#MicroblogMondays: Adding insult to injury....

Thanks to those of you who empathized over the fall I took last Tuesday. I have to say (again) just how lucky I feel. It was a scary experience -- but it could have been so much worse!  

I'm actually kind of amazed at how quickly I'm healing.  I still have a faint purplish shadow and some abrasions on my left cheek (which, at a glance, could probably pass for rosacea...!), but they're healing fast. There's another abrasion above my left upper lip that's healing too -- less and less noticeable every day.  It looks like I'm recovering from a large cold sore!  The lip itself is a lot better too.  The scrapes on on my hands are still noticeable, but they're gradually healing.  The bruises on my knees too, but they're not so noticeable under my clothes!  

I did feel a lot of fatigue for a couple of days afterward, which I chalked up to the shock & trauma. But then I started having a lot of sinus drainage (more than usual)... which caused a scratchy throat, and triggered coughing.  By Saturday, I suspected I was coming down with a cold. By the time I woke up on Sunday morning, I knew it. I developed an awful cough, had a crappy night, and feel pretty crappy this morning too. (Thanks a lot for passing it on, dh...!)(eyeroll) 

My first instinct was to take a covid test yesterday, which was, thankfully, negative. I repeated the test this morning (also negative). So I guess it's not covid, which is a good thing -- but it is still nasty! 

Then (yesterday morning), BIL called. It was Older Nephew's birthday. We hadn't heard anything about a celebration, either at BIL's or at their place -- not surprisingly, since Older Nephew's wife is less than a week away from a scheduled C-section! and obviously has other things on her mind!  ;)  Now BIL was proposing to drive up there with a cake, and they wanted to know if we wanted to come. 

Well, of COURSE we wanted to come! -- BUT. There was no way on this green earth that I was going to expose a 39-weeks pregnant woman to my germs. I always worry about any pregnant woman until the baby is here and I know both of them are okay -- but obviously, this is my niece-in-law (and Great-Nephew #2), which ups the worry factor considerably (not to mention the incredible GUILT I would feel if one or both got sick because of me!). 

So dh went with them, by himself -- and I stayed at home and felt sorry for myself, lol.  

What's REALLY frustrating is that this always -- always!! -- seems to happen right around this time of year. I don't know if it's because there are lots of bugs going around, if pre-holiday stress lowers the defenses of your immune system or what -- but THIS IS NOT A GOOD TIME FOR THIS, BODY!! 

It's a busy week ahead.  We'd planned to go to the mall this morning to do some more Christmas shopping, and get in some of that EXERCISE we're supposed to be getting (to lose weight & lower our cholesterol, along with eating better). Needless to say, with dh sick and now me, that hasn't been happening. I would say I'm 85-90% done shopping, but I still have two gifts and some more stocking stuffers to get.

I'm supposed to head back downtown to the dentist on Wednesday for the checkup and cleaning I missed.  Hopefully, I will be able to make that appointment, because I really don't want to postpone it until January -- but I'm having my doubts...!  (I'm pretty sure there was no real damage done when I fell last Tuesday, but it would make me feel better to have that confirmed ASAP.)  

Our new great-nephew is also arriving later this week!  Unfortunately, even if I was feeling better, it's doubtful we'll be able to see him before we head off for the holidays. :(  But the night before the operation, Older Nephew & his wife are bringing Little Great-Nephew (and the dog!) to stay with BIL & SIL, so we may be able to see LGN then -- again, so long as I'm feeling better.   

Based on the timeline of how dh's cold ran, I *should* be feeling better by the time we're scheduled to fly. I will, of course, wear a mask in the airport and on the plane. Too many germs around right now (and I don't want to add to them, or pick up any new ones!). 

Wish me luck...! 

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

#MicroblogMondays: Blue skies

I recently signed up for Bluesky, the much saner (so far, anyway...) alternative to the cesspool that has become Twitter/X.  So far, so good!  and many of the people I follow over on X have similarly made the move. (I haven't deleted my Twitter/X account yet, but rarely visit these days, and likely will delete soon. I want to check my "following" list there vs Bluesky and make sure I won't be missing out on any favourites before I cut the cord!)  

One of the few things I find I don't like about Bluesky, though, is that your profile is completely public: unlike Twitter/X or Threads or other social media platforms, there is no ability to accept or refuse/delete new followers. You just get a notification that you're being followed.  

I don't have a huge amount of followers -- 56 at the time of writing -- but of those 56, 44 (almost 80%!) are complete strangers to me -- most of them men. (eyeroll)  (Just 12 are people I know, from online or "in real life.")  I haven't posted anything original there yet (and likely won't do that too often, if at all), but I have "liked," "shared" and (very occasionally) replied to others' posts (generally people I know). It's one thing to know that anything I reply to is up there for all to see, but quite another to know that my profile and all my activity is completely open for total strangers to peruse. I'm not a public figure;  why they would want to follow me (and how they found my profile) is a mystery to me. (Yeah, I know  -- they're hoping I'll follow them back -- and a lot of them are likely bots, right?) 

(As I was writing this, I got another notification of a new follower:  Elon Musk. On Bluesky. Yeah, right...  THAT was an immediate block!  lol)  

You do have the ability to block people on Bluesky, and while I haven't blocked anyone yet, I'm considering doing so. I figure that someone who's following a couple thousand other accounts won't miss me if I block their ability to see my stuff in their feeds. (I doubt they're really interested in what I'm sharing there anyway;  as I said above, they probably just hoping I'll follow them back to boost their follower numbers. And I'm certainly not doing that.)  

Thoughts? 

