Support networks (or the lack thereof)(an update)

Further to my #MicroblogMonday post about being prepared (re: covid) --while I addressed practical things like stocking up on food and medical supplies, I later realized I didn't say anything much about social support networks, which is what Mali was mainly talking about in her post. I did say in my post that being closer to dh's brother and our nephews, as well as other relatives, was a big reason why we moved here in 2016 -- and I know that, if we got sick and needed them to bring us some groceries, etc., they would be able to help us out.  (Unless they were all sick at the same time too...!) 

It's great to have family close by (and willing) to help, of course -- but family doesn't always compensate for having a broader social network of friends and neighbours. I wrote a long post a few years back (May 2018) about "Social capital, adult friendships & childlessness," which I searched out and dusted off while thinking about these issues. Most of what I wrote then is still valid. A few things I wrote near the end, though, had me thinking it was time for an update! 

We've been living here two years now -- and we really haven't met a lot of new people here either.  There are neighbours & other people who live in the building that we know by name & exchange pleasant chit-chat with, but nothing deeper. None of dh's cousins, local or otherwise, have come to visit & inspect our condo (which surprises me -- we're the first in the family to get a condo & I though the novelty/curiosity factor would bring them over, if nothing else...!). His aunt has been here, but only because we took her out for dinner and then back here later for coffee....

Well, it's been almost SIX (!) years now -- and while we have lots of acquaintances in the building (and their dogs! lol) that we know by name and exchange pleasantries with, we're still not at the point of inviting them over (or being invited over) for dinner or anything like that. There ARE a very few people (including our next-door neighbour -- one of the building "originals" and a current member of the condo board of directors) that I think I'd feel comfortable asking a favour from in an emergency now, which makes me feel a bit better and less isolated.

We still haven't had any family visitors, after almost six years (!) -- albeit, of course, two of those years have been consumed by the pandemic, when nobody has been socializing much. (We love dh's relatives, but we wouldn't want them here right now...!)  Not even BIL & SIL have been over since the pandemic began, although of course we have been over there (and up to Older Nephew's new house) to see them, many times, especially since we all got our vaccinations this past year. 

Back to the 2018 post: 

I keep saying I'm going to join a yoga class -- mostly because I need & want the exercise & the relaxation/mindfulness benefits it promotes -- but also because it would get me out of the house. I've researched a few places but haven't tried any out yet. Likewise, I would love to find a book club. Even if I didn't make any real friends there, I would love to discover new books and talk about them with other people. I went on Meetups.com in search of one hereabouts, but most of the ones listed there meet in the city proper and would be difficult to get to. I've even considered going back to church in an attempt to meet people (if not with an eye to my eternal salvation, as I sometimes joke).

Still haven't found a yoga class (not that I looked that hard...! -- and even if the yoga studios are operating -- which can be iffy, depending on current restrictions -- I wouldn't feel comfortable going to one right now anyway -- all that emphasis on deep breathing, etc...!).  

I did join a book club through the local library in early 2019, and very much enjoyed attending the monthly meetings for a year, until covid intervened...!  I didn't make any real friends there, but I was getting to know the regulars and their names and quirks, and there were several women who usually sat near me that I would chat with while waiting for the meeting to begin, and then as we were leaving. (We all usually wore nametags, which helped.) I've found some online book clubs since the pandemic began that have helped to fill that bookish gap, and I very much enjoy too, but if/when we ever get rid of covid (!) and the library club restarts in-person meetings, I will definitely return. 

Still haven't been to church here (let alone considering regularly...!).  Churches are open, but capacity is currently restricted because of covid. 

I also wrote about investigating the local Gateway Women meetups. Of course, these have all (or mostly) been online for the past  two years because of the pandemic. I've made connections with some local GWs & other childless women through other CNBC online forums -- there have been some Zoom calls, and talks about getting together for coffee or maybe a hike, etc. -- but the pandemic keeps making this difficult.  While some might be comfortable meeting face to face at this point, I'm afraid I still wouldn't, not yet. There's also the distance & transportation factor: the Greater Toronto Area is pretty far-flung, I don't drive, and public transit has its limits.  Still, it's something I'd be interested in, if/when we can ever get rid of covid...!  

Meanwhile (as Mali reminded me), I am very lucky that I have some awesome friends right here in my computer. :)  Thanks for being here!  :)  

#MicroblogMondays: Things I haven't done since the pandemic began

(i.e., since before March 2020) 

• Seen a movie at the theatre/cineplex (something we both loved to do, pre-pandemic). 
• Eaten out, at a restaurant (inside or on a patio in the summer) or in a food court. (Ditto above.) 
• On the plus side, vaccine passports are now in effect for these locations -- but on the minus side, capacity restrictions were recently lifted... (plus there are reports that many places have not been diligent about checking for vaccine status). 
• We have ordered takeout just about every week. 
• Had a manicure or pedicure. (Love them, but they're not absolutely necessary to my sense of well-being in the same way that a regular haircut is...!) 
• Had my eyebrows tinted &/or waxed. 
• Seen my family doctor in person (he was not taking most in-person appointments until just recently). (But I will be seeing him later this week, about my gallstone issues.)  
• I did see the office's medical assistant back in August when I had gout in my big toe. 
• Taken public transit. 
• Been back to downtown Toronto. 
• Visited the nearby art gallery where I have a membership. (But I'm hoping to remedy that soon.) 
• Been to the local library. 
• The library book club I belonged to has resumed meeting, but it's  it's virtual, and includes all the book clubs from all the other library outlets in the region. I've found a couple of other online book clubs to fill that gap in my life during the pandemic, and so far, I've passed on joining this one. 
• Seen any of dh's aunts, uncles or cousins, aside from the cousins we spent the cottage weekend with in September. 
• BIL has invited dh & a couple of the guy cousins on their mom's side to get together at their house on Friday night. Pre-COVID, they were making an effort to go out for dinner together a couple of times a year, after years of being absorbed in work and raising their families. Depending on what SIL is going to do -- hang around or hide out in the basement, lol -- I may tag along. (Or not. I'm still a little hesitant about group gatherings, even when everyone's fully vaccinated.)  They're all great guys, and I miss them too. 
• Seen any friends (other than through Zoom calls). 
• My former boss, office bestie and & I have had an annual pre-Christmas lunch in late November/December ever since the first one of us retired in 2006... except for last year. We have a Zoom call scheduled for later this week, and we'll discuss whether lunch is in the cards this year. I suspect not. 

