A Moveable Garden

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

• Weather

Chilly but not too bad other than the night (Thurs or Fri?) that we hit -3.8°F degrees. It was blustery with snow squalls on Thursday, though the high that day was in the 30°Fs, which is downright balmy lately. And after the 2″ snow Sunday night into Monday, we got an additional 7″ inches or so of snow on Tuesday.

Overall, the high temps ranged from 33.6°F to 23.4°F, the lows from that -3.8°F I mentioned above to 21.7°F, but mostly in the single digits and teens. The average high was 30.1°F, the average low was 11.7°F. Brr. It looks and feels like winter outside.

The heated birdbath struggles to keep up when we’re in single digits.

• Beginnings/Firsts

I sent out the December nature photos link to the email list on Wednesday.

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

Red fox in daytime (9 a.m.)

Twice-stabbed stink bug on outside of back door, 21°F.

• Wandering 

I walked in town on four days this week and we walked around the lake on Saturday. Didn’t really go anywhere this week.

in town

lake

• Curiosity & Discoveries

Several. First, those Minnie Mouse child’s sandal’s from last week, seen at the lake’s picnic area, have been moved from under the tree to a picnic table.

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Next, I pushed my cart past this display at the grocery store on Saturday. I’d never heard of the company and never seen these festive Christmas tree shaped salted butter novelties before. They don’t look that appealing?

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While walking on Wed. I chanced upon this scene now absent of the bird of prey who swooped into the snow for said prey (also absent).

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At a local charity thrift shop I saw this Corelle dinnerware, marked down from $120 to $80 for the set, including two serving bowls. We have some that’s similar.

• Creating

I spent two days this week creating a Snapfish photo book for my sister for a Christmas gift (she already knows). It takes a lot of thought and creativity in terms of the theme and how to present it as well as in all the details — the photos and their arrangement, the text, the embellishments, the page styles, the book style, etc. It’s fiddly and frustrating at times but very satisfying to finish.

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

Body/Mind: I worked out three times this week (3 hours) with weights and stretching, and I walked more than 10,000 steps on five days, more than 12,000 steps on three days, and more than 14,000 steps once. I walked on the treadmill more than usual because of the cold, the snow, or the conditions of the sidewalk. Over three days (Mon., Tues., Sun.), I treadmilled just over two hours, 8.15 miles.

I’m not sure if jigsaw puzzles do anything for my mind (they hurt my neck, I know that), but I’m on a roll lately after a year of no puzzles. I finished “Blue Kitchen” by eeBoo this week. The cat helped.

Cat: This week we had Bumble’s current catsitter stop by to go over some things before our upcoming trip and later in the week we had a neighbour come by to familiarise himself with the cat’s setup so he can serve as a back-up catsitter for this trip and eventually take over for our current sitter (who has grandfathered us in but doesn’t really want to do this kind of work anymore). Cat tax: Bumble in the armoire this week.

Cars: I went to town hall on Monday and paid my vehicle’s annual registration.

• Nesting

Cleaning/Maintenance: I did towels/pillowcase laundry on Tuesday. On Sat., I cleaned the guest toilet, sink/counter, and floor, and on Sunday I cleaned the primary shower (partially) and vacuumed the kitchen, hall, and family room.

Yard: My husband cleared the snow from the driveway on Tuesday and again on Wed. morning after more snow fell overnight. The snow plow guy who’s agreed to plow our driveway while we’re away came by on Monday to look at the driveway.

some garden pics this week:

Financial/Admin: I called on Monday and paid the dermatology bill (they don’t have a website). I chose my ACA medical plan for 2026 and set all that up online.

Supplies: Placed a small Nuts.com order (macadamias, Turkish apricots) on Tues. when there was free shipping for low order amounts. Ordered some Kizik boots on Monday.

Food: My husband made three baguettes on Friday; he gave two to friends (ND, LD) and we kept one. On Monday I found a 6# turkey (the smallest they had) for sale at the grocery store for $1.49. Turned out to be just the breast (bummer — my husband likes the dark meat) but anyway he roasted it that day, made gravy, and made soup with the carcass. He’s been eating turkey in one form or another all week, with lots more left for next week.