(I realize this concern about privacy sounds completely irrational when I've been spilling my guts here in this blog for the past 17 years to all and sundry (albeit semi-anonymously)...!  lol  But I don't expect too many people are hanging out here if they don't have some connection to pregnancy loss, infertility and/or childlessness themselves.)

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

#MicroblogMondays: Bah humbug? Or hohoho?

It's December. It's Christmastime. Quite possibly my favourite holiday of the year. 

But... 

I'm trying, but I'm not feeling the joy yet. :p  

• I like to put the tree up on the first weekend of Advent, if possible. It's still not up.  Dh has had a bad cold for the past few days (wouldn't take a covid test, and it's probably too late to do it anyway...), and he's miserable.. and I need his help to assemble the tree and haul the boxes of ornaments upstairs from our storage locker in the parking garage. Maybe tomorrow... 
• I have more shopping to do, and we usually go to the mall on Tuesdays, but likely not tomorrow, because, see above. 
• I'm feeling the itch to do some Christmas baking -- but we're trying to lose weight a lower our cholesterol. Sigh...
• I haven't bought any Christmas cards yet. (Those of you I send cards to, take note!)  Canada Post is on strike -- has been for almost 3 weeks now. It seemed kind of pointless to buy cards when I'm not sure if or when I'm going to be able to send them out. I don't think I've EVER NOT sent cards out at Christmastime (and I started doing my own when I was a teenager, I think?).  
• We haven't had a single flake of snow yet (which always makes things feel a bit more Christmas-y). 
• (On the other hand, the Muskoka region/cottage country, about two hours north of us, and western New York State, across Lake Ontario, have been WALLOPED over the past few days. We're talking 100-140ish cm/50-60 INCHES in some places.  There has to be a happy medium, right??)
• (Maybe I should be careful what I wish for?!  lol)  
• BIL & SIL are heading off to Florida this week with his & dh's cousin and his wife. We were invited to go along, but declined -- not a good time, for various reasons -- but a week in the sun would have been nice... (perhaps another time...). 
• For reasons anyone reading this blog likely understands, I am feeling nervous about Older Nephew's Wife's impending due date, and hoping/praying/crossing all the crossables that everything goes well for both mom & baby.  

On the bright side: 

• I enjoyed the American Thanksgiving weekend. :)  I'm Canadian, so I wasn't celebrating (and dh's cold put a damper on things) -- but there was a definite lull in online activity and, as a result, I was able to catch up on a lot of reading (both online & off). 
• I did put up my Advent calendar. :)  I bought a new one two years ago. It's a Christmas tree with velcro strips on it, and little "ornaments" (backed with velcro). I love "hanging" a new ornament on the tree every morning.  :) 
• I bought some cheerful new seasonal placemats (woven, with red and white checks and Christmas trees) that make me smile every time I put them on the table. 
• My favourite sterling silver jewelry maker personally delivered my box of her specially curated Favourite Things 2024 yesterday -- 12 carefully curated and beautifully wrapped surprises (including several pieces of her jewelry, as well as things she loves from other local craftspeople) -- such a great treat for myself!  
• (It used to be an "Advent Calendar," with 24 packages... obviously, that was a LOT of work for her to put together -- and more expensive for us to buy -- so she downsized last year to just 12 days' worth of goodies.  It's still worth it!)

Are you feeling the Christmas/holiday spirit yet? 

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

#MicroblogMondays: "Does motherhood have a PR crisis?" (Seriously??)

Sara Petersen at In Pursuit of Clean Countertops and Amanda Montei at Mad Woman shared an interesting conversation recently (pre-U.S. election) about pronatalism, choosing whether or not to pursue parenthood, and whether the joys of parenthood are being lost in the movement, in recent years, toward sharing the frustrations and "mom rage" more honestly and openly.  

The entire conversation is cross-posted in both of their Substacks, but with different introductions -- Sara's titled "Does Motherhood Have A PR Crisis?" and Amanda's "What is motherhood writing for?"  (Both intros are worth reading -- and I don't think either post is paywalled, at least not right now?).  Both cite and link to other great pieces of writing that informed their own thoughts. 

(One piece not mentioned in the discussion:  the always-great Moira Donegan -- who is referenced, and is childfree by choice -- recently reviewed the book "What Are Children For?:  On Ambivalence and Choice" by Anastasia Berg and Rachel Wiseman, for Book Forum:  "Baby Talk: On pro-natalism and motherhood after Dobbs.") (I guess I can scratch THAT one off my to-read list...! -- unless to read with a critical eye, as Donegan does here...?) 

The conversation is, as you can imagine, very motherhood-focused (both Amanda & Sara are mothers)  -- but it's an intelligent one, and I found it fascinating. Depending on where you are in your journey, you might find it interesting too. The childfree choice gets some space, but (sadly) nowhere is it mentioned that not all of us choose to be childless, or that we might have a slightly different perspective to offer. 

I appreciated comments like this one, from Sara: 

...from my perspective, the idea that motherhood can be a noble, fulfilling endeavor is the DOMINANT narrative, and has been . . . pretty much forever? I find myself wondering who/what we’re concerned about in this question of good/bad maternal PR.

Amanda agrees: 

Right, exactly. There are plenty of depictions of motherhood as rich and fulfilling—as you have written about at length! We have plenty of “online discourse” that covers that area. Not to mention all of history, in which the sentimentalization of motherhood has been the dominant story we’ve told about women and their presumed biological destiny. 

From MY perspective, as a childless-not-by-choice woman, I agree.  The message that motherhood is "the best thing that ever happened to me" still seems pretty relentless to me, and often only serves to rub salt in our wounds. On the other hand, the acknowledgement that motherhood is damned hard work, and it's not all sunshine and roses, sometimes comes as a bit of a relief to those of us who get to experience neither. 

