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.)

June went by in a blink! It started off chilly, got VERY hot & humid for a a solid week & then (thankfully) settled into something less extreme, before ending on a grey & chilly note again.    

Pandemic diary/update: June was month #51 since the advent of covid in March 2020 -- now in Year FIVE. :(  We (still!) remain covid-free (knocking wood, loudly...) -- and the more I read about the long-term effects of covid (and especially the impact of multiple infections), the more I want to stay that way...! We continue to mask in stores, malls and (most) other indoor public spaces, especially where there are a lot of people (although dh is starting to slack off again whenever I'm not around to hand him a mask...!). We've done a little more eating out in mall food courts and cafes/restaurants in recent months (mostly for lunch), albeit we usually try to go early, when it won't be as crowded, and sit somewhere near the door, where the air is circulating better (if not outside on a patio, if one is available). 

A couple of related news items: 

• The province (Ontario) announced early in June that it is shutting down its wastewater monitoring program -- the largest such program in Canada and one of the best in the world -- in July. Researchers are warning that this decision will limit the province’s ability to respond quickly and effectively to infectious disease threats, such as new covid variants, bird flu and other viruses.
• "Cutting the Ontario wastewater surveillance network now is a betrayal of everyone who sacrificed in the fight against COVID-19." said the Toronto Star in an editorial on June 10th. "It is a mistake on its own. More troubling, it suggests we are already repeating the mistakes we made after SARS. [Premier Doug] Ford, like his predecessors, is ignoring the lessons of the past and failing the people of the future, setting us up for more fumbling and more deaths when the next pandemic comes."
• "New Report Underscores the Seriousness of Long Covid," reports The New York Times. It's estimated that long covid now affects a full 7% of the U.S. population. (Gift link.)  
• One more reason to avoid covid:  the Washington Post published an article this month noting that, since the pandemic began, doctors are seeing a significant uptick in cases of rare cancers. Could they be covid-related?  (Gift link.)  

“We are completely under-investigating this virus,” said Douglas C. Wallace, a University of Pennsylvania geneticist and evolutionary biologist. “The effects of repeatedly getting this throughout our lives is going to be much more significant than people are thinking.”

Among other outings this month, we: 

• Went to the dentist in midtown Toronto... TWICE. On June 4th for checkups & cleanings, and then back again on June 6th for a filling (me). :p  Which turned into TWO fillings -- after drilling out the first cavity, the dentist explained to me he could see some decay under an old filling in an adjacent tooth -- and since my mouth was already frozen and he was already in there....  It was an expensive week! (although we got back most of the money through our retiree dental insurance benefits, thankfully!).    
• Walked over to Younger Nephew's nearby townhouse for lunch with them, BIL & SIL, on Saturday, June 8th.  Little Great-Niece provided the entertainment.  :)  
• Went to the mall on June 11th to walk, shop and have lunch -- and escape the noise and bother from fire alarm testing and a fire drill in our building, lol.  Dropped off a load of stuff at the thrift shop on our way home. 
• Returned to the mall on June 26th. 
• Spent the day at Older Nephew's house with BIL & SIL on June 15th. Older Nephew's wife was at work. Dh & BIL helped haul some junk to the dump while SIL & I stayed with Little Great-Nephew. We took him to the nearby park (TWICE!), played out on the back deck and got a little sunburned, even though we put on sunscreen. Exhausting, but fun. :)  
• Went over to BIL & SIL's for coffee & time with Little Great-Nephew on Friday night, June 21st, while his parents went to a movie. 
• Went to the bank (ABM), bookstore, Reitmans (women's clothing) and drugstore to pick up a prescription and some sundries, on June 25th.  
• Returned to Older Nephew's house on June 29th (Canada Day long weekend) for a family barbecue with BIL, SIL, Younger Nephew, his wife and Little Great-Niece. Ate a ton of good food, took a ton of photos and had so much fun watching the kids interact. 
• The next day (yesterday/June 30th), went for lunch at dh & BIL's cousin's house, along with BIL & SIL and a couple of the other cousins from that side of dh's family. These are the cousins that dh was closest to, growing up, and we had such a good time. Also stuffed ourselves silly with grilled souvlaki and veggies, salads and sweets!  

