Odds & ends

• It's World Childless Week, and there is SO. MUCH!!! great stuff to read, watch and absorb. Frankly, I'm having trouble keeping up with it all... but it's a good problem to have, isn't it? Check out the WCW website.... new content is being posted there every day this week. A couple of highlights so far: 
• I recently learned (via Gateway Women & World Childless Week) about a new support site/blog -- Peace & Joy (Again) -- specifically created for the Canadian childless audience (although of course the content is relevant to childless women everywhere!). Last year, GW's Jody introduced me via email to Susan, the site creator/author, who lives about an hour away from me. She & I had a lovely coffee & chat together in the spring of 2019, and we were planning to meet up again this past spring, at a point midway between our homes, before COVID-19 intervened. I've added her site to my list of resources in the sidebar here... check it out! 
• Tuesday was WCW Diversity Day, and I sat in on a Zoom webinar about childlessness as a workplace diversity issue. (As Jody Day has said, "We're the biggest diversity group that HR has never heard of.")  Two employees from Bristol University in the U.K. (a woman AND a man!) talked about how they created a workplace policy on childlessness as well as an employee resource group for childless/free employees that's now serving as a model for other organizations. I've always thought the Brits were miles ahead of us in North America on these issues... hope other employers will follow their example! (All WCW webinars are being recorded and are available on the WCW site, as well as on YouTube.)
• Yesterday was Aging Without Children Day, and Jody Day hosted a Zoom gathering of "elders" -- older childless women, aged mid-50s through mid-60s. It was a simply fabulous hour of conversation that I only wish could have lasted longer. As I commented, they deserve their own talk show.  :)  Check out the recording on the WCW site!  
• I'd never heard of Mypoint.tv before this week, but several people have used it to put together short videos for World Childless Week.  British broadcaster Bibi Lynch talked about her own experiences as a childless woman, along with some commentary from Gateway Women's Jody Day. There are other videos about WCW themes posted below Bibi's. Have a look! 
• New COVID-19 daily case rates here in Ontario,which had at one point dropped below 100 per day, have spiked back up to more than 300. :(  Parties have been identified as major source of infection (!), and in response, the premier has reduced the size of private gatherings allowed in the hot spot areas of Toronto, Ottawa & Peel Region, and set stiff new fines for violations. Kids are still going back to school this week, but over 50 schools have already reported staff and/or student infections. Sigh...
• Dh has started stockpiling staples on his weekly grocery runs (canned goods, pasta, cleaning supplies, etc. -- and, yes, toilet paper, lol) just in case there's another lockdown imposed, and we're going for haircuts again soon... while we still can...! 
• The more I think about it, the more certain I am that I'm not going to be able to go "home" to be with my family for Christmas this year... and the more angry I get about it. The virus can't be controlled, of course -- but people's behaviour can -- and it's making me FURIOUS that people are out there partying and not making good choices and not wearing masks (or not wearing them properly -- hello, cover your nose, please...!) -- while I've been holed up at home, trying to be extra careful and do the right thing for more than SIX FRICKIN' MONTHS... so far!!   
• Today is the first day in at least a week that I can (finally!) see some blue sky among the clouds. It's been horribly grey and overcast -- not only because of cloud cover, but also because of drifting smoke & ash from the wildfires on the west coast -- more than 4,000 km/2,400 miles away! 
• My L.M. Montgomery Readathon Facebook group will begin discussing "The Blue Castle" next week (which I reviewed here).  Part of the fun of the readathon is following along as volunteer readers read each chapter on videos posted to YouTube. After watching/listening to others reading from the past two books we've discussed, I decided to take the plunge and volunteer to do a video recording of myself (gulp) reading a chapter (Chapter 10, to be precise). I don't especially like the way I look or sound on video, but I love this book & decided I wanted to take part.  (I figure I can always do multiple takes until I'm either satisfied or my voice gives out, lol.) I'm waiting for instructions & haven't recorded my chapter yet... wish me luck!  

#MicroblogMondays: Small pleasures & annoying things

Small pleasures: 

• Cooler temperatures & less humidity (finally!) = able to have the balcony door open more often. 
• (Annoying thing: ...but also more grey skies/less sunshine.) 
• The first fall colours beginning to peek out on the trees. 
• Lots of great hair days since we resumed getting haircuts in July. :) 
• (Annoying thing: Hardly anybody witnessing it, since we're mostly at home...!) 
• New videos of adorable Little Great-Nephew (10 months old this week!) on social media over the past few days: at the apple orchard with his parents, pushing around a walking toy, standing proudly unassisted for a few seconds (before plopping to the ground, lol)... 
• Starting new book discussions with all of my online reading groups. :) 
• Lots of great viewing & reading to look forward to over the next few days with World Childless Week. 

(More) Annoying things: 

• Having to lecture my soon-to-be-80-year-old mother (AGAIN!) about WEARING A MASK when she goes grocery shopping. 
• Knowing that, after 6+ months (and now heading into the colder/darker months of fall/winter), we're still nowhere near done with COVID-19 yet. 
• Not being able to think up anything more original for #MM this week. ;) 

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

It's World Childless Week!

Just a quick reminder that World Childless Week starts tomorrow!  Stephanie Phillips and a stellar roster of champions have put together a fabulous week chock full of things to read, watch and participate in. Have a look at the Events page to see what's available to you! 

Karen Malone Wright and Laura LaVoie of The NotMom actually kicked things off today with a Facebook Live chat with Gateway Women's Jody Day. The video of the chat is available on the NotMom Facebook page as well as their YouTube channel.  

Enjoy! :)