LIMINAL LIVING #36: 2 SEPTEMBER TO 8 SEPTEMBER 2024

Collector Garden, Community, Edible Gardening, Harvest, Liminal Life, Pollinators

LIMINAL LIVING #36: 2 SEPTEMBER TO 8 SEPTEMBER 2024

September 8, 2024

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

Weather

We hit 42.8°F for a low on Tuesday. Brrr. Our windows have been closed a few nights now. Lows ranged from that chilly 42.8°F to 51.6°F, for an average of 48.1°F. Highs ranged from 75.9°F to 57.4°F, averaging 69.2°F. It’s remaining pretty dry, with only .39 inches of rain this week, almost all of it on Saturday.

Beginnings/Firsts

Set up a nature photos album for Sept. and sent out an email on Tuesday with link to the 35 or so people on the list.

We used our mini Solo stove for the first time when we had dinner on Wednesday night. Fun! We’re going to try the full-sized one soon.

Wild Flora, Fauna, Fungi

Merlin heard birds at the lake on Saturday

Wandering

Walked in town for an hour or so on Monday and Thursday, gave a garden tour to two friends on Wed. and walked after dinner, walked to Salon and back on Friday, walked around the lake (3 miles) on Saturday, and I walked for 1.5 hours around town and the college’s permaculture garden on Sunday.

in town walks

permaculture garden and college

lake

Curiosity & Discoveries

We’ve seen this twice before (June 2024, June 2019) before but it’s still interesting to me that a cormorant hangs out at a lake. I’m so used to seeing them on and near the ocean.

Creating

Still nada.

Repairing and Maintaining (everything but the house & yard)

Body/Mind: I walked more than 10,000 steps five days this week, including three days over 11,000. I worked out 3 times (3 hours) this week. Had a negative Covid test on Friday.

Cat: Bumble had his nails clipped at the vet on Wednesday. I cleaned both of his litter boxes completely on Thursday.

Gardening/Yard

We finished the peach season Monday, though my husband dehydrated peaches for several days afterward and made a pie. He also mowed the lawn on Monday and did some weed whacking on Thursday. I set up the patio and gave a small garden tour (to two friends, RL and GV) on Wed.

Harvested a few times this week, see that section below.

The garden this week (besides some fauna photos posted above)

Nesting

Cleaning/Maintenance: I did clothes laundry on Monday, and sheets laundry (for guest room, with guest arriving in nine days) and a comforter (that the cat threw up on) on Tuesday. I watered houseplants Tuesday and also vacuumed kitchen, halls, and laundry room. And I cleaned out a cabinet in the kitchen — including tossing canned dog food with expiration date of 2013! I cleaned the stove thoroughly on Wed. Husband sewed on Sunday, repairing a baseball cap, sewing up vents on a short-sleeve shirt for me, and starting on taking in a long-sleeved shirt for me.

Supplies: Ordered 3-yr supply of six Method grapefruit soap refills on Saturday (last time I ordered this was June 2021).

Food: My husband spent hours on Friday and Sat. prepping and making a loaf of pain de campagne, a sourdough bread, which is delicious. He made another peach pie on Tuesday. Dinners this week were unimaginative: veggie burgers with arugula and sides, the standby tuna-peas-mac&cheese dish with cucumbers, sungolds, and corn on the cob, and Chinese takeout.

Sleeping & Dreaming

Pretty good week of sleep this week, with a high FitBit score of 94 one night and three nights of 91 or 92. Friday night, though was a 79, and a couple of mid-80s rounded out the week. My average score was 88.4. I got an average night’s sleep of 8 hours 5 mins this week, with 13 hours of REM sleep and a little more than 9 hours of deep sleep.

Reading / Words & Ideas / Listening / Watching

NEW WORD: nyctinasty. It’s when flowers open and close daily in response to light and temperature changes, a movement initiated by different parts of the light spectrum. Many flowers use nyctinastic movement, including daisies, Rose of Sharon, magnolias, morning glory, and tulips. “Nyctinastic movements are part of the circadian rhythms of plants, in which plants primarily use different light-sensitive molecules to regulate movements of plant organs,” said Arthur Haines, senior research botanist with the Native Plant Trust. “These light-sensitive molecules are called phytochromes, and they can sense different types of red light to interpret their environment, such as the onset of darkness.” From https://northernwoodlands.org/outside_story/article/new-england-american-asters

READING/BOOKS: Finished two Elin Hilderbrand books, Barefoot (2007), possibly my favourite of her books, though I don’t have kids and this book features a 4-year-old and a 9-month-old as well as lots of parenting talk and adoration of the mother role. The main story is about Vicki, who has lung cancer and is living in the family summer home on Nantucket from June through August with her two young boys, her sister Brenda who has left her job as a professor in disgrace, and Vicki’s friend Melanie, and they engage Josh, a college student, to mind the kids weekday mornings. There’s quite a bit of detail about the cancer, chemo, and surgery experiences, and about Vicki’s perseverating and paralysing thoughts of her own death, which I appreciated but not everyone will.

I also finished Beautiful Day (2013), which is set around the wedding of nice girl Jenna Carmichael to nice guy Stuart Graham. Jenna’s older sister Margo is her matron of honour and both sisters are closely adhering to their deceased mother Beth’s Notebook, which Beth wrote while dying to give Jenna very detailed guidance when the time came that she married. Pretty much everyone in the wedding parties and both families has a secret, carries the burden of resentment, guilt, and/or lots of anger, and/or is having an affair or fling. Nothing goes smoothly.

Some other reading

WATCHING: We watched the second episode of season 4 of Only Murders in the Building on Thursday.

LISTENING: Some of what I listened to this week.

Connections & Community

Local Support: Renewed membership in Seacoast Science Center (Rye NH) on Monday. Bought corn from farmstand’s honour system on Labour Day using Venmo and bought a fall planter there on Wed. Bought Too Good To Go from local bakery on Friday. Had breakfast and picked up a couple of items for friends at localish market/café on Saturday morning. Picked up takeout from local Chinese restaurant on Friday evening.

Relationships: Sent my niece a 3-mo MUBI subscription for her birthday. Bought and delivered some items for friends at a market on Sat. Chatted with several acquaintances and friends at the farmstand, met on walks, at local stores, and when they came for peaches on Monday. Texted with friend (ED) having emergency medical issue and emailed several friends this week. Enjoyed garden tour here with friends GV and RL. Permaculture meeting via Zoom on Thursday morning was cancelled, but Salon met in person with five of us on Friday afternoon.

Endings /Harvest

Monday was our last day of picking and offering peaches! This is what the fruit guild looks like, under the peach trees: sneezeweed, anise hyssop, and fennel, trampled!