"The Mad Women's Ball" by Victoria Mas

My Childless Collective Nomo Book Club will be reading and discussing "The Mad Women's Ball" by Victoria Mas (translated from the original French by Frank Wynne) in March.  

The book is based in fact (!), set at Paris's Salpetriere asylum  in 1885. Some of the women who live there are truly mentally ill -- but many are simply "difficult" -- committed by husbands and families who are regard them as a problem, don't know what to do with them, and are anxious to be rid of them. 

They are hidden away and mostly forgotten by respectable society, with two exceptions:  the regular lectures by Dr. Charcot (a real-life figure), who performs public demonstrations of hypnotism on the patients in front of enthralled (male) audiences -- and the annual Lenten Mad Women's Ball, when the patients are allowed to dress up in costumes and mingle with the citizens of Paris, who have been invited to come gawk at them.  

The main story focuses on two women at the Salpetriere: matron Genevieve, who has shunned religion in favour of science and thrown herself into her work since the death of her beloved younger sister; and rebellious teenager Eugenie, whose family committed her when she told her grandmother that she can see the spirits of dead people. She's determined to escape and find other people who believe as she does (she knows they exist;  she visited a spiritualist bookstore) -- but how?  

This was a relatively short, quick read, with a story that builds steadily to the climactic event:  the Mad Women's Ball.  While it's not a book I would have likely picked up on my own, it was interesting (especially since Salpetriere was a real place, and the plot is loosely based on a true story!), and I enjoyed the characters (some of the secondary ones in particular -- young, naive, abused Louise;  Therese, the former prostitute, who knits shawls for the other patients;  and Eugenie's brother Theophile, who can't shake the guilt he feels for his role in having his sister committed). Still, I felt a certain emotional distance from it all. I'm wondering if the fact that it was translated from the French had something to do with that? 

The book was made into a well-received French movie (available for streaming on Amazon Prime), which had its premiere at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) -- written, directed by and starring Melanie Laurent as Genevieve.  I haven't seen it myself, but I suspect it might make a good movie, perhaps (for once!) even better than the book!  

3.5 stars on StoryGraph, rounded down to 3 on Goodreads (after some internal debate).  

This was Book #4 read to date in 2025 (and Book #1 finished in February), bringing me to 9% of my 2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) on track to meet my goal.  :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2025 tagged as "2025 books." 

#MicroblogMondays: The REAL breakfast of champions?? ;)

After my Baba (paternal grandmother) died, when he was 82 years old, my Dido (grandfather) made his own porridge every morning for breakfast, until he was no longer able to live on the farm with my uncle. (He was well into his 90s when that happened.  He had a stroke and died in 1988 at age 96.)  His longevity and general good health convinced my mom & I there there must be something to it (lol)*, and so we starting making oatmeal for breakfast too. 

That was more than 40 years ago (during the year, post-journalism school/pre-marriage, when I lived at home with my parents and worked for the local weekly newspaper). My parents got their first microwave oven around that same time, which made making oatmeal a whole lot easier -- and less messy!  

While Mom has since abandoned oatmeal for Cheerios, I've continued to have oatmeal for breakfast most mornings since then. I use Quaker large-flake rolled oats (the yellow label bag -- at least, it's yellow here in Canada) -- about 1/3 of a cup of oats (and sometimes a bit more -- and sometimes a spoonful of oat bran, for added fibre) into a bowl with 2/3 of a cup of water. (Maybe a little less -- I like my oatmeal fairly thick, and if you use too much water, it's liable to overflow the bowl while it's cooking.) Microwave on high for 3 minutes. I like to top mine with brown sugar & cinnamon, and some milk. 

Oatmeal is a good source of fibre, which helps reduce cholesterol (a primary concern for dh & me lately).  The less processed the oats, the better.  (The instant oatmeal that comes in individual packages, often with added flavouring, is generally considered the worst.)  The large-flake oats that I use are pretty good, but the best, nutritionally speaking, are steel-cut oats. According to WebMD, "Steel-cut oats and rolled oats have about the same nutrition, but steel-cut oats have a bit more fiber. They also have a lower glycemic index and take longer to digest, keeping you full longer."  

A lot of people have been singing the praises of steel-cut oats to me lately, so I decided to give them a try. I bought a container of them and cooked up a batch one morning recently, in a pot on the stovetop. The directions on the package also provided microwave instructions -- but it would still make two portions, not just one, and there were still multiple steps involved. I figured if I was going to be making multiple portions, I might as well make the larger recipe and then have more to refrigerate or freeze for future breakfasts! -- so, stovetop it was! 

Cooking up a pot full of steel-cut oats.
About 4 portions. 

The instructions said to bring the water to a boil and let the oats cook for (at least) 20 minutes. I left the pot cooking for almost half an hour -- and the mixture was still not as thick as I would have liked -- but I was getting hungry!  lol  I scooped out a portion into a bowl, and put the rest into a container and into the refrigerator. It keeps there for several days. (You can also freeze it in individual portion scoops.)  I would scoop a portion out of the container -- now quite thick! -- put it into a bowl and mash it up a little, add just a splash of milk (or water), and heat it up in the microwave on high for about two minutes total. (I removed the bowl after one minute, stirred things up a bit and then put it back in for another minute.)  Add more milk and whatever toppings you like.  

I concluded that I will probably cook up a batch now & then, just to use up the container I bought -- but I think I will mostly stick to my large-flake oats. It's a little less fussy to cook, and I still like the texture better (although I might be able to improve that for the steel-cut oats with a little more experimenting). 

How about you? What do you usually have for breakfast? Have you ever tried steel-cut oats? (Any tips for me?) 

* (Genetics probably played a role in Dido's longevity as well! -- at least one and possibly more of his siblings lived to be more than 100 years old!  Five of Dido's 10 children are gone now;  my one aunt died as a baby in the 1930s from an illness that's now treatable with antibiotics, and one uncle died at age 89, but the other three all lived into their 90s. The other 5 currently range in age from 77 to 93!) 

(Of course, it could also have been the glass of rye whisky he had with his dinner every night??  lol)  

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

Stepping outside of my comfort zone (again!)

I've sometimes written here (and elsewhere) about the unique place those of us who are childless after pregnancy loss occupy in the adoption/loss/infertility/childless not by choice community(s):  "a foot in both camps," so to speak (and, as a fellow childless/loss mom recently added, "sometimes neither." Touchez.). 

Back before Christmas, I suggested to Berenice, one of the co-hosts of the Full Stop podcast, that this might be a topic they could explore. I also added that they did not necessarily have to interview ME!  They ignored that caveat (lol), and an invitation from co-host Sarah to appear on the podcast to discuss this subject popped into my email inbox -- on my birthday, no less!   

I accepted.  

It's an odd truth that while those of us in this situation are silenced by parents (even sometimes those who have also experienced loss while building their families) and the people around us generally, who shrink away from our stories (and the very idea that not everyone who wants a baby will wind up without one, even after being pregnant -- sometimes multiple times), our stories are also often met with silence by childless people too.  Many childless people never had the opportunity to try for a pregnancy (medical issues, lack of a partner -- or a willing partner, etc.) -- or were unable to conceive at all.  

Admittedly, that silence is sometimes (often?) self-imposed. Many CNBCers find it painful to deal with pregnancy and pregnant women -- perhaps even more so when pregnancy/loss is not part of their own personal stories. We all know what it's like to be childless and to have to listen to other women's pregnancy stories. They're hard to listen to -- and THOSE are the stories that usually have a happy ending!

Ours don't.   

I used to tell my loss story -- the Reader's Digest Condensed Version, anyway -- at least twice a month in my role as a pregnancy loss support group facilitator -- but we stepped down from facilitating 15 (!) years ago now -- so let's just say it's been a while since I spoke those words aloud! I was a little out of practice  ;) -- and nervous! (I found myself tensing up and shaking as I spoke -- and again later when I watched the video replay!) -- but nevertheless decided it was worth the stress and the risk to shine some light on this dark corner of the CNBC community. 