Things I've only done on a very limited basis since this past summer: 

• Been to the mall (briefly, twice).   
• Visited with stepMIL & her family (once, in August, before her grandson went back to school). 
• Seen my parents & sister (once, in October -- we would normally have been there in summer 2020, Christmas 2020 and summer 2021 -- hoping to return this Christmas!). 

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

"The Vanishing Half" by Brit Bennett

Two years ago, I was looking forward to attending my first meeting of the book club run by the local library, where we'd be discussing "The Alice Network" by Kate Quinn, which I'd recently read on my own. My happy anticipation over (finally!) getting to be a part of a real live book club was somewhat tempered when I learned the name of the next book I'd be receiving at that meeting -- a novel called "The Mothers" by a young, first-time author named Brit Bennett. 

"What are the odds, right?" I complained in a post on this blog (which I titled "The mother of all book dilemmas ;)" ). "Just one more reminder of what I am not. :p "  (I also said:  "Yes -- I am ashamed to admit -- I am literally judging a book by its cover/title.") 

As luck (?) would have it, there was a huge snowstorm the night of the book club meeting... the meeting was cancelled. I never went to the library later in the month to pick up my copy of "The Mothers" and didn't attend the next meeting either, where it was discussed. I finally got there, three months after I had first planned, and happily read books and attended meetings for a full year... until they were cancelled by COVID-19. 

*** *** *** 

I found myself thinking about "The Mothers" when I heard that Brit Bennett had a new novel coming out last summer called "The Vanishing Half." It quickly became one of the most critically acclaimed books of 2020. I will admit my interest was piqued when I heard that it was about the complex relationship between twin sisters.  I've always been fascinated by twins and other multiples -- and I wrote about this in a couple of early posts on this blog, here and here.  As I said then: 

...my sister & I were close enough in age (21 months apart) & looked sufficiently alike (especially when were little, although we never really saw it -- and our personalities were certainly not the same) and, when we were younger, dressed alike, that many people would mistake us for each other & ask whether we were twins.

I already had a copy of "The Vanishing Half" in my TBR pile when it was chosen as the first pick of the new online book club I recently joined, to be discussed at a Zoom meeting early in April. (The organizer dubbed it the "Clever Name Book Club," assuming that we'd choose another permanent, clever name... so far, it's still the "Clever Name Book Club," and I'll use that title here until we come up with something different/better, lol.)  

"The Vanishing Half" is the story of twins Desiree and Stella Vignes, who grow up in the tiny community of Mallard, Louisiana, where everyone is black, but light skinned, and dark-skinned people are shunned. Their father is lynched in front of them when they are children. At 16, they run away together to New Orleans... and then their paths begin to diverge, driven by their different personalities. Stella gets a secretarial position after "passing for white" at the job interview. A while later, she disappears in the middle of the night. Desiree moves to Washington, D.C., marries "the darkest man she could find," and later returns to her mother's house in Mallard with her daughter, Jude. Years later, Jude is working as a server at a Hollywood party when a chance encounter changes her life -- and many others. 

I found the book interesting but a little slow to get into at the start, as the characters and situations were established. Then, somewhere around the middle, things got REALLY interesting, and I zoomed through the latter two-thirds in a single afternoon/evening.  There is lots and lots to think about here:  questions of identity, the different roles we play (acting/performance), creation and reinvention, visibility and invisibility, the push and pull of family relationships, secrets and lies and the toll they take -- and, of course, the lasting impact of race, which influences everything in the story. 

4 stars on Goodreads. I'm looking forward to our book club discussion. (And thinking that maybe, just maybe, I will give "The Mothers" a try...)  

This was Book #15 read to date in 2021 (and Book #3 finished in March), bringing me to 42% of my 2021 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 36 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 8 books ahead of schedule. :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2021 tagged as "2021 books." 

Little did we know...!

Mel had a post today about how the coronavirus crept into her life and into the pages of her journal last year. 

I have a post in the works that I'm intending to publish on or around March 12th, marking one year of pandemic life -- but it's interesting to look back on the days leading up that point too.  I don't keep a journal, but I have my datebook, my blog posts and some Facebook Memories to prod my memory.  Here are a few things I've found that show how the oncoming pandemic began creeping its way into our consciousness and then into our lives in a very big way... 

