A Moveable Garden

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

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• Weather

A bit chilly this week, without measurable precipitation but some light wintry mix and flurries. The high temperatures ranged from 42.6°F to 32°F, averaging 37.8°F. Temps in the 40°Fs are going to look preeetttty good soon. The lows ranged from 20.3°F to 26.8°F, averaging 24°F.

• Beginnings/Firsts

I started (and finished) working on a jigsaw puzzle this week, the first one since last year, I think. This was a Jiggy puzzle called [Christmas] “Eve” and it was fun! (Bumble helped)

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

• Wandering 

Walked outside every day but one this week (treadmilled 3 miles that day). I walked by myself at the bog on Monday, with a friend (ED) at a nature park on Wednesday, and my husband and I walked some wooded trails that we hadn’t been on since Spring on Saturday.

in town

bog (a tad slippery)

nature park

wooded trails

• Curiosity & Discoveries

It’s fun to find these ice shards (or needle ice) on trails. They seem to erupt from the ground.

This box of phone wires was unusual, seen alongside a street in town.

• Creating

I created time from sheer ether to do a jigsaw puzzle this week.

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

Body/Mind: I worked out four times (4 hours) this week and walked more than 10,000 steps on six days, more than 14,000 steps on four days. I had a negative Covid test on Friday. My husband got a haircut on Thursday. I got my dermatology biopsy results and both were benign.

Cars: On Monday my husband ordered snow tires to be delivered to Goodyear and on Friday he took the Jeep there so they could put the snow tires on, which was a bit of a fight because the chrome caps on the lug nuts had deteriorated (he’ll be replacing those).

• Gardening/Yard 

We’ve pretty much finished working in the yard this year, other than anything related to snow removal. The parsley bit the dust on Tuesday but the rosemary remains! It looked a little peaked on Saturday so I cut a few stems to see if I can get them to root. A few garden pics this week:

• Nesting

Cleaning/Maintenance: I did clothes laundry on Saturday and I watered houseplants on Wednesday. I cleaned out and organised the puzzles & games cabinet on Sunday. I cleaned toilets, the sinks and counters, etc., as per usual. I might have vacuumed something.

Financial/Admin: I resubscribed to my streaming workout program, Body Electric, for a year using a 30% discount on Friday.

Supplies: The Amazon Subscribe & Save arrived this week. On Sat., I ordered six boxes of Near East pine nut couscous which isn’t available locally (will arrive mid-Dec).

Food: Tuna-pasta leftovers on Monday with roasted Brussels sprouts (with balsamic fig vinegar). My husband made three sourdough baguettes (with flaxseed) on Tuesday and I made butternut-coconut-shrimp bisque on Tuesday, which we had with slices of one of the baguettes. We had the same thing on Wed. with sautéed spinach and garlic. We ordered Chinese from a local place on Thursday and that took us through the rest of the week, along with some extra green peppers I cooked up and sides including roasted Brussels sprouts and sauteed cauliflower.

• Sleeping & Dreaming

I guess those sleep scores in the high 90s the last few weeks just meant I was sleeping well then because scores slipped this week, including a 76 (which the Samsung Fit 3 considers “good”?) on Thursday night. Overall, I got an average of 7 hours 10 mins of sleep per night this week, which is low. My average sleep score was 85, with several in the 80s and two in the 90s. REM sleep accounted for 13 hours and deep sleep for a decent 7 hours 40 minutes.

• Reading / Words & Ideas / Listening / Watching  

Reading

BOOKS: I finished The Summer Guests (2025; The Martini Club, #2) by Tess Gerritsen early in the week and am now reading a long Lynley, A Slowly Dying Cause (2025) by Elizabeth George, which is 650 pp.

The Summer Guests features ex-CIA spy Maggie Bird and several of her friends who have also retired from the CIA, living in Purity (think Camden) Maine, and this one is set mostly there. Ethan Conover and his wife Susan and 15-year-old daughter Zoe, an avid swimmer, arrive at the Conover family summer house where everyone is gathering to spread the ashes of his father. Almost right away, after swimming in Maiden Pond, Zoe heads off with her new friend Callie (Luther Yount’s daughter, whom we met in the previous book) but fails to return home that night. Luther swears he dropped her off by Maiden Pond that afternoon, which puts him squarely in the suspect frame, but what about Reuben Tarkin, unfriendly neighbour across the pond whose father committed a heinous crime in town many years ago? Susan is frantic to find her daughter, not just her daughter’s backpack and phone which are located in two unrelated spots — but her husband’s family doesn’t seem particularly concerned; are they just callous and narcissistic or do they have something to hide?

OTHER

After reading this article in Vermont Digger, Then Again: Vermont’s Chester Arthur is an unlikely star in a new Netflix series, I went down the Charles J. Guiteau rabbit hole — Guiteau is the man who assassinated Pres. James Garfield, Arthur’s predecessor. Everything this hapless fool does does or that happens to him starts to seem both unbelievable and inevitable; his life is the most haphazard series of self-inflicted wounds paired with grandiose confidence in his ability to prosper.

I thought this essay and the questions she poses were intriguing and helpful: Questions to ask yourself before winter takes over – A seasonal self-audit for clarity, craving, and staying warm inside your own life, by Kelton Wright at Shagrilogs. Among the questions, some of which are metaphors drawn from gardening, What am I secretly hoping will happen to me?, What did I harvest this year? and What is ready to be composted?

Watching

We watched “Seems Like Old Times” (dvr’d) starring Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase, over two nights, Sat. and Sun. We finished season 2 of “Pirie” (BritBox) on Monday. Otherwise, saw a couple of “Death in Paradise” episodes from season 10 (BritBox) and a “House Hunters” or two.

Listening

Some Shazam’d songs this week:

• Connections &  Community

Local Support: Shopped at the farmstand a couple of times this week, buying local radishes, local cauliflower, local Brussels sprouts (twice), local spinach, and a couple of non-local naval oranges. Had lunch with a friend (RL) at a local bakery/café on Thursday and my husband and I had snacks at the same place on Sunday. Got takeout from a local Chinese place on Thursday. Bought a couple of Christmas items (tablecloth, lights) at local consignment store on Thursday.

Relationships: My sister accidentally called me Monday morning and we chatted a bit 😊 I walked in the woods with a friend (ED) on Wed. and had lunch with another friend (RL) on Thursday. Permaculture also met on Thursday on Zoom with six of us for an hour (I took and emailed notes), and Salon met in person with four of us for over 2 hours on Friday. I ordered a birthday gift for my (other) sister on Sunday. While walking on Sunday, I chatted with our neighbour (JL), exchanged waves with several friends/neighbours in cars (HW, AMA, VB), and greeted other familiar walkers (whose names I don’t know but I see them several times per week). Emailed RVN this week. Ordered a Thanksgiving gift for my nephew and his wife. The flowers I ordered for my cousin (BG) were delivered on Monday.

• Endings 

My uncle (who died several months ago) was memorialised in Annapolis and interred in Arlington VA on Tuesday and Wednesday. I didn’t make the trip but my sister did and sent us photos and video, as did my cousin (his daughter).

• All This Useless Beauty

two magical places on the wooded trails

invasive and sublime (euonymus)

confident cat