Odds & ends for the weekend

• We had a great time last weekend at dh's cousin's cottage with the cousin, his wife, BIL & SIL.  The weather did not exactly co-operate -- it was chilly and rainy for much of the time we were there -- but we three women were able to get out for walks both days we were there (up & down a lot of hills and inclines, which had me huffing & puffing -- but we went at a nice pace, and I survived...!).  We also spent time out on the deck for a few hotly contested games of cornhole!  
• Unfortunately, within days of our return, the joint where my left big toe meets the foot was sore and slightly red. Gout -- almost exactly three years since my first encounter with it (same spot).  I suspect alcohol was the trigger. I didn't drink THAT much while we were at the cottage -- 2 drinks on Friday, 3 on Saturday and none on Sunday (mostly white wine) -- but I guess that might have been enough...!  (Sigh...)  If it's not better in another day or so, I will call the dr. I still have some naproxen left over from the first/last time I had it, but I suspect it might not be effective after 3 years, so I'm just taking ibuprofen for now. 
• Dh & I got out on the balcony this week and WASHED THE WINDOWS!!  It really didn't take us very long -- about an hour -- and it makes SUCH a difference!!  I like to do it around the same time the professionals wash the outside windows on the rest of the building (they won't come onto our balconies; those windows are up to us), but they didn't come this year until just before we left to visit my parents in mid-July, and since we got back, either the weather has not been cooperative or we've been busy.  
• I got a follow-up email today from the organizers of Monday night's Zoom call, sponsored by the new Alliance for Child-Free Voters (which I wrote about here and here). It included a link to the video recording of the call, and a list of resources (most of them childfree-focused).  
• If you're interested in watching the Zoom call, it's about 90 minutes long. Here's the link! 
• I responded to the email, thanking the organizers -- and then asking, nicely (I hope?), that they please, please, please consider including some speakers from the childLESS (not by choice) community on any future calls. I suggested a few names & provided a few links.  
• And I actually got a very nice email back, thanking me!  We'll see what happens! 
• Tomorrow, I'm having lunch with some local CNBC ladies -- all of us members of the private online Childless Collective community -- as well as one who's visiting the city from Washington State. I've only met one of these women before, and I'm looking forward to it! 
• Two GREAT pieces from Helen Lewis in the Atlantic re: J.D. Vance, childless cat ladies, and the most famous childless cat lady of all. ;)  (Gift links;  good for 14 days from today's date.) 
• "J. D. Vance’s Very Weird Views About Women"  
• "Taylor Swift’s Three-Word Burn of J. D. Vance" 
• From the Washington Post:  "Forget Trump’s IVF promises. The GOP’s record shows contempt for fertility care." (Subhead:  "As always, pay more attention to what politicians do than to what they say.") (Gift link.)
• Egg showers, anyone?? (New York Times article -- gift link.)(Now I've heard of everything...!)
• Glynnis MacNicol in the New York Times (gift link):  "I Love the Kids in My Life. And I’m Raising None of Them."  Excerpt: 

In America, there is a persistent, pernicious belief that the only way to be invested in a child’s life is to be a parent — and, for women, to give birth to that child. (Ella and Cole Emhoff, among others, would like a word.) In a country that offers so little support to parents, this often feels like a not-so-covert argument for taking women back to a time when they lacked control over their bodies and their finances.

Recently, the Pew Research Center reported that 64 percent of women under 50 who don’t have children say they “just don’t want to.” This has contributed to another round of hand-wringing about birthrates and childless cat ladies. What the seemingly inexhaustible discussion around this topic leaves out is that many people who say they don’t want to birth or parent children do have children in their lives — other people’s. We rarely account for that, nor do we give full weight to the fulfillment these relationships provide...

It’s difficult to understand why we are so parsimonious with our ideas of both a child’s capacity to love and an adult’s capacity to love children she is not parenting. Of course children benefit from being loved — the more, the better. But the reverse is also true. 

• And finally, a reminder that World Childless Week starts Monday! -- and Michael Hughes (of the Full Stop podcast) and I will be kicking things off with an early-morning (in North America, anyway! lol) Zoom webinar: "What Can We Learn From Our Family History?"  Hope to see some of you there!  (And if you're not an early riser, a recording will be available later on the WCW website and YouTube channel!)  Details and sign-up link in this previous blog post.