Sara & Amanda also identify -- correctly, I think -- that the handwringing about motherhood's supposed "PR crisis" and falling birthrates, etc., is part of the concerted push in certain quarters to get women married, pregnant, out of the workforce and subservient to/dependent on men again.  And it's likely this pushback will be amplified, now that pronatalist forces are back in power in Washington (and elsewhere in the U.S. and around the world).

Both women use the term "backlash" several times throughout their conversation (at one point, Amanda speaks of "the backlash to more nuanced— and yes, critical— depictions of motherhood") -- which of course made me think of Susan Faludi and her book "Backlash" (which I read when it first came out in 1991, and would really like to re-read again soon!), about the backlash at the time against the feminist movement and gains of the 1970s and early 80s. 

It's a really rich discussion with lots to chew on! If you read it, I'd love to know what you think. :) 

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

#MicroblogMondays: One day more...

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

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

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

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

Keep calm, stay safe, and VOTE.  

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

#MicroblogMondays: Personal odds & ends

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

No links this time around... more soon! 

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

#MicroblogMondays: I love October :)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oh, those colours!!  

#MicroblogMondays: Thankful :)

Since we actually managed to make it "home" to see my parents this summer (after several years of not being able to get there then -- but usually compensating with an October visit to celebrate (Canadian) Thanksgiving), we reverted to the custom of previous years and spent Thanksgiving this year/this past weekend with dh's family, which these days means BIL, SIL. the nephews and their families. The official holiday is actually today, but we celebrated together yesterday (the nephews were with their wives' families on Saturday).  

SIL decided not to cook (much) this year and ordered a package deal from the catering counter at the local supermarket that was supposed to feed 10 people (we had 8 adults & 2 children). For $200 (Canadian) -- i.e., $20 per person -- we got: 

• 2 roasted boneless turkey breasts, 
• a choice of two side dishes (from a list of 13 -- we had mashed potatos and roasted root vegetables), 
• a large salad (choice of 3 -- we had Caesar salad), 
• 10 small buns, 
• gravy and cranberry sauce, and 
• 20 mini-cannolis for dessert (choice of 5 fillings -- we had ricotta/chocolate chip). 

SIL also made stuffing (from a boxed mix, which wasn't my Mom's, of course, but wasn't bad), sauteed rapini and a green salad, and the boys brought pies (apple, pumpkin and pecan).  It was all very good -- and, as dh said, "You would probably spend just as much or more to buy and cook all that food yourself!" Also, the portions were quite generous. We all took home leftovers! 

We had a good time, especially with the kids.  :)  The nephews took the great-niblings outside on the deck to play for a while, and dh & I took some really cute photos of them. :)  (A couple of non-human photos below.) 

Previous Thanksgiving-related posts here. 

SIL's pretty table centrepiece.
(Which we had to remove to make room for all the plates & food! lol) 

Part of the feast, before we all dug in. Doesn't it look colourful? 

Note the dog is sporting a festive Halloween collar.  :)  

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

Not a #Microblog ;) : Odds & ends on Monday

• No #MicroblogMondays this week, per Mel. If there was, I think this post, or one of the points in it, would be it!  
• Watching the progress of Hurricane Milton towards Florida. One of dh's cousins has a vacation home there. -- Well, actually, a couple of cousins do, but this particular cousin is the one who has generously hosted us at his cottage every fall for the past few years. 
• In fact, they have been telling us ("us" includes BIL & SIL) that we need to go to Florida with them sometime -- and when we were at the cottage with them a few weeks ago, the wife found a great deal on flights for a week in early/mid-December. BIL & SIL jumped at the invitation.  Dh & I regretfully declined, primarily because it's awfully close to when we'll be heading west to see my elderly parents for Christmas. I know sooooo many people who have gotten sick recently (with covid, or otherwise) after travelling, and I just don't want to take the risk then.
• You can guess where this story is going. Their house is in the Tampa Bay area, a few blocks from the beach. They lost their lanai (enclosed porch/sunroom) during a previous hurricane a couple of years ago.  When I checked in with the cousin's wife last week (via text), she told me they'd had an estimated 5 to 7 feet of storm surge hit the house during Hurricane Helene, a week-plus ago. (Gulp.) (They hadn't been there yet to inspect the damage, but they have a property manager who gave them the news.)  The house was still structurally sound, but requires a total renovation, and all the furniture and other stuff they kept there has to be replaced. She was still optimistic they could go in December as planned (!)... but that was before Milton came along...!  
• Thinking of everyone in the storm's path.  Stay safe!  
• As someone who loves to read books (albeit I will admit I don't read as many of them as I did in my younger/pre-tech days), this (gift linked) article from the Atlantic gave me the heebie-jeebies...!  
• "Psst. Don't tell anyone, but we might get a female president."  (Gift link.) I'm three years older than Kamala Harris, and I found myself nodding as I read this part (something I'm not sure young women today fully appreciate):  

Sometimes I think, after 248 years of the United States and 45 men as president, what’s taking so long? And then I remember, it’s been essentially 12 minutes since women could take out our own damn credit cards.

The fact that we’re this close — and with a woman of color, no less, and all the extra sucking mud that involves — is miraculous.

When Harris was born, 60 years ago this month, women could not serve on a jury in all 50 states. They had to have a male relative sign a business loan. They had no legal recourse against sexual harassment or marital rape. There was no no-fault divorce. They could get the pill, but only if they were married. They could not get a legal abortion unless their lives were in danger, and they could be fired for getting pregnant. They could not be admitted to Harvard College or the U.S. Military Academy or join their local Rotary, Kiwanis or Lions Club. Among the Fortune 500 companies, there was not a single female CEO.

