LIMINAL LIVING #8: 19 FEB TO 25 FEB 2024

Weekly recap of my ritual of existence in this liminal space called life. (See here for more info.)

Weather

The average high this week in my part of New Hampshire was 34.5°F, with high temperatures ranging from 43.9°F to 25.7°F. The average low this week was 12°F, with temps ranging from 3°F to 30.4°F, quite a wide range. We had no snow and only about 1/4 inch of rain, on Friday. It’s been a fairly unwintry winter here this year, by historical standards. I don’t think we’ve dropped below 0°F at all, which is good because we also haven’t had for most of this winter the 20 inches of more of snow that effectively insulates the roots of perennial plants and shrubs.

Beginnings

I actually heard the golden-crowned kinglet myself this week for the first time this year but I still haven’t seen it. We finally made it into the local coffee shop for the first time since mid-December on Thursday, to buy some items to go.

Flora, Fauna, Fungi

Merlin heard these birds during about 20 mins. on Wednesday and Sunday

Again, birds + a squirrel (and no flora or fungi). We are seeing fox every night but the motion camera photos aren’t great.

Wandering

I (or we) walked in town (about an hour each time) on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I have been feeling like I have a cold since Thursday (did Covid19 rapid tests on Fri. and Sat., both negative) and decided to lay low over the weekend.

Curiosity & Discoveries

We had our last virtual birding session (through Maine Audubon) on Monday evening, visiting feeders in Lancaster PA, the Central Highlands of Arizona (2 acorn woodpeckers), Polańczyk, Poland (great tit & grey-headed woodpecker; Eurasian goldfinch, a tit, and grey-headed woodpecker), and near Lake Balaton in Hungary (Eurasian goldfinches, ?, and a brambling; juvenile European sparrow-hawk; wild boars!).

On Tuesday, I attended a Science in the Mountains Zoom presentation (through Mt. Washington Observatory) on Extreme Precipitation Events, presented by a physicist, which was way over my head.

And of course there was Botany in a Winter on Wed., dealing only with grasses.

Creating

Still writing poems! Only a few more to go.

Repairing and Maintaining (everything but the house)

Body/Mind: Botany in a Winter, on Wed. evening: Monocots: all the grasses. Need I say more? I worked out four times (four hours) this week and walked outside on three days, as well as treadmilling on Saturday and Sunday for 5 miles (1 hour, 20 mins with the steepness at 10). I attended Dharma Sunday via Zoom (presenters were in Hawaii!) for 1.5 hours on Sunday.

I tested twice for Covid19, on Friday morning and on Saturday, both times negative.

Nesting

Food: My husband made three sourdough baguettes on Monday; we kept two and gave one to a friend. And he made sourdough pancakes on Wednesday (yum). We had leftovers, local restaurant takeout (two different restaurants), premade Indian food, and veggie burgers with sides this week for dinners. I didn’t have time or energy for much cooking.

Supplies: My husband inventoried the fire extinguishers (five between house and garage/car) and identified one that had a recall, so he filled out the online forms, even though the extinguisher was about 20 yrs old, and a new one was delivered to us within a few days. He also bought two new ones to replace those that are obsolete (and not recalled) at the local hardware store this week.

The Princeton Nature books order (75% off sale!) arrived on Tuesday as well as another book I ordered through Powell’s (Scratches by Michel Leiris, the first of his memoirs) after not being able to obtain it through inter-library loan.

this field guide to flower flies of Northeastern North American is massive

I ordered some Blis Probiotics Throat Health lozenges on Sunday when they came back in stock on Amazon; I’m not convinced of their efficacy but I’m willing to try them once (30 lozenges) to see if it makes any difference to my throat health. Our Amazon Subscribe & Save delivery arrived on Thursday, with nighttime cold & flu liquid, Halls vitamin C drops, deluxe mixed nuts, the shower soap I like, toothbrushes like my dentist has, CeraVe lotion with SPF 30, my face cleaner, vegan marshmallows, five FlowFlex Covid-19 antigen tests, and woodpecker birdseed.

Cleaning: I cleaned the master bath fairly thoroughly on Tuesday (took an hour). I watered the houseplants on Friday.

Sleeping & Dreaming

I got an average of 8 hours of sleep per night this week, with a low of 6 hours 55 mins on Wednesday night and a high of 9 hours 42 mins on Friday night. My average sleep score for the week was 87.7. Dreamed as usual but only recorded a few of them. Sleep is my best healer.

