LIMINAL LIVING #59: 10 FEBRUARY to 16 FEBRUARY

February 16, 2025

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

Weather

We received over a foot of snow this week, including about 3 inches from Wed. into Thursday and about 10 inches overnight Saturday into Sunday. It was very windy on Sunday. Average highs this week were 22.6°F, with a narrow range from 33.1°F to 23.5°F; average lows were 9.1°F, with five nights in the single digits and temps ranging from 3°F to 19.8°F.

Beginnings/Firsts

I’m replacing my blog theme with a new one after many years (and many years of the old one being obsolete). It’s a headache.

I made plans for a trip (by bus and train) next week.

Wild Things (Flora, Fauna, Fungi) in addition to others elsewhere in this post. Click on images to enlarge them in new tab or window.

Wandering

I walked in town on Tuesday, Wednesday (long walk), Friday (long walk), and around the lake on Saturday. We had breakfast at a market/café a few towns away on Saturday before the lake walk.

Around town

Lake walk

Curiosity & Discoveries

We both watched a Zoom presentation on Monday evening through Maine Audubon by Kenn Kaufman on the “History of American Shorebirds,” something he researched recently for his new book.

Creating

I am creating a new blog format which will be live next week. It’s taken a lot of hours sitting at the computer and chatting (deperately) with the folks at WordPress. I’m working on a new theme, which is a steep learning curve for me, using a staging site on their server. I’m also thinking about some new pages and posts to add to the revamped site, which is the fun part.

Repairing and Maintaining (everything but the house & yard)

Body/Mind: My brain hurts from trying to work with WordPress. I worked out four times (4 hours) this week and I walked on the treadmill twice, for 42 mins. and 3 miles. I got over 9,000 steps on four days, including over 14,000 steps on two days. I participated in Dharma Sunday on Zoom for over two hours, with Lama Liz leading meditation and teaching on “Radiating Energies of Awareness.” I also did six of the Sharon Salzberg Real Happiness meditations this week, on Tuesday (days 9-11) and Sunday (days 12-15).

Nesting

Cleaning/Maintaining: I cleaned two toilets on Monday and the guest bath on Friday. I did clothes laundry on Thursday and towel laundry on Friday. I watered the houseplants on Monday.

Garden/Yard: My husband cleared the driveway of snow on Thursday and Sunday. He repaired the mailbox on Thurs/Fri, which had fallen to the ground due to the weight of snow against it.

In the yard this week:

Supplies: I cancelled one Chewy autoship because they emailed that they were no longer carrying the litter we use (and we aren’t using as much of the food that was part of that shipment, now that he’s also eating an oral care food we get elsewhere), and then Chewy accidentally cancelled the other autoship (his many treats) and couldn’t un-cancel it, so I have no automatic shipments from Chewy now, although they later emailed that the first email about discontinuing the cat litter was a mistake.

I had to hunt around for a couple of days for local eggs but finally scored some when the local co-op had a dozen or two cartons delivered on Thursday morning.

Food: My husband made two delicious olive sourdough baguettes on Wednesday. We ate out at a local restaurant (at 3:30 pm) using one of his birthday coupon cards on Monday; had leftovers of various kinds for dinner Tues. and Wed.; I made cheese grits and veggies (black beans, peppers, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, etc) on Thurs., which we also had on Friday; and we scrounged around for whatever was on hand on Sat/Sun. A good friend (JKN) sent us a homemade fruitcake (which she knows I love), which arrived by express mail on Saturday via a government vehicle driven by a postal carrier from Concord, NH. — that was a surprise! We also ate out at a local market/café for breakfast on Saturday and I brought home a to-go container of tarka dal, which I’ll have for breakfast soon.

Admin/Financial: I collected and summarised the tax forms (all but one, which arrives in mid-March usually) and dropped off the taxes with our tax guy on Friday so he can do a preliminary run-through. I rescheduled a hair appt for next week due to a trip I’m making, and speaking of which I made Amtrak and hotel reservations on Tuesday for that trip, to be present for my aunt’s burial, coordinating plans with my sister, who’s staying with me there.

Sleeping & Dreaming

I had a good sleeping week, with an average Fitbit score of 88.1. I slept an average of 7-1/2 hours per night, with a little over 12 hours of REM sleep and 10 hours 15 mins of deep sleep. I had a bunch of memorable dreams, including one about a subway newly built between NYC and where I live (in the dream that seemed to be Maine), so now my friend LM had decided to move to NYC and was having a big going-away party at a bar and I was in some kind of support role for the event.

Reading / Words & Ideas / Listening / Watching

New Term: psoas muscle (pronounced “SO-ezz), which is a deep core muscle running along the spine down to the legs. For more info, Anatomy, Bony Pelvis and Lower Limb: Psoas Major by Marco A. Siccardi, Muhammad Ali Tariq, and Cristina Valle at the National Library of Medicine, NIH. Also: Psoas — The Most Vital Muscle in Our Body, with exercises for improving it, from MSK Sports Injury Clinic(Newcastle Upon Tyne, England).

Reading

BOOKS: I finished Shy Creatures (2024) by Clare Chambers, which I really liked and immediately handed to my husband to read. Two stories come together in a satisfying way, that of art therapist Helen Hansford, a young woman working at a psychiatric hospital in Croydon in the 1960s and having a long-term affair with a charismatic psychiatrist, Gil, a distant cousin of hers through marriage, who is interested in R.D. Laing’s experimental work. Helen berates herself for this affair, which she knows has absolutely no future, but continues, and then a mute man in his late 30s, William Tapping, arrives at the hospital after decades living in undocumented isolation and near-poverty with his eccentric aunts. He’s very talented artistically and Helen starts digging into his background to understand what’s caused his muteness and paranoia, as she considers her own life’s journey and as she tries to also help her niece who is struggling. The book moves between the 1960s and the late 1930s as we slowly discover the source of William’s trauma. So well-written with a wonderful grasp of the nuances of human emotions.

OTHER:

I feel the same gratitude, and not only for those dying while allowing us to glimpse a bit of their experience, and for hospice staff and hospital chaplains, but also for people managing other serious medical and emotional disease who post what it’s really like for them:

Watching

I watched PGA golf for a good chunk of Saturday and Sunday afternoons, the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines South in La Jolla, CA.

Listening

Connections & Community

Local Support: Had dinner at a local restaurant on Monday afternoon. Bought food from the local co-op on Wed., my husband sent me flowers from the local florist on Thursday, bought produce at the local farmstand on Friday and also a Too Good To Go bag from the local bakery/café on Friday (which contained a chocolate croissant and a tasty beet salad). Ate at another café/market a few towns away Sat. and also bought produce there.

Relationships: My poetry group met in person on Tuesday for an hour or so with eight of us sharing poems; I hosted Salon here on Friday for two hours, with six of us; we Zoomed with college friends for 1.5 hours on Friday evening; and I attended Dharma Sunday on Zoom. Neighbours (WD) let us know our mailbox was on the ground on Thursday. A friend (RVN) sent a catch-up email and I sent one back. I sent sympathy cards to my uncle and cousin on Tuesday. The Nuts.com Valentines gift I sent to my sister and her family arrived on Tuesday. Texted with several friends quite a bit this week.