A Moveable Garden

Weekly recap of my ritual of existence in this liminal space called life. (See here for more info.) As always, click on any image to enlarge it.

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• Weather

We got 2.6 inches of rain this week! It’s been a while since that much fell, and substantive chunks of it descended from the sky on three separate days (Wed., Thurs. – also windy, and Sunday). The average high this week was 70.7°F, with a range from 75.4°F to 64.0°F. Lows ranged from 44.4°F to 61.3°F, averaging 51.8°F. Fleece was worn some evenings. The drought map for this week (as of Tues.) still shows us as abnormally dry; we’ll have to see if next week’s map changes.

• Beginnings/Firsts

Sort of … we finally planted the sweetbay magnolia bought in June from a native plant supplier. I had to tease out the roots, and it wasn’t easy digging the hole (my husband’s task), but she’s in! With about ten weeks before the ground freezes (on average, in mid- to late-Nov. here), with any luck.

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

As usual this year, a lot of monarch caterpillars — these were three in the garden on Monday.

and on to the other wild creatures …

• Wandering 

We walked at the nature park on Monday and on another woody-grassy trail that connects with it, and I walked in town on Wed-Sat. Tuesday we were away from home, where I was able to shop at the regional co-op and we had a snack at a Starbucks.

in town

nature park

we went to this trail specifically to see the bottle gentian in bloom —

another woodsy-grassy trail

• Curiosity & Discoveries

I’d seen the monarch caterpillar hanging around this spot but hadn’t realised it was intent on forming itself into a chrysalis until I found the evidence. It’s in a vulnerable spot as we go in and out the door often but we’re trying to be mindful.

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Uh-oh, Meta is starting to catch on, serving me a few ads that match my quirks. Who knew these were a thing?

• Creating

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

Human: I worked out five times (5 hours) this week, streaming Body Electric exercise programs. I walked more than 10,000 steps on six days, more than 14,000 steps on four days, with a high step count day of 20,285 on Monday. I meditated each evening, totalling 3 hours 20 minutes. I got my 2026-2027 Covid vaccine on Tuesday at a CVS.

Cat: Nothing, just want to showcase him being a wild guy.

• Nesting 

Cleaning/Maintenance: On Friday I vacuumed the kitchen and cleaned out the guest bath thoroughly. We also had to clean a sunroom chair cushion and cover. I did a load of clothes laundry on Wed. and towel laundry on Thurs. I’m sure more was done but I neglected to note any other cleaning. We made the dump/recycling trip on Sunday. My husband installed two smoke/CO detectors on Friday (replacing ours that were almost 10 yrs old).

Financial/Admin: I backed up the laptop on Tuesday and updated Libre Office on Wed. I called Amtrak again on Thursday after they emailed and texted about changes to an upcoming trip. I bought bus tickets on Wed.

Supplies: We bought a set of sheets from LLBean (on sale, recommended by Wirecutter) on Monday, which were delivered on Wed. and put on the bed on Thursday. I ordered nuts, dried pears, and trail mixes from Nuts.com on Wed.

Food: On Monday my husband had leftover egg-fried veggie rice with shrimp and I had cacio e pepe with artichoke hearts, garlic, and Old Bay shrimp, and we both had our cukes and tomatoes. Same things on Tuesday. On Wed. my husband had grilled salmon and I had more of the cacio e pepe dish, and we both augmented with corn on the cob and steamed broccoli. Same main dishes on Thursday, this time with (bought) potato salad, steamed broccoli, and corn on the cob. Friday we had veggie burgers with arugula, grilled shishito peppers, herbed garlic rice pilaf, and sautéed summer squash, Vidalia, and banana peppers from a friend (GV). Saturday we ordered Chinese takeout and we had that Sunday as well.

• Garden

I worked in (or just was in) the garden for 5 hours and 15 mins this week, watering (early in the week), weeding the pea bed one day and other parts of the veg garden another day, drastically pruning leaves from the tomatoes (to keep the energy going to the fruit and to allow more sunlight in), harvesting(see that section for additional info), and doing more mulching of the corner bed … still more to do before winter. And as mentioned above, we planted the magnolia — my husband dug the hole, which took a while, and I planted it. He also mowed the inside-the-fence back yard this week.

some garden pics this week

• Sleeping & Dreaming

Sleep was OK this week. Overall I averaged 7 hours 39 mins per night, with an average (Samsung Fit 3) sleep score of 88 (range from 81-95). REM sleep accounted for 14 hours 26 mins and deep sleep for 7 hours 38 mins. I had some very vivid dreams on Mon., Thurs., and Fri.

• Reading / Words & Ideas / Listening / Watching  

Reading

BOOKS: I didn’t finish a book this week; I’m reading Contrapposto (2026) by Dave Eggers.

OTHER

Interesting deep dive into “What’s Really in Wine” (additives and processing aids) by Karen Constable at The Rotten Apple. (Also, further down the page, the disturbing origins of Corn Flakes, which I learned several moths before.)

I agree with Haley Nahman’s take, in her post titled Movies “for women”: Women as an economic category and beyond, on films developed “for women” vs. films that really might appeal to me (and other women). “The spectator experience of [the film] Unrelated is what I might call ‘socially cerebral’ — driven less by plot than by tiny social interactions laden with unspoken meaning. ‘Socially cerebral’ is also a label I’d apply to myself and the women I love, with our inexhaustible appetites for unpacking subtle relational drama. I recall one shot of Anna that’s held so long you see her smile light up and drop several times in an uncomfortable but familiar marathon of self performance. They were having breakfast; nothing happened. This is the art I crave.”

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Watching

We watched a PD James adaptation, Death in Holy Orders (2003), parts 1&2 (with Martin Shaw as Commander Dalgliesh and Jesse Spencer from ‘House’ playing a big role), on Monday and Tuesday, which was pretty good, and on Thurs. and Friday watched an Agatha Christie adaptation, Murder is Easy parts 1&2 (2023, the version without Marple, who wasn’t in the novel), starring David Jonsson as Luke Fitzwilliam and Morfydd Clark as Bridget Conway; it wasn’t great.

• Connections &  Community

Local Support: My husband volunteered at a local museum for 8.25 hours this week. I bought treats (for myself and my Salon group) at a local bakery/café on Wed. and Friday, food at the local farmstand on Friday (shishito peppers and strawberries), and shopped at the regional co-op on Tuesday. We ate at a local restaurant for breakfast on Friday morning. We got takeout meals from a local Chinese restaurant on Saturday. I voted on Tuesday in the primary.

Relationships: I sent my youngest nephew, turning 21, some money on Venmo on Saturday. I hosted Salon here on Friday with six of us for two hours. I sent a catch-up email to a friend (RVN) on Thursday (long overdue). We gave some excess cherry tomatoes to neighbours (SF&BF). My husband picked some peaches and apples from a friend’s trees (LD). We exchanged texts with several neighbours about a bear in our yard on Sunday.

• Endings 

Endings: I think we saw the last hummingbird for the season here on Friday. Here’s a picture I got of the bottom half on Wednesday (didn’t get a photo of the Thursday or Friday visitors).

Harvests: As you can see, a lot of sweet millions tomatoes, some Matt’s wild cherry, a couple Sungold, an Amish paste (given to a friend who makes sauce), and a couple of cukes.

• All This Useless Beauty

I love this cheese plate (from David Lebovitz’s newsletter)

this Sedona Sunset coleus is a keeper

always admire this colour combo at the top of the fruit guild — sand cherry foliage and goldenrod flowers