Odds & ends to end the month

• Update on my last/#MM post and my surgery dates:  as I mentioned to Mali in one of the comments on that post, the opthamologist's office called yesterday afternoon. They didn't see any issue with me having my eye surgery on July 25th as scheduled, if I had gallbladder removal surgery on July 12th. 
• I was seeing my family doctor today, following up on my recent fall and ambulance trip to the hospital, so I asked him his opinion. He didn't see any reason why I couldn't do both surgeries that close together either, and he encouraged me to go for it. 
• Of course, when I got home and spoke to the surgeon's office, July 12th was no longer available...!  :(  They offered me July 19th, but that was definitely way too close to my eye surgery on the 25th for my comfort. 
• So now I am booked for August 15th, three weeks AFTER the eye procedure. I actually feel better doing it in that order, with some time in between to recover. BUT... 
• ...this timing means I probably won't be heading west to see my family this summer -- AGAIN. This will be the third summer in a row that I've missed going there (the last because of covid, of course) -- and the fourth in the past five years. We also missed a summer 2018 trip, because we were basically on death watch for FIL, who passed away in mid-August after a cancer diagnosis that spring. :(  Summer 2019 is the only one in the past five years when we've made it "home"!  My parents will be disappointed, I know. :(  
• Theoretically we could go earlier in July, but dh thinks we shouldn't run the added risk of exposure to covid just before the surgeries, which would really throw a monkey wrench into things. :(   I suppose he's right.  We will probably go for a week or two in October around (Canadian) Thanksgiving again instead. My sister has a week off then too. 
• Bloglovin' was fine earlier this morning, but out (again!) later on. It's finally back up again this evening.      
• Amid the horror of the TV coverage on the morning after the school massacre in Ulvade, Texas, last week, one small bright spot (for me):  CNN morning news anchor Erica Hill's voice was cracking as she read a social media post from one of the bereaved parents announcing the death of his daughter. Her co-anchor, Jim Sciutto, acknowledged (in words to the effect that) "You can't help but think about your own child." But then!!  To my utter amazement, he then added "Of course, you don't have to be a parent to feel the sadness of this" (words to that effect, anyway). 
• I just about dropped my cup of tea -- it's not something those of us without children hear or have acknowledged by parents very often -- and it meant a lot to hear it. Thank you, Jim Scuitto!  :)  
• The New York Times had a story about the parents who are suing their son & his wife for not providing them with a grandchild after six years of marriage (which I previously mentioned in a post here). The grounds are "mental harassment." (!)  
• Two weeks ago, the initial story I saw said a hearing in the matter was scheduled for Monday (a few days later);  the NYT story (dated Sunday) says an initial hearing on the suit is scheduled for... Monday (i.e.,. yesterday). Either the original hearing was postponed or the Times didn't update the story? I have done some Googling and have not found any coverage of an actual hearing or outcome yet. 
• The NYT article provides some cultural context around the story that's been missing from the initial coverage I saw. "This is an Indian parent thing," the couple's sympathetic lawyer says. A local shopkeeper says that the case has been the subject of great interest among his clients, and that older people tended to sympathize with the plaintiffs.
• The NYT story links to a Times of India story that provides further details missing from the coverage I've seen to date. The father says "we decided to get him married" -- "WE," which implies to me that it may have been an arranged marriage. He also says, "My son and daughter-in-law are living in two separate cities because of their jobs, causing us immense pain." Hmmm...
• I have a LOT of questions. (I'd love to know what the conversations over THAT family dinner table have been like over the past six years...!)  Have the son & DIL actually outright refused to produce grandchildren?  Or they just... haven't procreated? (Yet?)  
• Perhaps they don't actually want to have children. (Perhaps they didn't even really want to get married, but went ahead with the wedding, just to get their parents off their case?)  
• Perhaps they do want children, but not right away. Perhaps they have other priorities right now (careers, travel, mortgage?) -- and their timeline differs from their parents'.  
• And, of course, there's always the distinct possibility that they have actually been trying to have children, without success. (Living and working in two different cities doesn't make it any easier...!) 
• Most of us here know the pain and stress of being pressured by relatives (however well-meaning) about when we're going to produce a baby.  Infertility is stressful enough without the constant comments and enquiries from family members, which is why so many of us keep any testing and treatment we're doing private. I found it difficult enough to cope with my own anxiety and disappointment and dh's, let alone anyone else's.  I can't fathom the additional stress infertile couples must be under in a highly pronatalist culture like India's. And I certainly can't fathom how awful it must be to have your own parents threatening to SUE you!! ("Produce a grandchild within the next year, or else...!")
• The son and DIL have not commented to date.  
• Arthur Brooks offered his thoughts on two ways to keep a midlife crisis at bay in the Atlantic recently. In a nutshell, they are (1) focus on what age has give you, and not what it has taken away (generativity versus stagnation), and (2) choose subtraction, not addition (i.e., focus on paring down your life -- and your stuff -- to focus on yourself and on the things that matter most to you). I thought the article was a little simplistic, but he raised some interesting points. Thoughts? 
• How can it already be JUNE??  