Ironically/Sadly, Berenice experienced a wifi outage the morning we were recording the podcast (!), a few weekends ago, and was unable to participate (although she did send in a question she wanted to ask us). But I had a lovely, emotional conversation with co-hosts Sarah and Michael, as well as Sandra McNicol, a grief therapist & coach at Childless Life.  All of us had experienced at least one loss at some stage of pregnancy.   

(Of course I thought of a gazillion things I *should* have mentioned, after we'd all logged off...!  Perhaps another time??) 

The episode (#71) is now available for listening on most podcast platforms, or on the Full Stop website. If you listen, please let me/us know what you think!    

(Note: You'll notice that the hosts were kind enough to respect my wish to remain (semi) anonymous, and have only used the name "Lori" on the podcast and related social media posts. Most of the people around me in "real life" (still) don't know about this blog or the extent of my activities within the ALI/CNBC communities -- and I'd like to keep it that way, if possible (or for as long as possible, anyway!). If you do know me personally, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tag me in any social media posts about the podcast. Thanks!)  

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This was not my first podcast/webinar appearance:  

Back in September, as part of World Childless Week, Michael and I chatted together for a webinar about childlessness and genealogy -- "What Can We Learn From Our Family History?" (which I wrote about here and here and here -- link to the recording of that webinar are included in the comments on both posts). I described that then as "a big step outside my comfort zone." This was certainly another one!  

Back in July 2018, I was part of a discussion organized by Jody Day about “IVF at 40,” featuring seven fabulous childless-not-by-choice bloggers. The video was shared on all of our platforms, including my blog here. It’s also available on Vimeo. 

I also appeared on The Bitter Infertiles podcast (episode 20) way back in 2013 (!!) with Pamela Mahoney Tsigdinos, and wrote about that experience here. 

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.)

January was COLD, GREY, LONG -- and all over the place -- a month of mostly muddling through! We returned to the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) from spending Christmas holidays with my family in Manitoba on Jan. 5th.  It took us well over a week to start to feel settled back into our usual routines -- and in some respects, I feel like I STILL don't quite have a handle on everything I should. 

Pandemic diary/update: January was month #58 since the covid pandemic began in March 2020 (now in Year FIVE, going on SIX). :(   We (still!) remain covid-free (so far as we know... knocking wood, loudly...).  We continue to mask in stores, malls and (most) other such indoor public spaces hereabouts, especially if/when there are lots of people around. (Well, I do -- I know dh has been slacking off, whenever I'm not around to hand him a mask...!)  We've seen a few more people in masks lately too -- we're still very much in the minority, of course, but it does help me feel a bit less like an odd duck! 

Among other things we did this month, we: 

• Celebrated the new year while still visiting my parents in Manitoba. 
• Celebrated my mom's 84th birthday while we were there. (It was actually just after we came back home, but we got a cake and invited Parents' Neighbours' Daughter and her family, as well as a few neighbours, to come over on Saturday night, Jan. 4th.)  
• Flew home to Toronto (Jan. 5th). 
• Went with dh to the supermarket to load up on groceries and restock our rather bare cupboards and refrigerator! (Jan. 6th) 
• Took down the Christmas tree & decorations. (Jan. 7th) (The boxes are still sitting in our spare room/office, waiting to be taken back down to our storage locker...!)  
• Went for my twice-postponed (from Dec. 10th and then Dec. 18th!) dental checkup and cleaning in midtown Toronto. (Jan. 8th)
• Celebrated my 64th (!) birthday! (Jan. 12th)  We didn't do much, but BIL & SIL dropped by for coffee, bearing panettone & some gifts. My mom & sister called, and I got lots of birthday wishes on Facebook & WhatsApp. (I know I've said this before, but... next year, the beach!!  lol)  
• Went to the mall for the first time since before Christmas, for a few hours of walking & shopping (Jan. 14th). (Had lunch when we got home again.) 
• Returned to the mall on Jan. 21st and 29th. 
• Did some shopping at the bookstore, two women's clothing stores, the supermarket and drugstore (picked up a prescription)(Jan. 15th). 
• Had an enjoyable lunch at BIL's on Jan. 19th with his & dh's uncle & aunt, cousin & his wife (the ones with the cottage we've been to the past several September/Octobers). 
• Drove up to Older Nephew's house on Jan. 25th to (finally!!) meet Little Great-Nephew #2, 5 weeks old.  :)  And see Little Great-Nephew #1, Older Nephew and his wife too!  :)  BIL & SIL drove up and joined us later (and SIL took over holding the baby for the rest of the time we were there...!), and we all had a good visit. 
• Still have not seen Little Great-Niece since we got back (since LGN#1's birthday party in mid-November, to be precise) -- even though they live just a few minutes' walk away from us.  :(  
• Went to the nearby lab on the morning of Jan. 28th for repeat bloodwork, four months after our most recent bloodwork (in mid-September) and three months after our family doctor warned us (back in mid-October) about our rising cholesterol levels and told us he'd have to put us both on medication if our results didn't improve. We've made a concerted effort since then to improve our diet and increase our activity levels at least a bit. 
• We repeated our bloodwork earlier this week, on Jan. 28th, and by the next morning, both of us had our results: all the numbers (except one in dh's report) were back within normal range. What a relief!!    
• By the end of this month,  I'd lost more than 8 pounds since mid-October (and more than 20 from my highest-ever weight), and dh was down more than 14 (isn't that always the way??). He's able to fit back into his old jeans again (a size smaller than the ones he'd been wearing)!  

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Also right now:  

Reading: I finished 3 books in January (all reviewed on this blog, as well as Goodreads & StoryGraph, & tagged "2025 books"):  

• "Others Like Me" by Nicole Louie. (4 stars; my review.) 
• "Peter West" by D.E. Stevenson -- the one DES book my group has NOT read together, in its 25+ years of existence! I read this in advance of our group read, which began Jan. 13th and runs through late March. I'll count this one as a re-read when we're done. (2 stars; my review.)  
• "Yellowface" by R.F. Kuang (the February pick for my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club). (4 stars; my review.)  

This brings me to 3 books read in 2025 to date, 7% of my 2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) on track to meet my goal.  :) 

Current reads: 

• "The Mad Woman's Ball" by Victoria Mas -- the March book for my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club. 
• "The Siege of Krishnapur" by J. G. Farrell -- the first new Footnotes and Tangents slow readalong for 2025, which started Jan. 13th, for 9 weeks. Currently 29% completed. 
• "Peter West" by D.E. Stevenson -- the one DES book my group has NOT read together, in its 25+ years of existence! I read this in advance of our group read, which began Jan. 13th and runs through late March. Currently 35% completed. I'll count this one as a re-read when we're done. (2-2.5 stars; my review.)  
• "Anne of Windy Poplars" by L.M. Montgomery (called "Anne of Windy Willows" in the U.K., with some text variations). My L.M. Montgomery Readathon Facebook group started reading & discussing this book together today (Jan. 6th). This will be our last book with our wonderful administrator of the past five (!) years, Andrea, who is moving on to other projects. I just (re)read this one right at this time last year, so I chose not to read it through (again) on my own first (as I normally would), but I will count this one as a re-read when we're done. (My previous review here.) Currently 22% completed. 
• "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 Zoom meeting covered Chapter 6.  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.)  
• "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...! 

Re: "Krishanpur" -- I started the year fully intending to repeat last year's two slow readalongs at Footnotes and Tangents -- "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy and the Cromwell trilogy of books by Hilary Mantel. I was on a reading high, and wasn't ready to let go of the great experience I'd had there. 

Alas, unlike last year, I very quickly fell behind on W&P -- and never got started on "Wolf Hall."  (So far??)  I find I'm struggling a bit with my other book club obligations (already!), let alone reading new stuff I'd like to tackle too. I figure that I DID read it once, and that's a pretty damned great accomplishment -- and I AM doing "Krishnapur," and I intend to do the three other new slow reads Simon has planned for this year too (see below). 

