LIMINAL LIVING #29: 15 JULY TO 21 JULY 2024

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LIMINAL LIVING #29: 15 JULY TO 21 JULY 2024

July 21, 2024

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

Weather

We finally had some rain this week, about .60 inches over three days but most of it on Tuesday. Temperatures were in the high 80°Fs in the first part of the week, then dropped into the 70°Fs after Thursday. Overall the average high temp was 83°F, ranging from 88.7°F to 77.2°F; the average low temp was 60.3°F, with a range from 54°F to 68.2°F. A pretty nice week weatherwise, for humans, gardens, and hopefully other creatures as well. We haven’t used the A/C since Thursday.

Beginnings/Firsts

The tall phlox started blooming this week.

Wild Flora, Fauna, Fungi

Besides photos further below,

Wandering

I walked for an hour in town on Monday to do errands and for 1.5 hours on Wed, (also doing errands), On Wednesday, my husband and I also walked at the bog.

walking in town

Thursday, close friends (from college days) from out of town came to visit and we all we walked at the bog and on another trail in town that afternoon, plus a longish loop after dinner.

the bog this week (2 walks)

We all walked to breakfast the next morning and later in the day on a trail in town, and another in-town walk after dinner.

Trail walking on Friday

On Saturday, our friends left around noon to see some other friends and my husband and I walked at the Fells in the late afternoon, where artists were painting plein air. Our friends returned late on Sat., and the next morning after breakfast and walking in town a bit, we all went to The Fells to watch the artists, see the gardens, and walk the lake trails before we had a late lunch with them and said goodbye. My husband and I also walked after dinner.

The Fells this week (2 walks)

Curiosity & Discoveries

Saw this while walking in town. iNaturalist (the automated version) thinks it’s a Beautiful Wood Nymph moth (Eudryas grata) larva but no human has weighed in. It’s just a casing. I think I’ll post it to BugGuide and see what they say.

Creating

I worked on the cat photobook for my sister (on Snapfish) early in the week and then thought about and reviewed it a lot before finally sending it off to print on Saturday. Whew!

Repairing and Maintaining (everything but the house & yard)

Body/Mind: The Pema Chödrön talk on Thursday (see below) was helpful. Spending time with close old friends, as I did for 4 days this week, is very healing for the soul. And we walked a lot! So I had over 14,000 steps every day except Tuesday (when it rained), including three days over 17,000 steps each. I worked out only twice this week, though. I had negative Covid tests on Wed. & Thurs. (in preparation for our friends’ visit; they did them, too) and again on Friday, because I’d felt lousy on Thursday.

Cat: Bumble had to go to the vet after throwing up his entire breakfast (or that amount of food, within a half-hour of eating breakfast) two days in a row. He’s not a cat who throws up anything, typically, and he’s never done this before in the almost seven years he’s lived here. He also made noises like those in The Exorcist while doing it. While he was at the vet, she found a resorbed tooth that is likely causing him pain and needs taking care of ($1,000) and she thought maybe the vomiting was due to a hairball he was trying to bring up. On Friday or Sat. he threw up a little bit, including something that could have been a large hairball. Fingers crossed that’s it. Otherwise, he’s acting as normal: lively, playful, lots of socialising, eating fine (and wanting food), drinking fine, sleeping fine.

Gardening/Yard

I watered, harvested (25 or so peas), and tended to the birdbath on Monday for about 1.5 hours total. Did more harvesting at various other times in the week. Husband mowed part of the back yard on Wed. and got a burn permit from the town the same day (in case we wanted to uses the Solo Stove in the yard while our friends were here). I spent about an hour in the garden (mostly watering) on Saturday afternoon and another hour on Sunday.

the garden this week

Nesting

Cleaning/Maintenance: I watered, trimmed, and cleaned up around the houseplants on Monday. I vacuumed the kitchen on Tuesday. I did clothes laundry on Tuesday and cleaned and vacuumed the upstairs bathroom and guest bedroom and made the guest bed on Wednesday. My husband cleaned up the loft and tidied other areas upstairs and downstairs before our friends arrived.

Food: Made a big green salad with lots of veggies and tuna on Monday. Made a frittata of Swiss chard, yellow squash, and onion on Tuesday, which we had with our own cucumbers. Had it again on Wed. with the additional of local corn on the cob. Made orzo-chick pea salad on Thursday for dinner, plus grilled Old Bay shrimp, corn on the cob, and cucumbers, and appetizers and cocktails before that. On Friday we grilled swordfish, with basil-caper butter, served with sautéd yellow squash and onions, plus Patagonia Provisions roasted garlic Spanish white anchovies in olive oil and veggie appetizers w/tapenade and cocktails beforehand. My husband and I had leftovers from these dinners on Sat. night while our friends were visiting other friends, and on Sunday the four of us ate outside at a local restaurant for a late lunch (2ish to 4pm) so we didn’t need dinner.

Supplies: I ordered 2 more pairs of Darn Tough socks on Tuesday when they had a free shipping promo.

Financial: Got a letter on Wed. that our mortgage is being transferred to another lender on 1 Aug. and checked online to make sure the autopayment transfers, too. Also read up on the new lender’s prepayment and principal-only policies.

Sleeping & Dreaming

Sleep was not great this week. My average sleep score was 80, possibly a new low for me, with a range from 73 to 86. I slept the least on Wednesday night, 5 hours 43 mins, and the most on Monday night, 7 hours 52 mins. Overall, I slept an average of 7 hours and 4 mins per night. I got 10 hours 9 mins of REM sleep and 8 hours 50 mins of deep sleep; in fact, on three nights I had considerably more deep than REM sleep, which is unusual for me.

Reading / Words & Ideas / Listening / Watching

LISTENING/WATCHING: Watched a Special Live Talk by Pema Chödrön on Thursday, which was really wonderful in terms of reinforcing helpful teachings. I think it was offered in conjunction with her birthday on Sunday the 14th (she’s 88).

We’ve been watching some Julia Child’s “The French Chef” TV shows during dinner, recently including mousse au chocolate, the potato show (potatoes four ways, all with butter, three with cream I think, one with sausages), and Queen of Sheba, a kind of chocolate cake with almonds and rum. Two of these episodes were in black & white. What I really like about her, other than that she just throws what she doesn’t need on the floor and in general exhibits a lovely insouciance, is probably what many viewers most appreciate, that she teaches critical and transferable cooking, baking, and life skills as she demonstrates recipes.

BOOK: In the middle of The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley, which is OK; I am enjoying the details of the posh “wellness” resort.

OTHER: Scientists have figured out a cause of lupus, so they may be able to reverse it.

This is accurate:

Connections & Community

Local Support: Bought food at local farmstand and local co-op on Monday. Bought Too Good To Go bag from local bakery/café on Wed. With our visiting friends, we ate outside at a local restaurant on Friday morning for breakfast, at another one (in another town) on Sat. morning, and yet another on Sunday morning. We took our friends to a couple of local stores on Sat. morning and they bought items for their grandkids there. My husband volunteered at the local car museum on Tuesday and Thursday for about 5 hours total.

Relationships: Skipped permaculture meeting on Thurs morning but walked down to a friend’s (R’s) house on Thursday afternoon to spend some time with her and another friend from our permaculture group (D). My college friends (RVN and Ch) arrived around 3 on Thursday and we did lots of stuff with them through Sunday, including bringing one of them (RVN) with me to Salon on Friday, which made six of us there; it was fun to mix these parts of my life. Saturday I was able to talk with a neighbour about a sort of sticky situation that someone else had asked me to help with and I think it went OK.

Donations: Donated a small amount to iNaturalist, which I use almost every day this time of year.