To get to the point where she might become the first female U.S. president, Harris first had to become the first female district attorney of San Francisco, the first female attorney general of California and the first female vice president of the United States.

• Tangentially related to the usual fare on this blog, I loved this article in the Toronto Star about growing efforts to identify and memorialize the people buried in unmarked, sometimes mass graves, so-called "Potter's Fields." (Sorry, no gift links available, but if you hit a paywall, I find that saving the article and then opening it in Pocket sometimes helps.) 
• Tangentially related to the above point:  often, especially in years gone by, unmarked/mass graves became the resting place of stillborn infants. The Children's Garden at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto memorializes these babies, the result of one bereaved mother's efforts to find out where her infant son was buried, 30 years earlier.  The pregnancy loss support group dh & I belonged to used to hold an annual "Walk to Remember" and dove release at the Children's Garden site during October/Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month, and Mary Smith, the mother who created the garden, almost always attended.  
• Here's an article that includes the story of Mary Smith and the Children's Garden. 
• And here's a 2008 blog post I wrote about the Walk to Remember and the Children's Garden. 
• (If it's not obvious, the memorial I mention at the end, "erected by the drummer of a very well-known, Toronto-based Canadian classic rock band, in memory of his 19-year-old daughter," refers to Neil Peart of Rush. And now, of course, he's gone too. :(  There is space on the monument for him;  I haven't been back there in years so I have no idea whether it's been updated or where if he is buried/his ashes are interred there -- if, of course, he's actually buried anywhere at all.)  
• Carolyn Hax, advice columnist in the Washington Post, recently published this doozy: "Husband has been lying for entire marriage about wanting kids." (Gift link.) I know this is not an entirely uncommon scenario (albeit it usually comes up before you've been married 8 years and together a lot longer than that). 
• Not too much later from Carolyn:  "Name they chose for baby they lost was just given to newborn niece."  (I personally know a few people this has happened to...!)  
• Ryan Rose Weaver interviewed Rebecca Little and Colleen Long, authors of the new book "I'm Sorry for My Loss," in her Substack, now called "In Tending."  
• "Both loss parents themselves... [they] had set out to write the definitive book on how pregnancy loss is viewed and experienced in America – and in their words, “Why we are so bad at it.” "
• The book includes 100 stories about perinatal grief -- including their own, and including Weaver's.   
• I wrote about this book when I first heard about it, here, and hope to read it very soon! -- seems very appropriate for Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month!
• "Voters without kids are in the political spotlight – but they’re not all the same." The authors spoke at the Zoom call organized by the Alliance for Child-Free Voters in early September, which I wrote about here. 

It’s too soon to know whether child-free people can be thought of as a distinct voting bloc. But...  Given their size, growth, organization and liberal leanings, it may be time for American politicians to think more carefully about how child-free people fit in.

#MicroblogMondays: Small pleasures & annoying things

Small pleasures:  

• Finishing a book this weekend!  :)  
• Weather that's (still) mild enough to allow us to keep the balcony door open during the day. :)  
• Still being able to wear my capris & sandals when we go out. :)  
• Watching the leaves on the trees gradually turning colour. 
• Getting some new photos texted to us of Little Great-Niece. :)  

Annoying things:  

• Football.  :p  (Sorry, dh, but between college games, NFL & CFL, it's on ALL THE TIME right now, and I have absolutely NO INTEREST in it!) 
• (Small pleasure/revenge:  Figure skating season starts soon!!  lol)  
• The numbers on the scale that either refuse to budge or head in the wrong direction.... :p  
• Having to figure out what's for dinner. Every. Single. Night.  :p  Once in a while, I have a decided preference, but a lot of the time, I haven't got a clue (and neither does dh...!). All I know is I'll be hungry...!  lol  
• Not enough hours in the day sometimes... 
• Not being able to come up with anything different to post for #MicroblogMondays. ;)  

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

#MicroblogMondays: It's World Childless Week! Day One: Our Stories

(Reposted with updates and additions from a previous WCW-related post dated September 12, 2022.)  

World Childless Week is here!  -- an entire week filled with inspiring and comforting things to read, watch, listen to and participate in, focused on a different topic/theme each day (and new material posted daily too). If you miss some of the live webinars, don't worry;  they are posted on the WCW website later in the day/week to be enjoyed and consulted indefinitely. (Previous years' WCW content is also available onsite -- what a great resource for our community!) 

As usual, I didn't manage to get my act together to write something new -- but I did participate in this year's very first webinar this morning! (more on that below!) -- and I'm always happy to promote WCW here. A couple of years ago, it occurred to me that I've already covered many of the WCW topics in my blog over the almost (gulp) 17 years I've been writing here. So each day this week, it will be my intention to post about the day's topic here, with some links to some of my own writing on the subject (if I have written about it in the past). (Some of the content I wrote for previous years' WCW summary posts may be repurposed for this year's posts.) 

Enjoy! :) 

*** *** *** 

Day One is focused on the theme "Our Stories" (as it usually is).  

Our voices are often unheard and dismissed and our stories are twisted by the media to reflect their desired outcome rather than the gritty reality we face. Society often assumes we all have issues that can be resolved through IVF, adoption and “just relaxing”. Our stories are important as they explain the reality of why we find ourselves as childless, the emotions we have to face and the grief that sits in our heart. If you are childless not by choice, due to infertility, circumstance, chance or tough choices, you can share your story here with confidence.  

We may not have travelled the same path but we’ve all arrived at the same destination; no matter how dark you have felt, we’ve been there too, and we understand. 

