say, this was all some time ago (cough!), and I don't remember a lot of the fine details, although I do remember I enjoyed all of them (and, of course, I've seen several screen versions of these books -- albeit not the infamous version of P&P with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy -- although of course I've seen the clips of THAT scene!  lol). (I know!!). 

I've also enjoyed several Austen-adjacent books, including "The Jane Austen Society" by Natalie Jenner (reviewed here), and "The Jane Austen Book Club" by Karen Joy Fowler, which we discussed as part of Mel's Barren Bitches Book Brigade, in the early days of this blog.  

I'm glad to add "Persuasion" to the list.  I think "Pride & Prejudice" remains my favourite so far, but this one would rank highly too. (And now I'm tempted to try to squeeze "Northanger Abbey" and "Mansfield Park" into my gargantuan To Be Read pile!) 

4 stars on Goodreads/StoryGraph.  

This was Book #30 read to date in 2024 (and Book #3 finished in October), bringing me to 67%  of my 2024 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 5 (!) books behind schedule to meet my goal. :(  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2024 tagged as "2024 books."