Sunday, November 1, 2026

Right now

Right now...* 

*(A (mostly) monthly series/meme.  Explanation of how this started & my inspirations in my first "Right now" post, here. Also my first (similar) "The Current" post, here.)

October was busy! Lots of appointments that meant adjusting our usual routines & schedules a bit, some weeks. While it was cloudy and gloomy earlier in the month, things evolved into gorgeous fall weather (sometimes on the cool side, but lots of blue skies & sunshine!) and autumn colours! I often thought of the famous quote from L.M. Montgomery's "Anne of Green Gables": "I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers."  (Especially when they're followed by Novembers...!) 

Some of the things I/we did this month: 

  • Browsed at the local mega-bookstore (got a tea latte at the in-house coffee shop to sip), Oct. ?th & 30th. 
  • Shopped for groceries at the local supermarket -- or stopped there for groceries and/or takeout soup/pizza/rice bowls, en route home from somewhere else, multiple times during the month.  
  • Had blood drawn at the nearby lab to check my cholesterol/lipid levels. (Oct. 5th) 
    • Indulged in a yummy breakfast at a favourite brunch spot afterward (see "Eating/Drinking," below)
  • Shopped and walked at the mall (Oct. 6th, 23rd & 27th). 
    • Ate lunch in the food court there (first time in a long while since we've done that!) (Oct. 23rd).
  • Spent a few hours with Little Great-Nephew #2 & his grandma (SIL)(Oct. 7th, 13th & 28th). Also on the afternoon of Oct. 20th, with the addition of LGNephew #1! --  their parents had to attend a funeral, so they took him out of school early and dropped both kids off at their grandparents' house.  
    • (LGNephew #2 often makes a fuss when we leave -- or try to leave! -- which breaks my heart on the one hand, but also kind of feeds my ego! -- "He likes us! He really likes us!"  lol)  
  • Attended the annual meeting of owners for our condo building. (Oct. 8th)
  • Drove out to our former community for haircuts at the mall. Had lunch there, did a bit of walking and shopping. (Oct. 9th) 
    • Stopped at the cemetery to visit Katie on our way there, and to pick up a prescription on our way back home. 
  • Celebrated (Canadian) Thanksgiving at BIL & SIL's with the nephews and their families. (Oct. 10th)  A good time was had by all.  :)  
  • Travelled about 30-45 minutes north to meet up with a childless friend I met online (who was driving approximately the same distance south from where she lives!)  at a bookstore for a tea latte. orange loaf slice (yum!) & a visit in the adjacent coffee shop (while dh browsed). We've done this before, and it seems to work well as a meeting spot for us!  (Oct. 14th) 
  • Visited dh's recently divorced cousin in her new condo!  (Oct. 17th)  Great location with lots of amenities close by, and a stunning, panoramic view of the Toronto skyline (as well as the beautiful fall colours!).  Drove there with BIL & SIL.  Several other cousins & a few of their spouses were there too. We hadn't seen some of them since a family wedding last year, and we all had a great visit.  :)  
  • Drove into midtown Toronto for our six-month optometrist checkups (Oct. 21st).  
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Also right now:  

Reading:  I finished 4 books in October (all reviewed on this blog, as well as Goodreads & StoryGraph, & tagged "2026 books").  Year to date, I've read 33 books,  reached 83% of my Goodreads Challenge goal, and am currently on track to achieve it by year end!   

(NOTE:  Midway through the month, Goodreads -- finally!! -- adopted a fractional star rating system like StoryGraph's.)  