I'm a firm believer in the power of telling our stories (if only to each other, at least at first). Meetings of the pregnancy loss support group that dh & I used to facilitate would always begin by going around the room and having each person introduce themselves and tell us their story, what brought them to us. Sometimes (especially at first), the stories would be long, detailed and filled with tears. Over time, new details would emerge that we hadn't heard before. And we'd learn to develop a shortened "Reader's Digest" version of our story, which left more time for the longer stories (plus, over time, the "regulars" would all get to know each other and each others' stories pretty well, so it wasn't quite as necessary or important to go through all the details for the umpteenth time). 

Telling and retelling our stories to each other like this, week after week, in a supportive environment among others who had similar stories to tell, was good practice for handling those inevitable innocent questions and awkward encounters that all of us experience, sooner or later. In training sessions, we also learned that telling our stories, or some version of them -- over and over and over again -- helps us to process what happened. 

I think the same principles apply to our stories about our childlessness.  Our stories matter, because they're OURS, and because by telling them, we light the way for other childless women looking for support and comfort.  Our stories remind each other that we are not alone.  

This entire blog, of course, is my story :) (or at least parts of/a version of it) and it has evolved, along with my story, over the past 17 years.  A barebones, thumbnail version of my story can be found in the "About me" Blogger profile near the top of this page on the right-hand side (or in the link here). You can find a slightly longer version in the "About me" page (found just under the title/header of this blog). The "Timeline" page (link right beside the "About me" link) also gives you an idea of how my story unfolded and some of the significant dates & events. 

If you're really interested in all the gory details (and be forewarned, some of them ARE a bit gory, emotionally if not physically), I wrote a series of posts tagged "1998 memories" in which I relived my one doomed pregnancy, 10 years after the fact. I did the same thing with "The Treatment Diaries," all about our foray into infertility treatments, 10 years after we abandoned them and resigned ourselves to permanent childlessness. 

I also wrote a few posts shortly after I started this blog, where I told a condensed version of my story (up to that time): 

• Blogtivism: My Story (& how mandated coverage could have helped) (November 2007)
• How we made "the decision" (November 2007)

If you have some difficulty telling your story to others (and I know I have!) -- especially to parents who might not understand/appreciate the subtleties of involuntary childlessness -- take comfort in the words of Brene Brown -- who emphasizes the importance of telling our stories -- but also this:  

Our stories are not meant for everyone. Hearing them is a privilege, and we should always ask ourselves this before we share: "Who has earned the right to hear my story?" If we have one or two people in our lives who can sit with us and hold space for our shame stories, and love us for our strengths and struggles, we are incredibly lucky. If we have a friend, or small group of friends, or family who embraces our imperfections, vulnerabilities, and power, and fills us with a sense of belonging, we are incredibly lucky.

Check out today's content on the WCW site, including community members' contributions. Today's webinars -- "What Can We Learn From Our Family History?" featuring a conversation between Michael Hughes of the Full Stop podcast and yours truly ;) -- "Emotional Seasons of Childlessness" with Sandra McNicol and others; and "Childlessness and Childhood Trauma" with Juli Angelis, have all concluded, but were recorded, and the videos will be posted to the Day One page as well as the WCW YouTube channel, for anyone who missed seeing them live.  

*** *** *** 

I was up before dawn this morning -- it actually just started turning light outside when I logged onto the Zoom link just before 7 AM for our webinar about family history/genealogy and childlessness with Michael Hughes this morning (it was 9 PM for Michael in Australia! and 12 noon for Stephanie Phillips in the UK).  I'll admit I was a bit nervous, especially at first -- I've been around the childless community for a long time now, but haven't spoken much publicly about my experiences, especially under my full/real name!  But Michael & I could probably talk about this stuff all day (lol) ;)  and the hour went by pretty quickly.  We had, I think, 17 participants watching live at one point -- not bad for early morning on a work day! -- and a few questions in the chat and Q&A.  

If you watched (live, or later), I'd love to know what you thought!  (A special hello to anyone who found this blog as a result of the webinar/WCW!)   And if you have questions, you can ask them in the comments below, and I will try to answer.  

Here's a previous blog post with some background on how the webinar came about. :)   

You can find my other genealogy-related posts here. 

I'm particularly fond of this post from 2014, which tells the story of Aunt Maggie, who saved the letters that spurred my interest in my family history (and provided some valuable clues), and also includes the quote from George Elliot's novel "Middlemarch," which I read near the end of our webinar. :)  

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

#MicroblogMondays: Coming soon to a screen near you...!

I tend to roll my eyes when people talk about their "passion" for something (perhaps because it was such an over-used buzzword in my former workplace!) -- but I think it would be safe to say that I am "passionate" about family history/genealogy. :)  

That is why I am taking a big step outside my comfort zone to share that passion with the rest of you!  As part of World Childless Week next month, Michael Hughes of the Full Stop podcast and I will be presenting a webinar on the morning of Monday, Sept. 16th, called "What Can We Learn From Our Family History?" 

Stephanie Joy Phillips, who founded and runs World Childless Week, proposed the idea of a WCW webinar to me earlier this year, after reading some of my comments on a discussion thread related to childlessness, family history and legacy. I knew that Michael is also a keen genealogist (and even more knowledgeable on the subject than I am), and suggested him as another participant -- and happily, he said yes!  

I know many of us who don't have children don't see the point in learning about our families' histories.  It can hurt to see our childlessness reflected in black and white on a family tree chart -- our siblings and cousins' branches growing and flourishing -- while our little branch comes to a dead end -- so why bother?  Who really will remember us -- any of us, with or without kids, anyway -- especially after a century or two?  Shouldn't we be more concerned with the here and now and what we can do to make life better for others while we're here?  And, some would argue, does a genetic connection even matter that much anyway? Does our legacy lie in our descendants, in great achievements, or in small acts of kindness and connection with others?     