• Saturday, Jan. 25th, dh & I attended a curator's lecture at the opening of a major exhibit celebrating the centenary of Canada's Group of Seven (artists) at a gallery near where we live, where I have a membership. We arrived just before the lecture began and by the time it was over, it was almost closing time, so we didn't actually get to tour the exhibit that day. I figured we'd return in a few weeks' time, once the initial crowds died down. The best laid plans...! The gallery shut down in mid-March, along with almost everything else, and didn't reopen until later that summer (with capacity restrictions, mask requirements and timed ticketing in place, among other measures). It's been closed again since mid-December and is reopening tomorrow. We still haven't been back.  
• Jan. 29th, a post popped up in my Facebook memories from the same day, 2020. It was an article from the New York Times, about the importance of handwashing in avoiding the coronavirus. (The reporter had covered SARS in China in 2003.)  I reshared it with the comment, "I think this must be my first post from last year about COVID-19... We had NO idea what was about to hit us, did we??!" 
• Feb. 1st, BIL called us to come over:  a couple of dh's cousins had come over to see Little Great-Nephew (then just 11 weeks old), bearing gifts. I'm glad we went; we don't see them very often these days, and we haven't seen them since then (even though some live nearby). 
• The first mention of COVID-19 (albeit not by that name) in this blog came on Feb. 2. In my monthly "Right now" post under "Trying," I wrote, "Trying: To remember to wash my hands more frequently, especially after we've been out & about, in view of the corona virus outbreak (as well as the regular cold & flu season)."   
• Feb. 9th last year, I posted on Facebook, "Just started watching the Four Continents figure skating competition on NBC (from Seoul, South Korea)... Kind of freaky to see almost the entire audience wearing masks!!"  I reshared it with the comment, "Little did we know...!!"   
• Feb. 11th, I noted in my datebook that "Hamilton" began its run at a downtown theatre. I had snagged tickets for May 9th earlier in the fall, after a tense morning online...! (Performances were cancelled after mid-March; I still have my tickets, hoping to get first dibs on any new tickets if/when the production returns...!)  
• Friday, Feb. 21st, I had an appointment at a downtown hospital for a mammogram. I remember, even then, thinking about the morning rush hour crowds on the subway and germs... and I remember thinking that oh well, I would be getting on at the very last stop at the end of the line and it likely wouldn't be too crowded until further towards downtown.  
• So I was kind of surprised to see more than the usual number of people on the platform, getting onto the train with me... and more and more people piling on at every stop. It got very crowded, very quickly -- much more so than I had anticipated. People were chatting to each other in excited voices. Then I noticed some of them were carrying flags, signs and banners. And then it clicked:  the provincial teachers' union had called a one-day strike that day, and (naturally), they were gathering en masse to protest at the legislature building -- a block away from the hospital I was going to! So much for avoiding germs...!  
• Even so, I went to the Eaton Centre mall for a while after my appointment. (I did leave a little earlier than I had planned, trying to avoid running into the protesters again on their return trip home...!) That's the last time I was in downtown Toronto... 
• Monday, Feb. 24th was my library book club meeting. We were discussing the actor Bryan Cranston's memoir, "A Life in Parts" (reviewed here).  That was the last time we met to date. :(  
• Friday morning, Feb. 28th, we drove to our old community for haircuts at a salon at the mall (where we'd been customers for the past 15+ years) with our regular stylist (of the past three years, since our previous longtime stylist became ill and then died).  
• We didn't know it at the time but a few days later, the owner announced she'd be closing the salon as of April 1st (not realizing that the closing date would come a whole lot sooner, because of COVID.) We wouldn't get another cut until June 26th, 17 weeks later (!) -- same stylist, at a different salon in the area. 
• In my March 1st "Right now" blog post, under "Trying" I wrote: "Trying: To remember to wash my hands more frequently, especially after we've been out & about, in view of the corona virus outbreak (as well as the regular cold & flu season). (I gave this same answer last month, but unfortunately it's more relevant now than ever...!)" 
• One year ago today, on March 3rd, in a post titled "Corona (not the beer),"  I mused about my past experiences living through emergency situations & health crises, including SARS (2003) and the H1N1 virus (2009), and the steps we were already taking to stock up on supplies, etc.  By that point, Purell and face masks were nowhere to be found, but I mention stocking up on Staples, buying more Lysol wipes and spray cleaner, Tylenol and cold pills, and essential oils remedies (!). 
• Saturday, March 7th, is what I think of as "The Last Normal Saturday Night."  We planned to try a new Italian restaurant with BIL, SIL, Older Nephew, his wife & Little Great-Nephew, and then head across the city (in two cars) to see stepMIL & her family. Of course we didn't have a reservation, and the restaurant was booked solid. We tried another Italian restaurant which was also packed with at least an hour's wait for a table. (Observing the mobs of people going in & out and hanging outside on the sidewalk, I remember remarking wryly to dh, "Pandemic? What pandemic? These people don't seem to be too worried...")  We wound up at another restaurant nearby.  Little Great-Nephew sat on his mom's lap and observed her meal with great interest, lol. That's the last time I was in a restaurant.  
• After that, we had a nice visit with stepMIL & family. Traditionally, Italians greet each other & depart with embraces & kisses on both cheeks -- but this time, stepSIL said, "Ummm, are we gonna do this...?"  We agreed it probably wasn't a good idea!  That's the last time we saw all of them. 
• Monday morning, March 9th, I had a voice mail message from a high school friend from out of town, who was going to be meeting up with her sister for a few days in Toronto (kind of a halfway point between where they both lived). She wanted to know if I wanted to come downtown to join them for lunch on Wednesday or Thursday. I knew her sister too, and normally I would have loved the opportunity to see them both and catch up, but it was already a busy week, I was starting to feel like I might be coming down with a cold (or...??), and I had the distinct feeling that another trip downtown and back on the subway might not be a wise idea at this point... I sent her a message declining the invitation. 
• In the "it never rains but it pours" category, ANOTHER old friend from Manitoba messaged me later that same day to let me know her husband had surprised her with a birthday trip to Toronto to see Les McKeown and the Bay City Rollers (a band we'd both been wild about in our teen years, lol) on Wednesday night (March 11th). She had an extra ticket, and would I like to come too??  All the same reasoning applied (plus, a crowded concert hall filled with screaming, singing middle-aged women??) -- plus I'd already turned down one invitation for that day;  I didn't think I could accept another. I turned her down too. 
• As it turned out, Wednesday, March 11th was also the day the World Health Organization declared a pandemic... 
• By this point, the pandemic was definitely front and centre in my consciousness:  the blog post I published that day was titled "Odds & ends: The coronavirus edition." I noted that my beloved world figure skating championships (being held in Montreal -- I had toyed with the idea of going...) had already been cancelled, and that Pearl Jam had cancelled its concert tour, including a date in Toronto on March 18th. 

I'll save the rest of my "one year later" remembrances and reflections for my upcoming post...

2020 Reading Year in Review

Most of this information in this post comes directly from my "2020 Year in  Review" post.  Since I was doing an overall 2020 review post, and a blogging year in review post (coming up!)... and since keeping track of my books is a big thing I do on my blog, I thought that deserved its own post too, lol.  :) 

• I increased my Goodreads Reading Challenge goal from 24 books in 2019 to 30 books this year, and reached it by mid-August. I will finish out the year with 43 books to my credit, 143% of my goal. (All books read were reviewed on this blog under the tag "2020 books"). Not quite as good as the 50 books I read in 2019 -- and my 2020 total includes re-reads too! -- but not bad either! 
• Once again this year, non-fiction choices outnumbered fiction (but just barely -- 22 to 21). 
• My library book club held its last meeting in late February -- just before the pandemic hit -- but online, the Gateway Women book club, D.E. Stevenson fan group and L.M. Montgomery Readathon on Facebook have helped boost my 2020 reading totals and provided me with a lot of reading/discussion pleasure during a very difficult year.  
• I read 1 book for the library book club, 5 for GW, 6 for DES (3 different books, including 2 re-reads) and 5 for the L.M. Montgomery Readathon (e different books, including 2 re-reads).
• (As I mentioned above,) I began counting re-reads in my challenge total, which also helped to boost my reading totals. 
• Since I reached 30 books fairly easily this year (by mid-August), I've decided to increase my Goodreads Reading Challenge goal modestly to 36 books ( = 3 books per month on average) for 2021. 
• This year, I reached 36 books by late October. I also reached the 36-book mark in October 2019, my best reading year since I started keeping track (50 books total).  So we'll see how I do in 2021...! 

• It's always very hard for me to pick a single book as "the best," and I gave lots of books four and five-star reviews on Goodreads! (Four stars was my average Goodreads rating this year.) I must admit, though, that there was one clear standout for me this year -- and that was "The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. It was one of the first books I read in 2020, and it remained at the top of my "best" list all year long!  I have recommended it to many people! 

"A Life in Parts" by Bryan Cranston

"A Life in Parts" by Bryan Cranston is my library book club's read for February (to be discussed at our upcoming meeting later this month).

