Weekly recap of my ritual of existence in this liminal space called life. (See here for more info.)
- Weather
High temperatures ranged from 47.5°F to 33.4°F, averaging 39.4°F. Lows ranged from 22.5°F to 39.2°F, averaging 28.1°F. We got wintry mix, rain, or a light dusting of snow on four days, totalling .94 inches and snow on Sunday, about 2 inches. Walks in town and around the lake were pretty pleasant. Thanksgiving felt chilly — we walked at the bog that day, which is partly protected from wind.
- Beginnings/Firsts
Our Christmas wreath (bought from neighbours’ granddaughter) was delivered on Thanksgiving (while we were at the bog) and it’s now on the door.
- Wild Things (Flora, Fauna, Fungi) in addition to others elsewhere in this post
- Wandering
Walked in town on Monday, Wed., Fri., and Saturday, and we walked around the lake on Tuesday and at the bog on Thursday.
We went to a garden center in Newport NH that we used to visit every now and then but hadn’t in a while and now they have a sweet café where we got lunch on Wednesday. They also have a cat named Dwight who was very chill. We visited the Ocean State Job Lots too while we were in town, then swung by Sunapee.
lake
bog
Newport & nearby (garden center café & cat, Sunapee harbour)
garden center gift shop cat, Dwight
Lake Sunapee harbour in the mist
- Curiosity & Discoveries
We saw these in the picnic area at the lake. How are two child’s shoes left behind? They’re Minnie Mouse themed. I instinctively looked up the tree trunk, but no child seen.
If you spend any time at all in an Ocean State Job Lots store, you will find curiosities. Here’s one we saw on Wednesday: Crawtators®!
- Creating
Hey, I created an entire vacation from thin air (and $$) this week.
- Repairing and Maintaining the human(s), the cat, and the cars
Body/Mind: I worked out four times (4 hours) this week with weights + stretching. I walked more than 10,000 steps on six days, more than 12,000 on four, and more than 14,000 once. I treadmilled on Sunday evening, 3.8 miles (57 minutes). I participated in Dharma Sunday for two hours via Zoom, with meditation and teaching led by Lama Liz Monson on Deep Ecology & Meditation. I had a negative Covid rapid test on Saturday. I spent a fair amount of time working on jigsaw puzzles this week, something that relaxes me. Still, I was in a right crappy mood on Thanksgiving most of the day (cleaning, cooking, trying to make a decision about a trip), but fortunately friends (ED & SD) came over that evening to share desserts and hosting them helped my mood.
- Gardening/Yard
I didn’t do much in the yard this week; soon I’ll reincorporate this section into Nesting. I did move the extra bale of straw off the driveway so snowplowing can commence and relatedly we spent several hours from Fri-Sunday (and beyond) finding someone to plow snow from the driveway (so the catsitter and deliveries can get in) while we’re away next month. My husband put Christmas lights on the weeping spruce on Saturday. I harvested some thyme for cooking.
- Nesting
Cleaning/Maintenance: I vacuumed the kitchen and halls on Monday and Thursday, and on Monday I vacuumed the primary bathroom and the bedroom carpet, ceiling, drapes, walls, and crevices (with the crevice tool), which took about an hour. I noticed a weatherstrip not sealing in one window and my husband fixed it. I did clothes laundry on Friday.
Financial/Admin: I backed up the laptop on Saturday. On Thanksgiving we decided to take a trip in December, checked with the catsitter, and reserved the trains we needed; on Friday we reserved the lodging in various locations, and on the weekend reserved the rental car and found friends who could drop us off and pick us up at the bus lot. It’s the kind of executive function stuff that exhausts me. I went to the post office on Wed. and bought books of Christmas stamps, though who knows when or if I will get cards done this year.
Supplies: I ordered a few things for Christmas (gifts, food) this week, from Fresh Paper and eBay. Also bought an Xmas gift at a local bookstore.
