Currently: October 2023

It's the first Wednesday in October so it's time to link up with Jennifer at Overflowing With Thankfulness for her "Currently" post. You can find Jennifer here. I am "currently" at a stage in my life where I feel like life is a hamster wheel and I'm running, running, running just to stay in place. And when the hamster wheel finally stops for a brief while, I collapse and have no energy for anything else. On the plus side, I mostly manage the hamster wheel by walking places so I've been getting a ton of exercise these past few weeks. Anyways, nothing bad is happening -- there's just a lot going on right now.

 [loving]

I am absolutely "loving" that Sam was so enthusiastic about doing the Central Art Walk. One weekend in October, local people in our neighbourhood display their art and open their studios and it's just so much fun! I was tempted to skip it this year because our weekend was already so full but Sam was insistent on doing it. So Sam and I walked 4.5 kilometres (almost 3 miles) in our neighbourhood and visited all seven locations.

Sam still has Bar Mitzvah money to spend so he actually bought quite a bit of art. I think the artists got quite the kick out of seeing this teenage boy spend up to $150 on art which caught his eye. I loved doing the Art Walk with Sam and I loved seeing what pieces he was drawn to.

[excited about]

I'm "excited about" October baseball!!! The Jays are in the playoffs and let's see how far they go!!! Of course, I'm a little less "excited about" this since they lost their game last night and could be eliminated as of tonight, if they lose, but think positive, right!?!?!

 

I'm also "excited about" making homemade applesauce. I made another batch last night and will be making a batch every few days since I have a whole bag of apples to deal with.

[watching] 

 Well, to be repetitive, I'm "watching" a lot of baseball. On Sunday, we even got to watch it live which was so much fun!!!

 

[seeing]

I'm "seeing" the leaves turning colours, and, as usual, I can't stop, won't stop, with taking pictures of them all! Be prepared for even more colourful leaf photos coming to the blog as October progresses.

[observing]

I'm "observing" that Canadian politics are quite different than American politics. We, in Canada, also had an election for our Speaker of the House yesterday. A Member of Parliament was elected quite quickly by our government. Our new speaker is the first Black man to be elected Speaker of the House. Our previous speaker resigned after honouring a Ukrainian solider with Nazi ties when the Ukrainian Prime Minister visited Canada a few weeks ago. (The previous Speaker didn't know about the soldier's Nazi ties when he honoured him.)

And well, in the US, there is also an election for the Speaker of the House. But it has not gone quite as smoothly. We will likely be in limbo for awhile to see how the US election for Speaker shakes out.

I've also been "observing" the impending US government shutdown with the failure to pass the budget. I know that there is now a 45 day reprieve to solve this issue before another potential shutdown is imposed. In Canada, if our budget doesn't pass, there is a vote of "no confidence" for the Prime Minister, which triggers a national election. Our national elections can be held in as little as 36 days or as many as 50 days. That is very different than what the US experiences.

So yes, currently, I'm "observing" that Canadian and American politics are very different.

So that is what's up with me "currently." I'm writing this on Tuesday night and I just ate some fresh applesauce and now I'm going to bed because I'm "currently" very tired :)