LIMINAL LIVING #97: 3 NOVEMBER TO 9 NOVEMBER 2025

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LIMINAL LIVING #97: 3 NOVEMBER TO 9 NOVEMBER 2025

November 9, 2025

Weekly recap of my ritual of existence in this liminal space called life. (See here for more info.) Click on photos to see larger images.

Weather

Seasonal temps, I guess, with a high high of 54.7°F and a low low of 26.6°F. Highs averaged 47.7°F, lows averaged 31.1°F. It’s that season where the heat is kicking on from time to time but I still have the bedroom window open sometimes at night. We got rain! Our weather station’s rain sensor got jammed on Sunday! (so I used the publicly posted info of someone else with a weather station a few blocks away at about the same elevation). We actually had some rain every single day this week though measuring only .02″ twice, .07″ twice, .09″ once; but on the other two days we received .24″ (Monday) and 1.25″ (Sunday, when it rained or was misty all day), for the week’s total of about 1-3/4 inches. Last week we were still shown as being in extreme drought; we’ll see what this week’s measurements tell us.

Beginnings/Firsts

We had our first snow flurries on Thursday. ❄️❄️❄️

I sent out the November nature photos album link to the people on the email list on Tuesday.

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

Wandering

I walked every day this week except Sunday, when I lolled about and did virtually nothing. I walked with a friend at The Fells on Monday, with my husband around the lake on Saturday, and the other days took longer in-town treks. On Friday morning I went to the dermatologist, out of town, and to the regional co-op while I was up that way. On Sat. we had breakfast and bought some veggies at a market/café in another town.

in town

The Fells

lake

Curiosity & Discoveries

This was something odd I happened to notice on Flight Radar on Thursday and Friday, a plane (ARG01) of the Argentinian government flying from West Palm Beach FL to JFK airport in NYC, then next day from JFK airport to who knows where. [Added after posting: Here’s a little hint as to why, via Fox News asking about the $40 Billion Bailout: When did MAGA become Make Argentina Great Again? ]

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love this idea and execution

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Found this linked in a newsletter this week: plush toys + a ballcap with a logo like the Navy’s sold by the U.S. Postal Service. What child wouldn’t want to snuggle with a US mailbox in bed? Anyone looking for something for me for Christmas, not this please. (That dog costume’s “shirt with attached legs” looks homemade, and not in a good way.)

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I found this this week in the yard, on a New Jersey Tea shrub. iNat gave me five wrong answers and then this one, which I figured out by looking at the images of everything it suggested, and later a real person confirmed my guess.

When I say I’m doing nothing, this is probably the sort of rabbit-hole activity I’m engaged in, spending hours trying to figure out what things are. Or reading long-form articles online about niche topics. Or following a 14-part Threads post that’s hilarious and has hilarious comments. Or creating posts like this and the Tuesday links posts. Or editing and organising my photos. (Or this time of year, playing with my Advent calendar.)

Anyway, it’s a potter wasp nest. (sorry image so blurry)

Creating

I feel like I was marginally more creative in my cooking and eating this week than usual.

Repairing and Maintaining the human(s), the cat, and the cars

Body/Mind: I had bloodwork done (following my annual PCP visit) on Monday and on Friday went to the dermatologist. I worked out four times (4 hours) this week, strength training with weights + stretching. I walked more than 10,000 steps on six days and more than 12,000 steps on three days, including two over 14,000 steps. I used the treadmill one day, walking 1.3 miles in 20 minutes.

Cat: My husband dropped off the cat’s stool sample (part of his annual visit testing) at the vet on Tuesday (it was negative).

Gardening/Yard

I didn’t do much in the yard this week, maybe a half-hour harvesting kale (before the deer came and got the rest the next night; and they also ate about half of my perennial mum flowers) and cutting tulip poplar suckers from the trunk; my husband is trying to root four and we left a few on there to try in the spring if these don’t take. (I threw a willow stem in there too but usually the willow grows great roots and the tulip poplars don’t. I think I/we need to actually make willow water for the rooting hormones to help the other stems root and that should be made from young Spring stems.) My husband finished working on the snowblower this week, except for changing its oil. We both went to the metal dump on Thursday and brought home a push (gas) lawn mower he will need to rehab.

in the garden this week

Nesting

Cleaning/Maintenance: I vacuumed the kitchen, hall, and dining room on Wed. I watered the houseplants on Sunday. I think I did clothes laundry on Thursday.

Financial/Admin: I backed up the laptop after more issues with it on Tuesday morning.

Food: I made herbed artichoke cheese tortellini on Monday; my husband added roasted chicken to his. We had the same on Tues., with raw local carrots and local peppers + a slightly spicy dip made of celeriac, red pepper, and white beans, which was store-bought in June or July and about a month past its sell-by; the brand is Harvest Maine, made semi-locally, in Brunswick, Maine (which used to be very local to us), and sold in our local farmstand.

On Wed., I made a tuna noodle artichoke casserole, + sautéed local spinach and our garlic, + raw local carrots and the rest of that dip (which was delicious btw). Leftover tuna casserole on Thursday, with sautéed and soy-sauced local broccoli & local cauliflower. More leftovers of the casserole on Friday, and more sautéed and soy-sauced local broccoli & local cauliflower, plus local carrots and radishes and another Harvest Maine dip that I bought this week, the beet and carrot (and white bean) version.