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Also right now:  

Reading: I finished 3 books in June (reviewed on this blog, as well as Goodreads & StoryGraph, & tagged "2024 books").  

• "The Hollow Sea" by Annie Kirby (the July pick for my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club). (My review.) 
• "Magic for Marigold" by L.M. Montgomery, in advance of my L.M. Montgomery Readathon Facebook Group read, which begins July 1st. I will count this one as a re-read once we're finished.  (My review.) 
• "The Cost of Living" by Deborah Levy. (A sequel to "Things I Don't Want to Know,"  reviewed here, and part 2 of a trilogy.) (My review.) 

This brings me to 20 books read so far in 2024, 44% of my 2024 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books.  I am currently 2 books behind schedule to meet my goal. :)   

Current read(s): 

• "You Are Here" by David Nicholls. 
• "Fletcher’s End" by D.E. Stevenson, for my DES group -- a sequel to "Bel Lamington." Our group read started May 20th and will run through mid-September! -- currently at 40% read. (My original review.) 
• "Bring Up the Bodies" by Hilary Mantel (book #2 in the Thomas Cromwell Trilogy) -- part of a year-long "slow readalong" hosted by Simon at Footnotes and Tangents.  We started April 29th;  currently at about 73% read. We will finish this one and start reading #3 in the trilogy, "The Mirror and the Light," in mid/late July.  
• "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 54% read.  
• "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. ;)  

• For my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club: 
• "Swing Time" by Zadie Smith (August) 
• "Code Name Helene" by Ariel Lawhon (September) 
• "Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert (October) (a Barren Bitches Book Tour selection from October 2008, the early days of this blog! -- discussed here;  related post here). 
• "Persuasion" by Jane Austen (November) 
• "The Christmas Orphans Club" by Becca Freeman (reviewed here).  (December) 
• For my D.E. Stevenson group:  This list of upcoming books should keep us busy through 2024, and well into 2025 or 2026!  (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....!)  
• Miss Buncle’s Book (likely beginning September/October 2024;  original 2015 review here).  
• Peter West 
• Miss Buncle Married
• The Two Mrs. Abbotts
• Crooked Adam 
• The Four Graces

• For the Notes from Three Pines (Louise Penny mysteries) 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! 

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

• "Piglet" by Lottie Hazell 
• "Great-Uncle Harry" by Michael Palin 
• "The Sicilian Inheritance" by Jo Piazza 
• "More Confessions of a Forty-Something" by Alexandra Potter
• "Hagitude" by Sharon Blackie 
• "Handbook for the Heartbroken" by Sara Avant Stover 
• "The Husbands" by Holly Gramazio 
• "Off the Record" by Peter Mansbridge 
• "Lightfoot" by Nicholas Jennings 
• "The Road Years" by Rick Mercer 
• "The Forgotten Girls" by Monica Potts 
• "The Ministry of Time" by Kaliane Bradley 

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Watching:  Dh has been watching Euro Cup soccer, and (along with the rest of the country...!)  we both watched the Edmonton Oilers versus the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup finals (hockey). (Described here!)   

I also sat in on a couple of genealogy webinars this month via Zoom. 

Not watching:  The U.S. presidential election debate on June 27th. (Just couldn't stomach it!)  I did monitor a live text chat on Substack, and watch some of the highlights/discussion later. 

Listening:  To Heardle Decades: Stats as of  June 30th:   

• Heardle 60s: 76.3% (483/633, 197 on first guess), same as last month. Max. streak: 15.
• Heardle 70s: 80.6% (300/372, 166 on first guess), down 1% from last month. Max. streak: 18. 
• Heardle 80s: 42.4% (104/245,  44 on first guess), up 0.1% from last month. Max. streak: 4. 
• Heardle 90s: 26% (92/354, 19 on first guess), down 0.2% from last month. Max. streak: 4. 

Following: 

Eating/Drinking:  Takeout lunches & dinners this month included soup, pizza slices and teriyaki rice bowls from the supermarket, McDonalds, Swiss Chalet, California Sandwiches, and Blaze Pizza at the mall (twice).   