For now, I've removed both books from my "current reads" list. If/when I manage to catch up, I'll add them back! 

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: 
• "The Mermaid of Black Conch" by Monique Roffey (April)  
• 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....!)  
• Miss Buncle Married (original 2015 review here). Starting in March/April. 
• The Two Mrs. Abbotts (original 2015 review here).
• Crooked Adam
• The Four Graces (original 2015 review here). 

• Footnotes and Tangents slow readalongs planned for 2025 include:
• "A Place of Greater Safety" by Hilary Mantel -- starts May 5th, for 20 weeks. 
• "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe -- starts Sept. 29th, for 5 weeks. 
• "The Blue Flower" by Penelope Fitzgerald -- starts Nov. 3rd, for 7 weeks. 

(Simon is a big fan of the late great Hilary Mantel, and the other books he's selected were all books that she loved, so he figured they would probably be worth reading!) 

A few recently purchased titles (aside from the first three as noted, mostly in digital format, mostly discounted ($5-10 or less) or purchased with points):   

• Three hardcovers, purchased with a gift card (Christmas gift from dh -- he knows me well! lol):  
• "The McCartney Legacy, Volume 2: 1974-80" by Allan Kozinn & Adrian Sinclair. 
• "An Unfinished Love Story" by Doris Kearns Goodwin 
• "The Comfort of Crows" by Margaret Renkl 
• "Small Things Like These" by Claire Keegan 
• "The Mighty Red" by Louise Erdrich 
• "I'm Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself" by Glynnis MacNicol
• "The Big Freeze" by Natalie Lampert 
• "The Rich People Have Gone Away" by Regina Porter 
• "Unwell Women:  Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World" by Elinor Cleghorn 
• "Sonny Boy" by Al Pacino 
• "Autocracy Inc." by Anne Applebaum 
• "Kingmaker" by Sonia Purnell 

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Watching:  

• Dh & I don't watch a lot of series TV -- but when we were with my family over the holidays, my sister mentioned they have been enjoying "Only Murders in the Building." I've heard other good things about it (and you can't beat that cast! -- Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez) -- but I was under the impression that it was only available through a streaming service -- Disney+ in Canada, Hulu in the U.S. (and I am reluctant to subscribe to another streaming service, since I make so little use of our Netflix subscription...!).  
• Then I discovered that they are showing a past season (currently season 2) on Thursday nights on CTV. I watched two episodes, back to back earlier this month, and enjoyed them tremendously!  I've missed the episodes aired since then, but may try to catch up on CTV's website online.  Anyone else watching this one? 
• A new season of "Finding Your Roots" on PBS. 
• Figure skating!  
• The Canadian Figure Skating Championships from Laval, Quebec (Jan. 17th-19th) -- streaming on my laptop, as (once again!) there was NO TV network coverage this year (!). :(  
• The U.S. nationals, from Wichita, Kansas, on the weekend of Jan. 24th -26th. I managed to watch part of the live coverage of the women's free skate on Friday night on NBC, and the men's free program on Sunday afternoon. 
• When I heard about the plane collision over the Potomac River in Washington DC on Wednesday night, and that the plane was coming from Wichita, I thought about the skating but thought everyone would have gone home by then. Unfortunately not. :(  
  
• The European championships are on this weekend in Tallinn, Estonia. Haven't checked yet, but hopefully there will be some TV coverage! 
• Too much NFL football!  :p  (lol)  (as I ranted here! lol) 

Listening: We've added the 80s Stingray music channel to our regular listening roster, and have been enjoying that! :) (My Heardle 80s:scores could use some improvement! lol -- see below!) 

Playing:  

• Heardle Decades: Stats as of Jan. 31st: 
• Heardle 60s: 76.7% (633/825, 249 on first guess), up 0.2% from last month. Max. streak: 15.
• Heardle 70s: 77.6% (436/562, 246 on first guess), down 0.8% from last month. Max. streak: 18. 
• Heardle 80s: 39.6% (173/437, 65 on first guess), up 0.2% from last month. Max. streak: 4. 
• Heardle 90s: 29.3% (158/539, 33 on first guess), up 0.5% from last month. Max. streak: 5. 
• NYT Connections:  
• By Jan. 5th, I'd completed 161 games and won 81% of them, including 78 "perfect puzzles" with zero errors. I maintained my maximum winning streak of 15.  :) 
• By Jan. 31st, I'd completed 187 games and won 80% of them, including 89 "perfect puzzles" with zero errors and a maximum winning streak of 15.  :)   

(Un)Following:  Blocking anyone I don't know who follows me on BlueSky (most of them men with suspiciously similar profiles....). Gradually checking out the accounts I follow on Twitter/X to see whether they're on BlueSky or Threads and following them there. Once I'm satisfied I have my favourites over there, I'm exiting the cesspool.  ;)  I'm rarely on there as it is, and while I've "liked" and reposted others' posts, I've never (or very rarely) responded, and I don't think I've ever posted anything there myself either. 

Eating/Drinking:  

• We continued our efforts to eat healthier (as mentioned above) -- and it's paid off, in terms of both our cholesterol numbers and the numbers on the scale!  We haven't been complete angels by any means (and I don't think we really deprived ourselves over Christmas!) -- there's lots of room for improvement! -- but since mid/late October, we've been making a conscious effort to reduce our portion sizes, cut back on fatty & processed foods (fewer casseroles, more chicken and beans/lentils), eat more fruits, vegetables and fibre, snack less (and make better snacking choices), and be at least a little more active.   
• Pre-pandemic, we'd go out to a restaurant for a nice dinner on my birthday. We haven't been eating out in restaurants much since the pandemic began -- and because I knew we'd be doing new bloodwork shortly, I resisted the temptation to order something too caloric for takeout. We wound up getting thin crust wood oven takeout pizzas (eaten over two dinners), which I figured was one of the lesser of evil choices.  ;)  
• BIL & SIL visited that day and brought some mini-panettones in different flavours. SIL & I shared one over tea -- salted caramel.  Maybe not low-cal, but yummy! 
• Older Nephew's Wife made delicious homemade pizzas when we were there last weekend  -- they were warm out of the oven when we got there! and I'll admit I indulged in quite a few pieces while we were there! She is a great cook! :)  and she always has a tomato-free option for me. :)  

Buying (besides books, lol):  Clothes for the great-niblings. I also ordered some stuff I need from Estee Lauder & Clinique, cashing in on some birthday offers.  

Wearing:  Long sleeves (and sometimes a cardigan on top), yoga pants, socks AND slippers inside the house. It was cold enough when we walked over to the blood lab the other morning that I wore my heavy winter jacket (which I bought when we were still working and commuting -- and waiting for the train on frigid winter mornings in unheated shelters! -- these days, I mostly just wear it when go to Manitoba at Christmastime!), scarf and tuque (knitted cap)(Note: Canadians do NOT call them "beanies"!!). If we're just going to the mall or supermarket, I'll wear my lighter-weight down jacket and sometimes a knitted headband that covers my ears, while we're outside. (And gloves, of course. I have a pair of thermal-lined Isotoners that I love.)  

Enjoying:  The photos of Little Great-Nephew #2 that his mom is posting on social media. (Still not enough of them, though!  lol)  He just turned 6 weeks old!  :)  

Appreciating:  Having a nice clean house for the weekend! (Weekends don't mean quite the same thing when you're retired -- but I still enjoy having all the laundry & cleaning done by Friday afternoon, so the weekend is free!)  

Noticing:  I'm not getting as winded, as quickly, lately, when we're out walking.  I can't say we've been great about regular exercise, but we have been trying to move a little more, and to get to the mall to walk around (and shop of course! lol), at least once a week. 

Prioritizing: Muddling through the month as best I can...!  

Trying: To let things slide a little more, when it comes to keeping on top of the news and all the notifications on my phone, newsletters flooding into my email inbox, etc.  I'm still very much a news junkie, and we still tend to have the news channels on way too much at our house ;)  -- but I've decided that so long as I know the major headlines and facts, I don't need to read/know Every. Little. Thing. (Especially right now, with You-Know-Who in charge in the U.S. now...!).  