#MicroblogMondays: Juggling

Last Thursday afternoon, I finally got the phone call I've been waiting for: the office of the surgeon who will be removing my gallbladder, asking if I wanted to go ahead with the surgery. (Yes, please.)  They are currently booking surgeries for June, July and August. The first date she offered me was July 12th.  

I had to tell her I am currently scheduled to have eye surgery on July 25th -- 13 days later -- and what was her opinion on having the two surgeries that close together? Would it be better to wait until after that was done, and if so, how long? She told me that recovery time from this surgery varies, but it generally takes two to four weeks. (That would be cutting it kind of close, I think -- in terms of my own comfort, if not any actual impact on the surgery itself.)  She suggested I talk to the opthamologist and get back to her. Sigh. 

I left a message with the opthamologist's office on Thursday afternoon -- but of course (as I knew, based on past experience), it went to voice mail, where the recorded message says calls will be answered within two business days (!) -- i.e., I probably won't hear from them until today or tomorrow. (They haven't called so far.) Meanwhile, I'm worried the surgeon's schedule will fill up and then I'll have to wait for the NEXT block of surgeries to be scheduled for September, October & November. :(  (I did mention in my message that I would like to hear from them ASAP, so that I can finalize my surgery date.)  :( 

I'm also scheduled to see my family doctor on Tuesday (following up on my recent head injury and emergency visit to the hospital), and I plan to ask for his thoughts on the timing and spacing of these surgeries/procedures. I also want to ask him whether he thinks I need to consult my optometrist or opthamologist (again) before the eye surgery, because of the head injury. So far as I can tell, it hasn't affected my vision at all -- but I did have some initial aches & pains behind my eyes/sinuses, and I have a bit of a black eye (on the side/corner of my left eye and eyelid). 

Nothing is ever simple, is it??    

I have a feeling this is not going to be a great summer, undergoing and recovering from two different surgeries (although I want to get both of them over with ASAP). :(   Also in the mix and stressing me out a bit:  I would really like to spend some time with my parents this summer. We could always go in the fall again, of course (for my sister's 60th birthday in September, or Canadian Thanksgiving in October?), but I haven't been there in the summer since 2019. They have a big yard and garden and need a lot more help these days than they used to. My sister & her partner are out there frequently on weekends (and of course they have their own house and yard to look after), but I feel slightly guilty that it all falls on them. Dh thinks we probably shouldn't travel until after I've had and recovered from all of my surgeries, to minimize the risk of coming down with covid (and then having to postpone...!), and I suppose he's right.  

I said to someone recently that none of my recent medical/health issues -- colonoscopy/polyp removal & biopsy, scarred cornea, gallstones, fall/concussion -- are anything really serious/major (and in most cases there's a solution or something I can do to make things better) -- and thank goodness for that! -- but lately it's just been one thing after another after another. 

It takes a toll.  :(  

*** *** *** 

Update on my fall/concussion: The past few days, I've noticed I'm feeling a lot better than I was. I still feel a dull head ache at times, especially on the left side and especially when I first get up in the morning, and if/when I'm overdoing things a bit. But it's certainly better than it was at this time last week. The gash site/abrasion on my scalp has scabbed over. I'm still being very careful when I wash & comb my hair (and probably will have to be for a while).  My more visible scrapes and bruises (on my left ankle & calf, hip/thigh, elbow and shoulder) are still there and still noticeable, particularly the bruise on/around my left eye, which has turned a rather alarming shade of black & purple. But it's not hugely noticeable, especially at first glance (you might almost think I was wearing dark eye shadow in the crease, lol). 

I feel very, very lucky! 

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

"The Golden Road" by L.M. Montgomery

I recently noted: 

(...Following the conclusion of our recent discussion of "The Story Girl," the LMM [L.M. Montgomery] Readathon group on Facebook I've been part of for the past two years is on hiatus. The organizers promised to keep the group going as long as the pandemic lasted... I don't think they ever imagined it going into Year #3 (we've covered seven Montgomery books to date)..! One of the organizers is stepping back due to other commitments, and if the group is to continue, volunteers will be needed. Decisions/future plans will be announced soon...) 

