A Moveable Garden

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

• Weather

Daytime temperatures are definitely trending higher, with an average this week of 37.9°F, ranging from 48°F (and indeed four days with highs in the 40°Fs) to 17.4°F. Lows ranged from 3.6°F to 30.2°F, averaging 21.1°F. We got about 5 inches of snow and mix on Thursday and a little light rain on Tuesday. There’s still a lot of snow on the ground and the sidewalks have been pretty treacherous between the ice, the unevenness of terrain, and the cars splashing pooled water onto walkers.

• Beginnings/Firsts

Monday was the first time I’d been to Arlington National Cemetery for a burial. Tuesday was a dubious first, my first time riding in a Tesla (Model Y) — it was my Lyft driver’s vehicle (more below on this). Friday was the first time I can recall having blood drawn to determine if I still had antibodies to a disease; in this case it was for the measles (and mumps and German measles) from my childhood vaccine (I do have antibodies).

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

• Wandering 

I was still in Arlington on Monday, for my aunt’s interment at Arlington National Cemetery, which took all of 10 minutes (it was not an honours ceremony, with all the fanfare).

I saw my two cousins and uncle very briefly, the first time I’d seen them since my other cousin’s funeral and burial six years ago last month.

Before that, my sister, nephew, and I had breakfast at Bayou Bakery, a nice half-mile walk from the hotel in Arlington, where the beignets and café au lait were chef’s kiss and the “eggs” (baked rubbery cold egg squares) were not. On the whole, though, a nice experience, and the beignets were, did I mention, perfect?

After the burial, my sister, nephew, his fiancée who had arrived late that morning, and I went to lunch/dinner at Maker’s Union in another part of Arlington, where we mostly talked about their upcoming wedding; and then my sister and I Lyfted back to the hotel and my nephew and his fiancée drove home to Pennsylvania.

On Tuesday, I left the hotel around 7:30 a.m. for my Lyft + train + bus trip home, where I’ve been since. I took in-town walks on Monday, Wed., Fri., and Saturday this week.

in Arlington

seen from the train

Union Station D.C. (Acela first class lounge)

in-town walks

• Curiosity & Discoveries

The conversation my last Lyft driver and I had, the one who drove me from the Arlington hotel to Union Station in D.C. on Tues. morning, was really interesting to me. His car was a Tesla Model Y and it was very nice inside, and the dashboard screens, ooh la la, but of course I wondered why he had it. He started immediately talking to me about politics, but I couldn’t tell if he was saying that “everything was bad” since “immigration” or since “the inauguration.” Eventually I figured out it was “inauguration” and he was no fan of anyone in power right now in the U.S. He bought the Tesla two years ago because it was cheaper than the German vehicle he really wanted, with a rebate for being electric, but he didn’t know much about Tesla’s CEO and funder then.

My driver and his wife, a linguist with a master’s, came to the U.S. from Azerbaijan almost three years ago on a green card; he speaks English fluently, as well as Russian (where his father worked for a number of years) and Turkish; his wife can’t get a job because she is either overqualified or she doesn’t have enough experience in the U.S.; my driver worked in transportation logistics before coming to the U.S. He said Azerbaijan is “no where” — it’s considered Eastern Europe but he says it’s not really Europe (doesn’t use the euro for one thing, and most of the country is on the Asia side of the Caucasus mountains), or Asia, or the Middle East. He has hope for the U.S. in the long run but does not at all like the power overreach and recklessness of the current administration. He said, Why break something that’s working?

I asked how hard it was to get used to the distraction of the giant “infotainment” screen on the dash and he said it took a day or two. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. We were in a lot of traffic and you could see at a glance his car and its relationship to every car in every direction, how close other cars were to his, what was in his blind spots, whether and how fast other cars — including those behind and to both sides of us — were changing lanes, etc. I didn’t take a photo (I wanted to but it felt like an invasion of privacy) but I found this one online that gives some sense of it. He showed me all the views, too, like aerial and cross-section.