On top of the U.S. political news, here in Canada/Ontario, with a (unnecessary, IMHO) early provincial election campaign underway, a federal Liberal leadership race underway and (no doubt) a federal election to follow shortly (the government is in a minority position and the Opposition parties are itching for a fight). It's all way too much...!  

Anticipating/Bracing for: The stiff new 25% tariffs being imposed today by the new U.S. government. (This is how you treat your longtime closest ally, neighbour and trading partner, America?? What about the free trade agreement that we renegotiated during the Orange One's last term, at his demand?)  They will be devastating for our economy here, absolutely no doubt about that. :(   But there's also no doubt that the American consumer is going to feel the pain as well, in the form of price increases and potential retaliatory tariffs imposed by our own government. 

(Canadians have a reputation for niceness -- but have you ever watched us play hockey??  ;)  ) 

Wondering:  How soon it will be before we start feeling the impact? 

Loving: Any time we get to spend with the great-niblings,,, just wish it was more often!

Wanting/Hoping: To see more of the great-niblings than we have lately.   

Feeling: Still somewhat tired from December, somewhat scattered. Not really looking forward to February (my least favourite month/more winter...!).   

Dodged that one...!

(for now, anyway...!)  

As I wrote previously, both dh & I got warned by our family doctor about our high cholesterol numbers when we had our annual physicals/bloodwork last fall. He gave us lab requisitions to repeat the bloodwork (just for the cholesterol numbers) in January, and said if there wasn't improvement, he'd have to put us on medication. 

Needless to say, that was a sobering thought -- neither of us particularly wanted to add yet another prescription to our daily pill regime.  I can't say we've been complete angels, but we have made an effort in the three months since then to cut back on processed foods;  eat more fruits, vegetables and fibre; snack less and take smaller portions, and to be at least a little more active. As of yesterday morning, I was down about 7 pounds since we saw the doctor in mid-October (and about 20 pounds from my heaviest weight ever), while dh was down about 14. (!! -- isn't that always the way??)  

Yesterday morning, we walked over to the nearby lab for our repeat bloodwork. By late afternoon, I had my results (online), and dh's were waiting when we got up this morning. And... 

All is well!!  :)  All the cholesterol numbers are back within normal range, except dh's HDL (the "good" cholesterol)  -- but it's better than it was. The doctor/his office hasn't called us yet about it, but we're assuming no meds, at least not right now. ;)  

Obviously we have to keep doing what we've been doing!  But it does go to show you that even making some small changes in your diet and lifestyle can really help. 

"Yellowface" by R.F. Kuang

"Yellowface" by R.F. Kuang is the February pick for our Childless Collective Nomo Book Club. It's very much a novel of our times.  

June Hayward and Athena Liu met several years ago as students at Yale. Since then, they've both published books, but while Athena is now the darling of the literary world, June is struggling. They're both living in Washington DC now and occasionally hang out together -- and they're in Athena's apartment together when Athena dies in a rather bizarre way (!). Sometime between the arrival of the paramedics and her departure from the apartment, June succumbs to curiosity and temptation, and slips the draft of Athena's just-completed new novel into her bag. 

It's a novel about Chinese labourers on the Western Front during the First World War, and June immediately recognizes its potential. After some edits, she submits it to her agent as her own work -- and it becomes a bestseller, under the culturally ambiguous pen name of Juniper Song (June's real first and second names, courtesy of her hippie parents). 

The book becomes a New York Times bestseller. The fame and fortune is everything June ever dreamed of.  

And then it slowly turns into a nightmare... 

"Yellowface" is brilliantly crafted and well-written (with June as narrator, so we see and experience everything from her perspective). It offers up some dagger-sharp observations about the publishing industry, social media, “cancel culture,” culture wars, cultural appropriation and racism, among other hot topics. As a writer myself (although it's been a very long time since I dabbled in fiction), the parts about writing and the writing process are bang on.  But I'll admit that the moral/ethical dilemmas and ambiguities presented, and the sheer nastiness of the characters (including -- especially?? -- June herself!), left me feeling more than a little queasy! 

I don't want to say too much more -- too many potential spoilers!  But if you're looking for a topical novel that's bound to generate a lot of discussion in your book club, "Yellowface" will do the job!   

I really had to think about how to rate this one, and whether the pros of the novel outweighed the cons.  I've settled on 4 stars. (I think! lol)  

This was Book #3 read to date in 2025 (and Book #3 finished in January), bringing me to 7% of my 2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) on track to meet my goal.  :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2025 tagged as "2025 books." 

Odds & ends

• How is it almost the end of January?? 
• We (FINALLY!!) got to meet Little Great-Nephew #2 this past weekend!!  He's now 5 weeks old :)  and looks a lot like his older brother did at that age, albeit his hair is a lot darker.  His grandmother dug up his dad's newborn hospital photo and holy cow, the resemblance is startling.  LGN#1 looks a lot more like his mother than his dad, though, so we'll see how things evolve with LGN#2!  
• Older Nephew (the dad) called during the week and asked if we'd like to come up. Of course we said yes. He apologized that they hadn't invited us to come before this, but he said they've been trying not to get swamped with visitors and just have a few people over at one time, and we said we understood.    
• SIL had an appointment that morning, but she & BIL drove up later themselves. I held the baby as much as I could once we got there -- because I knew SIL would monopolize him when she arrived -- and she did!  Grandma's prerogative, I guess...!  
• Dh saw them all in mid-December, on Older Nephew's birthday (not including the baby, who hadn't been born yet!), but I had that horrible cold then and reluctantly stayed home. So I hadn't seen any of them since LGN#1's birthday in mid-November -- two months!  :(  We tried to make sure we gave LGN#1 lots of attention too, as well as the baby.  I can't rough-house with him the way dh does, but I enjoyed helping him do some jigsaw puzzles and admired his drawing and colouring skills while we were there.
• The dog seemed a little puzzled why I wasn't paying him quite as much as attention as I usually do when I'm there, lol  -- especially when we first came in. I was sitting on the couch holding the baby and he hopped up beside me -- I had to gently push him away. At one point, he hopped up on the back of the sofa and started licking the back of my neck and my ear!!  lol    
• I've always been a very well-organized person -- but I continue to feel like I just can't get a handle on everything I need to be doing & reading right now. I've been feeling like this for a while now, and certainly since December. That cold, the fall I took and Christmas with my parents really threw my to-do lists and usual routines out of whack...!  
• Come to think of it, I think this feeling began, or at least intensified, after the U.S. elections in November.... (!! -- hmmm...). 
• Is anyone else as sick of NFL football as I am??  I'm not sure if it's my current mood, or my imagination, or I just haven't been paying attention, but I feel like dh has watched more football more closely this year than in past years. Sometimes it feels like it's on ALL. THE. TIME!!  (lately, anyway!).  I manage to mostly ignore it/tune it out, but sometimes I can't. I just find it so tedious, and it feels like it's been going on FOREVER... 
• (It's not even Canadian football! -- I feel like I could cut him some slack in that case, lol.)
• Of course, he tells me he feels the same way about figure skating season! lol 
• BIL asks us why we don't just get another TV set? For one thing, I don't particularly want a TV set in my bedroom. For another, I'm not really sure where we'd put it. There's not a lot of space in this condo (also a factor in terms of the noise from two competing TV sets...!), and just about every wall already has a piece of furniture in front of it or something mounted on it. 
• (Can you tell I'm in a MOOD?  lol) 
• Our repeat bloodwork (to see whether our cholesterol levels have decreased over the past 3-4 months) is tomorrow morning, at the blood lab just up the street -- we will walk there. We should have the results later that day (certainly by the next day -- we can view them online, and I'm sure our family doctor or his office will be calling us,one way or another).  Wish us luck!! 
• I was up very early one morning this past weekend for a special reason. I'll be telling you all about it soon! 