We've since learned that the group WILL continue (yay!), but the next read has yet to be announced.  My fingers are crossed that a future read (if not the very next one) will be the sequel to "The Story Girl," "The Golden Road," which was first published in 1913. While waiting to learn about the fate of the Facebook group, I decided I might as well (re)read "The Golden Road" myself, while "The Story Girl," its characters and plots, were still fresh in my mind. 

First, a personal story:  I actually read "The Golden Road" before "The Story Girl." Like many, I discovered Montgomery through "Anne of Green Gables," when I was about 8 years old, and read many of the Anne sequels before I turned to some of her other works. The timeline is a little fuzzy, but sometime in the early 1970s, my family took a road trip back to the two places we'd lived in Saskatchewan to visit friends. In one town where we had lived, we stayed with the retired (childless, spinster) schoolteacher who had "adopted" our young family when we'd lived there. (I wrote about her -- "Miss A." -- in this 2013 post about my "other mothers.") She knew I loved to read, and we must have discussed books, because she handed me a volume from her shelf and suggested I might want to look at it while I was there. 

It was "The Golden Road" (possibly a first edition, from what I remember of the cover) -- a Montgomery book I hadn't read yet. Not only that, she said that the author was her cousin!  I always thought Miss A. (like Lucy Maud Montgomery) was born in Prince Edward Island;  years later, I learned she was actually born in Saskatchewan, but her parents were from there. I am not sure of the relationship, because none of the names I've uncovered from her family tree match any of the names I've heard in connection with Montgomery's genealogy.  Anyway, that's how I first came to read "The Golden Road," and ahead of "The Story Girl," too. :) 

*** *** *** 

"The Golden Road" picks up almost immediately where "The Story Girl' left off, continuing the adventures of the King cousins and their friends on the family farm near the fictional town of Carlisle, Prince Edward Island, for almost another full year. Like "The Story Girl," there's not any central plot, just a string of episodes focused on the cousins' adventures and characters and family life, with some storytelling from the Story Girl thrown in for their (and our) entertainment, as well as entries from the family magazine the children write together. Peg Bowen, the local "witch," makes a couple of memorable appearances, figuring somewhat more prominently in this book than in the last, and the mystery of Jasper Dale, "the Awkward Man," is finally resolved. All the elements are skillfully woven together, and over the course of the two books, we come to know and care about these characters, as they (inevitably) face leaving the "golden road" of childhood behind them.  

I won't spoil the ending, except to say that the last five or six chapters build to an emotional climax that had me reaching for kleenex. 

There is part of me that thinks this book is slightly superior to "The Story Girl." But I'm giving it the same rating: 4 stars on Goodreads.  

This was Book #25 read to date in 2022 (and Book #3 finished in May), bringing me to 56% of my 2022 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 7 books ahead of schedule. :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2022 tagged as "2022 books."  