I must confess, I have never seen a single episode of "Breaking Bad."  I do remember Cranston well as the harried father in "Malcolm in the Middle" and I recognize him from other, smaller parts on various TV shows ("Seinfeld," for one) over the years.

"A Life in Parts" is written as a series of episodes covering Cranston's life (more or less chronologically), each one focused on his particular personal or professional role at that moment in time. The headers read, for example, "Walter White," "Son," "Flea Marketeer," "Paperboy," "Universal Life Minister" (!), and so on. 

Cranston's parents were both actors (his first professional gig was a United Way ad that his dad wrote, produced and directed). Their acrimonious split, when he was a child, was a turning point in Cranston's life. As interesting as Cranston's thoughts and memories of his acting life were to read about, the stories about his family and his personal life were equally engaging. We learn a lot about Cranston the actor -- how he has approached the roles he's played and built a long-lasting career -- but also about Cranston the son, brother, husband, father. It's funny, sad, thoughtful and absorbing -- an all-round great read.   

This would be a must-read for any aspiring actor as well as "Breaking Bad" fans. (I enjoyed the book tremendously, but I wonder just how much more I would have appreciated it if I'd actually seen Cranston in his most famous role.)  If you just like a well-written memoir about an interesting and well-lived life, this would also be a good pick.

Four (4) stars on Goodreads. (Several reviewers there highly recommend the audiobook version, read by the author, if you enjoy those.) 

This was Book #7 read in 2020 to date (my second book finished in February), bringing me to 23% of my 2020 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 30 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 4 books ahead of schedule to meet my goal. :)

Right now

Right now... (an occasional meme, alternating from time to time with "The Current")

Reading:  I read five (5) books in January (all good, all reviewed on this blog & tagged "2020 books"): 

• "Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why it Still Matters" by Anne Boyd Rioux 
• "The Dutch House" by Ann Patchett
• "Impeach" by Neal Katyal 
• "Uncanny Valley" by Anna Wiener 
• "A Very Stable Genius" by Philip Rucker and Carole Leonnig  

These five books equal 17% of my Goodreads 2020 Reading Challenge goal of 30 books. Off to a good start!  :)  

Current read(s):  Haven't started anything new yet. (But it will probably be a lighter read than "A Very Stable Genius,"  lol.)  

My library book club's January discussion (last week) was for "The Alice Network" by Kate Quinn, which I read & reviewed early in 2019, here. (I just did a quick skim to refresh my memory for our discussion vs a total re-read.) We'll be discussing "A Life in Parts" by the actor Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad," "Malcolm in the Middle," etc.) at our next meeting later in February.  (That may be the book I pick up next.) 

(Some) recent purchases/additions to the TBR pile (that I haven't read yet):

• "The Guilty Feminist" by Deborah Frances-White

Watching:  Lots of figure skating on TV!  (both Canadian & U.S. national championships)  Four Continents coming up, and then Worlds (in Montreal this year) in March!  

We saw four (4) really great movies during January! including: 

• "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" on New Year's Day -- a great way to start the new year (as I mentioned in my January "Right Now" post).    
• "Little Women," which I saw with SIL (mentioned in my post here). 
• "1917" -- beautifully filmed and acted, as I mentioned here. Well deserving of all the Oscar nominations it received. 
• "Knives Out" -- a really fun murder mystery with an all-star cast -- the kind of movie they don't make enough of anymore. 

On television, I STILL haven't made time to get into Season 3 of "The Crown." I HAVE been watching "Howard's End" on PBS, with Hayley Atwell (Agent Carter!!) in the role that won Emma Thompson an Oscar in the 1992 movie version with Anthony Hopkins. I saw that version too, but didn't remember a whole lot about it -- and that was one 2 hour movie, vs four one-hour episodes. 

NOT watching:  The Super Bowl today, lol. (I could honestly care less!)  Dh will be watching at a bar in our old community, along with his brother and several of his cousins (including Cousin/Neighbour, who still lives there). (The TV will be MINE tonight, bahahaha....)

Listening: I have LOTS of podcasts in my queue to catch up on...!

Following:  My progress (or lack thereof... :p ) on the scale...! 

Drinking/Eating:  The crockpot/slow cooker is getting lots of use lately.  Most frequently used recipes: roast beef & gravy with potatos & veggies, beef stew, chicken & dumplings.  :)  

Buying (besides books, lol):  The occasional box of diapers, and some cute outfits, for little Great-Nephew. :)  (What else are (great-)aunties for, right?) 

Wearing:  Slippers, as well as socks... the laminate floors of our condo get pretty cold in the winter! (I am sure there's a concrete base underneath!) 

Wanting: If it has to be winter, can the sun at least shine once in a while? Pretty please?? 

Trying: To remember to wash my hands more frequently, especially after we've been out & about, in view of the corona virus outbreak (as well as the regular cold & flu season). 

Loving: Little Great-Nephew. Anytime we get to see him (generally once every week or so), our day is automatically brightened!  :)  (Even if he's in a fussy mood, lol -- he's just so darned cute!)  

Feeling:  Relieved that the cold, grey, post-Christmas letdown of January is over -- albeit not looking forward to February, which is generally more of the same...! :p  (At least it's shorter??)(Although this year is a Leap Year, so, one more day than usual...!)  

"The Home for Unwanted Girls" by Joanna Goodman

"Another tragic one??" one of the women at the last meeting of my library book club commented, as we flipped through our copies of the next month's selection.

Yep.

Most of our book club's picks over the past year have dealt with some pretty heavy (even depressing) material.  "The Home for Unwanted Girls" by Joanna Goodman fits this description. It could be categorized as an ALI (adoption/loss/infertility) read, in part -- adoption, grief and loss (including pregnancy loss) are among its themes. It is also based on a true and shameful chapter in Quebecois/Canadian history -- one I knew nothing about before reading this book.

The title of Hugh MacLennan's 1945 novel, "Two Solitudes,"  has become a metaphor for the historically troubled relationship between English and French Canadians, and their social and cultural isolation from each other.  This tension forms the backdrop for "The Home for Unwanted Girls." The story is set in 1950s Quebec, which was ruled, iron hand in iron hand, by longtime Premier Maurice Duplessis and the Catholic church.

Our heroine, Maggie Hughes, is the oldest daughter of a mixed marriage between her French-Catholic mother and Anglo-Protestant father. As a teenager, she raises the ire of her parents when she falls in love with Gabriel Phenix -- a poor French boy who lives and works on the neighbouring farm -- and then becomes pregnant.  Maggie is ordered to never see Gabriel again.  When their daughter Elodie is born, the baby is whisked away to be adopted, and Maggie is told to forget about her.