Reading / Words & Ideas / Listening / Watching

New Words: Shrithing (Shrithe) – to shrithe: To travel unsystematically over, through, or about a place, To move very slowly towards something. To roam, wander, or wend one’s way. (source: WordHippo)

I came across a bunch of unfamiliar words, all related to plant pollen, in Awkward Botany’s recent essay on viscin threads, which “are made up of sporopollenin, the same biopolymer that exine (the outer wall of a pollen grain) is composed of. Viscin threads have points of attachment on an outer layer of the exine called the ektexine. Unlike pollenkitt, viscin threads don’t add new color to pollen grains, nor do they contain scent compounds.” Viscin threads are also both sticky and tangly, like a spider web. Both pollenkitt and viscin threads help pollen stick to pollinators and to the flowers they’re carried to by the pollinators. Viscin threads are only found on plants in three plant families: Onagraceae (the evening primrose family), Ericaceae (the heath family, includes rhododendrons), and a subfamily in the pea family known as Caesalpinioideae (the peacock flower subfamily. (Also, it seems that mistletoe berries can produce viscin “glue,” which might have applications in medicine.) (More on pollenkitt’s many (20!) functions at Science Direct)

sporopollenin and intine & exine: “In order to protect the enclosed sperm cells and aid in their movement, pollen grains consist of a series of layers that, among other things, help ensure safe travel. Two major layers are an internal layer called intine, composed largely of cellulose, and an external layer called exine, composed mainly of sporopollenin (a highly durable and complex biopolymer; link to Wikipedia).”

corbiculae: pollen baskets on some bees (link to Wikipedia)

Reading
This article, How Ebbing Snow Cover Affects Plants and Animals by Michael Caduto in Northern Woodlands magazine, is where I read that northern New England needs 20 inches of snow at least over winter: “A depth of 20 inches of snow is required, on average, to insulate and protect plants and animals from harsh weather. Even in extreme cold, the subnivean (under the snow) temperature remains steady at about 32 degrees. Mice, voles, and other small mammals create travel tunnels and living quarters in this insulated subnivean zone. Less snow cover means less insulation, which requires animals to consume more food in order to maintain their body temperature.” And animals like foxes and owls who prey on those small mammals can’t break through a hard ice layer atop the snow, created by repeated freeze-thaw cycles. Wood frogs and prey that animals like snowshoe hare and weasels, which grow a white coat for winter camouflage, are also affected negatively by reduced snow.

A recent issue of The Rotten Apple by Karen Constable contains a piece called “Is Alzheimer’s a Foodborne Illness?” about a link between Helicobacter pylori, a foodborne pathogen, and Alzheimer’s disease. Worth a read.

I finished reading The Mystery Guest: A Maid Novel (2024) by Nita Prose this week, about the neurodivergent head maid at the Regency Grand Hotel, who once again finds herself in the thick of murder, this time of someone she knew as a child. And, thanks to laying on the sofa all day on Saturday, I also finished Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere (2023) by Maria Bamford, which I really enjoyed for its humourous and slightly manic style and because she is an unabashed over-sharer.

This chart on common freshwater macroinvertebrates of eastern North America will be of interest to those who fish, hike near, or otherwise explore fresh water (in eastern North America). (h/t to husband)

A couple of handy health-related items:

Connections & Community

Local Support: Shopped locally at the hardware store (fire extinguishers and birdseed) on Thursday. Bought a few things at the local coffee shop to go on Thursday. Ate a late lunch out with a friend at 3 p.m. on Wednesday at a local restaurant and brought an extra meal home from there for dinner. Ordered takeout from the local Chinese place on Friday and we’re still eating it as of Sunday night (and there’s more left!).

Friends Etc.: Chatted with a neighbour we hadn’t seen for a bit for 5-10 mins while we were on our walks at the same time on Thursday. I ordered a Spoonful of Comfort soup package on Sunday to be delivered to friends who are undergoing serious health issues — should get there this coming Thursday. Permaculture met online on Thursday morning (seven of us) and I hosted Salon at my house on Friday afternoon, with five of us. Exchanged some longish emails with a few friends and friend groups this week, plus lots of texts. Went out to see an art show and have a late lunch with a friend on Wednesday.