Weekly recap of my ritual of existence in this liminal space called life. (See here for more info.)
- Weather
A somewhat wet week, with rain falling every day, though barely any on Thursday. In all, we had 1.89 inches of rain this week, almost all of it falling at a light or moderate rate. Temperatures were nicely warm with high temps ranging from 84.6°F to 72°F, averaging 80.1°F. Low temps barely budged all week, with less than 5°F variation, from 63°F to 67.8°F, averaging 65.2°F. Humidity made it feel fairly muggy on several days. We turned the A/C on on Tuesday night and it’s still on.
- Beginnings/Firsts
Sent out link to new August nature photos email to those on the mailing list on Saturday.
Ailanthus webworm moth (Atteva aurea): I don’t recall ever seeing this stunningly coloured and patterned insect before, and as its main host plant is the Ailanthus altissima tree (the invasive Tree of Heaven), which I’ve also never seen around here, it’s curious to me that it’s shown up. The host tree is country-documented in my county, and online sources say the moth can range far (how far?) from its host tree, so I assume there is such a tree growing not too far away, though some bugguide contributors report the larva feeding on sumacs, which are plentiful here and not related to the Tree of Heaven, though they looks somewhat similar. It’ll be interesting to see if spotted lanternflies, who also use the Tree of Heaven as a host plant, turn up here; so far I’ve not seen or heard reports of it and in fact, the New Hampshire Dept of Agriculture says that there are “no established or breeding populations” of spotted lanternfly in NH yet. The insect I saw, the Ailanthus webworm moth, isn’t a danger to plants. It’s a day-feeder, unusual among moths, and it likes the nectar of Joe Pye weed.
This is the week that both Grandpa Ott morning glory and what I think is Intensia Neon Pink phlox started blooming in my garden.
- Wild Flora, Fauna, Fungi
Besides insects, frogs and toads, and others show elsewhere (especially on the trail walk under “Wandering”), some wild things this week:
Merlin heard birds — 15 species — in the yard in four 10-minute “listens” between Wednesday and Saturday. We also hear the broad-winged hawk often. And see two ruby-throated hummingbirds multiple times every day.
- Wandering
Took in-town walks every day, with a couple of shorter ones each day on Monday, Thursday, Friday (including a trail walk with a friend and my husband), and Saturday; longer ones on Wednesday and Sunday; and a longer walk in Boston on Tuesday. Also walked around two friends’ well-loved gardens this week that I’d never seen before, one with a another friend (RL) on Monday and one with my husband on Thursday — such a privilege.
Friends’ garden photos
GV’s garden
JS’s garden
Boston
seen in town this week
seen on a trail on Friday with my husband and a friend (RL)
- Curiosity & Discoveries
Several discoveries this week and one curiosity.
This spring peeper (frog) was hanging out on a milkweed leaf.
A tiny monarch butterfly larva! (also on milkweed, of course).
Not sure I’ve ever seen a black-rimmed prominent moth before but this one was sheltered on the covered front porch of our public library.
Curiously, my shelling peas, which I planted a little later than usual and which gave a nice harvest of a couple hundred peas from early to mid-July, are now blooming and producing peas again, here in early August. I’ve never seen that happen before. The peas taste great!
- Creating
On Monday, my sister received the cat photobook I made her on Snapfish and she loves it!
- Repairing and Maintaining (everything but the house & yard)
Body/Mind: I walked over 10,000 steps per FitBit on five days, and almost 16,000 on Tuesday. I worked out 3 times (3 hours) this week. I had a negative Covid rapid test on Monday afternoon.
Cat: The most exciting news: The cat used the second litter box, the one in the hall/guest bath, this week for the first time in 7 years. We’ve tried to introduce him to it a few times but he had never taken to it and since he used the other one (in our main bathroom) faithfully we haven’t tried too hard, not wanting him to be confused or to abandon litter boxes altogether. This time, as I’ve done once before, I moved his old box, newly cleaned, into the hall bath and placed a new litter box into our (main) bath. For a while he used only the box in the main bath but then one day this week (forget which one) we had closed him out of our bedroom for an hour or two in the early morning because he was pouncing on us in bed and lo and behold, he used the guest bath litter box during that time! Since then, he’s used it a few more times, and he’s also using the main litter box sometimes. I know nothing about cats but apparently this old cat (14ish?) can learn new tricks!
- Gardening/Yard
Besides visiting two friends’ gardens this week, I spent some time in my own, but not much, with all the rain. Next week I need to do a big weed in the vegetable garden.
in the garden this week
- Nesting
Cleaning/Maintenance: I vacuumed the kitchen on Monday and watered houseplants on Wed. Must have done clothes laundry on Thursday or Friday but don’t seem to have recorded it. My husband received the new switch via eBay and repaired our friend’s Electrolux vacuum cleaner.