But she can't. She and Gabriel marry other people, but Maggie never gives up hope that she will find her daughter someday. Meanwhile, Elodie grows up in a church-run orphanage, hoping that someday her mother will come to find her. The story shifts back & forth between Maggie & Elodie's stories.

I knew about some of the abuses that have been uncovered in church-run institutions, but I'd never heard of the particular brand of horror that little Elodie endures. Because of a new law that provides more funding to psychiatric hospitals than to orphanages, Quebec's orphanages are converted into psychiatric hospitals -- a move that enriches both the provincial government and the Catholic church. Elodie and thousands of other young "orphans" are declared mentally ill. Their education abruptly ends, and they are forced to help the nuns care for the other residents.

This is one of those books I'm not sure I would have picked up without the book club.  It was sad and sometimes downright grim, detailing the abuse these children suffered. There were a couple of subplots (one involving Maggie's father and Gabriel's sister, and another involving Maggie's uncle) that felt superfluous & didn't really contribute much to the book overall.  But it did keep me turning the pages (particularly once Elodie's story started unfolding) to find out what happened next and how it would all turn out. I shed tears in the final few chapters.

Three (3) stars on Goodreads -- 3.5, if I could assign half-stars.

*** *** ***

Sample ALI-related passage (marked with a post-it note):  Maggie -- who recently had her third miscarriage, post-Elodie -- is having coffee with her old school friend, Audrey, currently pregnant with her third child.

"Listen," [Audrey] says, "Before we get into things, how are you coping, Mags?"  

Maggie tips her head. "Coping?"  

"I know you're having a hell of a time getting pregnant," Audrey says, her voice turning sympathetic. She lowers her voice and whispers, "The miscarriages."  

Maggie flicks her ashes into the ashtray. "Where did you hear that?" she asks.  

"Oh, you know Dunham," she says. "Violet, I think."  

"I've had a tubal washing," Maggie tells her. "The prognosis is good."  

Audrey is obviously rooting for Maggie to get on the baby bandwagon. People seem to have so much invested in a married woman getting pregnant within the accepted timeline. It troubles them when it doesn't happen, as though some universally agreed upon contract has been tampered with or disturbed. Maggie can actually feel the unspoken championing of her success at fertility, the simultaneous panic if she were to fail. (pp. 163-164) 

This was book #42 that I have read in 2019 to date, bringing me to 175% (!) of my 2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 24 books.  I have completed my challenge for the year -- currently 18 books beyond my  goal -- and I have surpassed my reading total for 2018 by 15 books.  :)

Right now

Right now... (an occasional meme, alternating from time to time with "The Current")

Reading:  6 (!) books in October (including 4 while visiting my parents)(all but one reviewed during October on this blog):

• The Education of Brett Kavanaugh by Robin Pogrebin & Kate Kelly 
• The Baby Matrix by Laura Carroll 
• Kate Hardy by D.E. Stevenson (for my online DES fan group) 
• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (for my library book club -- or so I thought, lol.) 
• Normal People by Sally Rooney 
• The Brink of Being: Talking About Miscarriage by Julia Bueno (review to come) 

Current read(s):

• This Particular Happiness:  A Childless Love Story by Jackie Shannon Hollis (the next book we'll be discussing -- WITH the author! -- in the private Gateway Women community, later in November). 

Coming up:

• The Home for Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman (which seems to have an ALI-related plot -- to be discussed at my November library book club meeting).  

My Goodreads 2019 Reading Challenge YTD total now stands at 40 books -- 16 more than my goal of 24 (167%).  :)

(Some) recent purchases/additions to the TBR pile (that I haven't read yet):  (Ahhh, fall book release season...!  ;)  ) 

• Me by Elton John  
• Parking the Moose:  One American's Epic Quest to Uncover His Incredible Canadian Roots by Dave Hilton 
• Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow 
• No Stopping Us Now: A History of Older Women in America by Gail Collins  

Watching:  We saw one movie in-theatre in October:  "Western Stars," a sort of a companion piece to Bruce Springsteen's album of the same name. Bruce performs the entire album (with a bonus track at the end: Glen Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy"!), backed up by a 30-piece band/orchestra in the loft of a 100-year-old barn on his property in New Jersey. The songs are interspersed with scenes from the American West with voice-overs by Bruce explaining the stories and inspiration behind each song. Dh leaned over to me at one point and whispered, "He makes you fall in love with him all over again."  ;)  Bruce never disappoints!

On television:  

• I'm continuing to watch the final season (#5) of Poldark on PBS (slightly annoyed at the deviations from the books this season -- but I do love the characters & actors...). 
• The Battle of the Blades finale was on CBC TV last night (a uniquely Canadian reality competition, which pairs hockey players -- both male & female -- with figure skaters, skating for their favourite charities). The final result was voted on by Canadian viewers... and as I suspected, Sheldon Kennedy & Kaitlyn Weaver won over my favourites, Ekaterina Gordeeva & Bruno Gervais. I liked Sheldon & Kaitlyn too -- they had great chemistry, skated some great routines, and I loved how Sheldon was clearly game to try anything. (The guy is 50 years old!)  He's a national hero, not only because of hockey but because of how he went public with the story of how he (& others) were abused by his junior hockey coach, and became an advocate for victims of abuse & bullying (check out the barebones story on his Wikipedia profile). I just felt Ekaterina & Bruno were the clearly superior team, technically. Oh well! It was fun watching! 

Listening:  Not enough lately... I have a huge backlog of podcasts on my Google Play & Spotify apps! 

Following:  Continuing to follow the unfolding impeachment drama in the U.S.

Drinking/Eating: Leftover Halloween candy, lol.  This was the fourth Halloween that we've lived here, and we've never had any trick or treaters visit us -- although dh insists on buying some Halloween candy anyway, "just in case"... ;)  Maybe next year our little great-nephew will come??

Buying (besides books, lol):  Restocked some of my Sephora staples recently -- which include Benefit Browvo! eyebrow primer/conditioner, L'Occitane foot cream, and Fresh Sugar Advanced Therapy Lip Treatment. Expensive, but sooooo good...! 

Wearing: Back to long jeans, socks & shoes, and (around the house) long yoga pants, long-sleeved T-shirts & sweatshirts, socks and even slippers on some days when the floors are particularly cold.  (I was very glad I brought my winter jacket with me to Manitoba when I was there for Thanksgiving to visit my parents!)  

Trying:  Not to let the gloom of November envelop me this year, as it sometimes does (albeit not to the same extent it once did). 

