A Moveable Garden

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

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• Weather

The average high temperature this week was 44.5°F, with a range from 56°F to 35.8°F; and the average low temp this week was 31.1°F, with a range from 26.4°F to 35°F. Rain fell on Tues, Wed, Thurs, and Sunday, totalling 3.66 inches. On Saturday night into Sunday, we also got 6.7 inches of snow and now most of the ground is snow-covered again.

• Beginnings

Daylight Savings Time began here in most of the U.S. early on Sunday morning. I know it’s controversial — and that healthwise it’s probably better, if we’re not going to continue to change twice a year, to maintain standard time rather than daylight time — but I love daylight savings time. I’m not a morning person and I prefer more daylight hours in the afternoon and evening, especially once gardening ramps up as well as for after-dinner walks.

• Flora, Fauna, Fungi

• Wandering

Took walks in town on Monday, Wednesday (longish), Thursday (longish), and Friday (longish), Saturday, and Sunday, managing to dodge most of the raindrops (and puddles).

Some things seen on those walks:

• Curiosity & Discoveries

Looked at an art exhibition again, with my husband, at local college on Tuesday and noticed some things I hadn’t when I visited the gallery a couple of weeks ago.

Participated in three webinars on Thursday, including one on the Gulf of Maine/Cape Cod (through Wells Reserve, ME), with lots of new information for me, and Curious by Nature, a biweekly offering of Maine Audubon, which this week focused on Chimney Swifts, a bird I barely know; they roost in New England in May.

Cape Cod/Gulf of Maine webinar

Curious by Nature – chimney swifts webinar

• Creating

Nothing really this week.

• Repairing and Maintaining (except House & Garden)

Body/Mind: On Monday, I rescheduled my 6-mo dermatology check-up for a second time (to May) due to Jury Duty scheduling in April. Walked in town most days this week and worked out four times (four hours). Did not get great sleep.

Continued with Botany in a Winter webinar (thru Maine Audubon) on Wed. evening, which turned out to be a busy webinar night, as was Thursday. This week we looked at and learned about peonies, gooseberries and currants, native witch hazel, and saxifrage, among other dicots.

I attended Dharma Sunday; the teaching topic was “The 4th Turning: Practicing Buddhadharma in the Age of the Polycrisis.” (Lama Willa was in Hawaii, pre-dawn, and the bird calls were very distracting for me!) (and probably for the cat)

Cat: Bumblecat had his nails clipped on Monday at the vet. We ordered (Amazon) and received a soft-sided cat crate — we’re calling it an escape pod — to keep in the bedroom in case of fire or other danger that requires us to get out fast through a window.

Financial: This week, we pulled together a list of all the media/service subscriptions we pay for (cable, internet, TV, cell, streaming, newspapers, newsletters, Patreon, etc.) and I cancelled a couple of paid newsletters, cancelled a redundant (small) monthly fee for the New York Times, and called the Boston Globe on Sat., intending to cancel, and got our monthly rate reduced from $27 to $6 for a year, which seems OK. I also have a reminder list now with dates when my annual intro rates transition to higher rates so I can decide in advance whether to prevent that occurring. (All that was inspired by reading I Canceled My Unused Subscriptions. The Money I Saved Paid for a Tesla (gifted link) by Chris Kornelis in the WSJ last week.) (We’re not buying a Tesla.) There are a some subscriptions I don’t mind paying more for, but it’s good to weed out those that are redundant, those I/we don’t use/read, and those that simply cost more than they’re worth to me/us.

• Garden & Yard

My husband pruned the peach trees and an old apple tree on Friday afternoon for a couple of hours.

I watched a Gardening with Native Plants webinar, with Denise Sandoval, on Wed, evening through the Nature Foundation of Will County (IL) and received a helpful handout/spreadsheet of 50 native plants that will also work here, with their characteristics, needs, and benefits to wildlife.

• Nesting [house, eating, stockpiling, supplies, cleaning]

Cleaning/Maintaining: I cleaned the stovetop thoroughly on Tuesday (1 hour).

Supplies: Ordered 12 jars of artichoke hearts from Cucina Amore on Monday (which arrived this week). Bought a nice trash can from local consignment store for $12 on Thursday. Got a soft-sided cat crate for emergency purposes. Ordered some nuts with a free shipping offer from Nuts.com on Sat.

Food: My husband made a sourdough boule on Wednesday – the most sour yet!