I can't deny some of these arguments. And I can't speak for others -- but I know that for me, learning more about my family history, and what my ancestors endured, to allow me to live the life I enjoy today (a pretty good one, all things considered...!) -- and especially learning about my childless relatives from the past -- has been both comforting and inspirational. Simply realizing just how many of them there are/have been has helped me to feel less alone as a childless person!  

Our family history and what we learn about it can be part of the legacy that we pass along to our other extended family members -- especially if we take steps to preserve and share the things we've learned. Family tends to be defined pretty narrowly these days -- we tend to focus on parents and grandparents, siblings and children -- but aunts, uncles and cousins also have roles to play too (if we're lucky enough to know them and spend time with them). Hearing my parents talk about their own extended family members and what they've learned from them gives me hope that perhaps someday our nephews and great-niblings will remember us and tell stories about us to their own kids in the same way.  

Michael & I will be exploring some of these themes in this webinar on Sept. 16th.  Come join us!  You can register here. (And if you can't watch live, the recording will be available on the WCW website later. You do not need to register in advance if you're just going to watch later on the website.)  

(I'll admit I'm a little nervous about "going public," after managing to (mostly) maintain my semi-anonymity here for almost 17 (!) years -- 23 years in the childless community generally!  It's possible that some family members and friends, who know nothing of my blog or other activities in the childless community, may see something about the webinar on social media and find their way here. But I think it's a worthwhile risk!) 

You can find my other genealogy-related posts here. 

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

#MicroblogMondays: A few odds & ends

• 
  Something happened today that most Canadians generally don't have to deal with or think about, most of the time:  I got a medical-related bill, via my MyChart app (where you can sign up to receive your medical test results, etc., online) related to my recent emergency trip to the hospital. 
• It was a bill for the ambulance:  $45.  Not bad, eh?  (Same as the bill I got after my first ambulance trip, two years ago.)  
• I paid it (online, with my credit card). And I can probably get some if not all of that back via the supplementary medical insurance dh & I have as pensioners through our previous employer. 
• Glad to be Canadian (not for the first nor the last time, I am sure...!).  
• I saw my first back to school post on social media recently -- last week, on August 5th (!). (Someone's grandkids from the American South.)  Here in Ontario, first day generally isn't until the day after Labour Day (and some kindergarten classes and college programs start a week or so later than that). Which means I have at least six or seven weeks of photos and posts trickling (and then gushing) into my social media to (not??) look forward to. Sigh... 
• As a Canadian, I don't get a vote in the upcoming U.S. presidential election -- but I was tickled to see Kamala Harris chose the governor of Minnesota (my mom's home state, and still home to many of my relatives), Tim Walz, as her running mate. (I'm old enough to remember seeing former MN governor/former VP Hubert Humphrey speaking at the county fair in the early 1970s -- during the 1972 election, possibly? -- when I was a pre-teen -- but, I digress...!) 
• The best part, though, was Walz's frank declaration that he became a dad only after several years of IVF treatments -- and named his daughter Hope because of that. I think this guy gets it (certainly more so than a certain former president and his own VP pick...).   
• There's been some great coverage about that, and I will try to round up a few links to include in a future post...  
• Despite the alarmist/doom-laden headline (eyeroll), I appreciated the thoughtful overall tone of this article from the Guardian by Gaby Hinsliff:  "The shrunken state expects families to fill the voids in health and social care. Woe betide those without children." (Subheading: "As fewer Britons have children, more will be left to navigate our threadbare social care system and overstretched hospitals alone." -- it focuses on the British health care and social services system, but I don't think North America is any better...!)  Key paragraph (boldfaced emphasis mine): 

The last thing I want to do in raising this is add to a mean-spirited moral panic about what Donald Trump’s new right-hand man, JD Vance, so dismissively called “childless cat ladies”. Making people feel guilty – or worse still, frightened – about not having had the children some of them desperately wanted to have but couldn’t, is cruel and futile, since for the average older person finding themselves in need of care it’s about 30 years too late for regrets. Instead, what we need are services shaped for the way families are now, not the way that proponents of a smaller state would like them to be.

• I loved this Substack post from Jennifer Louden at "It's Not Too Late:"  "your yet to be lived lives are calling." Sample passage (boldfaced emphasis hers):  

To live is to whittle away possibilities. To choose one fork in the road over another. And to never know what you might have experienced, who you might have become, if you chose the other way.

Learning to make some kind of peace with your unlived life is part of growing down into the life you did choose. Of course, many of us didn’t get to choose — a host of factors outside our control choose for us, sometimes brutally. This too we have to metabolize if we are to continue to live more than a shadow existence.

We all possess unlived unexpressed potential. Missed opportunities. Stolen opportunities. Parts of ourselves we didn’t develop, roads we could not or did not venture down.

Yes, it is too late for those avenues, those options, those opportunities.

But there are lives ahead of you that are yearning to be explored. It is not too late for that.

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

#MicroblogMondays: An "interesting" weekend...!

It's a long weekend here (civic holiday) -- and it's been, ahem, "interesting."  

Saturday was relatively quiet.  Yesterday (Sunday) I hosted a book club Zoom chat -- I'm one of the co-hosts for the book club on the Childless Collective community, and we try to pick books where motherhood, pregnancy, babies, etc., are not a focus (and NO MIRACLE BABIES!!  lol). Our book was "The Hollow Sea" by Annie Kirby (reviewed here), who is a member of the community, and she joined us for a second hour to chat and answer our questions -- so we had more people on the call than usual. Between hosting the call, asking discussion & interview questions, monitoring the chat,  watching for people with raised hands who wanted to speak, etc. etc.,  I was kept hopping! -- but it went very well! 