Odds & ends

• Blog housekeeping:  I've updated my Book List of recommended/relevant reads (at the top of the home page, just under the nameplate/header). I hadn't done that since I created it, more than a year ago. (oops!) 
• I started drafting this post last week, before my recent (*cough*/eyeroll) "incident." Thanks to those of you who commented on my last post, or reached out in concern elsewhere. <3 
• Still feeling tired today, and the left side of my face is still a bit swollen/puffy, especially under my left eye, although it's better than it was yesterday.  It's also yellowing under my left eye. Guess I'm going to have a shiner there...?! 
• My family doctor's office called this morning. I won't be able to see him until NEXT Tuesday. Sigh. 
• I removed the dressing/bandages and washed my hair this morning, for the first time since Friday (rinsing out the dried-up blood, but being very careful around the wound area/scab). Ahhhh...!! 
• My weekend was already eventful to begin with, because of what happened to me on Friday (see above). Then Saturday afternoon, a huge, destructive storm rolled across a wide swath of the province. 
• They're calling it a "derecho," similar to the one that walloped Iowa in August 2020, and "one of the most destructive and widespread ‘derecho’ squall lines in Ontario’s modern history" They're investigating whether there were also tornados. 
• Today, three days later, the death count stands at 10. More than 150,000 homes are still without power, and some schools are closed. In Ottawa, more than 187 hydro poles were down, which "not only exceeds the number the city traditionally puts down in a year but also tops the number felled during the 1998 ice storm and 2018 tornado." (Source) 
• I have several weather apps on my phone, and there had been warnings on Friday and earlier that morning of a dangerous storm moving into the area. Then just before 1 p.m., we got alerts on our cellphones through the emergency warning system, similar to the ones we get for Amber Alerts -- very loud, you can't miss them! 
• It was getting increasingly dark outside -- and then the wind picked up. It was coming from the west, and we face north, so we were partially sheltered, but we had an amazing view from our windows (although I was prepared to dive in the closet if it looked like things were turning even more nasty...!). This being a long weekend (generally regarded as the kickoff to summer), a lot of people had just set out their patio furniture, and we saw what was probably a big patio umbrella go flying by from one end of our view to the other at top speed. Wind gusts in some areas measured 120-130 kilometres per hour. (That's 75-80 miles per hour.)
• Our power flickered briefly but did not go out -- thank goodness! Others not too far away from us were not so lucky. I have friends in the Ottawa area who went more than 24 hours without power -- and last I heard (last night), some of them still didn't have their power back. 
• I recently told my mother that I won't be able to come home for the family reunion in Minnesota in late July, because I'll be having my eye surgery a few days earlier on July 25th (plus I'm still waiting for my gallbladder removal surgery to be scheduled). I was bracing myself for an argument ("can't you reschedule?") -- but surprisingly, she didn't say a word.  ;)  
• Speaking of aging parents: the Globe & Mail had an article this weekend ("The great junk transfer is coming") about dealing with our parents' "stuff" (including a companion article with tips!). As the child of two aging parents in an overstuffed house, I can relate...!  
• Of course, articles like this always make me think about my own things -- and make me VERY glad that we've had at least one preliminary round of downsizing and getting rid of stuff before we moved into our condo six years ago!
• As a childless person, of course, I won't have any kids to deal with whatever mess I leave behind me. (And once you're gone, of course -- kids or no kids -- it's all completely out of your hands.) 
• It's bad enough leaving your kids to deal with it all, I suppose -- but in our case, it will probably be our nephews (who will also be dealing with their parents' & in-laws' estates).  And so I feel kind of obligated to try to leave things in at least some sort of order...  
• I was drafting a post (for the future) that mentions a long-ago visit to friends in Saskatchewan, where we lived for six years in the 1960s, when I was kid. That got me reminiscing, and then Googling a few people, including my best friend from those days. Up popped an obituary for her mother, who just passed away in March at age 91. What a blast from the past! -- as well as a few surprises. I had no idea this woman & her husband had lost a child -- an infant son, likely early on in their marriage (named in the "predeceased by..." section). (They had four other children.)  I wonder whether my friend always knew this, or found out about it later in life? 
• I also Googled a couple of my old teachers. I found a 2018 obituary for my Grade 1 teacher's husband, which made me sad. I didn't know him, but I remember devoting a Friday afternoon art class to making flowers out of kleenex to decorate their wedding car (does anyone still decorate wedding cars??)(let alone with kleenex flowers??  lol). I also found a 2020 obituary for my Grade 2 teacher's husband, which mentioned he was predeceased by his wife. :(  He was 77, so she couldn't have been any older than that. :(  
• I noticed a while back that an older woman (in her mid-70s, a lovely artist) that I "know" from one of my (non-ALI) online groups, who had "friended" me on social media, had been silent/absent online for quite some time. She'd been dealing with/recovering from some health issues but was doing well -- and then, she came down with covid. :(  This was fall 2020, pre-vaccines. Since then, all her accounts have been silent, aside from occasional enquiries from friends asking how she was doing. Last week, we learned that she's been dealing with long covid and has significant cognitive impairment. She is well cared for, but she is not the same person she once was. Damn covid!! :(  
• The Walrus (a Canadian magazine) recently profiled Sarah Polley and her new book, "Run Toward the Danger," (which I LOVED, and reviewed here).  I was particularly struck by this passage, midway through the article: 

THERE’S A THING THAT HAPPENS, Polley has found, with people who haven’t experienced much trauma. They have this idea that anyone who has been through the wringer is damaged, that they can’t move forward, that brokenness becomes part of them. “I think I’m finally articulating to myself that, unless you’ve experienced and had to process trauma, I don’t know if you’re whole,” she says. “I don’t think people should look for trauma! But, if it happens, I don’t think it’s a harbinger of permanent damage. I think that, if a person has processed it in any meaningful way, it might make them more fully human, more capable, and on their way to becoming more whole.”