I made sofrito risotto (corn, red bell peppers) + shrimp for dinner on Tuesday and we had that for a few nights with salad made of kale, arugula, carrots, cukes, olives, red beans, hard-boiled egg, etc. Made Cajun cod on Thursday, which we ate with a garlic-herb rice pilaf and peas. Otherwise, leftovers, veggie burgers with salad, and salmon on bagel with cream cheese (husband)/canned Progresso tortellini soup (me).

• Sleeping & Dreaming

Not a great sleep week. My average nightly sleep was 7.52 hours, with only one night of sleep more than 8 hours and three nights of sleep under 7 hours. My average sleep score was 83.3, with a high of 89 and a low of 77. I didn’t write down any dreams.

• Reading / Words & Ideas / Listening / Watching 

New words: Nimiety: from Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Rosenthal:

Another one, heard during Denise Sandoval’s “Gardening with Native Plants Through the Seasons” webinar on Wed., was elaiosome (and you can see it in the wild ginger photo above under the Garden & Yard section):

Reading
I didn’t finish a book this week, though I’m almost finished with Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life: A Memoir (2005) by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and still very much appreciating and liking it. I got two books through inter-library loan in the last week, both by Barbara Hurd and both published in 2008 — I plan to start them this week: Stirring the Mud: On Swamps, Bogs, and Human Imagination and Walking the Wrack Line: On Tidal Shifts and What Remains.

In an interview at the newsletter Cave of the Heart, Amanda Hinton interviews Jessica DeFino and I liked what DeFino said in response to Amanda’s question, If you had to choose one person from your past that most influenced who you are today, who would that be and why?
Jessica answered (I highlighted the part that really resonates for me): “I am going to take the phrase “who you are today” very literally and go with Harry Dean Stanton — specifically, Harry Dean Stanton in conversation with David Lynch; that famous interaction where David Lynch says “How would you describe yourself?” and Harry Dean Stanton says, “As nothing. There is no self,” and they laugh. I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of the self today for an article I’m writing on beauty as so-called “self-care” and “self-expression.” I bristle when people use these terms because in order for beauty products to be a tool for self-expression, you first must have a self to express, and I get the overwhelming sense that most people don’t know who they are outside of what they buy and apply. Beauty products are more often used to create an image of a self than express an existing self. I don’t know. I’m taking a class on existentialism and Simone de Beauvoir, so that has something to do with it. But the more I think and read about the self, the more I’m convinced there is no essential self, not in any way that matters, and pursuing solidarity with the collective is a more interesting and liberating project than defining the self anyway? So yeah, today, specifically, I am luxuriating in the nothingness of being with Harry Dean Stanton (and Buddha before him).”

I also liked this; though mostly not my outward circumstances, definitely resonated with my headspace:

Listening: Really enjoying listening to FIP Radio – Paris. You never know what you’ll hear, which is very fun. Some of what I listened to on Wednesday (Shazam may have gotten a couple wrong but most are accurate):

• Connections &  Community

Local Resources: One of our local bakeries/cafés is participating in Too Good To Go to avoid food waste and this week we took advantage of it three times, on Friday, Sat., and Sun. It’s whatever they want to give you for $3.99 each time and it’s always a very good deal. Here’s one batch of stuff we received for our four bucks:

We also shopped at the local consignment store on Thursday.

Relationships: My husband and I chatted with a neighbour in his driveway for 45 mins on Monday as they both tried to determine what was wrong with a pickup truck. My sister’s husband was back in the hospital this week. We visited some friends on Wed. and helped them set up their airline account. Ran into a friend in a parking lot of Thursday and chatted for several minutes about a group we’re both involved with. Briefly chatted with (newish) neighbour in passing on sidewalk on Sat. Hour-long phone call with my (other) sister on Friday morning.

I hosted permaculture group via Zoom on Thursday morning with eight of us discussing various garden-, nature-, and life-related things. Salon met in person with all six of us locals on Friday afternoon; we spent some time discussing the upcoming town elections and warrant articles, as well as the situations in Haiti and Gaza/Israel.

A friend picked up some items for us at a grocery store in another town on Saturday and on Tues. another friend offered to get a few of us items at King Arthur Bakery. I love being asked and I appreciate not having to drive a distance just to get a couple of things, if someone else is going already.

• Endings

Goodbye, Standard Time, until next fall.

• All This Useless Beauty

I found this horseshoe crab design plate/dish on Instagram and fell in love. This beauty is useful! I didn’t buy it; I’m just looking at the picture.

This one not so useful.