LIMINAL LIVING #44: 28 OCTOBER TO 3 NOVEMBER 2024

Bulbs, Collector Garden, Community, Flowers, Garden Work, Insects & Arachnids, Liminal Life, Pollinators, Public Gardens & Parks, Wildflowers

LIMINAL LIVING #44: 28 OCTOBER TO 3 NOVEMBER 2024

November 3, 2024

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

Weather

The weather, as is not uncommon this time of year, was a bit seesawy, with high temperatures ranging over 30 degrees, from 74.5°F to 42.8°F, averaging 53.2°F, and lows ranging from 26.8°F to 49.1°F, a 22 degree difference, averaging 35.5°F. We got about 2/3 of an inch of rain (.63″), mostly on Tuesday and Wednesday, and on Monday morning we had a very light dusting of snow.

Beginnings/Firsts

I guess we got our first snow on Monday, though it was more a niveous apparition than a snowfall.

Sent out November nature photos link to the email list on Sunday. Goodbye, October!

Wild Things (Flora, Fauna, Fungi) in addition to others elsewhere in this post

We saw the red-bellied woodpecker (at the lake) but couldn’t get a photo.

Wandering

I took in-town walks on Tuesday, Friday, and on Saturday evening. On Thursday we walked around the lake, and on Sunday we went to The Fells to walk in the gardens and along Lake Sunapee. On Saturday a friend (RL) and I went to Concord, NH to do some errands.

in-town

lake

The Fells

Curiosity & Discoveries

We both participated on Thursday evening in the last “Curious by Nature,” offered by Maine Audubon on Zoom. The focus this week (on Halloween) was yellow garden spiders (Argiope aurantia).

Creating

I made a vibe collage on Friday of colours I’m liking right now.

Ramping up for digital Christmas gift making.

Repairing and Maintaining (everything but the house & yard)

Body/Mind: I worked out 4 times (4 hours) this week and walked over 11,000 steps on four days. I had negative Covid tests on Tues. and Friday. I spent quite a lot of time in the garden, looking at insects and listening to birds mostly.

Cat: Bumble has his annual exam on Monday, including bloodwork. All OK. He’s now scheduled for one tooth removal in early January.

Gardening/Yard

My husband brought the snowblower from the shed on Wednesday to get it ready for winter and found a large mouse nest in it (sans mice), which he cleaned out (wearing a mask and gloves).

This week he also brought in the Japanese lantern, took off the sunroom screen door and stored it, mulched a lot of fallen leaves (4 hours on Tuesday), and drained and stored both rain barrels.

I harvested most of the parsley on Monday and on Friday I planted 20 parrot tulips, 10 Parrot Kings and 10 Amazing Parrots.

this week in the garden (besides pics in other sections)

Nesting

Cleaning/Maintenance: I did clothes laundry on Monday and Sunday. I watered the houseplants on Wednesday. My husband did the dump trip on Wed and took a few items to the special styrofoam recycling collection in town on Saturday morning. He also sewed up a bath towel and made repairs to three of his T-shirts, on Friday.

Food: Chinese takeout leftovers from Mon-Wed. I made a new recipe on Thursday, Herbed Artichoke Cheese Tortellini. It was great, very flavourful. I subbed kalamata olives for the ripe olives, used pecorino Romano cheese instead of Parmesan, and used frozen tortellini instead of refrigerated. Make sure the artichoke hearts are marinated (and to use the marinade juice from the jar as instructed) for full deliciousness. We had that on Friday, too, and then Saturday I picked up Indian takeout while out with a friend in Concord, which we will be eating into next week.

Supplies: I returned the Lands End stuff that didn’t fit on Monday and on Sat. I bought some PJ bottoms at the LL Bean outlet in Concord for $21 with sale price and Bean points.

Financial/Administrative: My husband completed the online form to apply for social security on Tuesday. I completed the online form to renew my driver’s license on Wednesday. Yay us. I also finally remembered to deposit a friend’s check (for groceries) on Monday. I cancelled monthly subscriptions to five Substack newsletters on Tuesday.

Sleeping & Dreaming

Sleep, according to the FitBit, was pretty stellar this week, with all sleep scores in the 80s or 90s, averaging 88.7, and an average night’s sleep of 8 hours and 10 mins (high of 8 hours 49 mins and low of 7 hours 10 mins). I got 14-1/2 hours of REM sleep and just about 8 hours of deep sleep.

Reading / Words & Ideas / Listening / Watching

Reading

BOOKS: Finally finished Agnes Sharp & the Trip of a Lifetime (2024) by Leonie Swann. The oldies from Sunset Hall head to a seaside eco-resort in Cornwall (after Edwina wins a trip) and of course there’s more murder and investigating there than yoga, massage, relaxation, or healthful exercise. I found this book, the second in the series, to be much slower and less interesting than the first one. It was very outlandish (not that that’s always unappealing), repetitive (especially the thoughts that circle around in the characters’ heads – that circling might be extremely realistic but it’s boring in a novel), and I didn’t care about the murders, most of the people, or even the place, which was on the ocean, so I should have loved it. On to Plain Bad Heroines by Emily Chapman, which is already absorbing.

OTHER: Women are at a higher risk of dying from heart disease − in part because doctors don’t take major sex and gender differences into account, in The Conversation, by Amy Huebschmann & Judith Regensteiner. Worth reading if you are a woman or care about a woman.

NEW WORD: Eldritch: It’s an adjective and means eerie, unnatural, weird, sinister, ghostly, strange. I found it in something I was reading: “an eldritch threat.”

Listening – mostly FIP-Paris and also NH pop radio

Connections & Community

Local Support: Bought produce and other items at local farmstand on Monday and Sunday. Got take out from local Indian restaurant on Saturday. My friend (RL) and I ate lunch at a local restaurant in Concord on Sat. Picked up a Too Good To Go bag from local café/bakery on Sunday.

Relationships: Wrote long catch-up emails to friends on Monday and Tuesday (RVN and KKT). Talked with my sister on the phone for 45 mins on Tues. after her cardiology appt. Friends (AV & DF) in Saratoga Springs NY sent us a big box of unusual and interesting condiments on Wednesday. Quelle bonne surprise! Ran into a neighbour (BT) 3 times while walking around the lake on Thursday — he was biking and we stopped to chat each time. Permaculture didn’t meet this week (we’re on a 2x/month schedule now). Attended in-person Salon on Friday from 12-2 and stayed after to chat with a friend. Went on an outing with that same friend (RL) on Saturday to Concord NH from 11-3 to pick out some yarn for my Christmas/birthday gift, have lunch, get me some PJ bottoms, and pick up takeout Indian food to bring home.

Endings

Goodbye, daylight saving time. I’ll miss you when I want to take a walk after dinner, though I do like the coziness and hibernation feel of the evening now. Starting Sunday, we turn on our twinkle lights each evening until spring.

Also goodbye to a beloved teacher from my college who died this week at the age of 95. She taught there for 60 years; she taught me math and tutored me privately (in her home) when I needed it. She born in Berlin, Germany, in 1929, and with the rise of Nazism, her Jewish family emigrated to the U.S. in 1941. She was a 2005 National Humanities Medal recipient, a lifelong learner and lifelong teacher, and she influenced a lot of people in her lifetime. RIP Eva Brann.