• I caught up on a couple of recent episodes of New Legacy Radio, with some fascinating in-depth discussions I'm still thinking about:  
• Donna Ward, Australian author of "She I Dare Not Name" (reviewed here), talked about how single/childless women are included and supported (or not) in public policy and in  crisis situations (such as covid and other health emergencies). (Who gets priority? Is it "women AND children first," or "women WITH children"?? -- think about it!) 
• Rhodes Perry, author of "Belonging at Work" and "Imagine Belonging," talked about what it means to "belong," and how to build more inclusive workplaces. 
• Sarah Roberts of The Empty Cradle delivered an impressive, groundbreaking Zoom presentation for the Diversity Council of Australia before a registered audience of 600 (!) people from across the Australian corporate sector, state and federal governments, and non-governmental organizations (NGO) sector.  (And following Sarah's presentation, she and fellow Australians Judy Graham of WomenHood Counselling, Michael Hughes of The Full Stop Podcast and Clan of Brothers, and Liz Campbell of Redefining My Plan A, answered questions in a panel discussion.) The material Sarah presented will be familiar to many of us -- but of course, we were not her intended audience. I can only imagine the impact she made on 600 people who, for the most part, have likely never given us and our concerns much (if any) thought, let alone considered us worthy of inclusion as a diversity group on par with others long established. (Have a look at some of the comments/reviews on the DCA event page!) May there be many more presentations like this one!! (around the world and not just in Australia!) Please watch, and (if you're feeling brave), share!   

#MicroblogMondays: Just call me Superklutz :p

It's the Victoria Day holiday long weekend here in Canada -- our unofficial kickoff to summer (even though summer isn't officially until mid-June, and schools here don't let out until mid/late June).  It has been... interesting, and certainly not at all what I had planned or expected.  

The long story short (shortER? -- despite the #MM tag, this is NOT a "microblog" post, lol): I was at the zoo on Friday with dh, BIL, SIL, Little Great-Nephew, his mom (Older Nephew's Wife), her cousin and her baby.  And I took a tumble down some stairs outside a cafe there.  :(  Went in to buy some water and snacks -- we were all getting hungry & thirsty, and we'd been walking for hours -- and it was SO hot & crowded inside, and a very long wait in line. 

Came outside in the bright sunshine, looking around for everyone -- took off my mask -- and then either tripped or missed a step -- and down I went. Banged myself up good, including bruises and scrapes on my left ankle, elbow and shoulder, and a gash on the upper left side of my head. 

There was blood. :(  

I am VERY lucky -- there was a first aid station right near where I fell, and the medics were there in minutes. They tried to stabilize me enough so that dh could drive me to the closest hospital, but I felt woozy every time they tried to sit me up. So I got sent to a local hospital in an ambulance (my first -- and hopefully my LAST!! -- ambulance ride ever!). They did a CT scan there, which was clear, and ultimately decided I didn't even need stitches. It's about a 1 cm (1/2 inch) gash, and they just cleaned it up, put a cotton pad and some polysporin on it and wound some gauze around my head to keep it in place before sending me home. (They also gave me a tetanus shot.) Dh changed the dressing yesterday (I think he did an even better job than the ER doctor did, frankly...!) and the bleeding seemed to have stopped, but I still have it on for now. I've been sleeping with a towel spread atop my pillowcase as an extra precaution/attempt not to get blood on my (nice, newly bought! WHITE!!) sheets.

Of course it is a long weekend here. Normally, my family doctor's office is open on Saturdays and Mondays, but I won't be able to see/follow up with him (or someone else there) until at least tomorrow. :(  I left a message on their voice mail, so hopefully I will be able to get an appointment later tomorrow.  I have had concussions/bangs to the head before and this has been pretty mild thus far, comparatively speaking -- just some occasional twinges at the gash site and low-level head/sinus aches (especially if I'm tired), and especially on Saturday. 

However, the left side of my face, including the area under my left eye, swelled up overnight Saturday/Sunday -- and it's still pretty puffy today. I've been taking ibuprofen and applying ice every few hours to try to bring it down a bit. The ER doctor warned me to take it easy for a few days -- not too much screen time (TV, phone, laptop, etc.) -- so if I'm not around the blogworld or social media much for the next while, you'll know why...!  I've been off my laptop since Thursday night, although I have been on my phone on & off. I can tell I'm overdoing it when I start getting tired or my head starts aching a little more.

