November 2021 Musings

It snowed, folks. It’s November, it snowed, and I’m not amused. Yes, I get that this is Canada, but snow is a four-letter word I would be quite happy to not even look at until January at the earliest.

That said… a pretty, fluffy, light snowfall might be a wonderful thing to get in the up-coming video of the brass ensemble this weekend. Of course, it will probably change to torrential rain by then because I’ve been insulting Mother Nature all this time. She’s petty like that. I’m thinking we may push it to next weekend and hope MN forgets what I’ve said.

Covid numbers – hey, it’s all we seem to talk about these days – are on the rise again, as predicted. “5th Wave”, anyone? Just get vaccinated, please. You didn’t need to be told to get vaccinated for Polio, Small Pox, and all the nasty childhood diseases no one needs to ever get in this day and age, so why is it such a problem to get vaccinated for Covid? It’s killed well over 5 million people around the world, and it’s nowhere near over.

I’ve been thinking about the past year, living in a pandemic, and what has changed for me. Quite a bit as it turns out! This past spring I bought inflatable kayaks (the only way to go for portability and storage, and they were surprisingly great!) for the family and also formed a club with 2 of my besties (the “OBPC” – I’ll let you imagine what that may stand for) and we had the best summer we have had in years. Getting in and out of a kayak when you have a few mobility issues is… interesting, let me tell you. We even went camping with friends, and I hadn’t stepped foot in a tent for over 20 years at that point. Of course, not sure you can call it “camping” when you have a queen-sized, double-height mattress, a fan, small fridge, ice maker, Instant Pot, and a site serviced with power and water. My friends do things right.

Once it got too cool to kayak and camp, that same club moved to dry land and we have been exploring small towns one Saturday a month. So far we have been to Listowel where I introduced our incredibly talented, fiber-artist friend from the Bahamas to the Spinrite Yarn Factory factory and its incredible tent/truck sale. October’s trip was to Paris where we explored the Wincey Mills Market, packed full of treasures of all sorts. This past weekend we visited Elora/St. Jacobs, which was full of charming little shops where we found even more unique treasures, and this time we were shopping for Greedmas Christmas. Each road trip was better than the last, due in large part to my companions. I even spent several crazy days crocheting market bags (one of which I designed and created specifically for the purple-loving member of our trio) last week, and they loved them. We share a love of visiting small towns and especially enjoy supporting small, local businesses. Next month we are changing it up to include spouses on a triple-date to Toronto’s Distillery District Christmas Market. Can’t wait!

This is how we are coping with the pandemic: as best we can and making the most of it. 2020 was not nearly as fun and interesting, so if an early snowfall is the worst that happens in the remainder of this year… I guess I can deal with that. Stay healthy, friends!