Weekly recap of my ritual of existence in this liminal space called life. (See here for more info.)
- Weather
It feels like summer is waning, with high temperatures in the 70°Fs most days and mid 60°Fs one day, and low temps mostly in the 50°Fs. Cucumbers and tomatoes are taking longer to ripen now. The average high temp this week was 74.2°F, with a range from 78.4°F to 64.8°F; the average low 57.9°F, ranging from 54.3°F to 63.0°F. We got .85 inches of rain, with more than half of it falling on Sunday. We are back to being “abnormally dry” — along with most of the state.
- Beginnings/Firsts
Though my husband had talked with her by phone, we had never actually met one of our not-so-new neighbours until Thursday, when our tree cutters used her driveway to cut two of our trees (and she hired them to do some tree work for her then too). Happy to have finally made in-person contact!
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We went (as guests) to a local yacht club for dinner on Friday, the first time we’ve ever been to it (or even seen it).
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On Friday I discovered that I had tobacco hornworms (officially Carolina Sphinx moth larvae) on my tomatoes, for the first time I can recall, and only on the Amish paste tomato plant, which I don’t usually plant — my tomatoes are typically only cherry or pear tomatoes. There was one large critter and about 8-10 smaller ones; my husband and I removed all but one on Friday (I got the last one the next day) and took them far across the property to another spot, and left them there, along with what they were eating. Though I think it’s unlikely they will survive, it’s possible they could become moths who lay more eggs on tomatoes, so I’ll have to watch the paste tomato carefully. (None of my near neighbours is growing vegetables.)
- Wild Things (Flora, Fauna, Fungi) in addition to others elsewhere in this post
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- Wandering
I walked in town every day but Sunday and we walked around the lake on Saturday.
in town
lake
- Curiosity & Discoveries
The hornworms were a discovery (see Firsts).
Curious: This was my nature calendar offering on the day the man came to spray the hornet nest.
Also curious: This Venn diagram of three Deep River salt & pepper potato chips at a café where we ate on Sat. was a curiosity.
- Creating
Still managing to find/create time to meditate most days.
- Repairing and Maintaining the human(s), the cat, and the cars
Human: I worked out four times (4 hours) this week, using the streaming Body Electric programs. I walked more than 10,000 steps on six days, more than 14,000 steps on four days, with two days over 18,000 steps. I meditated on six evenings this week, for a total of 3 hours. I saw my primary care doctor about the hornet sting on Tuesday, to make sure I wasn’t developing cellulitis (I wasn’t) and to get an Rx for an epipen which I filled that day (it’s an expensive little bugger).
Cat: The cat visited his regular vet on Monday morning, still having not peed in almost 72 hours. The vet checked him over, said his bladder & hydration were OK, and we had his nails clipped (he was scheduled for a visit later in the day anyway for that, an appt. made before his emergency situation). She advised to stop all pain meds, which we had already done, as they might be causing some of (most of?) his weirdness. She advised an abdominal ultrasound if he didn’t improve but said it might not show anything serious even if there was something serious there. Not long after we arrived home, he peed! And he gradually returned to his “normal” self over the next 48-36 hours — using his litterbox regularly, drinking water from the bowls, grooming, and finally, talking to us. We’re (we and vet) still unsure what caused his initial symptoms and pain but for now will just keep an eye on him and reduce his chances for jumping up to or off of high places.
- Nesting
Cleaning/Maintenance: I did a load of clothes laundry on Tuesday and watered the houseplants on Friday. My husband did the dump run on Sunday and brought a plastic file cabinet home from the swap shop.
Financial/Admin: We have a CD renewing soon and I set up the new parameters for it on Tuesday. On Thurs. I called Amtrak after realising my original trip in Sept was cancelled by them (due to bridge work around NYC?); I rebooked a new seat on a later train. 🤞
Food: We finished the Indian takeout on Monday, plus potato salad and our cukes. We had veggie burgers with arugula, corn on the cob, and potato salad on Tuesday. Wednesday we started a store-bought spinach quiche from the co-op, along with sautéed summer squash, Vidalia onion, and green peppers, and corn on the cob, plus our cukes & tomatoes. Had the quiche again on Thursday with corn on the cob, and cukes, tomatoes, and carrots with humus. We went out to dinner with a friend on Friday night (Asian noodle stir fry with shrimp for me, salmon for my husband). We finished the quiche on Sat., with corn on the cob, air-fried shishito peppers and homemade garlic aioli, and cukes & tomatoes. I made egg fried veggie rice on Sunday (with onion, daikon radish, carrot, peppers, green beans, corn, arugula, and scallions), which we had with another batch of air-fried shishitos. My husband made three baguettes on Wed. (gave two away).