Read this month: 
Current reads: 
  • "Anna and Her Daughters" by D.E. Stevenson, with my DES group. We started Sept. 7th and will finish in the first week in November;.  (Last read 2x in 2022;  my reviews here and here.)  91% completed.  
  • "The Children’s Book" by A.S. Byatt -- a "slow readalong" with Footnotes & Tangents, which started Sept. 4th and will end Dec. 18th.  57% completed. 
  • "Childless: A Woman and a Girl in a Man's World" by Fabiana Formica.  This one is beautifully written, but slow going, and I was reading it (or trying to...!) at Mom & Dad's last summer (2025), where there were a lot of distractions. I've put it aside for the moment to focus on other reading priorities, but I've completed 33% to date.
  • "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. ;)  
I am looking forward to reading the rest of the Regeneration Trilogy (although I'm not sure I'll take part in re-reading the first book)!  As for "slowJoyce" -- I remember struggling with "Portrait of the Artist" when I was at university (although I don't think I actually finished it?).  I know that a lot can change in 45 (gulp!) years, though! I also struggled with -- and abandoned "War & Peace" around the same time -- on my own, not for class -- and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it with the group two years ago.  The group experience, and Simon's posts, certainly help. I'm not committing myself just yet, but I'm considering it... 

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

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Watching: 
  • "The Marlow Murder Club" (season 3) on PBS (6 episodes;  began Sept. 6th & ended Oct. 11th), based (in part) on the third book in the series by Robert Thorogood, "The Queen of Poisons" (reviewed here).   
  • "Marble Hall Murders" on PBS (6 episodes; began Sept. 6th; ended on Oct. 11th), based on the book by Anthony Horowitz (reviewed here). 
  • "Trespasses" on PBS (4 episodes;  began Sept. 20th and ended Oct. 11th), based on the book by Louise Kennedy (reviewed here). 
  • Figure skating!!  :)  The fall Grand Prix events have started -- Grand Prix de France in Angiers was last weekend;  Skate Canada is in Kelowna, B.C., this weekend.  
Listening: To lots of 80s music on the Stingray Remember the 80s channel.  :)  

Following: 

Playing:  
  • Heardle Decades: (as of Oct. 31st):  
    • Heardle 60s: 74.6% (1029/1380, 434 on first guess), unchanged  since Sept. 30th. Max streak: 21.  
    • Heardle Super 60s: 52.6% (40/76, 13 on first guess), down 3.0% since Sept. 30th. Max streak: 5.  
    • Heardle 70s: 74.6% (836/1121, 463 on first guess), unchanged since Sept. 30th.. Max streak: 18. 
    • Heardle Super 70s: 60.3% (47/78, 27 on first guess), down 0.8% since Sept. 30th. Max streak: 7 (up from 3). 
    • Heardle 80s:  42.2% (412/976, 167 on first guess), unchanged since Sept. 30th. Max. streak: 6.
    • Heardle Super 80s: 51.3% (40/78, 20 on first guess), up 12.4%  since Sept. 30th. Max streak: 6.. 
    • Heardle 90s: 33.0% (355/1076, 96 on first guess), up 0.3% from Sept. 30th. Max. streak: 9. 
  • NYT Connections: as of Oct. 31st:  (I will admit to using hints at times...!)  
    • Completed games:  807  (776 as of Sept. 30th) 
    • Won: 90% (unchanged since Aug. 2nd). 
    • Perfect puzzles (zero errors):  432 (up from 417 as of Sept. 30th) 
    • Purple category first (most difficult):  22 (unchanged since Aug. 31st). 
    • Maximum winning streak:  52  (unchanged since Aug. 31st).
Eating/Drinking:  
  • Over the past two years (since some less-than-stellar bloodwork results for both of us in October 2024), we've been trying to eat healthier and lower our cholesterol levels -- and avoid having to take on another prescription. (We have been slipping this past year, and this month!)  
    • My most recent results (focused mostly on the cholesterol readings) were... not great. (My overall cholesterol number was actually higher than it was in October 2024.  :(  )  The office called to give me the results (although I'd already seen them online), and said the doctor will discuss them with me the next time he sees me (at my annual checkup, scheduled for Nov. 24th).  Wish me luck...!!  
    • I'm exactly 1 pound less at the end of this month than I was at the beginning. Overall, I'm down 15 pounds since late October 2024 -- close to my lowest weight in more than a decade -- and 27 pounds from my heaviest-ever weight  (in August 2021). 
      • (Dh is currently down 18 pounds since fall 2024.)
  • Takeout meals this month included the usual pizza slices, soup and teriyaki rice bowls from the supermarket, Swiss Chalet rotisserie chicken, and our favourite wood oven thin-crust pizza. 
  • Went out for brunch at a favourite spot after having the bloodwork done (Oct. 5th, AM), following a 12-hour fast. I indulged in scrambled eggs with bacon (they make it nice & crisp, the way I like it), potatos, sourdough toast with jam, orange juice and tea. Yum! 
  • Celebrated Thanksgiving at BIL & SIL's (Oct. 10th). They ordered our dinner from the local supermarket's catering service:  roast turkey breast, garlic mashed potatoes & gravy, root vegetable medley, salad, cranberry sauce, pasta in cheese sauce (basically a fancier version of mac & cheese!), and mini-cannolis for dessert. The nephews brought pies (pumpkin, apple & blueberry) and we brought a fruit tray to nibble on, and we all left with leftovers for another dinner. It wasn't my mom's turkey dinner -- but it was still pretty good! (And we got sent home with leftovers for another dinner the next day!) 
  • We decided to have lunch at the mall after shopping there on Friday, Oct. 23rd, when the water to our building was going to be shut off (!)(exact time & duration uncertain). We chose Shake Shack, which opened an outlet in the food court there earlier this year. Shake Shack is relatively new to Canada (arrived here about two years ago and now has a few restaurants in the Toronto area as well as one in Calgary), but I remember when I went to New York City in 2013 with dh's cousins, there was a Shake Shack directly across the street from our hotel. We didn't eat there then, but I noticed there was a continual lineup outside, all day!
    • We both had burgers, and shared an order of crinkle-cut fries and a chocolate shake.  All very tasty.  I don't have burgers very often these days, and it's probably been at least a decade or two since I had a milkshake!  
Wearing: Early on this month, I reluctantly put away my capris and sandals, and started wearing longer pants/jeans & sleeves, socks and slippers. :(   Started wearing a denim jacket outside too (which -- so far! -- has been enough...). 

