Weekly recap of my ritual of existence in this liminal space called life. (See here for more info.)
- Weather
It was a fairly rainy week, with about 2-1/4 inches of rain, mostly on Tuesday and Sunday. High temperatures ranged from 63.1°F on Thursday to 45.5°F on Sunday, with an average high of 56.5°F. Lows ranged narrowly from 39.4°F on Wednesday to 46.4°F on Thursday, the low averaging 43.4°F. We had a woodstove fire all afternoon and evening on Sunday.
- Beginnings
A morning thunderstorm on Tuesday, the first this year maybe.
Our neighbours who winter in Florida came back on Thursday, another sign of Spring!
Saw and heard the catbird for the first time this year on Friday.
- Wild Flora, Fauna, Fungi
Merlin heard birds — at least 38 species on 2 May and 4 May, mostly in the yard and a few around town. And we keep hearing the barred owl at night.
- Wandering
Walked in town every day but Sunday. A few things seen:
- Curiosity & Discoveries
Curious By Nature this week (via Zoom, through Maine Audubon) featured the insectivore roundleaf sundew (Drosera rotundifolia), a bog plant we’re familiar with but didn’t know much about. It evolved fairly recently, around the time that primates did, 85 million years ago.
Doug Hitchcox from Maine Audubon presented Warbler Warm-up via Zoom on Tuesday evening, a great refresher — with lots of new info for me, too — on the spring warblers we’re likely to see around northern New England in the next month or so (we’ve already seen or heard a lot of them). He included two or three shots for most birds, to show male, female, juvenile, undersides, etc.
- Creating
Still nothing, except Merlin heard collages.
- Repairing and Maintaining (everything but the house & yard) – Body/Mind, Cat, Vehicles, Hobbies, etc
Cat: Bumble had his nails clipped at the vet on Thursday, long overdue.
Body/Mind: I had a visit with a new PCP and some labs done on Friday morning. I had my 6-month visit with the dermatologist on Thursday afternoon — several zaps but no biopsies this time. On Tuesday, I rescheduled my 6-mo dental cleaning/check-up out a couple of weeks in June due to a conflict that arose this week.
I worked out 4 times (4 hours) this week. I walked more than 10,000 steps on three days (and over 9,000 on five days).
I participated in Dharma Sunday via Zoom on Sunday from 10-12, with a 45-min meditation session and a focus on laughter in the Buddhist tradition for the dharma talk.
- Gardening/Yard
My husband pruned dead wood from the apple, oak, and tulip poplar trees on Thursday. On Friday he removed the Christmas lights from the shrubs and weeping spruce, fixed the rose and pea trellises, raked matted leaves from under a maple tree, and unplugged and leveled the heated birdbath. I did nothing in the yard again this week.
Seen in the yard this week:
- Nesting – Design/Decor, Maintenance, Supplies, Food, etc.
Cleaning/Maintenance: I watered the houseplants on Tuesday and did clothes laundry on Thursday.
Supplies: Ordered some B complex vitamins and dry shampoo on Thursday.
Food: My husband made sourdough bread on Wednesday and sourdough pancakes on Sunday. I made spicy cod with sautéed local spinach and rice pilaf on Tuesday, which we also had on Wednesday except with steamed frozen broccoli/cauliflower. Veggie burgers with sides on Thursday, and for Friday and Sat. I bought an asparagus/red pepper quiche from the regional co-op on Thursday, which we had with a green salad. Sunday was a lazy day and dinner was canned Progresso tortellini soup with cheese bread for me and half of a Too Good To Go ham & cheese sandwich for husband.
- Sleeping & Dreaming
Another lackluster sleep week. I averaged exactly 8 hours per night with an average score of 84 (and no score one night at all). I had a very vivid dream on Thursday night about a fox and a bear.
- Reading / Words & Ideas / Listening / Watching
New Word: Crepitate. I’m sure I’ve heard it before but didn’t remember what it meant when I came across it while reading.
Books: Finished Danger in Numbers (2021) by Heather Graham, the first in a series featuring Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement Special Agent Amy Larson and FBI Special Agent Hunter Forrest, involving a cult killing related to the first of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. I’m also reading most of the Anita Brookner novels I haven’t read already — I finished the first one this week, Look at Me (1983), about Frances Hinton, a young and somewhat sheltered librarian at a medical research library in London who develops a friendship with what seems to her a munificent golden couple, who broaden her experience and ultimately teach her some hard lessons.
These spoke to me this week:
- Connections & Community
Local Support: We ate inside at the local bakery/café on Wednesday – the first day they were open on a Wed., so it was pretty empty, and we also ate outside there on Friday. Bought groceries at local farm stand on Wed., too. Shopped at the regional co-op on Thursday afternoon. Bought a couple items at the local independent drug store on Friday. We picked up a Too Good To Go bag from the local bakery/café on Sunday afternoon.
Relationships: Talked with my sister by phone on Tuesday for a half-hour after her medical appointment. Checked in with a friend who had cataract surgery on Tuesday a couple of times this week. Send an ecard to a friend for her birthday on Wednesday, and I mailed two cards to friends for their upcoming birthdays. No permaculture this week (not enough people available). Salon met in person for three of us, plus one on Zoom, on Friday. We picked up a friend at the Park & Ride on Saturday evening, the last leg of her return from her European vacation.
- Endings
Finished the Indian takeout from 23 April on Monday!
- All This Useless Beauty
Saw these on a walk, clumps of daffodils covered in vines in a sort of waste area. But here they are, emerged after a long winter and looking cheery.
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