Monday’s dinner was Cajun (Old Bay) haddock, sautéed spinach and garlic, and black rice with roasted cauliflower w/thyme. Finished the haddock on Tues., with sautéed broccoli and garlic, and black rice with diced orange bell pepper. On Wed., I roasted beets, parsnips, carrots, potatoes, shallots, garlic, sage, thyme (ours), and rosemary (ours), and I had mine on egg noodles with Old Bay shrimp while my husband had his with wild rice and turkey & gravy. I made celeriac bisque on Thursday, which we had with homemade sourdough bread and raw veggies + hummus, and the same on Friday. Saturday my husband had turkey and wild rice soup, homemade baguette, and roasted asparagus, while I had black rice, Old Bay shrimp, and asparagus mixed together. We haven’t had asparagus since the spring but the local co-op had some (from Mexico) and it looked good so I bought it on a whim. On Sunday, my husband had turkey and leftover roasted root veggies, plus newly roasted Brussels sprouts (with balsamic fig and maple syrup, which I subbed for honey, see recipe below), while I had the same sprouts plus a concoction I created on the spot guided by what I felt like eating, which was black rice, a can of tuna, and diced celery, with soy sauce and a little olive oil, warmed up. I loved it.

• Sleeping & Dreaming

Pretty good sleep week, with one blah night when I got 5-1/2 hours of sleep and an 81 score. Otherwise, I slept between 7 and 8 hours the other nights, averaging 7 hours 14 mins of sleep overall, with the other six sleep scores all in the 90s, for an average score of 89.8. REM sleep accounted for 12 hours 18 mins and deep sleep for 7 hours 36 mins.

• Reading / Words & Ideas / Listening / Watching  

Reading

BOOKS: None. I have a couple to read but I’ve been doing trip planning, jigsaw puzzles, and Christmas stuff, my online Advent calendar, and online word games instead of reading. I’ll get to it.

OTHER

Two articles I liked this week: “Gastrodome: F is for French Fries” (Timothy Burke/Eight by Seven) and “I would rather starve than ask for help and maybe I should work on that” (Tove Danovich/A Litle Detour with Tove Danovich).

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Watching

We watched a few of season 10 of “Death in Paradise, a Christmas “Vicar of Dibley,” a “House Hunters,” a “Waiting for God,” a “Good Neighbours” Christmas episode, and a Poirot “Murder on the Links” over two nights.

Listening

Some Shazam’d songs this week

• Connections &  Community

Local Support: Met a friend (JS) at the local bakery/café for lunch on Thursday. Shopped at the farmstand twice (carrots, parsnips, spinach, sage, Brussels sprouts, potatoes, more carrots, more spinach, and crackers) and at the local co-op once (asparagus, black/forbidden rice, bulk walnuts).

Relationships: Doing errands on Monday morning I chatted with several friends I ran into (SW, SL, LV). I emailed a neighbour/friend on Monday and she emailed back Tuesday. A friend (ND) called on Wed. to ask a favour. Ran into a neighbour (PA) while walking and we chatted a little, and ran into another neighbour (LT) on the same walk and chatted for 10 minutes. On Thursday, my sister and I talked by phone for a half-hour, I had lunch with a friend (JS), and another friend (CF) sent a catch-up email and I replied and we planned to go out to lunch next week. Friday we took a baguette to friends (ND&TD) and visited for over an hour with them, and after that my husband took a baguette to another friend (LD) and chatted with him a bit and we made plans to go out to dinner together next week. I had a friend (RL) over for a gift exchange, chat, and snacks on Sunday for 2.5 hours. We had the catsitters (who are friends/neighbours) over on Thursday and Sunday. Permaculture group met on Zoom, six of us, on Thursday morning, and Salon met in person with five of us, on Friday for over two hours.

Donations: Made some donations in the form of Christmas gift memberships to various organisations in NH and MA. Donated to iNaturalist. I renewed our Laudholm Farm (Wells, ME) membership.

• Endings/Harvest

Still harvesting thyme (will do all winter until snow gets too deep to reach it) and rosemary.

• All This Useless Beauty

he knows he gorg

depth, texture, mood