*** *** *** 

We were having a pretty good time until this happened. Disappointingly, a lot of the zoo animals were not on display, for various reasons, including to limit transmission of both covid and avian flu (!) -- and others were taking naps or hiding out -- but it was fun being out with LGN and taking photos. The zoo is not far from where we used to live, but we hadn't been there in more than 30 years, since LGN's dad (Older Nephew) was not quite two years old. It's a HUGE zoo -- more than 10 kilometres/6 miles of trails -- and we did a LOT of walking, including up a very long gradual hill/incline near the cafe where we stopped. I was huffing & puffing by the time we reached the top, and even felt a bit queasy at one point (and of course we've been in mostly couch potato mode during covid...!). The day started out cool (we got there around 10:30 a.m.), but it was getting warmer, and the sun was quite hot. We'd had breakfast around 7 -- I had a muffin when we stopped at Tim Hortons kiosk earlier in the morning, and I'd brought a bottle of water in my purse -- but it was almost gone and I was dying for a nice cold new bottle, and I was getting hungry too. So around 1:30, I went inside the cafe/food pavilion with Older Nephew's Wife (ONW) and her cousin (who also wanted some food) while the others waited outside. It was HOT and stuffy and crowded in there, and only about half the people (or less) were wearing masks, which made me nervous. I had a cloth mask on (put it on whenever we went in a building), but it was all damp from my sweat. And the service was VERY slow -- it took forever to get to the order window, and then again to actually get our stuff. 

I got my stuff ahead of ONW, and headed out the first door I saw (there were a couple of entrances/exits). I came outside at the top of a broad set of steps -- there were railings/bannisters on either side, I think, but I was right in the middle. I whipped off my mask. It was bright sunlight, and I looked around to get my bearings and saw the others off in the distance to my right. 

I'm not sure what happened next... I took a step forward -- and either missed the step, or maybe I tripped over my sandal? Anyway, down I went. :(  Next thing I know, I'm laying there with my leg against the concrete step, staring up at the sky with people gathering around me. My glasses were gone (so I couldn't see much more than what was directly above me, and not altogether clearly...!), and I didn't know where my purse was. 

As I said, the first aid team was there very quickly, slapping a blood pressure cuff and pulse oximeter on me, putting ice and cotton on the gash site to absorb the blood, and talking to me -- both to get information and (I'm sure) to make sure I stayed conscious and judge whether I was alert & coherent. (I was.) I told them my family was just over there, dh's name and description, and I heard people calling out his name. Eventually they found him, and he rushed over and held my hand while they worked on me (and collected my purse and glasses). SIL came over & gave me her sunglasses, because the sun was glaring in my eyes -- and even LGN wandered over and looked down at me with (I will never forget this detail!) a peanut butter sandwich in his hand (lol).  I was told later that all the way home, he kept repeating, "Loribeth fall down! Hit head!" and it was the first thing he said to Older Nephew when he got home that night. I just hope he wasn't too traumatized...!  :(  

My vitals were all good -- although they dropped a bit when they tried to sit me up. The idea was they'd try to get me into their cart and take dh & me to our car in the parking lot, and then he could take me to the hospital. All I could think was dh would never find his way there himself -- I'm always the navigator! (lol) -- and I didn't think I was up to navigating just then.  But whenever they tried to sit me up, I would start feeling like I was fading out. :( 

So -- they called an ambulance. (I will probably get billed for that, although I think my medical plan will cover at least part of it? Otherwise, the only cost to us was $14 for hospital parking.)  I thought dh was going to come with me, but he wasn't allowed. But I knew he would come to the hospital and find me there. They said I'd need my health card, and I told dh where to find it in my wallet (as well as the parking ticket so he could get out of the zoo parking lot!). They put one of those collars on me to stabilize my neck as a precaution and loaded me up in back. All I had with me was my health card and SIL sunglasses!!  No glasses (and staring straight up, so I couldn't see very much...!), no phone, no purse. Very weird feeling. 

It wasn't very far, and the guy in the back with me was so nice -- kept chatting to me and taking my vitals. He put a mask on me and asked if I'd been vaccinated for covid. We got there around 3, I think? and had to wait for a while in a long hallway crowded with other patients on stretchers and ambulance personnel, until a nurse finally came to take my info and admit me. (The ambulance guy cracked, "Yeah, she was at the zoo... got chased by a polar bear... or was it a jaguar?" I said, "Make it a polar bear -- I'm from Manitoba," lol.)(Churchill, in northern Manitoba, is known as "the polar bear capital of the world.") Meanwhile, the ambulance guy went out a couple of times to see if he could see dh anywhere -- and found him!  I'm not sure he was supposed to be there, but thankfully nobody kicked him out.  ;)  They finally put me in a room, and a dr finally came to assess me and send me for a CT scan (which took all of about 20 minutes from the time I left the room until the time I got back). He came back to tell us the results were clear, and that they didn't think stitches would be necessary (whew!). 

