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 warmish winter week, with an average high of 34.5°F, the high temps ranging from 43°F to 16.7°F; the low average was 19.6°F, with low temps ranging from -0.6°F to 31.3°F. As you might expect, we got not only rain and wintry mix this week but also melt recorded in the weather station, all of it amounting to about 1.5 inches. In addition, about 4 inches of snow fell between Monday and Wednesday. It’s still icy in places underneath the snow.

• Beginnings/Firsts

I sent out the January nature photos link to those on the list on Monday.

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

black chokeberry; white-breasted nuthatch; blue jay; tufted titmouse; goldfinches; Carolina wren; three pics of hairy woodpecker; two pics of downy woodpecker; mourning doves; American tree sparrow.

• Wandering 

Not much wandering or even walking this week. Sidewalks were slushy, roads were puddled (which means splashes from cars), and I was busy with others things, still catching up on my projects after being away for two weeks. I did get in good walks on Wed., Fri., and Sat. and I treadmilled most of the others days. I wandered to another town for my dental cleaning on Thursday and shopped at the regional co-op then as well.

wandering pics

• Curiosity & Discoveries

• Creating

Thinking about creating … Maybe another Write 28 Days in February? Don’t know yet.

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

Human: I worked out three times (3 hours) this week, walked outside on three days, and treadmilled a total of 10.36 miles over 2.75 hours on four days. Attended Dharma Sunday via Zoom with Lama Willa leading meditation (from Hawaii) and teaching on The Timeless Now. Got my hair cut early on Tuesday morning. Had a dental cleaning and exam on Thursday.

• Nesting

Cleaning/Maintenance: My husband did the dump/recycling run on Tuesday. I did clothes laundry on Friday and vacuumed the kitchen on Saturday.

Financial/Admin: I subscribed to Ancestry at half-off for a year and backed up my laptop, both on Saturday.

Yard: My husband did the snowblowing on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I think the Japanese umbrella tree — the one that was bent to the ground for almost a week under ice — might make it …

Food: I made the herbed artichoke tortellini dish on Tuesday, which we had again on Wed. with veggies and humus. We got takeout pizza (spinach, artichoke, olive) and garden salad (which I augmented) from a local place on Thursday, and we had that on Friday as well. On Sat. I made a sofrito risotto (with corn and red/orange peppers) with shrimp + veggies & humus, and we had it again on Sunday but this time with sautéed spinach and garlic. We’re slowly finishing up all the sweet Christmas goodies we were given (almond cake, stollen, apple-cinnamon bread, and more).

• Sleeping & Dreaming

Sleeping was pretty good this week, with an average Fit 3 sleep score of 89.1 and all but two of the scores 90 or above. I got an average of 7 hours 33 mins of sleep per night. REM sleep accounted for 14 hours 39 mins this week (I hit a record high of 3 hours 13 mins of REM on Sunday night into Monday) and deep sleep for 7 hours 15 mins.

• Reading / Words & Ideas / Listening / Watching  

Reading

I finished the second in the 7-part series of On the Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle (2020/2024 transl.), about a woman who’s become stuck in time. Tara Selter spends her second and third years stuck in 18 November travelling through Europe to find seasons, starting with winter, requiring her to go to Norway, then spring, summer, and finally fall again, all of this travel necessitating a lot of time in transit, mostly on trains. She visits her family (mother, father, sister) in Brussels during part of the year as well, to have Christmas with them (on their 18 Nov). Later on she does a deep dive into the world of ancient Rome, mostly through copious research online, and also by attending lectures and visiting museums and places in Europe with Roman ruins. Her revelation is that “everything in the Roman world is a container.” The book ends suddenly with a cliffhanger.

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I liked this piece I read this week: How Was It For You? (Another Christmas) by Jeanette Winterson in her newsletter Mind Over Matter (from 28 Dec 2025).

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Listening

A (very) few songs I Shazam’d this week

Watching

Mostly watching the Lynley Mysteries on BritBox (the older ones) and some NFL playoff games.

• Connections &  Community

Local Support: Bought takeout pizza and salad from local pizza place on Thursday. Shopped at local farmstand on Friday (their fresh spinach, a couple boxes of crackers, Harvest Maine Celery Root & Red Pepper dip/humus). Bought a couple of smallish pretty bowls ($7 each!) for us and a few gift items at a local gift shop on Wednesday. Shopped at regional co-op while in that area on Thursday. Bought parsley at local co-op on Tuesday. Tried to eat at local bakery/café on Friday morning but there was no seating.

Relationships: I hosted Salon on Friday for six of us for two hours. We exchanged Christmas gifts with friends (ED&SD) at their house (with snacks!) on Wednesday afternoon. Caught up with my hair stylist/friend (GV) on Tuesday. A friend (JS) texted us on Wed. for a ride next week to the hospital for his chemo (my husband can do it). My cousin’s Christmas gifts arrived here on Friday.

• Endings 

I finished my Book List 2025 and posted the list and a summary of the year’s reading on Tuesday. That’s 17 years in a row I’ve kept a list of the books I’ve read. On to 2026’s reading!

• All This Useless Beauty

Love some of the goldfinch shots this week