Annoying things & small pleasures

 Annoying things:  

• It's Blue Monday today. I've written about Blue Monday (and its origins) in the past, and while it's basically a made-up event, it seems more appropriate than ever this year, due to an unfortunate convergence of Martin Luther King Day in the U.S. with that "other" most un-MLK-like event in the U.S.  'Nuff said. 
• Also, it's a chilly grey day here, with late morning temperatures of  -12C, windchill factor -16C. It could be worse: at the same time, where my parents are in Manitoba, it was -31C and -43C windchill. (And they moved today's events in Washington DC indoors because the forecast was -5C??)
• (Maybe more like like "alarming"?)  Politics, current events, etc. I am something of a news junkie, but I've had to turn the channel a lot lately, because I can literally feel my blood pressure rising. I said to dh, "I think I understand a little more about how Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland must have felt back in the 1930s."  :(  
• Two related annoying things:  (1) Mark Zuckerberg removing fact-checking from Meta platforms -- (not) coincidentally just as You-Know-Who was preparing to take office in the U.S. --which (2) has prompted a bunch of my friends to start exploring alternatives to FB & IG on other platforms (and some outright leaving altogether). (WhatsApp, which some have suggested as an alternative, is also owned by Meta, albeit it has the advantage of being encrypted.)  
• I'm not at the point of leaving Meta (yet -- too many friends & relatives on there, too many FB groups I'm active in, including a family group that I co-moderate) -- but maybe it's a good thing I haven't had a lot of time to spend on its sites lately anyway??  
• Trying to find another forum, especially for the groups I belong to, and one that everyone can agree on, is maddening. (How many new apps is this aging late Boomer/early GenXer supposed to install and learn how to use??)  A lot of people are moving over to BlueSky because of the even more maddening things happening on X/Twitter -- but for all its merits, BlueSky is not really an alternative to FB/IG, and certainly not conducive to private group chats. 
• Speaking of BlueSky -- as I was in this post -- I had a flood of new followers over the Christmas holidays -- again, most of them people I do not know or follow, and most of them men. I went in this week and started blocking them, and now I feel much better!  lol  
• My left eye has been twitching lately -- on & off, for well over a month now (maybe almost two). I was complaining about it to dh recently while we were watching the news, and he joked that I have to stop stressing out about the Orange One, because he's going to be around for another four years. I said, "Come to think of it, this DID start around mid-November...!"  Hmmm.... 
• Dh went out to get groceries this morning and brought me back some soup for lunch. And of course my sweater sleeve caught the spoon as I was reaching over to silence a spam call on his  phone (while he was in the kitchen) -- and almost the whole thing wound up on the placemat, tabletop and floor.  (And I was hungry!!)  SIGH... I wound up having toast with peanut butter instead.
• I've noticed that the most recent box or two of teabags I've bought (Tetley) is now being made from flimsier (presumably cheaper) cardboard. And the teabags themselves are now being made from a different material. I haven't been quite as satisfied with my tea lately, and I'm wondering it that's why? (It's quite possible they've changed the composition of the actual tea itself too, I suppose.)  Shrinkflation, grrrrr..... 
• I did some Googling and found this on Tetley Canada's website: "Notice some of our Orange Pekoe packs looking a bit different? Don't panic! We're still serving up the same great tasting tea you know and love... As part of our dedication to sustainability, we've upgraded our Orange Pekoe packaging. Our sleeker and more compact carton design means less packaging waste and all Orange Pekoe teas now utilize plant-based tea bags!"  Hmmm.... 
• Little Great-Nephew #2 is one month old and we STILL haven't seen him!!  :(  We left for Manitoba right after he was born and were away for two weeks. BIL told us because we'd both been sick and because we'd been flying, we were in "quarantine" for two weeks. (!) (Even though we'd both worn masks at the airport & on the plane.) Not BIL's idea, the parents' (!). They were not at all like that when LGN #1 was born -- but of course that was pre-pandemic. (Hoping this weekend may be the time...!) 
• Back home for two weeks now, and still feeling tired and overwhelmed by all the stuff that we let slide while we were sick/away.  :p   
  
• SO DRY in our condo unit (despite running the humidifier constantly -- albeit not at top speed -- too noisy!). I can probably count the number of times the humidity has cracked the 40% mark since we got home on the fingers of one hand (with some to spare). It was below 30% when we returned, and is often below 30% when we wake up in the morning. Constantly applying hand lotion, lip balm and eye drops. 

Scary thing: 

• Repeat bloodwork to check our cholesterol levels, booked at the nearby lab for the end of the month. If the numbers haven't declined since the last bloodwork was done in late September, we're getting meds prescribed -- and neither of us wants another prescription...! 

Small pleasures: 

• Spotting a box in my parents' crawlspace with my name written on it in a corner I don't often enter, while hunting for gift wrapping supplies -- which turned out to contain some books and other items I'd been hunting for for several years now. I was THRILLED -- I'd feared they'd been sent to the thrift store by mistake. I couldn't bring everything home with me this time around, but I did pack: 
• My four university residence yearbooks (including one with photos of dh in it!). 
• Not just the two or three I remembered, but FIVE paperback novels by D.E. Stevenson that I'd bought at a used bookstore on Portage Avenue in Winnipeg in the early 1980s. (Proof that I'm a longtime fan!  lol) I posted about it on my DES fan group, and the other members were almost as thrilled as I was! (The titles were The Baker's Daughter (my favourite), The House on the Cliff, Shoulder the Sky, The Blue Sapphire and Green Money.) 
• Another paperback novel that I'd read as a teenager and LOVED: "The Distant Summer" by Sarah Patterson (daughter of British novelist Jack Higgins), who was just a teenager when she wrote it (published in 1976). It's what would be called a "young adult" novel these days -- set in World War II England, and beautifully written. It appears to be the only novel she ever wrote. (What a pity.) 
• Not in the box, but I also found and brought home my copy of "Nancy Drew and the Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes" by Carolyn Keene. I bought it with the allowance money I'd saved, while on an Anglican Church Junior Auxiliary bus trip to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, when I was 7 or 8 (late 1960s). Cost: $1.59 at KMart.  It's the one Nancy Drew book I wanted to save. :) 
• My (TV) broadcast news demo reel from journalism school. (I graduated -- gulp -- 40 years ago.) I don't recall what they called the format -- it looks a little like a VHS tape, but it's not VHS, or a format you could play on your VHS at home (assuming you still have one, and it still works!).  I doubt there's a newsroom in the country (in North America? in the world??) that uses that technology anymore. But I brought it home with me. I figure SOMEONE might be able to digitize it for me. I'm sure it would be both a cringe and a hoot to see what's on it!  
• Also in the box: other books, as well as a few old photo albums (one mostly empty, and one exclusively devoted to photos from concerts my friends & I had attended. Faded 50-year-old snapshots of the Bay City Rollers, anyone?? lol). 
• My sister pointed out a couple of other boxes in another dark corner of the crawlspace that had my name on them. They were too hard to access just then, and it was towards the end of our visit -- but I will definitely drag them out and go through them the next time I'm there.  (Still hunting for the box that contained my diaries, journals, holiday postcard collection, teenage fan fiction and other early writings/embarrassing stuff, lol.)   
• Returned to the dentist on Jan. 8th for my twice-postponed checkup and cleaning (not really a pleasure, lol). The dentist said one of my lower left teeth still seems a TINY bit loose, but it's better than it was when I took that tumble in December, and the others he noticed seem to have firmed up. He'll continue to keep an eye on things. The hygienist was not my usual one (she's away on vacation), but told me everything looked good and to keep doing what I was doing. 
• My knees -- which were KILLING me from going up and down stairs in my parents' SPLIT LEVEL house! -- are starting to recover...! 
• Finding some cute new clothes for the great-niblings at the mall. :)  
• Cashing in on my birthday discounts and other offers from various retailers. 
• Annoying thing:  realizing I had a discount from the mega-bookstore, AFTER I spent my Christmas gift card from dh there! Grrrr....
• Small pleasure:  I guess I'll just have to go back and buy some more books, right??  Why let a good discount go to waste? lol

#MicroblogMondays: When I'm 64

Yesterday was my 64th (!!) birthday. For months and months now, whenever I thought about this particular birthday, a certain song would start playing in my brain.  (Hint: I'm a lifelong Beatles fan.)  ;) 

Paul McCartney wrote "When I'm 64" in 1956, when he was just 14 years old (!) and recorded it 10 years later for the Beatles' "Sergeant Pepper" album, when he was still just 24. I've heard that when he DID turn 64 (in 2006), his kids & grandkids sent him a recording of themselves singing the song. (He's 82 now.)(!)  