Younger Nephew's birthday was also this weekend -- he was 32 (!) -- and we were invited over to their townhouse on Sunday afternoon for cake & coffee. Because of the book club event, I wasn't able to go at 2-2:30, when everyone else was coming, but dh went then. It's not that far, less than a 10-mimute walk, and as soon as I was done the Zoom call (at 4), I locked up and headed over to join them all. Unfortunately, Little Great-Nephew wasn't feeling well  :(  so he, his mom & dad stayed home  :(  but BIL & SIL were there, and Little Great-Niece kept us all entertained. She actually said, "Aunt Lori" and wanted to sit on my lap (and for me to pick her up), and shared some of the bits of cheese and strawberries her mom had cut up for her with me!  Needless to say, I was tickled!!  :) 

We had a fun visit with birthday cake & snacks, and then we started walking back home shortly after 5, I think. It was very warm & humid, the sun was out and there's not a lot of shade along the way -- and my husband walks very fast. I will admit I'm not in optimum shape (erk!), and I have trouble keeping up with him at the best of times -- and today was clearly not "the best of times."  I probably hadn't had been drinking as much water as I should have either, because I'd been so busy talking and visiting and taking photos of Little Great-Niece (and Younger Nephew, the birthday boy! lol).  I was getting VERY winded. 

We were within 100 feet of our condo building -- and I told him I had to stop for a minute. There was a bus shelter on the corner and I managed to make it in there, sat down on the bench -- and almost passed out. :(  I may have actually passed out briefly, for a few seconds anyway, I'm not sure. I was VERY woozy. In retrospect, it was kind of like when I fell down the stairs at the zoo two years ago  -- although I was a lot more alert then, more stunned than sick or hurt.     

Dh was frantic. :(   He was calling my name & slapping my wrists and I was not very responsive. I do remember him calling me, but it was difficult to respond. By some sheer stroke of luck/providence, a young registered nurse who lives nearby was passing by in her car, saw us, pulled over and came rushing over to offer assistance. (She told us her first name, but I wish we'd gotten her contact info, so I could send her flowers or something!) Luckily, I had taken an unfinished bottle of water in my purse with me -- I sipped some when I could, and she recommended pouring some of it on my head & neck!  THAT was a shock to the system! -- but it did kind of wake me up a bit! 

She recommended I get checked out immediately, and offered to call 911 (and did). Kind of embarrassing -- you know, "don't make a fuss, don't draw attention to yourself" -- all those things "good little girls" (of my generation, anyway) are not supposed to do...! --  but one showed up a few minutes later, and the two guys in it were wonderful. I was able to (slowly!) climb into the ambulance with a little help and they checked me out then & there. The truck was air conditioned and THAT helped me start feeling better almost immediately!! 

The EMTs took all my vitals (blood pressure, ECG, blood sugar test, etc.) and all was fine, which was a relief  -- but they recommended going to the emergency room just as a precaution. Dh said he would feel better if I got checked out too -- so, off we went.  I had hoped that ambulance trip from the zoo two years ago would be my first AND last... oh well...!  I was in a seat, not a stretcher for the trip this time around.  Once again, dh was not allowed to come with me in the ambulance -- and he said he was in no frame of mind to drive himself -- but he called BIL & they got to the hospital not too long after we did. We were there 2-3 hours, and out of there shortly after 8 (and it was much cooler outside by then).  Not bad, especially for a long weekend!  They repeated all the tests the EMTs did as well as some bloodwork, put me on a drip while the bloodwork was processed (which took about an hour & a half), and it was all fine, thank goodness -- although, on top of the embarrassment of winding up in the ER via ambulance, my veins are both deep and small and they had a heck of a time tapping one for the bloodwork and saline drip!  I've known for many years that I'm a difficult case ;)  but THREE different nurses tried!  They wound up tapping a vein in my hand -- with a baby needle! (ouch!) 

They discharged me once the bloodwork came back -- and confirmed that everything was fine.  The nurses told us I was far from the only person they'd seen that day with heat exhaustion!  Lesson:  take heat & humidity seriously, make sure you're drinking lots of water and carry it with you if you do go out!  

I was exhausted when we got home, though! -- and I'm STILL exhausted today!  I didn't sleep very well -- I had to keep getting up to go to the bathroom, after drinking so much water to try to rehydrate! -- and then I was hungry, so I got up at 4 a.m., had some toast and then went back to bed!  

Then we got up at 7, because we were going with BIL & SIL to visit Older Nephew and Little Great-Nephew. (LGN's mom had to work, even though it's a civic holiday here today.)  We hadn't seen them since early July, before we left for our vacation out west. It was fun, but both of us had two-hour naps when we got back home!  I'll probably be in bed early tonight too. 

I hope your weekends were less eventful than mine...! 

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

#MicroblogMondays: Recuperating!

Long time no see/write!  (Seems like it to me, anyway!)  I've been in Manitoba visiting my aging parents for the past two weeks, and we just got back home last night (and I'm still pretty exhausted today!). As you can imagine, from my absence from this space (and others online), I didn't have a lot of time to write while I was there. I barely glanced at my email, and I am SO far behind on so many things. 

(Despite family time and helping my parents taking precedence, I did bookmark some of the articles & blog posts I did get to read, and hope to share some of them with you soon.) 