I felt like roasting veggies on Saturday, including local beets (which I had had for a couple of months in the crisper), local parsnips, local potato, local shallots, local carrots, and our garlic, rosemary, and thyme. With that we had sautéed shrimp with Old Bay. And on Sunday, it was the roasted veggies and shrimp again + Lundberg wild blend rice (long grain brown rice, sweet brown rice, wild rice, red rice, and black rice).

Also this week, my husband bottled the beer (from the kit he picked up at the dump swap shed) that he’d started a couple of weeks ago. It should be ready to drink in a few more weeks. And I made guacamole on Sunday — the avocados were perfect and so was the cilantro.

Supplies: Did a little Christmas ordering (renewals of subscriptions/memberships online).

Sleeping & Dreaming

Another apparently stellar week of sleeping, and also so much dreaming, some dreams I’ve kept remembering for days afterward. Overall I slept an average of 7 hours 55 mins per night for an average sleep score of 97. REM sleep accounted for almost 13 hours and deep sleep for slightly more than 8 hours. I’m still taking low-dose magnesium glycinate every night, sometimes drinking Traditional Medicinals Nighty Night Extra (with valerian) tea, and sometimes remembering to take an allergy pill, Zyrtec. Any or all of these could be contributing to better sleep(iness).

Reading / Words & Ideas / Listening / Watching

Reading

BOOKS

I finished Richard Osman’s The Impossible Fortune (2025) this week, the 5th in the Thursday Murder Club mystery series, set in the UK. Elizabeth is almost back in form after Stephen’s death, and Joyce’s daughter Joanna is marrying Paul — their wedding is the starting point for this new investigation, concerning best man Nick’s bitcoin, shared with friend Holly, now having reached astronomical sums and being carefully guarded in a safe below ground and protected as well with two codes, one known only to Holly and one known only to Nick. But someone’s planted a bomb under Nick’s car, and he needs no further encouragement to disappear from view for the whole of the book, while Holly quickly meets her own fate. In addition to trying to work out what’s happening with this mystery, Ron and his family (and soon Ibrahim, Connie, and Connie’s protégé Tia) are working to protect his daughter Suzi and grandson Kendrick from Kendrick’s violent father, whom Suzi has kicked out at gun point and who is vowing fatal revenge on her, Ron, and Suzi’s brother Jason. It’s a lot to handle but fortunately Joyce is keeping track of it all and providing some levity in her journal entries. Actually, I laugh-snorted quite a bit through this one.

A couple of Tess Gerritsens set in Maine coming up next.

OTHER

Interesting essay with mimetic theory/Girardian thought both overtly and implicitly interwoven through it: “You’re overspending because you lack values: Overconsumption is a spiritual problem, not a money problem. Lessons about desire from ‘Spirited Away’” by Sherry Ning at her newsletter. From which

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Watching

Some “Death in Paradise,” a “Keeping Up Appearances,” an “I Love Lucy” (the candy shop job!) and two “House Hunters,” and on Sat. & Sun. the first two episodes of Season One (2022) of the “Karen Pirie” crime series on BritBox, based on a Val McDermid book (which I’d read). It was tense and really well acted, I thought.

Listening

some songs Shazam’d this week

Connections & Community

Local Support: Ate lunch at local bakery/café with a friend (RL) on Thursday. My husband and I had breakfast at a localish farm market/café on Saturday and we bought some veg there (celeriac — soon to be featured under Food in a forthcoming post, yellow grape tomatoes, and Asian pears, which I love).

My spinach-bell pepper quiche with salad and jasmine green tea for lunch on Saturday:

I shopped at the local farmstand on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, for their spinach, their cauliflower, a jalapeño, the aforementioned Harvest Maine dip, their carrots, their parsnips, their radishes, their leeks, and their butternut squash (which will also make an appearance under Food next week, probably). I shopped at the local co-op on Wednesday, for cans of beans and tomatoes on sale, Lundberg rice, capers, and bulk walnuts, and I shopped at the regional co-op on Friday (for quite a lot of things, including the avocados and cilantro, apples, local red bell peppers, and some gemelli pasta I can’t find anywhere else around here). My husband helped with end-of-season lawn care at the car museum on Friday for an hour or so.

Relationships: Walked with a friend (ED) through gardens and by a lake on Monday. Had lunch out and went to an art gallery with a friend (RL) on Thursday afternoon.

Permaculture group met on Zoom on Thursday morning for 45 mins (6 of us) to discuss Your Natural Garden and other gardeny matters. Emailed catch-up notes to some friends (RVN, ChN) on Tuesday and a friend (KKT) sent one to me on Wed. Donated to my sister’s team for her city’s Alzheimers Walk this week. Had some wordless children’s books I love sent to some friends (RVN&ChN) on Thursday, for them and for their grandkids. Got an item for a friend (RL) at the co-op on Friday and delivered it to her, chatted a little, and my husband worked on a mixer repair for the same friend this week, something he enjoys doing.

Ran into a friend (BB) while walking on Saturday and chatted for 10 minutes or so. The usual hellos and chitchat with neighbours while out walking, the usual texts, emails, and social media messages & conversations.

Donations: I donated to my sister’s Alzheimer’s Walk this week and to The Elephant Sanctuary as well.