There's a line in the song that has also carved itself into my brain (beyond the opening "When I get old and losing my hair, many years from now..." and "will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 64?"):  it's:  

"Grandchildren on your knee/Vera, Chuck and Dave."  

Paul has five adult children (four with his first wife Linda and one with second wife Heather Mills). He's also a grandfather 8 times over. (Daughters Mary & Stella have four kids each-- none of them named Vera, Chuck or Dave). The kids call him "Grandude," which provided the inspiration for two "Grandude" children's books Paul has written. (Fun fact:  the illustrator is Canadian -- I saw her interviewed on the news a few years ago.)  

Needless to say, Vera, Chuck and Dave have not materialized in my own life (and never will) -- and (obviously) neither have their parents.  :p  I do have two wonderful nephews and three adorable great-niblings (including a new little great-nephew I have yet to meet), and I'm very grateful for any time I get to spend with them. (It's great -- but it's not QUITE the same...!) 

Milestone birthdays (including ones highlighted by the Beatles, lol) certainly do make you think about what was, what might have been, and what may come. Next year I'll be 65 and officially a senior citizen, by just about any measure. (!) 

64 (and 65) seems like a very LONG way off when you're 14 or 24 (which is when I got married). I could never have imagined all the things that have happened in my life, good and bad, since then. (Paul is now 82 (!) -- I'm sure he'd say the same thing.) I certainly would never have thought I'd be childless & grandchildless. (Oh, the innocence of youth...)  

Still, aging also gives you an appreciation for the good things in your life. As my grandma used to say (and as I've often recounted in this blog), "It sure beats the alternative...!"  I may not have children or grandchildren -- but I have a great husband (of almost 40! years now), a pretty great extended family, a nice home, a decent pension & benefits, lots of great books to read, plenty to eat, and my health is still pretty good, albeit my blood pressure & cholesterol are higher and knees a whole lot creakier than when I was 24. Still, I'll take it. As the song says, "Who could ask for more?"  

(Well -- we might ask -- but we don't always GET, do we? But we can be grateful for what we do have, especially at this stage of life...!) 

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

"Peter West" by D.E. Stevenson

"Peter West" is the one novel by D.E. Stevenson that my DES reading group has never read together in its 25+ years of existence. Most of the members who have read it before have commented that it's not among their DES favourites. 

Just a few chapters in, I could see why.  

This was Stevenson's very first published novel (serialized first and then published in book form in 1923), and it contains some of the hallmarks of many later DES novels -- it's set in a small village (Kintoul) in Scotland, with some lovely landscape descriptions, a strong sense of morality, loyal servants/retainers, a sympathetic minister of the local church, etc.  But Stevenson here is still very much an author finding her voice. 

The title character, Peter West, 35, has watched Beth Kerr, the daughter of the local boatman/ferry operator grow up into a beautiful young woman. As the Goodreads blurb for this book says, "Peter is a lonely man with a weak heart and few family members and friends."  Both are manipulated by their families into marriages to other people, but this only serves to strengthen their feelings for each other. Will true love triumph? (You probably already know the answer, lol.) 

Stevenson was very much a woman of her class and times, and that's often reflected in her books.  Generally, however, it's not as blatantly obvious in her later books as it is here. I'm willing to forgive the occasional cringeworthy word choice or sentence when the rest of the book is good. "Peter West," however, contains some real clangers that are pretty jarring to our modern sensibilities. 

Peter is about 35 and while we don't know exactly how old Beth is (I'm guessing probably around 16-17?), she's described -- in Peter's own words & thoughts -- as a child -- which, from a modern perspective (again), seems slightly icky.  

The book was somewhat redeemed near the end when Beth explains to a friend that "I just felt it was my right to have a happy life, or at least one not utterly sordid and miserable.. may be more selfish than our mothers, but at least we are more able to face life, and are truer to ourselves."  What an enlightened feminist statement for 1923!  

But overall, this a much darker, more melodramatic/overwrought and less charming story than Stevenson's usual/later fare. I love most of Stevenson's other novels that I've read to date (and I've read a lot of them) -- and I don't regret reading this one -- but I doubt I'll be returning to this one anytime soon.    

I struggled with the rating for this one. 2.5 stars for StoryGraph, and I debated whether I should round that up or down for Goodreads. It had its good points -- and it pains me to give a DES book such a low rating -- but ultimately I can't put it on the same level as other DES books I've read and rated at 3 stars. 

2 stars it is.  

I'll count this one as a re-read when we finish our chapter-by-chapter group read & discussion in late March.  

This was Book #2 read to date in 2025 (and Book #2 finished in January), bringing me to 4% of my 2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 1 book ahead of schedule to meet my goal.  :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2025 tagged as "2025 books." 

"Others Like Me" by Nicole Louie

"Others Like Me: The Lives of Women without Children" by Nicole Louie has been on my radar since it was published in North America a few months ago. (Katy Seppi will be interviewing the author in a Childless Collective event later this month.) 

Louie is childfree by choice, and has known since she was fairly young that she was not interested in having children. Driven by an insatiable curiosity about the lives of "others like me" -- and struggling with others' acceptance of her decision (or lack thereof...!) -- she interviewed dozens of childfree and childless women from around the world about their personal stories. The book cleverly interweaves Louie's own story with those of 14 of the women she spoke with.  

Louie was born in Brazil and spent her childhood there, but has lived all over the world, including Sweden, the U.K. and Ireland (where she now resides), and her interview subjects also come from diverse backgrounds. This gives the book a multicultural flavour that I really enjoyed!  

I loved how the book ended, with these words (and I don't think I'm giving anything away here...!): 

It's the uterus that is empty. 

Not you. 

Not your life. 

4 stars on Goodreads and StoryGraph.  

This was Book #1 read to date in 2025 (and Book #1 finished in January), bringing me to 2% of my 2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) on track to meet my goal.  :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2025 tagged as "2025 books." 

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.)

I am late! (lol) I normally try to post "Right now" on or around the first of the month. But to say December threw me for a loop would be an understatement... I am SO FAR BEHIND on everything. So this December/early January summary (and the rest of January, next month/early next) will be a bit of a mishmash, but it will all get get sorted out, eventually...! 

December was busy, getting ready, not only for Christmas, but to go away for Christmas/New Year's -- and to welcome a new little great-nephew! who was born shortly before we left.  (We still haven't seen him yet, but hope to do so soon!) The gloomy grey and cold weather was offset somewhat by the pretty Christmas decorations & lights in malls and homes, including our own tree, which we put up early in the month.

We arrived at my parents' home in Manitoba on Dec. 21st. On the one hand, it feels like we didn't do a whole lot. On the other, we really WERE busy (especially me!) -- prepping for (and recovering from!) Christmas, helping out my elderly parents with meal prep & cleanup and other assorted things around the house, playing cards (almost every night), and being entertained by almost-daily visits from Parents' Neighbours' Daughter and the youngest Little Princess (#3, now 16 months old).  I had very little laptop time (and I find it difficult to type out more than a couple of sentences on my cellphone...!)! 

Pandemic diary/update: December was month #57 since the covid pandemic began in March 2020 (now in Year FIVE, going on SIX). :(   We (still!) remain covid-free (so far as we know... knocking wood, loudly...) -- although dh came down with a nasty cough/cold in late November (and brushed off my suggestion of testing...). He felt pretty tough for about a week (which kept us mostly at home), then started feeling better, albeit the cough lingered for a while longer. 