Wanting:  Some magic answers to appear to my genealogy questions, lol.

Celebrating:  I got tickets to "Hamilton"!!

Loving: My family. So much.

Waiting impatiently: For the arrival of our first great-nephew, very soon!  Feeling: Excited -- but also very anxious (given my own reproductive history & the parallel timelines between this pregnancy & my own, 21 years ago..).... 

Also feeling:  Devastated by the precariousness of life. :(   I posted a few days ago about the 28-year-old daughter of a high school friend who was in serious condition in the hospital following a car accident.  Sadly, she took a turn for the worse, and her parents and husband made the difficult decision to remove life support. She died just before noon today. I am devastated for my friend, who has endured several other sad losses in her family over the past few years too (albeit none quite like  this). I never met her daughter, but from the photos I've seen, she looked so much like her mother. She says "Hug your kids. Tell them you love them every time you say goodbye."

More odds & ends

• Bracing myself for the onslaught of Halloween photos tomorrow...!  I enjoy them to a point, until it gets overwhelming.  We're not expecting any trick-or-treaters at our condo (haven't had any in the three previous Halloweens that we've lived here), but we did buy some chocolate, just in case... ;) 
• Something else is happening tomorrow that I'll be posting about -- any guesses as to what that might be??  ;)  
• Thank you to Turia for pointing me to this lovely first-person piece about stillbirth in The Guardian. 
• I went to my library book club meeting on Monday night, for the first time since the end of June. I had checked the library website & saw the book for this month's discussion was "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro (reviewed here).  I already had it in my collection, so I didn't bother to go to the library to check out a copy for the book club;  I simply showed up at the meeting, ready to discuss the book. What a surprise, then, to learn we were in fact discussing a completely different book!  Fortunately, it was one I'd already read -- one of the best books I'd read that year -- and was happy to discuss in a group setting: "Educated" by Tara Westover (reviewed here).  
• Just finished off another book (#40 so far this year!).  I'll be posting a review sometime in the next few days. 
• The 28-year-old daughter of a high school friend (am I really old enough to have a 28-year-old daughter? (let alone the 21-year-old daughter I was supposed to have) -- yes, I am...) was in a serious car accident a few days ago. She is in stable but serious condition at the hospital & will be undergoing several surgeries over the next while. Please keep her, her husband & her parents in your thoughts & prayers. :( 

Vacation reading :)

I finished four books during the 11 days I was visiting my parents (and started a fifth!).  Here are some thoughts about each of them, in the order that I read them.

I had been meaning to read "The Baby Matrix" by Laura Carroll for some time now. It's been highly recommended by, among others, Jody Day of Gateway Women & Sue Fagalde Lick of Childless by Marriage, who reviewed it here.

"The Baby Matrix" is all about pronatalism -- the pervasive belief that everyone should have children, and that parenthood is a necessary step on the road to becoming an adult, as well as the ultimate way to lead a fulfilling life. Carroll believes pronatalism is NOT a good thing, and the book explains why, taking some commonly held pronatalist assumptions, debunking them and offering alternative ways of thinking.

Like so many other forms of privilege, pronatalism is something that many (most?) people simply don't see because they are so thoroughly immersed in it.  Often, it's only when you find yourself outside the majority, or what's considered the "norm" ( = infertile, childless, grieving a lost pregnancy, or childfree by choice) that you see it and understand just how pervasive it is.  Carroll is childfree by choice and approaches the subject from this perspective, but there is plenty in her analysis that will be familiar to those of us who are involuntarily childless.

I'm not sure I agree with everything Carroll has to say here.  For example, she believes it should become the norm for couples to adopt as a first choice in family building, instead of having biological children.  As many of us who have tried to adopt or even just investigated the subject of adoption know, there aren't as many children out there available for adoption as some people would like to think...  Should parenting education be mandatory? -- I don't disagree that parenting education would be a good thing, but I think making it mandatory and trying to enforce that would be easier said than done...! 

Overall, though, I think Carroll's central argument -- that our thinking around parenthood & reproduction is outmoded and in dire need of an overhaul -- is valid and well presented. Whether or not you agree with some or all of what she has to say -- and whether or not you're a parent (or hoping to be one someday) -- this book deserves a read and some consideration.  It's thought-provoking and eye-opening, as well as thoroughly researched.

Four stars on Goodreads.

*** *** ***

My D.E. Stevenson online group recently began reading and discussing "Kate Hardy" together.  Unfortunately, "Kate Hardy" is one of many DES novels that are currently out of print, but I was able to find a used copy online at a semi-reasonable price.

First published in 1947, and set in that same post-war time period, the title character is a successful author from London, who impulsively purchases "the Dower House" in the village of Old Quinings from local landowner Richard Morven and moves in, hoping to find some peace and quiet to write in. Morven -- separated from his wife -- is an obvious potential love interest -- but then there's also local war hero Walter Stack, recently returned home and trying to readjust to his modest working-class life as a carpenter. Class, social mobility and post-war social upheaval are major themes here, and while some of the attitudes might seem horribly outdated to our modern way of thinking, these were very real issues being confronted in Britain at the time.

Like most of Stevenson's work, "Kate Hardy" is a fast & pleasant read. The one thing I didn't especially like about it was a subplot with a bit of a supernatural/occult element to it. It was kind of jarring and nasty and felt a bit out of place in the gentle world of DES. I think the story could have done without it.

Three stars on Goodreads.

*** *** ***

I first read "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro 10 (!) years ago for Stirrup Queen Mel's Barren B*tches Book Tour. I picked it up again because it's the next selection for my upcoming library book club meeting (which will be the first meeting I've been able to attend since June!), and I'm looking forward to discussing it there.

It's hard to write about this one without giving away key plot points. (Be forewarned if you click over:  my BBBT post about the book -- which discusses it from an ALI viewpoint -- is full of spoilers.) Suffice to say it's about the students at a British boarding school called Hailsham -- in particular, our narrator, Kathy, and her friends Ruth and Tommy -- and what happens to them after they grow up and leave school. Hailsham seems like an ordinary place and the students like ordinary kids.

They're not.

I didn't break down in sobs at the end, as I did the first time I read it, but I did still get tears stinging my eyes. It's pretty powerful, and there's a lot here to chew on.

There's a movie version of the book (released in 2010), with Carey Mulligan as Kathy, Keira Knightley as Ruth and Andrew Garfield as Tommy, but I haven't seen it yet -- have you?