• Creating

I put together a Field Trip post for the U.S. Botanic Garden in DC this weekend, the first time I’ve done one of those in a while.

• Repairing and Maintaining (everything but the house & yard)

Body/Mind: I worked out 4 times this week and walked over 9,000 steps on five days, including two days over 15,000 steps. I was cheered by seeing and spending time with my sister and my nephew and his fiancée, and I was glad to be present at my aunt’s interment and to spend a few moments with my uncle and cousins.

Once home, on Friday, I completed the Sharon Salzberg Real Happiness Challenge, doing seven meditations on lovingkindness (days 22-28) at one time, over about 1.5 hours — I actually prefer a longer meditation session but can also see the benefit in shorter daily sessions. On Friday afternoon, I had blood drawn to check for antibodies to measles, now that it’s circulating in the population again; my childhood vaccines might have been given at a time when they were less effective, but the titers were positive for antibodies to measles, mumps (which I actually had), and German measles, so no new vaccine needed for me. I had negative Covid tests on Wed. and Friday. I got a haircut on Thursday morning at 7 a.m.

Vehicles: On Sunday the Jeep stopped showing gridlines in the backup camera; my husband looked online, found the solution (Settings needed to be changed, though they hadn’t been changed to cause the problem), and fixed it. He also washed two of the cars on Tuesday.

• Nesting 

Cleaning/Maintenance: My husband did clothes laundry on Tuesday and I did another small load on Thursday. He finished the shower grout job (begun Sunday) on Monday. On Wed., he went to the dump/recycling center. On Sunday I cleaned the master bath toilet, shower, and sink.

Supplies: A friend (ED) picked up some multiples of items for us from a regional grocery store on Wed. I ordered a pair of Eddie Bauer pants on eBay on Sunday.

Food: It was veggie burgers, corn, and cukes and peppers with tapenade on Wed., then we picked up Chinese food on Thurs. that took us through the week. I ate well while away, including on the train (meals included in first class; the three-cheese omelet was very good and nice & hot)

and I enjoyed this bowl of delicious cream of MD crab soup at our hotel bar on Monday night.

My sister and I also liked these pretty Bees Knees cocktails at Maker’s Union on Tuesday afternoon.

Financial/Admin: I looked over the bank transactions on Thursday.

I spent about 1.5 hours chatting online and on the phone with Anthem on Thursday trying to find out whether they covered the measles titer (or MMR titers) and how much it’d cost; twice I was disconnected from online chat just before they returned with a response — though when they asked me what the procedure code was (hello, I am the patient) and whether it was “immunization administrative” or just “immunization” (when it wasn’t an immunization at all), I started to wonder who I was talking to, so I called them, and when I finally got to a real person, she also asked me what the code was! By then, I had figured out on my own how to get an estimate of the cost of the titers — both with and without invoking insurance — through my provider’s MyChart website.

Garden/Yard: My husband snowblowed the driveway on Thursday when we got about 5 inches of wet snow. He also replaced the strap for one of the outdoor motion cameras on Wed., which had deteriorated due to the elements recently.

• Sleeping & Dreaming

I had a good week of sleep, with three nights when sleep scores were in the 90s, including a 94. I forgot to wear the FitBit overnight on Saturday, so didn’t get a score for that night, but for the other six averaged an 88.8 sleep score and 7 hours 40 mins of sleep per night. I had 10 hours 52 mins of REM sleep over the six nights and 7 hours 51 mins of deep.

Dream fragment: I was teaching a boy (around age 8 or 9), with his parents’ and grandmother’s blessing, about being outdoors, i.e., we were outdoors learning about it, and when we’d finished, I told him he could always say this and it would always be true: “Now we’re going into the real world.”

• Reading / Words & Ideas / Listening / Watching  

Reading

BOOKS: I finished Elin Hilderbrand’s Winter Stroll (2015), which I mentioned I was reading last week. I’m now reading Megan Miranda’s Daughter of Mine (2024), set in a small lake town in the mountains of North Carolina, where Hazel returns after her policeman father dies to find she’s inherited his house, to the anger of her two brothers, and where she realises there are secrets literally buried, submerged, or otherwise kept hidden everywhere in this place. Creepy.