And then he gave it to me!

I did test -- twice -- both times negative. Nevertheless, it was the worst cold I've had in quite a long time, with a very nasty & long-lasting cough and a lot of fatigue for the first week or two (no doubt because all the coughing kept me awake at night...!).  As a result, I didn't quite finish my Christmas shopping (and had to scramble for stocking stuffers in the few days remaining before Christmas once we got to my parents' house). We couldn't go to BIL's to see Little Great-Nephew, let alone to the hospital to meet his baby brother, our new Little Great-Nephew #2, who arrived just before we were scheduled to fly west for the holidays. :(   

By then, I felt slightly more human, but still had a pretty bad cough. So I masked up at the airport & on the plane -- as I would have, anyway (and will do again on the return trip). (I'm mostly better now, but the cough lingered for almost the entire two weeks I was at Mom & Dad's.)   

We continue to mask in stores, malls and (most) other such indoor public spaces hereabouts, especially if/when there are lots of people around. (Well, I do -- I know dh has been slacking off, whenever I'm not around to hand him a mask...!) (Non-maskers are still in the vast majority, but I noticed a lot more people masking at the airport and on our flights than I've seen lately.) 

I thought this was a great piece in the Toronto Star recently, which asks "Why doesn’t Doug Ford’s government want you to know if you have this dangerous disease?"  Here's how it opens:  

Once upon a time, rapid tests for COVID-19 were widely available and free of charge at groceries and pharmacies. Public health sent a clear message: results matter.  The current absence of tests is a striking departure that implies testing is no longer relevant and that SARS CoV-2 has ceased to be a threat. Both are false. 

The scarcity of rapid tests is Ontarians’ most recent loss to their ability to gauge COVID-19.  First came the shut-down of Ontario’s Science Advisory Table. Then Ontario stopped providing timely data to Canada’s Long-term Care Covid Tracker, leading to its closure. Two months later, funding for nearly all of Ontario’s wastewater surveillance sites ended. 

No one should be fooled into thinking that COVID-19 no longer matters...

Among other things we did this month, we: 

• Assembled the Christmas tree and brought the boxes of decorations (as well as our luggage) up from our storage locker (in the parking garage in the basement of our building)(Dec. 3rd). 
• Decorated the tree! (Dec. 4th)
• Did a little Christmas shopping at our local Chapters (bookstore), Carters (children's clothing) and Laura (women's wear) on Dec. 5th, while dh (with a nasty cough) waited in the car. 
• Drove into midtown Toronto for checkups & cleanings with the dentist (Dec. 10th).  Mine had to be postponed (first until Dec. 18th and then into early January) because I took a tumble and then came down with a cold!  :p  
• Visited Katie at the cemetery, and then had haircuts, lunch, and did some Christmas shopping at the mall in our old community (Dec. 13th). 
• Travelled to see my parents & sister over the holidays (and got back home yesterday). :) 
• Since we got here, we've been out a few times, shopping for last-minute stocking stuffers, drugstore sundries and healthy snacks & other food at the grocery store (including some fresh fruit, crackers, Greek yogurt and sparkling water). 
• Went out for coffee one afternoon last week with a woman who contacted me via Ancestry, after noting that I had some of her ancestors on my posted tree there.  Turns out: (1)  we are not related, BUT we have cousins in common (one of my great-great uncles married one of her great-aunts -- and then married her sister, after his first wife died!  (2)  she & I were born in the same town, and thus she knows lots of my relatives -- her husband worked with one of my cousins, her dad curled with my uncle, and our parents knew each other quite well too, and (3)  she now lives in the same town where my parents live! (And (4):  She doesn't have children either.)  We had a very enjoyable chat.
• Went with dh to the supermarket this morning to load up on groceries and restock our rather bare cupboards and refrigerator!

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

Also right now:  

Reading: I finished 5 books in December (reviewed on this blog, as well as Goodreads & StoryGraph, & tagged "2024 books").  

• "The Windsor Knot" by S.J. Bennett, the January pick for my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club (previously read in 2021 and reviewed here;  most recent review here).   
• "Miss Buncle’s Book" by D.E. Stevenson, read chapter-by-chapter with my DES fan group. (Original 2015 review here;  review from my initial re-read in October here;  most recent review here.) 
• "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand" by Helen Simonson. (My review.) 
• "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy (!). As I wrote here, I needed another book club/readalong obligation like a hole in the head  ;)  but nevertheless, I took part in a year-long readalong of this book, hosted by Simon at Footnotes & Tangents -- a chapter a day for a full year, which began Jan. 1, 2024. (And I really enjoyed it!) Review here. 
• If you've ever thought about reading W&P, Simon is repeating the readalong in 2025 for paying subscribers, starting Jan. 1st -- and I highly recommend the experience! (and yes, I'm probably doing it again!). Details 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 & Tangents (which participants dubbed "Wolf Crawl,"  lol) -- about 40 pages per week.  :)   
• We started during the week of July 21st.  I chose to focus on some of my other books over the late summer/early fall, and as a result, was 9 weeks behind the posted reading schedule at one point (erk). I managed to catch up over the past two weeks and finished on Dec. 30th!  Review here. 
• Simon is repeating the Cromwell Trilogy slow readalong in 2025 for paying subscribers. I highly recommend the experience! (and am considering whether I'm up to another round of it myself...!). (Yes, I'm nuts...!)  Details here!  

This brings me to 37 books read in 2024, 82% of my 2024 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. (See my 2024 Reading Year in Review post!) 

Current reads: 

• "Anne of Windy Poplars" by L.M. Montgomery (called "Anne of Windy Willows" in the U.K., with some text variations). My L.M. Montgomery Readathon Facebook group started reading & discussing this book together today (Jan. 6th). This will be our last book with our wonderful administrator of the past five (!) years, Andrea, who is moving on to other projects. I just (re)read this one right at this time last year, so I chose not to read it through (again) on my own first (as I normally would), but I will count this one as a re-read when we're done. (My previous review here.) 
• "Others Like Me" by Nicole Louie. (Not a selection for my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club, but Katy Seppi will be interviewing the author in January!) 
• "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy, with Footnotes & Tangents. One chapter a day for an entire year -- round #2!!  Yes, I couldn't resist -- I'm doing it again!  (See above.) (And if I slack off, well, having done it once already, I'm good...!).  
• "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 Zoom meeting (which I missed) covered Chapter 5.  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.)  
• "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: 
• "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 (the one DES book my group has NOT read together, in its 25+ years of existence! -- starting Jan. 13/25.) 
• Miss Buncle Married (original 2015 review here).
• The Two Mrs. Abbotts (original 2015 review here).
• Crooked Adam
• The Four Graces (original 2015 review here). 

• Footnotes and Tangents slow readalongs in 2025 -- besides repeats of the Thomas Cromwell Trilogy and "War and Peace" for paying subscribers (as mentioned above) -- will include:
• "The Siege of Krishnapur" by J. G. Farrell -- starts Jan. 13th, for 9 weeks. 
• "A Place of Greater Safety" by Hilary Mantel -- starts May 5th, for 20 weeks. 
• "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe -- starts Sept. 29th, for 5 weeks. 
• "The Blue Flower" by Penelope Fitzgerald -- starts Nov. 3rd, for 7 weeks. 
• Other books on my priority TBR list: 
• "We Solve Murders" by Richard Osman. (Because, obviously...) 
• "What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust" by Alan Bradley (Flavia de Luce #11).  
• "Bury Your Dead," by Louise Penny (#6 in her Three Pines/Inspector Gamache murder mystery series, and the next one I haven't read).  
• "I'm Sorry for My Loss" by Rebecca Little & Colleen Long (which I've written about here, here and here -- but still haven't read myself!  lol) 

A few recently purchased titles (mostly in digital format, mostly discounted ($5-10 or less) or purchased with points): (I haven't added links, in the interest of getting this posted sooner vs later...!) 