Another young dr came to administer the tetanus shot, clean up and dress my wound and give us further instructions. He told me to leave the dressing on at least overnight, and gave dh some extra pads and gauze and tape, in case it needed changing. I asked him if I could take a shower when we got home (because I was feeling sweaty & filthy even before this happened...!) and he said I shouldn't get the dressing wet while the wound was still fresh -- so I said, "What I wore a shower cap?" and he said okay to that -- so dh went to the drugstore and got me one when we got home (left the hospital around 7 and got home around 8 -- about 4 hours there total, which is not at all bad, especially with covid still around, and a long weekend). I felt SO much better after that that -- and some food & water. (I STILL haven't washed my hair yet -- not looking forward to trying to get the dried-up blood out of it...!) 

*** *** *** 

So it's been a pretty weird weekend. I've been trying to take it easy. Listening to a lot of music on the 70s music channel -- very mellow and soothing, lol.  This is the first I've been on my laptop since Thursday night. Promised dh I wouldn't overdo it ;) and trying to keep my word (and probably failing...!).  

I feel very, VERY lucky (it could have been SO much worse!!).  It's easier to dust yourself off and bounce back from something like this when you're 31 or 41, instead of 61...!  :(  

But I also feel like a total klutz. 

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

The old order changeth... :(

I stopped in my tracks when someone shared this headline (from the New York Post) on Facebook today: "People’s print magazine faces possible closure amid newsroom chaos: sources."

I suppose it's not entirely surprising... it's (sadly) the way of the world these days, isn't it? :( But I remember when People magazine first began in the mid-1970s. It was a trailblazer that quickly became iconic. I'll admit I haven't read it much lately -- mainly because I don't recognize half the people on its covers any more (!), and I don't like the way it seem to have gone "tabloid" in its look and headlines in recent years. But I ALWAYS bought the year-end issue to read on the plane to Manitoba at Christmastime.

Then I read the article. And had to pick my jaw up off the floor when I saw this [emphasis mine]:

Staffers at People — a 48-year-old fixture in grocery checkout lines, beauty salons and doctor’s offices known for its “Sexiest Man Alive” cover — are bracing for the magazine to go online-only after Dotdash Meredith, a unit of billionaire Barry Diller’s IAC, shuttered a slew of print publications, sources close to the situation said. Those include Entertainment Weekly and the fashion glossy InStyle, which once oozed profit and was thick with advertising pages.

!!!

I've been a loyal Entertainment Weekly reader right from the very first issue in 1990 (and I still have that one in a plastic bin in our storage locker -- one of the few old magazines I'd saved that survived the pre-condo move purge). I've mentioned it on this blog and sung its praises here many times over the years -- here in particular, in a list of my favourite things. EW was the one magazine I never wanted to miss an issue of (and I rarely did!). I used to pick up the latest weekly edition (at lunchtime on Thursdays, when all the new magazines would hit the newsstand in the concourse of the downtown office tower where I worked) and then devour it on the commuter train ride home that night. Once I lost my job and stopped working downtown, I couldn't always find it out in the suburbs (or at least easily, or in a timely way), so I became a subscriber to make sure I didn't miss an issue. (I did away with many of my magazine subscriptions as a cost-cutting measure when I lost my job and wasn't certain how this retirement thing might work out, financially -- EW is the only new one I think I actually added!) It's lost that "must read NOW" status since it cut back to a monthly publication a few years ago (and I guess the writing was on the wall then...), but I still enjoy it. (Enjoyed.) Sigh. :(

Apparently this announcement happened back in February -- but needless to say, it came as news to me. I'm a subscriber to the print version of EW, and I have received absolutely NO notification this was happening (let alone any refunds on any remaining issues in my subscription...!). There is no mention of it on the EW website (unless you hit the "subscribe" button -- then you get a notification that an Entertainment Weekly magazine subscription is "No Longer Available." When I logged into the website and hit "Manage my Subscription" under my profile, I was sent to a page that said:

Unfortunately this title is no longer being published, so there have been some changes made to the site you are trying to reach. If you have any questions about your subscription, or you would like to cancel and receive a refund — please find the email address that correlates with your subscription title below to send a message with your request. Note: Please make sure to include your billing address in your message.

I did receive an issue for April (which I haven't read yet), and apparently that is the final one. :(

I did a bit of Googling and found an article from another subscriber who's less than enthralled about the lack of communication from the publisher. (Apparently there is a mention of the demise of the print edition in the April issue -- buried within a story that's buried way in the back of the magazine.)

The only clue that Entertainment Weekly was pulling the plug on the printing press was buried deep in a story in the back one-third of the April issue, a nostalgic look at magazine covers since the debut edition, which featured the visage of musician k.d. lang (lack of capitalization of a proper name her idea, not mine).

