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

Weather was changeable this week, with some much needed rain on Tues., Wed., and Thursday, totalling 1.42 inches, and daytime temperatures ranging pretty widely from 83.3°F to 68.2°F. Overall highs averaged 76.3°F, while lows averaged 59.2, with a range from 54.1°F to 64.6°F.

• Beginnings/Firsts

First common wood nymph I’ve seen this year. Aren’t they beautiful?

We had multiple monarch butterflies on the buddleia simultaneously for the first time this season. (Both shots through window)

• Wild Flora, Fauna, Fungi

Mostly in the garden, except the rosy maple moth caterpillar, which was on a nearby sidewalk.

Some birds this week in the garden.

• Wandering 

I walked in town every day this week, including twice on Wednesday and longer walks on Thursday and Sunday.

We went on a vegetable fields tour hosted by the local farmstand/farm on Wednesday evening. It’s always fun, with great information and camaraderie among and between the farm staff and participants. Plus great snacks! This has been a much better year for farming (and gardening) than last year, which was so so wet as well as cool.

• Curiosity & Discoveries

This green stink bug on fennel! Large! Blendy!

I’ve seen the banded tussock moth caterpillar before but not sure I’ve ever seen the banded tussock moth as an adult. Kind of spectral.

• Creating

Created a couple of meals this week just combining what we had, sans recipes. (I do that fairly often but forget to note it.)

• Repairing and Maintaining (everything but the house & yard) 

Body/Mind: I worked out 4 times (4 hours) this week and walked more than 10,000 steps every day but one; I walked 14,000-15,600 on three of those days. I attended the Dharma Dialogues on Sunday morning via Zoom, with Lama Willa Baker interviewing Kaira Jewel Lingo, mostly about finding and making community/sangha.

Cat: Cat doing better this week, no throwing up. Still have to decide about the dental work.

• Gardening/Yard 

My husband built and installed supports for the peach trees on Sunday.

I gardened — watered, harvested, and weeded — for about 3 hours this week.

the garden this week

• Nesting 

Cleaning/Maintenance: I did clothes laundry on Monday and Sat., and towel laundry on Thursday. My husband started working on a non-functioning 60+-year-old Electrolux vacuum cleaner a friend brought over and has ordered a part for it (via eBay).

Food: I concocted a sort of cacio e pepe with bucatini, garlic, Pecorino Romano, Old Bay seasoning, and lots of fresh green beans on Tuesday. We were gifted many squash, zucchini, and a big bunch of kale (among other things) on Thursday morning, so I made zucchini fritters and homemade aioli on Thursday evening, and on Friday a frittata with kale, summer squash, and onions, which we ate along with tomatoes and cucumbers that evening and Saturday. I made a tuna salad which we had on arugula or romaine on Sunday night, with hard-boiled eggs and cucumbers. Otherwise, veggie burgers, smoked mackerel (for husband), leftover orzo salad from last week, leftovers in general!

Supplies: I ordered quite a lot of things this week, including two shirts from Land’s End on big sale, and a linen Eddie Bauer shirt and wool Cos sweater, both from eBay; my hair care products, from Grow Gorgeous; and a salmon gift from SeaBear for my niece to celebrate her official name change. My husband ordered more ant traps and some non-stick gauze pads. A friend went to the regional co-op on Sunday and brought me a supply of olive tapenade, and another friend brought us cans of lump crab when she went shopping on Wed. My Nuts.com order (macadamias, dried pears, dried apricots) was delivered. Our Amazon subscribe & save order — including mouthwash, toothpaste, B-complex vitamins, bandages, and laundry detergent (the Covid FlowFlex antigen tests are delayed) — was also delivered, on Monday.

• Sleeping & Dreaming

I averaged 7 hours 24 mins of sleep per night this week, with three nights a bit more or less than 8 hours, one closer to 9 hours, and three nights with between 6 and 6.5 hours. Overall my FitBit sleep score was 83.5, with a high of 92 and a low of 77. In all, I had 12 hours 26 mins of REM sleep and 8 hours 25 mins of deep sleep.

• Reading / Words & Ideas / Listening / Watching  

BOOK: I read The Perfect Couple (2018) by Elin Hilderbrand this week. It’s got a fun setting, a wedding weekend on Nantucket in July and it’s a sort of crime story, but the ending was a let-down.

ESSAY: In a newsletter I read this week, David Sedaris recommended a book whose title essay is “The Art of Dying” by Peter Schjeldahl, which ran in a Dec. 2019 issue of The New Yorker. Of the essay, Sedaris says “I read it over and over, enchanted by the language, and by how bluntly he reveals the truth.” Worth reading. I liked this: ““When I finish something and it seems good, I’m dazed. It must have been fun to write. I wish I’d been there.” Sometimes it does feel like that.

This:

• Connections &  Community 

Local Support: My husband volunteered at the local car museum on Tues. and Thurs. for about 5.5 hours. Shopped at the local farmstand on Tuesday and Sunday; bought a few items at the local consignment store on Thursday; and we ate outside at a local café/bakery on Saturday morning.

Relationships: Friends bought food for us when shopping away from town, on Wed. (E) and Sunday (L). You know I love that!

Another friend (my hairstylist, G) boxed up a bunch of her prodigious garden produce — kale, Swiss chard, zucchini, summer squash, tomatoes, wax and green beans, and amazing flowers — and gave it to us on Thursday; I gave some of the zucchini away, plus some tomatoes we got as one perk of the farm tour on Wed. evening, to a friend (E) that afternoon.

I ran into friends/neighbours while walking this week, several to chat with (G, BB, JL) and others who waved or called out from their cars while passing. I love that, too! We also ran into a neighbour at the dump (AA) on Saturday and chatted. Texted some with a friend (BF) who had Mohs surgery on Thurs., with another friend (JS) whom I hadn’t seen around lately (he works at a store in town), and with several others. I sent a birthday card to my aunt on Friday for her birthday next week. Made plans with a friend in Florida for her visit here in mid-September.

Permaculture group met via Zoom on Thursday with six of us, and Salon met in person on Friday with six of us.

• Endings/Harvests

Harvested multiple times this week but didn’t take many pics. The garlic was to check on size and to make sure they aren’t separating. I also cut kale (and need to cut arugula) and picked a couple more cucumbers + some Bloody Butcher tomatoes in addition to many more sungolds.

• All This Useless Beauty

I’ve been infatuated with this zinnia for a week or more. Amazing.

I love this tulip poplar and so does the sun.