• "Long Island Compromise" by Taffy Brodesseur-Akner
• "The Widow's Guide to Dead Bastards" by Jessica Waite
• "The Wedding People" by Alison Espach 
• "Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret" by Benjamin Stevenson 
• "Conclave" by Robert Harris 
• "Precipice" by Robert Harris 
• "Charlie's Good Tonight" by Paul Sexton 
• "A Well-Trained Wife" by Tia Levings
• "The Saturday Place" by Alice Peterson 
• "Intermezzo" by Sally Rooney 
• "Earth to Moon" by Moon Unit Zappa 
• "What I Ate in One Year" by Stanley Tucci 
• "Walking Disaster" by Deryck Whibley 
• "The Art of Power" by Nancy Pelosi 
• "Over Work" by Brigid Schulte 

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

Watching:  

• "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).  The first of six episodes aired on Oct. 27th;  the last aired on Dec. 1st, and I hugely enjoyed it. It really brings the books to life! 
• An adaptation of "The Mirror and the Light," the final book in the Cromwell Trilogy (which I'm reading right now -- see "Reading," above), with most of the same cast members, will begin airing in March 2025 on PBS. (It's already been seen in Britain.)  Looking forward to it! 
• Endless game shows, including The Price is Right, Family Feud, Let's Make a Deal, and Cash Cab (as well as vintage game show reruns, some of them 40 years older or more...!) -- which my dad LOVES (and which drive dh absolutely bonkers...!), while at my parents' house over the holidays!  (My sister confessed that SHE's the culprit who added the Game TV network to their favourite TV channels! lol -- and she has lived to rue the day...!)  
• Also re-runs of "The Big Bang Theory," which are somewhat more tolerable...! 

Listening: Beyond our usual listening fare (Stingray music channels, including Classic Rock and 70s), we were also listening to the 80s channel and Christmas/seasonal music, while at home!  

Playing:  

• Heardle Decades: I mostly slacked off on playing Heardle while I was at my parents' house.  Stats as of Jan. 5th (but really more like Dec. 22nd): 
• Heardle 60s: 76.5% (613/801, 242 on first guess), same as last month. Max. streak: 15.
• Heardle 70s: 78.4% (422/538, 237 on first guess), down 0.4% from last month. Max. streak: 18. 
• Heardle 80s: 39.4% (162/411, 61 on first guess), down 0.7% from last month. Max. streak: 4. 
• Heardle 90s: 28.8% (148/513, 30 on first guess), up 0.9% from last month. Max. streak: 5. 
• NYT Connections: 
• By Nov. 30th, I'd completed 125 games and won 79% of them, including 62 "perfect puzzles" with zero errors and a maximum winning streak of 15.  :)   
• By Jan. 5th, I'd completed 161 games and won 81% of them, including 78 "perfect puzzles" with zero errors. I maintained my maximum winning streak of 15.  :) 

Following:  

Eating/Drinking:  

• We continued our efforts to eat healthier since our family doctor warned us about our rising cholesterol levels back in mid-October.  By the time we left for the Christmas holidays, I was down about 6 pounds. (Dh had lost more than 11 -- MEN, right?? lol)  
• I couldn't NOT indulge in some of the holidays goodies that I generally only get to have once a year (turkey, gravy, stuffing, cabbage rolls and perogies, shortbread and butter tarts) -- but I made an effort not to OVER indulge, watch my portion sizes and make the healthy-ish choices. (This was complicated by the fact that my 85-year-old dad does a lot of the cooking, and has never met a pound of butter that he didn't want to slather all over everything...!  Lots of roasts -- beef, pork, chicken and ham, as well as turkey -- mashed potatos whipped with sour cream and half-and-half and veggies loaded with butter and/or cheese.)  Dh & I made a few trips to the local grocery store to stock up on our own (healthy(er)) snacks, including Greek yogurt, apples and clementine oranges, almonds, Triscuit thins, and sparkling water (as an alternative to pop/soda).  
• I was delighted (and relieved) to step on the scale this morning and find I'd only gained 0.2 pounds while we were away. (Then I was annoyed to find that dh LOST 2+ pounds (!) -- for a grand total of 14+ to date.  Good for him, but WHY is it always easier for men to lose weight??). The battle continues...!  
• More bloodwork to come this month. Hoping neither of us will need another prescription, depending on the results! 

Buying (besides books, lol):  Christmas and birthday presents, including things for dh, Little Great-Niece, Little Great-Nephew and his baby brother!   

Wearing:  Our heaviest/warmest winter jackets and boots (December/January in Manitoba!!).   

Enjoying:  Our Christmas tree (and other decorations), and the extra light it gives off at this time of year (which tends to be dark, grey & gloomy in southern Ontario...!).  (We left it up while we were away, and will likely take it down later this week.)  

Missing:  Receiving Christmas cards and displaying the photos people send on my refrigerator! -- no thanks to the Canada Post strike, which began Nov. 15th. The workers were ordered back to work on Dec. 17th, but there's a big backlog to deal with, and by the time we returned yesterday, we'd only received two cards in the mail so far.  And even pre-strike, I've noticed that fewer and fewer people are sending out Christmas cards these days.  :(   I didn't get any done myself this year (didn't see the point when I didn't know if or when I'd get to send them out), and am debating whether to send something out this month or just skip this year all together...?? 

Appreciating:  Heat!!  lol  My sister & her partner drove us to the airport yesterday morning with minimal/NO HEAT in their car!!  There was enough to keep the windshield/windows clear of frost, thankfully, and my parents sent blankets with us, but it's an hour's drive, and those last 20 minutes were pretty chilly! Besides the blanket over my lap/legs, I had my tuque/hat on, coat hood pulled up, scarf pulled up on my face, gloved hands shoved inside pockets, and was wiggling my toes inside my boots to try to keep the circulation going. The temperature outside when we left was -25C, with a windchill of -33C (by the time we got into the city, it had warmed up (??) to -21C).  (That's -33, -27.4 and -5.8F, respectively.)  It was funny to get to Toronto and hear people complaining about how cold it was (it was a relatively balmy -3C/+26.6F, lol).  

Noticing:  My knees (and the left knee in particular) have been KILLING me, after two weeks at my parents' split-level house, going (hobbling) up and down stairs between the three levels. I've had knee issues for well over 15 years now, but stairs just seem to exacerbate things, and I am so thankful to live in a condo, all on one level!  My elderly parents -- both of whom have mobility issues and use canes outside and sometimes inside the house -- insist that it doesn't bother THEM...!  

Prioritizing: I did a lot of that this month...!  Our respective colds really cut into the time we had for Christmas shopping and other prep work before we left for the holidays -- and while we were at my parents' house, I had very little uninterrupted time to myself. I really had to think about what I REEEEALLLLY NEEDED to get done, what would be good to do if I had some time, and what I could let go or postpone till after we got back. I glance at my social media feeds now & then but I'm sure I've missed a ton of news from friends. Likewise, I scanned my emails and flagged the ones that need immediate attention, but most of my newsletters and the like have sat unopened.  I have two weeks' worth of new Ancestry DNA matches to look at (for my mom & dh as well as myself), and have barely kept up with checking my Kobo wishlist for anything on sale, let alone checking out the daily deals. Sigh... 

Trying: To maintain my focus on what needs to be done first/most, now that we're back home (and to not get distracted by my phone, lol).

Wanting: To get organized for the new year (struggling so far...!). 

Anticipating: Looking forward to getting to meet Little Great-Nephew #2 soon!!  (Not enough photos posted/sent by his parents & grandparents while we were away to satisfy us...!) 

Wondering:   Will 2025 FINALLY be the year we get to do some serious travelling?? (particularly since we have a big anniversary coming up...!)  (And if we do, will my knee hold out??)

Loving:  Being back in my own bed again!! 

Feeling: Sad that Christmas always comes & goes so quickly. Sad to leave my elderly parents. (But happy to be back home and in my own bed again!) Nervous anticipation for this new year:  will our cholesterol levels be low enough to avoid additional medication??