After pontificating about the “seismic changes” in the entertainment industry resulting from new technologies, the two-paragraph kiss-off to subscribers included this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it bombshell: “But oh, did we have fun — and we’ll continue to, as the brand moves fully online after this final print issue.”

This is the point at which I spat coffee out of my mouth, stammering like the Frank Constanza from “Seinfeld.” Wait? What! Why? Say it isn’t so. And I am now able to report that the worst part of waking up is Folger’s on your crotch."

As of April 2nd, he'd requested a refund, but had yet to receive one.

He echoed many of my own reasons for loving the magazine:

Over the years, the magazine helped me keep up-to-date on pop culture and my thumb on the pulse of the zeitgeist (a word I first saw in Entertainment Weekly, and had to go look it up…in an actual dictionary, rather than simply Google it). At local brewery trivia nights, I would often surprise and impress my teammates with answers to questions about TV shows I had not watched, movies I had not seen, music I had not heard and books I had not read. The magazine’s insider information helped me win office Oscar pools [me too!] and pick winners of the Emmy and Grammy awards. And, as I became a parent of young children, it gave valuable advice on what entertainment products were suitable for certain age groups. [Not applicable here, obviously, but I thought it was a valuable feature for people with kids.]

Benjamin Svetky, a former EW writer, also sang the praises of EW and its impact in an obituary/appreciation for the magazine that's worth reading. (Closing quote: "EW’s final grade? That’d be an A.")

Among the other print magazines shuttered at the same time as EW:  InStyle (which I also used to enjoy occasionally), and Parents, which has been around since 1926!  

I still subscribe to Creative Scrapbooker, a Canadian-based scrapbooking magazine (talk about endangered species...! -- I went to the website to the get the link for this post, and was confronted with a headline demanding, "Hold it! Read it! Love it!" Yikes!), as well as Canadian Living and Style at Home (a Canadian home & design publication). I like to think I'm supporting homegrown, as well as the magazine industry generally. I will admit, I don't pounce on them to read immediately the way I once did, when they arrive in my mailbox. Too many other distractions these days...! But still...

Did/do you read EW and/or People? Do you still have any print magazine subscriptions?

#MicroblogMondays: Now it makes sense...!

Now it makes sense!

As I mentioned in a post on Saturday, dh & I happily spent a few hours on Friday afternoon at Older Nephew's house, watching/entertaining/being entertained by Little Great-Nephew, while his mom had a job interview on Zoom. (She got the job!) 

Before we went, BIL told dh that Older Nephew wanted us to stay for dinner -- I think he was planning to get takeout on his way home from work -- and several times, he reiterated, "Make sure you stay for dinner!"  

But by the time ON's wife finished her call, it was about 3:45 p.m., and Older Nephew wasn't due back home until after 5. Dh was tired after running around after LGN all afternoon in the early summer heat, and even though the wife reiterated the dinner invitation, he decided we should go. 

On our way back home, Older Nephew's Wife texted us she had been hired!... at the same time, BIL & SIL called us to tell us the same thing too. BIL also berated dh: "Why didn't you stay for dinner??" When he called to thank us, Older Nephew also asked why we hadn't stayed for dinner. Dh told him to put the money he would have spent on us into LGN's piggy bank. 

Saturday, dh tried calling BIL several times, at home and on his cellphone. No answer. BIL called him back later that evening. I don't know if their whereabouts was meant to be kept a secret -- but BIL can't keep a secret to save his life. ;) 

Turns out they'd been up at Older Nephew's house -- with Younger Nephew & his wife, Older Nephew's Wife's mother and her partner (and possibly her brother too), for a belated Mother's Day celebration. Also a belated 30th birthday celebration for both Older & Younger Nephews' wives (who were born on the same day, same year, and married brothers -- what are the odds, right?).  

THAT explains why they didn't do anything last weekend for the girls' birthdays or MDay (which I thought was rather odd), and also why BIL kept insisting we should stay for dinner at Older Nephew's on Friday night. He knew we weren't invited on Saturday, and he felt less guilty, thinking we'd be there to spend time with LGN and to have dinner the night before..! NOW it all makes sense. 

We don't expect to be invited/included all the time -- especially on an occasion like MDay. (Frankly, I'd prefer NOT to be around when parenthood is being celebrated! -- right?)  They deserve to have some time together as a family unit. When I think about it, it's the secrecy and tiptoeing around us that bothers me, more than not being invited/not being told honestly about what they were doing. 

It was just one of those awkward childless moments -- being the odd ones out, the only ones who don't have any other family around (not even my own family of origin), especially on "family" holidays. 

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