- Garden
I worked in the garden for about 4 hours this week — watering, harvesting, dealing with hornworms, pruning some shrubs, pinching off the tomatoes, pinching flowers off the basil, and processing the last batch of garlic — and my husband worked for about an hour weed-whacking, marking the trees to be removed, and repairing a soffit where wasps had made a nest. The hornet nest destroyer (Paul) was here on Tuesday morning (took all of 10 minutes and seems to have done the trick) and the tree-removal folks (Jason, Scott et al) were here for a few hours on Wednesday to remove two trees (one a tall pine that’s been dead at least as longas we’ve lived here).
garden pics this week
- Sleeping & Dreaming
I averaged 7 hours 13 mins of sleep this week, with an average score of 88.4 (including four scores in the 90s and one 73). I was in REM sleep for 12 hours 45 mins and deep sleep for 7 hours 37 mins.
- Reading / Words & Ideas / Listening / Watching
Reading
BOOK: I finished On the Calculation of Volume: IV (2022/2026) by Solvej Balle this week. This installment introduces a lot more people who are also stuck in 18 November with Tara Selter, some of whose stories we learn. Many of them now live together in one house (a “flock”), holding endless meetings, conversations, and discussions propounding theories about and trying to figure out (even if they don’t agree) what’s going on, how they should live, what the future, if there is one, might consist of and how to make it better, as well as learning to grow and cook what they can, sew, make household repairs, fix bikes, create things from wood, find provisions in danger of rotting or going stale, and in general be as self-sufficient as they can be, trying not to deplete their local area of resources. It’s clear that the only thing most of these people have besides memories of what they’ve lost is each other, their relationships, and yet this book felt somewhat impersonal, a compilation of the detailed thoughts and intellectualising of an anonymous crowd. (To be fair, it’s discussed among them how similar they all are in various ways.) As usual, we end on a cliffhanger of sorts.
OTHER
Fascinating: What If America Went Completely Dark? by Christopher in the NYT (gifted link), 18 Aug. 2026. “The power grid relies on thousands of aging, hand-built transformers. If enough fail, the blackout could last years.”
Interesting: Solar and storage still dominate US power plant construction, at Canary media, by Dan McCarthy, 21 August 2026. “In 2026 alone, the Trump administration has phased out tax credits, frozen clean-energy permitting, and issued tariffs certain to raise the cost of solar — while continuing to take lazy and misleading swipes at renewables. And yet 90% of what was built in the first half of this year is either solar, storage, or wind power, per U.S. Energy Information Administration data.”
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Perhaps handy?
Watching
Yet more Death in Paradise episodes, house hunting shows, a Julia Child (the chocolate show), and a couple of I Love Lucys.
- Connections & Community
Local Support: My husband volunteered at the local museum for 7.5 hours this week. I shopped at the farmstand on Monday (four corn on the cob, two limes, maybe 3/4 lb green beans), Tuesday (summer squash, arugula, strawberries), and Thursday (four corn on the cob, eight beets). I had lunch at a local bakery/café on Wed. with a friend and I had breakfast there by myself on Thursday. My husband and I had had breakfast at a small café/farmstand in another town on Saturday (and enjoyed a local cider/wine tasting).
Relationships: My friend KKT and I exchanged catch-up emails on Monday. I met a friend (JS) for lunch outside at a bakery/café on Wednesday. A friend (ED) came over for some basil from the garden that day and my husband and I delivered baguettes to two friends, LD (20 min visit) and ND (1.5 hours visit) that afternoon. I ran into a neighbour (SL) on Thursday and got to see their new kitchen (20 min visit) and we gave them two peaches. As mentioned above, we met our neighbour (EB) on Thursday morning during the tree cutting. Salon met on Friday with six of us for 2.25 hours (walked there with ED) and a friend (BF) came over to our house afterward for 45 mins to work on repairing a comforter (that the cat ripped) for us but we ended up talking so much she took it home with her. 😊 We had a long dinner out (on the lake) with a friend (LD) on Friday night, and before that I talked with my sister by phone for 15 mins while walking around the garden.
- Endings/Harvest
Harvests this week: Cukes, tomatoes, and peaches (and a friend harvested some basil): Nine tomatoes (sweet millions, Matt’s wild, sungold) and six picked peaches on Tuesday. Five cucumbers, ten dropped peaches and one picked peach, and five sweet millions tomatoes on Thursday. Two cukes, four dropped peaches and two picked peaches, and three sweet millions tomatoes on Sat. And on Sunday, one cuke, three dropped peaches, one picked peach, and six sweet millions and one Matt’s wild tomato.
Endings: A friend’s brother died on Sunday. May he rest in peace and love.
- All This Useless Beauty
library garden colours
more colours
look at that face (green stinkbug)
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