LIMINAL LIVING #112: 16 FEBRUARY TO 22 FEBRUARY 2026

Birds, Community, Food & Drink, Liminal Life, Seasons, Slow Gardening & Living, Sound & Music, Wetlands

LIMINAL LIVING #112: 16 FEBRUARY TO 22 FEBRUARY 2026

February 22, 2026

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

Weather

Warmish! The average high temperature this week was 35.5°F, ranging from 44.8°F to 28.6°F. The average low was 20.3°F, ranging from 9.9°F to 26.6°F. We got about 8 inches of snow, most of it from Friday afternoon into Saturday. Sunday was windy.

Beginnings/Firsts

Nothing comes to mind.

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

TOP row: red squirrel, blue jay, female purple finch; 2nd row: all goldfinches; 3rd row: goldfinch, goldfinch with downy woodpecker, red-bellied woodpecker; 4th row: mourning doves, mourning dove with wings open, Carolina wren; BOTTOM: junco.

Wandering

Took longish walks in town on Mon., Tues., and Thursday; around the lake on Wed.; and shorter in-town walks on Friday and Sunday. Didn’t wander too far from town (or from the house!) this week.

in-town

lake

Curiosity & Discoveries

I fortuitously discovered this pileated woodpecker working on a tree beyond our yard while I was looking for birds around our apple tree. There were many branches and things between me and him/her but the bird is at least identifiable.

Creating

Yes! Still writing a poem a day … actually, all writing is taking place in the evening, after dinner and before bed.

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

Humans: I worked out four times (4 hours) this week, with weights, stretching, dancing. I also used the treadmill on Sunday for 43 mins (while watching a PGA tournament) to walk three miles. We ping-ponged for 2 hours 35 minutes this week. My husband cross-country skied on four days this week (thanks to a passing neighbour, SL, for helping with the bindings one day!). I continued participating in the Sharon Salzberg Real Happiness Challenge meditations this week (they end on 28 Feb. but we have access to them for a few months more).

Nesting

Cleaning/Maintenance: I watered the houseplants on Monday, vacuumed the kitchen, hallways, and family room (including using the crevice attachment and doing some carpet cleaning) on Thursday, and did a load of clothes laundry on Saturday. I ran the errands (grocery, birdseed, etc.) on Wed. and Sunday and did small shops at the local co-op on Tuesday and Thursday.

Yard: My husband cleared the driveway with the snowblower on Saturday.

Financial/Admin: We walked the taxes to our tax guy on Monday; only one form remains to collect. I accepted the position of successor trustee for friends’ trust on Thursday after attending a Zoom meeting on Tues. with their trust attorney. I backed up the failing laptop on Sunday.

Supplies: The Amazon S&S arrived on Sunday, with health/beauty/household/food items included.

Food: Monday: My husband had root veggies, rice, and chicken; I had a veggie burger (probably also with root veggies?) Tuesday: He had homemade chicken-vegetable-pasta soup and homemade toast; I had red beans, corn, red onion, olives, jalapeño, chili powder over rice, and we both had sautéed fresh local spinach; Wednesday: He grilled some haddock and made a lemon caper sauce, which we had with garlic couscous and sautéed broccoli with garlic that I made; Thursday: We had the leftover haddock + pine-nut couscous with artichoke hearts; Friday: takeout pizza and salad (to which I added a bunch of veggies); Saturday: the rest of the pizza, salad for him, peas & corn for me, and we both had dolmades; Sunday: I made seafood (tuna) casserole, adding peas, and we had that with sautéed fresh local spinach. My husband made a pain de campagne boule (a round sourdough bread) on Wednesday.

Sleeping & Dreaming

Sleep was good (or “excellent” as the Samsung Fit 3 likes to rate it) this week, with an average sleep score of 91.4. Average sleep time per night was just a tick less than 8 hours. REM sleep accounted for 12 hours 47 mins and deep sleep for 7 hours 50 mins.

Reading / Words & Ideas / Listening / Watching

Reading

BOOKS: I finished reading Evil Bones (Temperance Brennan, #24) by Kathy Reichs (on Monday. This latest in the series is set mostly in Charlotte, NC, where forensic anthropologist Brennan is asked to check out a head, nailed to a tree, wrapped in fabric and festooned with feathers, which turns out to be that of a pet spaniel, the latest and largest specimen in a string of dead animals nailed to trees in the area’s public parks. She works with a former cop who’s now a consultant investigator for the local homicide unit to track down the “doer,” who moves on to displaying dead humans. Meanwhile, Brennan’s sister’s granddaughter, 17-yr-old Ruthie, is staying nearby with Brennan’s daughter Katy, and making some odd friends in what seems to be almost a cult. I like Brennan’s personality generally, but her penchant for taking unnecessary risks is annoying and seems a gratuitous way to move along a kludgy plot — some of her actions and reactions are just bizarre. The plot itself is OK until the end, when it really falls apart.

Next up is Stewart O’Nan’s Evensong (2025).

OTHER

This popped up on Threads this week and made me happy.

✨✨✨

This essay is beautifully written: The blade and the bowl – Motherhood, work, and emptiness. by Kelton Wright at Shangrilogs. Starting with a phrase in the first line: “… we sat outside in the satisfied stillness of a finished storm.”

Watching

Mostly House Hunters or International House Hunters and episodes of Waiting for God. Might’ve seen another Poirot, forgot to write it down.

Listening

Shazam’d songs this week – just means they went in one ear and out the other

Connections & Community

Local Support: I shopped at the local co-op on Tues. and Thursday (forgot to note what I bought on Tues. but bought two lemons and a box of tea on Thurs.). We ate at the local bakery/café on Thursday and Sunday mornings. I bought yet more birdseed from the localish hardware store on Sunday. We got takeout pizza and salad from the local pizza place on Friday.

Relationships: I hosted permaculture on Zoom on Thursday for five of us, talking about the book (Your Natural Garden by Kelly Norris) and about our plans for our gardens. I hosted Salon here on Friday for two hours with five of us. My husband and I spent an hour after that with a friend (RL) discussing streaming options (we’re thinking of ditching our cable TV service) and other things. As mentioned above, I accepted (with pleasure) the role of successor trustee for friends’ trust this week after meeting virtually with their attorney and them to learn more about the responsibilities. Emailed back and forth with a friend (RVN) on Friday to make plans to meet up while she and her husband (ChN) are in our area over a coming weekend. Emailed and texted back and forth on Sunday night with another friend (KKT) to catch-up on the last couple of weeks. Ran into a friend (BB) while walking on Thurs. and we chatted a bit. Chatted with MB and LV while running errands this week. A friend (RL) dropped off a wool sweater she mended for me on Wed.