Buying (besides books, lol):  Stuff for the great-niblings' Halloween goodie bags, which I gave to them on the Thanksgiving long weekend... and I've started to collect stuff for their Christmas gifts, as well as both great-nephews' upcoming birthdays (in November & December). Ho ho ho!!  

And speaking of Christmas:  we booked our plane tickets to Manitoba for the holidays (ouch!! -- travel within Canada is expensive!). We'll be staying almost three weeks, again. (Merry Christmas, Dad!)  

For me:  A Christmas themed "Nice Team" T-shirt (as in "naughty or nice?")  from Old Navy's Christmas PJs collection (lol).  :) (Think that will convince Santa?? lol)  

Trying: To make more time in my day for reading books (vs online stuff).  

Prioritizing: Actually, I'm not succeeding at prioritizing much these days...!  :(   I have to-do lists and great intentions, but the days go sailing by, the lists never seem to get shorter, and my email inbox just keeps growing....   (Maybe the verb should be "floundering" instead?) 

Noticing:  The dirt on the windows.  With the changeover in property management, they didn't get washed this spring/summer -- and we didn't get the balcony windows cleaned either.  :(  (We get professionals in for most of the building's windows, but they will not come onto our baldonies, so we're responsible for doing the windows there -- and I usually do ours right around the same time.)  Sigh.  

Appreciating:  The mostly nice weather we've been having lately, and the beautiful fall colours.  Also: our new ultra-quiet dishwasher!!  (which we bought last month)  (It cleans really well too!)  

Loving:  The October light, and the beautiful fall colours!  

Feeling: More upbeat as the month ends than when it started (although I know November is now upon us..!).  

Coming up in November (my least-favourite month!): U.S. midterm elections; Remembrance Day; what would have been Katie's 28th (!) birthday; Grey Cup (in Calgary);  Little Great-Nephew's 7th (!) birthday; annual checkups with our family doctor (and likely a prescription for cholesterol meds for me)(GULP...);  U.S. Thanksgiving... and full speed ahead to December and Christmas!    
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