It was our first summertime visit "home" since 2019.  Many of the "annoying things and small pleasures" described in this post as well as this one still apply. ;)  On the "annoying things" side of the equation, a few new points: 

• It was horribly hot & humid for most of the time we were there. Fortunately, my parents' house has air conditioning. 
• UNfortunately, we had a running battle with my mother over the air conditioning. She hates it running constantly and complains she's cold, and will often just get up and nudge the thermostat temperature upwards until the a/c cuts out. (My sister will often do the opposite when Mom is not around...!)  She'll also do the same thing late at night when the rest of us are in bed -- so that we'll wake up in a warm, stuffy room (windows closed, because the a/c WAS running when we went to bed...)  with no air circulating from either the vents or the windows. (Grrrrrrr.....).    
• My parents continue to bicker -- and complain about each other to us -- which is tiresome, awkward and annoying for those of us who have to witness it.  :(    
• My American-born mother insisted on watching the Republican National Convention on TV (despite loathing Donald Trump). Even if she was in the basement family room, we could still hear the TV upstairs, because she had it on top volume. Ugh.  
• It's summertime in Manitoba -- ergo, there were mosquitos, lol.  :p  But because it was hot & humid, I wasn't outside a whole lot, and certainly not out in the grass, where they tend to lurk -- so I didn't get too many bites.
• Despite my sister's threats that she was not going to help with any gardening this year, my dad still planted half his garden space. (Even more annoying thing:  he dug up the first new potatos for dinner -- last night, AFTER we left...!). 
• We still got enlisted into helping my mom water her hanging baskets and planters full of flowers every night after dinner -- three baskets and two planters in the front, one hanging basket and two planters in the back, one full 2-litre pop bottle of water on each hanging basket and 1/2 bottle on each planter.  
• My parents' over-the-range microwave oven/fan died just before we got there.  :(  Granted, it WAS 40 (!!) years old (!!) -- they bought it not long after they moved in.  And it was well used! 

Small pleasures:  

• My sister proposed we buy our parents a new microwave/fan as a combined birthday/wedding anniversary present. She took measurements, did some online research and found a Frigidaire model for a reasonable price (their oven & refrigerator are also Frigidaires). 
• Annoying thing:  there were none to be found in the city, and to special order one would have taken two weeks.  
• Small pleasure:  BUT, there was one in stock at a Home Hardware store in another small town, about a 40-minute drive away. Road trip!  Dad called a woman he used to work with, whose son is an electrician, and he came over two days later to install it. Yay!  
• We celebrated my dad's 85th birthday while we were there, with cake & ice cream in the backyard with PND & family and some of the neighbours.  
• PND was too busy to join one of our card games :(  but she did pop by with Little Princess #3 (11 months old and adorable) at least every other day.  The two older Princesses (now almost 13 & 10!!) also came with them a few times. 
• Visits with a cousin, who drove up for the afternoon from my mom's hometown in NW Minnesota (1.5-2 hour trip, depending on time at the border), and a longtime friend, who drove out from the city to have lunch with me.    
• My sister & I drove into the city for a few hours one afternoon to shop:  she needed a new dress and makeup for a job interview.  
• Dad's barbecued steaks & potatos (sliced french-fry style into a foil pie plate with onions, topped with butter, covered with foil and cooked on the grill -- YUM!! -- I have so missed that...!).  
• Several visits to the local drive-in (a local fixture for 60+ years! -- albeit no longer owned by the original family) for ice cream.

One very BIG pleasure started off as a very annoying thing:  the morning we were leaving to go there,  I woke up (very early) to find a message from the airline (Air Canada, if you're curious):  our flight had been CANCELLED (!) -- and they would be in touch re: rebooking.  

After I peeled myself off the ceiling (!), I found another message that they had, in fact, booked us on another flight -- slightly different flight number, but leaving and arriving at exactly the same times that morning as our original flight. Well, that was a relief.  We had to download new boarding passes, and discovered (annoying thing) that we were now in Zone SIX -- i.e., we would be among the last to board. Dh immediately started fretting about whether there would be room in the overhead bins for our suitcases by the time we were allowed on the plane. We were also now in seats D & F -- we usually book seats together. "Maybe the person in seat E will let us sit together," dh mused. (If not, no biggie.)  

When we got to the gate/waiting area at the airport, I noticed there really didn't seem to be a huge lot of people waiting. I speculated to dh that perhaps this was a smaller plane, that maybe they'd had to rebook people on multiple planes and we just happened to luck into the one that left at exactly the same time as the originally planned flight. 

The first three zones were allowed to board -- and then they announced zones 4, 5 & 6 all together.  Dh took off like a shot with our suitcases (lol), leaving me trailing behind, struggling to put my mask back on after showing my face to the gate personnel.  

I walked onto the airplane, and HOLY COW. This was, by far, the nicest plane we've ever been on.  Instead of six seats in each row (three on one side of the aisle, three on the other), there were two and two. The seats were wide, and made of leather, or a leather-ish material, with wide armrests and drink holders. The tilt-back mechanisms were automated, and there was also a footrest that popped out when you pushed a certain button. There was plenty of room in the overhead bins for our carry-on luggage. There were no screens to watch, but as compensation (?!) we were offered free wi-fi.  We also got free snacks (which used to be standard, but haven't been offered in quite a while). The aisle was wide enough for two people to stand in, side by side.  And behind us were two rows of seats, facing each other in a "quad," with a table in the middle.  

"Enjoy the nice seats," the captain said at the end of his welcome message. Believe me, we did!  

Dh later overheard one of the flight attendants chatting to some people across the aisle and behind us:  apparently this particular plane was not part of the regular fleet -- obviously, it got pulled into use as a substitute for our original plane. It's normally used as a charter by corporations and sports teams (e.g., the Toronto Maple Leafs, Raptors, Blue Jays...). Those spacious seats obviously come in handy when you're dealing with big, tall, professional athletes, right?  

I doubt we'll ever get a ride like that again, but we sure enjoyed it while it lasted...!  

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