Lunch at Younger Nephew's on June 8th included... WAY too much food! -- including pizza, wings, pasta salad & green salad. We took home leftovers! :)  

Lunch/dinner at Older Nephew's on June 29th included some great barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs plus three different kinds of salads made by his wife (potato salad, bean salad and a couscous salad -- all delicious!).  Plus some charcuterie to nibble on while we were waiting. 

Lunch at dh's cousin's house the next day (June 30th/yesterday) included antipasto & bread, salad (tomato-free for me), grilled souvlaki and veggies with buns/pita bread & tzatziki, watermelon, and desserts (including cake, pastries and gelato).  And wine. ;)  

Buying (besides books, lol):  

• Plane tickets to visit my parents & sister in Manitoba in July. :)  First time we'll be there during the summertime since 2019! (and we didn't get there in 2018 either!).  SO looking forward to it!  -- heat, mosquitos and all!  
• Jeans.  Lucky Brand Canada, one of my favourite stores, is closing all its stores here. :(  (Apparently their U.S. website will ship to Canada -- but of course, you have to pay exchange, shipping and probably duty fees too. :( ).  I took advantage of the clearance sale to buy two new pairs of jeans -- they had my size, and they fit me so well! (albeit even the ankle length is a LITTLE too long on me!  lol)  One pair was straight legged, one boot cut.  
• I got them home -- and realized I now own something like 7 pairs of jeans -- including 2 other Lucky Brand pairs, 2 Old Navy, and one from Northern Reflections that's probably at least 10 years old (but still fits!). Plus two pairs of black jeans/cotton twill pants, plus a couple of pairs of "dress" pants, and I haven't even mentioned my collection of capris/cropped jeans & pants yet...!  Think I should do a little closet clearing?? (Especially given that 90% of the time I'm at home and wearing yoga pants??  lol)  
• A pretty new top and a sundress, both on sale at Reitmans. (I really don't need another sundress, but I couldn't resist!) 
• A couple of new summer tops at the Gap outlet store at the mall, half price.  

Wearing: I exchanged my "around the house" uniform of capri-length yoga pants & short-sleeved T-shirts for shorts and tank tops when we entered a "heat dome" mid-month -- temperatures of 30C and up for most of the week (and into the 40s when humidity was factored in -- UGH!).  The air conditioning was running constantly!   

Wore one of my new tops from the Gap to Older Nephew's house on June 29th, and the one from Reitmans to dh's cousin's house on June 30th.  :)  (Had to borrow a jacket from her after the sky clouded over and it got increasingly chilly...!) 

Noticing:  The numbers on the scale are, distressingly, continuing to rise, again. (See: "Eating," above.)(*Cough*)  Not quite at my worst-ever levels yet, thankfully, but heading in that direction. :(  I got a lecture on my creeping cholesterol levels at my checkup last year -- and we're due for more bloodwork and another visit in August/September. Eeek. :(  

Trying:  To get things done before we head west to visit my family. Prioritizing (among other tasks...!): Scrubbing down the shower cubicle & washing the balcony windows, mopping the floors, return some items to the Gap outlet store at the mall...  

Appreciating:  Our newly installed vertical blinds.  The afternoon summer sun gets quite bright in the late afternoon/early evening, and glares into the corner of my eye when I'm sitting on the sofa... pulling out and closing up the blinds helps!  They also helped a bit during the recent heat wave -- we kept the blinds fully or at least partly closed to help reduce the heat (and hopefully the ease the load on the constantly running a/c a bit...!).  

Wondering:  Whether to go with a carry-on bag only when we travel soon, or risk checking a larger bag?  (The age-old dilemma...!) 

Wanting: Gelato!  Still haven't gone for our first treat of the summer yet!  

Hoping:  That SIL will like the gift I picked out for her upcoming 60th birthday.  We'll be away for the party, but I still wanted to leave her a gift, especially since it's a "big" birthday.   

Enjoying: Days like today, when we can leave the balcony door open all day long.  :)  

Loving:  Getting to spend lots of time with family lately, including some of dh's cousins.  

Feeling: A little disbelieving that the year is (already!) halfway over (!!).  Happy that we got to spend time with the nephews and their kids on a couple of different occasions this past month, as well as some of dh's cousins yesterday. Very much looking forward to seeing my own family soon! and helping my dad celebrate his 85th (!) birthday.  :)