Food: We finished the Chinese food on Monday, with raw veg/hummus and sautéed broccolini with garlic. We had veggie burgers on both Tuesday and Sunday — it’s what we have when I’ve got no ideas but also when we have arugula we need to use up, which was the case this week — with sautéed local spinach and corn+wild rice on Tues. and with black rice and sautéed local cauliflower and thyme on Sunday. We ate out at a local restaurant on Wednesday evening (roasted cod for me, Provençal fish stew for him). Thursday, which was Thanksgiving here in the U.S., I made Maryland crabcakes (on arugula of course), chick pea fries, and wild rice + raw veg & hummus, and we had pies (ours and friends’) and fruitcake for dessert. Fri. and Sat. we ate the rest of the crabcakes, with Brussels sprouts, wild rice, and our friend’s (SD’s) potato rolls.
- Sleeping & Dreaming
Sleep was good this week, with lots of dreaming (and one nightmare). Overall I got 7 hours 45 mins of sleep per night, with a Samsung Fit 3 average sleep score of 91. REM sleep accounted for 15 hours (maybe the most I’ve had in a week?) and deep sleep for 7 hours 45 mins. I wish I had a good (effective, easy, engaging) way of sharing dreams, or images from dreams.
- Reading / Words & Ideas / Listening / Watching
Reading
BOOKS
I finished reading Elizabeth George’s 22nd Lynley book, A Slowly Dying Cause (2025). I like her world, but this one was not one of the best. There is one criminal case being investigated, the murder of tin & pewter miner and craftsman Michael Lobb in Cornwall, a 56-yr-old man married to the much younger Kayla from Australia, and we read pages from Michael’s journal throughout the story; and there are also several other situations, shall we say, of older men involved with very young (late teens) girls/women, including an agent for Cornwall EcoMining who is trying to buy up and lease land for lithium mining as well as Michael Lobb’s estranged daughter Gloriana’s best friend Jesse’s philandering boyfriend Nate. That last convoluted phrase rather sums things up: I could barely follow the labyrinthine (some might called them intricate, some would say tortuous) relationships and analogous circumstances, but I was pretty proud that I managed to — and then the denouements, if they can even be called that, were so … underwhelming.
Next up is Awake: A Memoir (2025) by Jen Hatmaker, “a brutally honest, funny, and revealing memoir about the traumatic end of her twenty-six-year-long marriage, and the beginning of a different kind of love story.”
Listening
Some songs Shazam’d this week —
Watching
I dvr’d the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade and watched part of it on Sunday while treadmilling. We watched some college and pro football. We watched the Bob Newhart 1975 episode “Over the River and Through the Woods” set on Thanksgiving, which we always enjoy, and we also watched a Frasier from 1996, “A Lilith Thanksgiving” (Niles is hardly in it but as usual he steals the show).
- Connections & Community
Local Support: We had coffee and snacks a local market/café a couple of towns away on Tuesday, lunch at a garden center café in another town on Wed., and lunch at a local bakery in town on Saturday (I had their veggie chili for the first time and it was good!). I bought Asian pears, carrots, and celeriac at the local market/café, and at our local farmstand I bought broccoli, beets, and I think some other things but didn’t note them. We had dinner at a local restaurant on Wed. evening. I bought a Christmas gift at the local bookstore on Wednesday.
Relationships: No Salon or permaculture meeting this week. Friends came over to share desserts (two pumpkin pies, one apple pie, and Trappist fruitcake) on Thanksgiving night. I sent my sister a gift card and a birthday card this week. A Nuts.com gift I sent to my nephew and his wife for Thanksgiving arrived on Monday. A friend (CHJ) sent us a fruitcake from Gethsemani Farms in Kentucky, the best! On Wed. when I was walking around town I exchanged waves with MH and AMA (both driving) and chatted briefly with friend BB as we met walking. At the bakery/café on Saturday we ran into neighbours (AA & PA) and their adult daughter (LA) visiting them for the holiday and chatted for 10+ minutes. The usual online/texting interactions.
- Endings
Whaaa, my great dental assistant Asha is leaving on Monday and I’ll have someone I’ve never met before for my January cleaning. Whaaa.
- All This Useless Beauty
Every year I look forward to and so much enjoy watching the Zoom presentation of The Making of a Longwood [Gardens] Christmas, with the man in charge, Jim Sutton, revealing the theme (this year’s was “gems & jewels”) and the theme’s inspirational images, describing the process (which starts in January), showing us how different areas in the gardens have been decorated to express the theme, etc. Here are a few screenshots I took while watching and you can watch it too, on YouTube, if you want.
can we all agree this fits the category?
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