Four stars on Goodreads

*** *** ***

I picked up "Normal People" by Sally Rooney earlier this year, after reading rave reviews online and hearing lots of buzz about it. (Rooney is just 28!! years old!)  "Normal People" is both a romance and coming of age story that chronicles the on-again-off-again relationship between two bright Irish teenagers -- rich but social outcast Marianne and poor but popular Connell (whose mother cleans Marianne's mother's house). Their furtive romance begins when they're both students at the same high school, and continues over a period of several years when they both attend Trinity College in Dublin.

I'll admit this book wasn't quite as knock-my-socks off good as I expected it to be. I didn't feel like I could give it a five-star rating. It was difficult/frustrating for me to watch/read about Connell & Marianne hurting each other over & over again. They keep pushing each other apart, when they so obviously really do love each other. It gets a bit monotonous after a while, in that respect.

But it was still a very good read -- beautifully written, with exquisitely drawn characters that you care about. I could relate to the pair's desire to keep their relationship private, and I loved the ending. I understand the BBC is filming a 12-part television adaptation, due in 2020. It will also be shown on Hulu -- which we don't get here in Canada :( but hopefully it will be shown here too, eventually!

Four stars on Goodreads.

These were books #36, #37, #38 and #39 that I have read in 2019 to date, bringing me to 163% (!) of my 2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 24 books.  I have completed my challenge for the year -- currently 15 books beyond my  goal -- and I have surpassed my reading total for 2018 by 12 books.  :)

Right now

Right now... (an occasional meme, alternating from time to time with "The Current")

Reading:  5 (!) books in September (all reviewed during September on this blog):

• The Testaments by Margaret Atwood 
• American Carnage by Tim Alberta 
• Up Beaver Creek by Sue Fagalde Lick -- our GW book club pick for September. (Sadly, this was likely the last GW book club discussion, as there haven't been too many people participating.)   
• She Said by Jodi Kantor & Megan Twohey  
• The Vagina Bible by Dr. Jen Gunter 

Current read(s):

• The Education of Brett Kavanaugh by Robin Pogrebin & Kate Kelly 

Coming up:

• Unfortunately, roadwork outside of our building (& changing schedules) meant access in & out of our driveway was blocked last night starting around 7 p.m. -- which meant I was unable to leave to attend my library book club at 7, as planned. :(  (Actually, I probably could have left -- just not sure we would have been able to get back in again!)  We were discussing "Everything I Never Told You" by Celeste Ng, which I'd already read earlier this summer & reviewed here. 
• October's selection will be "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro, which I bought & read 10 (!) years ago for Mel's Barren B*tches Book Tour (my post from then here). Debating whether to do a complete re-read or just a skim to refresh my memory? 
• "Kate Hardy" will be the next read for my online D.E. Stevenson fan group, before we move on to the final book in the Mrs. Tim series, "Mrs. Tim Flies Home."  Both books share the setting of "Old Quinings" in post-WWII England. 

My Goodreads 2019 Reading Challenge YTD total now stands at 34 books -- 7 more than my goal of 24 (142%).  :)

(Some) recent purchases/additions to the TBR pile (that I haven't read yet):

• Truth Be Told by Beverly McLachlin (the first female Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada)
• Inside Out by Demi Moore. 
• Had it Coming by Robyn Doolittle 

Watching:  In-theatre movies seen in September:

• Downton Abbey (if you loved the TV series, you will love the movie).
• Judy with Renee Zellwegger as Judy Garland, near the end of her far-too-short life. If you know anything about Judy Garland's life, you'll know this movie is not exactly cheerful stuff. But Renee's performance is amazing (she sings, too -- she's no Judy Garland in that department, but she's not bad either...!). 

On television:

• The final season (#5) of Poldark began this past weekend on PBS.  This season is straying beyond the material in Winston Graham's books, picking up where the last season of the TV show left off (which covered up to the end of book #7, "The Angry Tide"). Book #8 ("The Stranger From the Sea") takes a leap in time of 10+ years -- a gap the producers apparently felt was too big for the current cast to take -- and so they've used the screenwriter's imagination to continue the story (this article explains).  We'll see how it all works out...!
• We both thoroughly enjoyed Ken Burns's recent series on the history of country music on PBS.  I wouldn't say I'm a huge country music fan, but I've gained an appreciation for it and some of its artists (Patsy Cline, Roseanne Cash, Dolly Parton...) as I've gotten older.  I surprised myself by how many of the artists I knew & how many of the songs I could sing along to...! 
• I am beyond thrilled that CBC has brought back Battle of the Blades! -- a reality competition show, which pairs hockey players (both male & female) with figure skaters, skating for their favourite charities. One pair gets eliminated every week, through a mixture of public voting and judging decisions. Outside of Canada, you can't view entire episodes, BUT, apparently you can view individual performances on YouTube, and vote for your favourite team each week!  (It's still early in the competition, but I am thinking Ekaterina Gordeeva & Bruno Gervais are looking like the team to beat -- and I have a soft spot for Manitoba-born Sheldon Kennedy & Kaitlyn Weaver!) 

Crossing my fingers: A touring production of  "Hamilton" is FINALLY coming to Toronto in February for a couple of months... subscribers to the full season of programming get first dibs on the tickets and then the rest of us get to fight it out for what's left, once they go on sale (sale date still TBA). Wish me luck!!

Listening:  To the Stingray classic rock channel we get as part of our TV package. The other day they were playing "Black Water" by the Doobie Brothers. Not a song I especially loved, growing up, but one I heard a lot of... it was there, like the wallpaper, lol. There is something very comforting about the music of your youth, I think. (Even when it's something less mellow than the Doobie Brothers -- like Led Zeppelin, lol.)

Following:  The unfolding impeachment drama in the U.S. Funnily enough, I think my memories of Richard Nixon's impeachment investigation (1973-74, when I was 12-13 years old) are much clearer than Bill Clinton's, when I was in my late 30s. Maybe because the Clinton inquiry unfolded throughout 1998/early 1999... when I was (cough) otherwise preoccupied.

Drinking/Eating: (Canadian) Thanksgiving turkey dinner with my family, soon!

Smelling:  What I thought was a skunk... but apparently is more likely pot (especially since we're smelling it in the hallways as well as through the open balcony doors...!).  I didn't realize until chatting with my sister this summer, but apparently today's pot does not smell the same as the stuff  that used to waft through the halls of my university dorm, 35-40 (*cough cough*) years ago. (And we've been smelling "skunk" a LOT more frequently since cannabis was legalized here in Canada earlier this spring...!  "Thanks, Justin!" dh says, rolling his eyes.)(So THAT explains why there seem to be an awful lot of skunks hanging around our building lately, lol...)