OTHER:

Below (in All This Useless Beauty), I quote from an interview with Ed Yong in the New York Times in late Feb. Before I read that whole article, I saw this on social media from the same interview; love it.

And along with that, this great newsletter essay on masking and why we do it: Why Are People Wearing Masks in 2025? a mental health professional’s perspective by Steph Fowler LCPC, CADC.

Over 80% of these reasons apply to me — and because there are so many reasons, it would be very difficult for me to articulate if someone asked me suddenly why I wear a mask in most indoor places; it’s one of those “There are rivers and tendrils of reasons flowing through my mind, I’m drowning in so many reasons and images and thoughts that I can’t fight my way to the water’s surface to speak them.” (I have that feeling a lot anyway — there’s almost never a throughline of thought in my brain but rather a network that branches and branches again, looping back sometimes, skipping ahead, collecting debris from the side of the stream … which is why poetry is my chosen voice. Or vice?)

And finally this, posted on Instagram by someone recently diagnosed with breast cancer; she says it the way it is/would be for me — no interest in battling or being at war with my body, just in leaning in, feeling it, seeing it for what it is.

LIstening: Shazamed these this week, from 26 Feb to 2 March:

Watching

We watched The Pale Horse (all three episodes) on BritBox this week. That was a weird one. It’s loosely based on an Agatha Christie novel but not really. And watched golf on the weekend, which will be a theme for a while.

• Connections &  Community

Local Support: Ate locally (independent restaurants) for breakfast and lunch/dinner on Monday in Arlington VA. My husband and I had breakfast at a local bakery/café here on Thursday after my early haircut. I bought some items at the local co-op and local independent pharmacy on Wednesday and birdseed from the local (regional chain) hardware store on Sunday. We ordered takeout from the local Chinese restaurant on Thursday.

Relationships: Great, as I mentioned in last week’s LL, to spend time with my sister, nephew, and his fiancée, as well as a few moments at least laying eyes on and hugging my uncle and two cousins on Monday. A friend (ED), as mentioned, kindly picked up some things for us at a regional grocery store on Wed. Salon met on Friday for over two hours, with six of us present. On Saturday, as we were walking, neighbours (W&RD) driving by stopped to chat, and we hadn’t gone 20 yards when another neighbour/friend (LD) drove by and stopped to talk for a bit, and then on the way home we passed a newish neighbour (BC) and exchanged pleasantries. I don’t take these small microlocal interactions for granted; they’re part of the fabric of my world. I sent a long (and long overdue) email to a friend (KKT) this week.

Donations: I renewed our membership on Friday with The Trustees of Reservations, which manages/owns (not sure which) over 100 natural and historic places in Massachusetts, at least one of which we’ve visited (Naumkeag in Stockbridge) and some of which I’d like to (Halibut Point Reservation in Rockport, the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, Wasque on Martha’s Vineyard with beaches and a wildlife refuge, and Ravenswood Park in Gloucester)

• Endings 

My aunt is now well and truly interred. Farewell, Martha/Marty.

• All This Useless Beauty

From an interview with Ed Yong in the NYT 22 Feb 2025: Asked about something that’s given him delight recently:

“You know, I’m writing a section of the book that is about hummingbirds. The fact that hummingbirds have iridescent colors that are especially vivid at certain angles. The Anna’s hummingbird is a great example of that. In some angles it looks like this vivid capital-“M” magenta jewel. Then it might turn its head and look black and dark. Those colors are not inherent to the feathers themselves. They occur because the feathers have rows of tiny disc-shaped structures that are arranged perfectly at the nanoscale. The light they reflect interferes with and amplifies each other specifically in red wavelengths, and specifically at certain angles.”

sunroom light & colour

the light in this communal dining room on a Friday afternoon

this one with a curled-under ear