Food: Just summer stuff this week, nothing exciting though one novel meal on Sunday: Tuna salad with cukes and hard-boiled eggs on greens, veggie burger and corn on the cob, take-out pizza and salad a couple of nights, zucchini fritters I made along with chicken thighs that my husband grilled for himself, and on Sunday I made a cacio e pepe version with garlic, artichoke hearts, lots of sungold tomatoes, and a diced summer squash — really good. Also had a green salad with that.
Had delicious food out on Tuesday in Boston …
… and in town with a friend on Friday
Supplies: Bought an extra pair of reading glasses at a CVS in Boston after a lens fell out of mine on the bus trip down. Two pair of Darn Tough socks were delivered on Friday.
- Sleeping & Dreaming
I got an average of 8 hours and 7 mins of sleep nightly this week, with an average FitBit sleep score of 85. I had 14 hours 6 mins of REM sleep and 8 hours 51 mins of deep sleep.
- Reading / Words & Ideas / Listening / Watching
BOOKS: I finished three books this week: The Paris Bookseller (2022) by Kerri Maher, The Hotel Nantucket (2022) by Elin Hilderbrand, and The Safekeep (2024) by Yael van der Wouden. The Paris Bookseller is the fictionalised story of how Sylvia Beach, an American from the east coast, opened and ran Shakespeare & Company, the famed Paris bookstore that drew many English-speaking writers and other artists of the 1920 and 1930s, and how she published James Joyce’s Ulysses when other publishers wouldn’t touch it. It was OK. I like that time period, but the writing wasn’t great. The Hotel Nantucket (2022) is a novel about the running of a very high-end hotel on Nantucket, with interesting flawed characters and cleverly conceived intersections between and among them; I could have done without the ghost still haunting the hotel 100 years after her murder.
Finally The Safekeep (2024), long-listed for the Booker Prize, was excellent, perfectly paced, exploring the physicality of things and of people through the story of Isabel, an uptight, anxious woman living alone in a big rural home in 1961 Holland, and her unwilling (at first) cohabitation with her brother’s seemingly airheaded girlfriend Eva. That one I recommend.
Watching: Still watching old “French Chef” (with Julia Child) episodes and also watched a Poirot dvd, “Hickory Dickory Dock,” which we hadn’t seen in a while.
Other: Came across this recipe on Instagram by Clinton Kelly (of “What Not To Wear”). Had not heard of halloumi cheese but it sounds like this could be a winner if I can find a sheep (not goat) version.
Halloumi is grillable! Here’s what Wikipedia says of it: “Halloumi or haloumi is a cheese that is thought to have originated from Cyprus, though some contest that it originated in Egypt. It is made from a mixture of goat’s and sheep’s milk, and sometimes also cow’s milk. Its texture is described as squeaky.”
- Connections & Community
Local Resources: Ate lunch at a local French restaurant in Boston on Tuesday and bought donuts and jasmine iced tea at a local doughnut shop there. Wednesday bought produce at local farmstand and picked up Too Good To Go bag from local bakery. Also picked up pizza and salad from local pizza place on Wed. evening. Bought a couple of items from the local bakery on Thursday. We participated in the Meet the Chamber event on Thursday evening, buying raffle tickets, visiting local business and organisation booths, and chatting with friends (KV, BF, J&VB, others) and acquaintances there. My husband drove a model T car in a local parade on Saturday. I ate lunch outside at a local restaurant with a friend (RL) on Friday. A friend (LM) picked up several items for me from the local co-op when she went on Saturday – love that! We gave some beans that were given to us by a friend to other friends (E&SD) on Sunday.
Relationships: Chatted with a neighbour (WD) at the farmstand for 5 mins. on Wed. and with neighbours on our street (B&S) later that day for about 15 mins. Two friends (AS, JC) waved from cars while I was walking on Wed., too. Visited two friends’ gardens (GV, JS) this week for about 2 hours each on Monday and Thursday and had lunch with another friend (RL) on Friday. Salon didn’t meet this week but permaculture group did via Zoom on Thursday with 7 of us. Checked in with some friends (HW&JSh) I hadn’t heard from in a bit via text. Emailed with friends (RVN&Ch et al) re perhaps restarting a book group.🤞Another friend (RJ) got in touch to suggest lunch soon. Texted with my niece on Thurs. when she received our salmon gift. Talked with my sister by phone for 50 mins on Monday.
- Endings/Harvest
July 2024 is ended and will never come again. Bye, bye.
Harvests of many sungolds, some freshly growing shelling peas, kale, jalapeños, and cucumber. And exploratory garlic to check whether they’re separating or not.
- All This Useless Beauty
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