LIMINAL LIVING #40: 30 SEPTEMBER TO 6 OCTOBER 2024

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

Weather

A dry week (.07 inches rain, on Friday night) with highs in the 50°Fs and 60°Fs and lows in the 30°Fs and 40°Fs. Still no frost, not even a light one, but it’s coming soon per the forecast. The average high temperature was 64.1°F, with a range from 69.1°F to 58.6°F. The average low temp was 45.7°F, ranging from 39.2°F to 49.8°F.

Beginnings/Firsts

I began an Oct 2024 Nature Photos album on Thursday and sent a link via email to those on the list.

Friday night, deer finally broke through our fishing line/twine vegetable garden fence, the first time in the 13 or 14 years we’ve (husband has) built it. I think it was probably accidental. There were at least two large deer, probably more, and I bet one or more got caught in the filament and pulled it apart trying to extricate him- or herself. They don’t appear to have eaten anything, not that there is much left for them other than a nice crop of scarlet runner beans that I’m not ready to pick yet, and some kale and a few tomatoes.

One of the culprits (on motion camera)

I sent a book to friends in Baltimore via an Amazon locker located not far from their house on Tuesday and it worked!

Wild Things (Flora, Fauna, Fungi) besides those shown elsewhere

Flies

Bugs & Beetles

Wasps/Hornets

Bees

Moths

Other wild things

Merlin heard these birds, 17 species, most in our yard, a few at Bedrock Gardens on Sunday.

Wandering

I took in-town walks on Wed. and Thurs. We walked around the lake on Friday, went to The Fells in Newbury NH on Sat. afternoon, and visited Bedrock Gardens in Lee NH on Sunday. This week I walked over 10,000 steps on only three days, including one day over 15,000, with the other four between 6,500 and 9,000 steps.

in town

lake pics

The Fells

Bedrock Gardens

Curiosity & Discoveries

A new rather curious and novel thing for us: we were each sent Nielsen diaries to complete for a week, recording when and what radio we listened to each day. We both completed them and mailed them back on Thursday; at some point, we should be sent $10 in the mail for our participation.

There was a flock of ruby-crowned kinglets in the dwarf River King birch tree on Friday!

people on iNaturalist can tell this is a ruby-crowned kinglet from this photo!

I discovered some new plants (as usual) at Bedrock Gardens on Sunday, including these:

Creating

Created more “free” time for myself this week.

Repairing and Maintaining (everything but the house & yard)

Body/Mind: Took it easy this week, walking a bit less, skipping my usual weekly activities, and getting more sleep. I took Covid rapid tests on Tuesday and Friday, both negative (and no symptoms). I’ll do another on Monday evening, before my poetry group on Tuesday (at an assisted living home). I did do three workouts (3 hours), my usual; I’m always eager to get back to strength training and flexibility and balance exercises after time away.

Vehicles: My husband took one of the vehicles to the closest dealership, about an hour away, for two recall repairs on Thursday (dropped off car Wed. afternoon, got a loaner, and picked up car on Friday morning). The recalls were for the VANOS assembly bolts and for the positive crankcase ventilation valve. When he got the vehicle back, the windshield wipers didn’t work … but fortunately he had not left the area when he checked this. He drove back to the dealership, who said that wiring must have come loose while there were fixing something else, and they sorted it out.

Finances: I spent an hour on Thursday evening updating our investment information/totals.

Gardening/Yard

I spent more time in the garden this week than usual. I walked around taking pictures for 30-60 mins most days, and I also did some tasks: On Monday, I spent 1.5 hours removing the glossy buckthorn saplings scattered around the yard, cutting back a few things (not many), and cutting out a few things. On Tuesday I weeded for an hour. Saturday I spent 1.5 hours pruning and cutting back plants in the fruit guild, mainly the very stalky woodland sunflower and also did a bit of work on the peaches, the sand cherry, the winterberries, and the sweetgale shrub.

some garden pics this week

25-second video of bees and friends on ‘Bluebird’ asters on Saturday, 5 Oct.

Nesting

Cleaning/Maintenance: I cleaned the primary bathroom and kitchen sinks on Monday and did towel laundry on Tuesday and clothes laundry on Thursday.

Supplies: I ordered a few Tide sticks from Amazon on Thursday. Two years in a row my sister has saved my shirts from permanent stains with one, so I’m going to start carrying one with me.

Food: I made a dish with bucatini, artichoke hearts, arugula, our garlic and parsley, shrimp, and pecorino romano on Monday, then added gifted eggplants (and more artichokes) to it on Tues. and Wed. Veggie burgers on lots of arugula with sautéed summer squash and onions on Thursday, then a tuna puttanesca dish on Friday with cukes and our tomatoes for Friday and Sat Sunday we ate lunch out late (3-4 pm) — a Monte Cristo sandwich for him and half a grilled cheese with half a garden salad for me, plus popovers (with maple butter) for each of us — in Epping, NH.

And I got this lovely Empress cocktail.

Sleeping & Dreaming

I caught up on sleep a bit this week and didn’t push myself to walk or do as much as usual, letting my body recover from my low sleep times/scores and elevated step count last week while away at the beach. My sleep score averaged 88 (range from 93 to 85), with an average of 7 hours 46 mins per night. I got 14 hours 20 mins of REM sleep and 9 hours of deep sleep.

Reading / Words & Ideas / Listening / Watching

READING

BOOKS: I finished one book this week, Talking to Strangers (2024) by Fiona Barton, in which DI Elise King and newspaper reporter Kiki Nunn are both working in their own ways on the murder of Karen Simmons, a 45-year-old woman who’s been using dating apps to meet men, many of them predatory, and has come to a bad end in Epping (UK). A well-told crime novel.

OTHER:

WATCHING We are both participating in a biweekly Zoom series, Curious By Nature, through Maine Audubon, and this week’s on Thursday evening was on herring gulls, a bird I enjoying seeing (because it means I’m at the beach. And they are pretty gorgeous.).

LISTENING At home and at a restaurant this week.

Connections & Community

Local Support: My husband volunteered at the local car museum for a total of about 12 hours this week. We ordered Too Good To Go from a local bakery/café on Thursday, bought some crispy rice treats there on Friday, and ate breakfast on their patio on Saturday morning. Bought some veggies and a pumpkin from the local farmstand on Wed. and Friday. Ate at a local restaurant (on their patio) in Epping, NH, on Sunday afternoon.

Relationships: I skipped Salon on Friday mainly due to possible exposure to Covid on my trip that ended with a train and bus ride on Sat. the 28th (and I also purposely didn’t make plans to see friends this week for the same reason) and I skipped the permaculture Zoom on Thursday because I just felt I needed another day this week without anything scheduled. Texted and emailed with some friends quite a bit and chatted with a neighbour (JL) in his driveway on Wed. A friend (LM) picked up some bucatini at the regional co-op and dropped it off for us on Wed., and we were given two lovely eggplants grown by friends (BC and E) on Tuesday, which I promptly added to a leftover pasta dish for Tues. and Wed. dinners.

Donations: Renewed our membership with Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens on Monday.

Endings/Harvest

We may have seen our last monarch in the yard for this year, on Friday, 4 Oct. I hope so, as nights are becoming too cold for them. These are monarchs seen on Monday and Friday in the garden; we wish them well on their migration south.

I’ve been harvesting a bumper crop of Sweet Millions tomatoes from the feral compost plant, plus a few sungolds here and there. Also parsley. And I could cut basil, and in fact should before the frost next week. Forgot to take photos.