Buying (besides books, lol):  Birthday & Halloween gifts to take for the Little Princesses, and adorable outfits for my soon-to-born (as yet unnamed) great-nephew. My most recent find:  I couldn't resist a red & black flannel lumberjack-style onesie and tiny matching plaid flannel-lined jeans with the cuffs turned up, both from Baby Gap.

Wearing: I managed to get through September without having to put on my long jeans, socks & shoes (remaining in my beloved capris & sandals).  (Loving that!)  Sadly, though, I think those days are coming to an end very soon... if not here in southern Ontario, then definitely when I head home to Manitoba to visit my family shortly...!

Trying:  To avoid the current federal election hoopla, lol.  Counting the days until it's over (on Oct. 21st)! It seems like it's dragging on forever, and yet the entire campaign from start to finish is 40 days (which is pretty much the average for Canadian election campaigns -- I found this Wikipedia entry on Canadian elections, which says, "The length of election campaigns can vary, but under the Elections Act, the minimum length of a campaign is 36 days and the maximum length of the campaign is 50 days." ).  I don't know how the Americans do it...!!

Wanting:  All the roadwork & construction hereabouts to be DONE, ALREADY!!!  It's been dragging on almost since the day we moved in 3.5 years ago, and we are SICK OF IT!!! (See also "Reading," above, lol.)

Feeling: Excited to be heading "home" to see my family soon, albeit slightly anxious to be doing it solo (my first solo trip in a long while).

Wondering:  How it got to be October 1st and where 2019 went?? -- it's already 3/4 over!! Yikes!! 

Right now

Right now... (an occasional meme, alternating from time to time with "The Current")

Reading:  I read 5 (!) books in June (all reviewed here on my blog):  

• "The Three Weissmanns of Westport" by Cathleen Schine (for my library book club) 
• "All the Rage" by Darcy Lockman
• "The People Are Going to Rise Like the Waters Upon Your Shore" by Jared Yates Sexton
• "The Man They Wanted Me to Be" by Jared Yates Sexton 
• "Say Nothing" by Patrick Radden Keefe

My Goodreads 2019 Reading Challenge YTD total now stands at 22 books -- getting closer (92%) to reaching my goal of 24 for the year (already! -- just two more to go!!), and a whopping ELEVEN (!!) books ahead of schedule!

Last week, I attended my fourth meeting of the local library's book club, where we discussed "The Three Weissmanns of Westport."  I was amused that most of the group members shared my own "meh!" reaction to this selection. ;)  I won't be around for the July meeting, and there is no meeting in August, so our next book & meeting won't be until September.  

(I chose not to read the July selection -- "A Guide for the Perplexed" by Dara Horn -- since there's plenty in my own TBR pile to keep me busy on vacation...!  Has anyone read that one? Should I have taken it out anyway??) 

Current reads:  

• Mrs. Tim Gets a Job by D.E. Stevenson (for my online D.E. Stevenson book club/fan group --  related past posts here) 
• Living the Life Unexpected by Jody Day (for a Gateway Women Community reading group -- we are going through it & discussing it, chapter by chapter, with some video guidance by Jody herself.). I read an earlier version of this book in 2013, "Rocking the Life Unexpected," and reviewed it here. An absolute must-read for anyone struggling with how to build a life without the children we'd wanted/hoped/expected to have. 

(Some) recent purchases/additions to the TBR pile: 

• City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert (the Gateway Women Community book club selection for July -- I think I will be taking this one on my trip with me...)  
• Normal People by Sally Rooney 
• The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary 
• Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner
• Summer of '69 by Elin Hilderbrand
• Notes to Self by Emilie Pine 

Watching:  We saw not just one, not just two, but THREE movies in June!

The first was "Rocketman," the "musical fantasy"/biopic of Elton John, whose music was a staple of my teenage years in the Seventies. (The guys at my school were CRUSHED when he came out as bisexual in the mid-70s... like the crazy outfits & glasses weren't a clue??  Of course, we were pretty innocent -- stuff like that just was not seen nor talked about back then -- maybe in New York or San Francisco, but definitely not in smalltown Prairie Canada.)  We both enjoyed it a lot.  I have never seen Elton in concert (tried but failed to get tickets to his farewell tour shows here in Toronto), but my sister has two tickets to his farewell tour concert in October, and says one of them is mine if I want it (and want to make another trip home). Dh looked at me as the credits rolled and the house lights came up and said, "You HAVE to go to that concert."  Let's just say I'm leaning heavily toward YES. ;) 

The second movie we saw was "Late Night," with the always-amazing Emma Thompson, in a part written specifically for her by her co-star, Mindy Kaling. Can I just say how great it was to see a woman my own age kicking it onscreen?? I think she deserves, if not an Oscar, at least a nomination. 

And the third was "Yesterday," which I mentioned in my latest #MicroblogMondays post, here. (Short take: we loved it!) 

There is not much on TV at the moment, but I've been watching season 3 of "The Handmaid's Tale."  I'm not sure my parents get Bravo (the TV channel it's on here) so I'm going to set the PVR while we're there. I may try to stream the episodes on my laptop as they become available, but their Internet service is not particularly high-speed, so we'll see...! 

Listening: I thoroughly enjoyed episode 1 of The Full Stop podcast, which launched earlier in June, and am looking forward to episode 2, coming soon. (Until then, there's a bonus episode -- outtakes from episode 1 -- available on the podcast website.) 

Drinking/Eating:  After three years living here, I finally persuaded dh to try a little cafe that is within a short walk of our condo (like, under five minutes)(even WITH all the construction that's making it more difficult for us to walk there right now!). The community where we now live is predominantly Italian, but this little eatery features Argentinian as well as Italian & other foods & sweets. They are open for breakfast & lunch, and their specialty is empanadas!  I haven't tried one of those yet, but so far, I've tried the quiche & salad special and a tuna melt sandwich on rye bread;  dh has already fallen in love with the grilled cheese sandwich. Once the road construction hereabouts ends (sometime later this year), I predict we will become regulars!

Buying (besides books, lol):  New summer clothes (badly needed) for dh :) -- including three pairs of new shorts, a pair of black Dockers and a new summer shirt.  

Wearing: My summer wardrobe... finally!  


Trying:  To figure out how to cram in everything I want & need to do before we leave on our trip west to see my family...! 

Wanting:  To get back to the McMichael Gallery soon (where I have a membership) to see their new Maud Lewis exhibit. I wrote about Maud, her work, and the recent movie based on her life, here. 


Feeling:  That familiar "William Tell Overture" pre-trip feeling coming on, lol... 

Loving:  My family -- the one I came from, our west, and the one here that I married into. :)