Weekly recap of my ritual of existence in this liminal space called life. (See here for more info.)
- Weather
Weather continued snowy, with about 6 inches falling overall this week, most of it on Thursday. High temperatures ranged from 37°F to 27.7°F, averaging 31.3°F; low averaged 18.4°F, ranging from 13.3°F to 26.4°F.
- Beginnings/Firsts
Started new December nature photos album at Google on Tuesday and sent link to subscribers. Put out all four birdfeeders on Tuesday (taking them all in at night). Opened first Gethsemani Farms fruitcake of the year (gift from CHJ) and ate first slices on Tues. evening. Mmmm! We chose a new book in my permaculture group on Thursday, which we’ll start reading and discussing in January 2025: Ed Yong’s An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us (2022). Burned the balsam fir candle for the first time this year on Friday, when Salon met here.
- Wild Things (Flora, Fauna, Fungi)
- Wandering
Walked in town on Tuesday, Wed., Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. (The Crate & Barrel stools were $45 each at a local resale shop.)
- Curiosity & Discoveries
This week in Virtual Birding (via Zoom, through Maine Audubon) we visited birdfeeders in Sacramento Calif., Poland, Scotland, and Ontario, Canada, among other spots, where we saw masses of snow geese (and other geese and ducks); a common chaffinch and marsh tits; a European robin and house sparrows; great spotted woodpeckers, coal tits, and great tits; and evening grosbeaks.
- Creating
On Monday, I created a collage for our Christmas card (through Snapfish), and my husband helped size it correctly to fit my chosen card.
- Repairing and Maintaining (everything but the house & yard)
Body/Mind: Didn’t get out for enough walks (five, but all in-town and most for an hour or less) or any in the woods or on trails, partly due to weather and terrain conditions and mostly due to being too busy with Xmas things. I worked out four times (4 hours) this week. I attended Dharma Sunday via Zoom on Sunday for 1.5 hours, on “Dark Grace.”
Vehicles: My husband put the snow tires on the BMW on Wednesday.
- Gardening/Yard
My husband turned off the outside spigots on Monday. He cleared the driveway of snow on Thursday.
- Nesting
Cleaning/Maintenance: My husband cleaned up the wood stacks on Wed. in preparation for a firewood delivery next week. I spent most of the week ordering, wrapping, and mailing gifts (and much more to come next week). My husband sewed up some holes in my red burnout scarf. I vacuumed the living and dining rooms and kitchen on Friday, and I watered the houseplants then. I did clothes laundry on Monday and Friday. I ran a lot of errands and stopped in to the grocery store too many times.
Food: I roasted cod with kalamatas, grape tomatoes, and capers, served along with sautéed broccolini + garlic couscous with artichoke hearts, on Monday and we had that Tuesday, too. Wednesday was some leftovers from Thanksgiving (the potato leek gratin) plus garlic Old Bay shrimp and a green salad. I made orange bell pepper and corn risotto on Thursday, which we also had Friday, with peas on the side, and I had it Saturday too while my husband had the tuna/mac & cheese/peas concoction. Sunday we had breaded haddock, the mac & cheese concoction, and sautéed broccolini with (our) garlic. I put off baking.
- Sleeping & Dreaming
My average sleep score (FitBit) was 86 this week, with an average of 7.5 hours per night (high was 8 hours 45 min, low was 6 hours 1 min). I didn’t get any REM or deep details for my sleep on Monday, so those totals are off by about 1/7 of their would-be values; REM total for 6 days was 12 hours and deep total for 6 days was about 6 hours 20 mins.
- Reading / Words & Ideas / Listening / Watching
Reading
BOOKS:
I finished reading Death at the Sanatorium (2019) by Ragnar Jónasson this week. Helgi Reykdal is writing his criminology thesis on a murder that occurred thirty years ago (1983) at a TB sanitorium in the north of Iceland, in Akureyri, and as he investigates the case and interviews people who were there then, he realises that the case may not have been solved. The novel moves back and forth between 1983 and the present (2012), with a few forays into 1950, and it’s somewhat slow-paced but with interesting complications and details. I like Icelandic crime fiction.
OTHER: I like this poem “Wind” by Ted Hughes
Watching
We’ve been watching Shetland (6th season) now that we signed up for BritBox. Also watched college football games on Saturday.
Listening
My Shazam listening …
- Connections & Community
Local Support: We bought treats and a Too Good To Go bag from the local bakery/café on Friday. I bought produce from local farmstand on Friday and Sat.
Relationships: I dropped off some tea at a friend’s (RL) on Monday. I sent a long email to a friend (KKT) on Tuesday. Wed., we walked to a friend’s (LD) to help him bring his Christmas tree inside and set it up, and on our way there chatted with another neighbour (RD) for a bit. Also chatted with yet another neighbour (JL) that day who slowed down to talk while he was driving and we were walking. Dropped off small gift with friend (DLP) on Wed. afternoon and she gave me a small gift in return. Chatted with neighbours (RD & WD and dog Sophie) while out walking on Thursday. Attended permaculture meeting via Zoom on Thursday morning, with five others, and we chose a new book to read together next year. I agreed on Monday to be part of another Zoom (well, hybrid but I’m an hour away) book group starting in January. Texted a bit with sisters and cousins re one sister’s dental emergency this week.
Hosted Salon here on Friday afternoon with five of us attending, and I put out my Xmas santas and fairies for a hygge feeling.
- Endings / Harvests
The outside spigots were turned off on Tuesday before sub 20s temperature. I still need to harvest the scarlet runner beans from their now very dried (and perhaps desiccated?) pods.
- All This Useless Beauty
Jacquie Lawson Advent calendar image with bulldog!
and one with a French bulldog!
snowy blue spruce
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