Weekly recap of my ritual of existence in this liminal space called life. (See here for more info.)
- Weather
Most of the week was dry but we got a smidgen of rain on Thursday and .52 inches overnight from Sat-Sun, totalling .54 inches this week. The average high temperature was 59.1°F, ranging from 64.9°F to 54.0°F; the average low temp was 39.1°F, ranging from 32.2°F to 46.9°F. We had a few days that were blue-sky sunny, and some wind as well. In a word, autumnal.
- Beginnings/Firsts
A couple of monarchs in our yard eclosed this week and are flying about with their new wings (hopefully).
- Wild Things (Flora, Fauna, Fungi) in addition to others elsewhere in this post
Merlin heard birds nearby this week:
- Wandering
I walked every day except Saturday, most days in town (including on a marshy trail) and around the lake on Monday.
in town/trail
lake
- Curiosity & Discoveries
Two monarch-related discoveries: The monarch who made a chrysalis near on our back door frame eclosed (emerged) on Friday afternoon, a month later!
And on Sunday afternoon we noticed through our family window another (?) newly eclosed monarch hanging from gone-by goldenrod, with the forecast for rain and temps around 40°F that night, so we (my husband) brought it in and it’s hanging out (literally) in a contraption he made, with fruit, overnight, to be released tomorrow when it gets warmish.
🍄🟫🍄🟫🍄🟫
And we finally found some shaggy mane fungi at the lake, not in the usual spot but sprouting liberally in someone’s lawn.
- Creating
Not me, but my husband created the contraption, using an actual butterfly net, for the monarch to overnight in our dry, warmer-than-outside house.
- Repairing and Maintaining the human(s), the cat, and the cars
Human: I worked out four times (4 hours) using the streaming Body Electric programs. I walked more than 10,000 steps on 6 days and more than 14,000 steps on two days. I meditated for 45 mins on Sunday during Dharma Sunday via Zoom (1.5 hours total), with Lama Willa teaching on a poem, “Had I Not Been Awake,” by Seamus Heaney. I got my hair cut on Thurs. morning. My husband was away fishing most of Wednesday. He and I ping-ponged for 20 mins on Monday evening. I had a negative Covid/FluA&B test on Friday morning.
Nesting
Cleaning/Maintenance: I did a load of clothes laundry on Tues. and washed the summer comforter on Wednesday. My husband did a small load of laundry, including pillow cases, with non-chlorine bleach on Thursday. I cleared out 11 clothing items and took them to the consignment store on Tues. My husband replaced the Blink battery on Sat. and also defrosted the dorm fridge. He went to the dump/recycling center on Sunday.
Financial/Admin: On Friday I renewed our NYT subscription at $4/month for a year and I also backed up my laptop.
Supplies: I placed a Nuts.com order this week (organic trail mix, dried pears, dried apricots, Brazil nuts, and peanut butter pretzels).
Food: Leftover seafood casserole with sautéed green beans, summer squash, onion, green peppers, and (our) cherry tomatoes on Monday. More of that with various side dishes I forgot to note on Tues. and Wed. Thursday I roasted veggies (celeriac, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beets, carrots, shallots, garlic) with herbs (parsley, thyme, rosemary), which we ate over egg noodles, with Old Bay shrimp. Same on Friday. Friday I also made the Stonewall Kitchen corn relish-bean salad (with black beans, cherry tomatoes, and cheddar cheese, and optional cilantro) for the Sat. potluck. On Sat., my husband used the leftover corn salad to make a burrito, while I had leftover farfelle pasta with red beans, black olives, and cheese. Sunday was more roasted veggies and egg noodles, with shrimp for me and a soy hotdog for him.
- Garden
Not a lot of time spent in the garden this week for me, about 2 hours or so, and mostly taking photos and looking things over when I was out there. I did do a few harvests, including the last cucumber from the garden (in the Vego raised bed), some not-ripe tomatoes, and most of the cilantro for a potluck party dish.
My husband did several garden & outside chores this week: clearing the grapevine out of a dogwood tree; sawing up a fallen maple branch and cutting out a small nuisance poplar; and power washing the garage.
some garden pics this week
- Sleeping & Dreaming
This week I slept for an average of 7 hours 51 mins per night, with a (Samsung Fit 3) sleep score of 89.7. I was in REM sleep for 15 hours 26 mins (one night for 3 hours 20 mins!) and deep sleep for 8 hours 37 mins.
- Reading / Words & Ideas / Listening / Watching
Reading
BOOKS: I didn’t finish any books this week. I am slowly making my way through 38 Londres Street: On Impunity, Pinochet in England and a Nazi in Patagonia (2025) by Philippe Sands.
OTHER: So many interesting, inspiring, and amusing things online!
“Young women and men are drifting apart politically: Young = progressive? That’s no longer necessarily the case among young men,” by Julius E. O. Fintelmann at The European Correspondent.
“What color is a tennis ball? A neuroscientist and artist argue there’s no such thing as a color,” by Noam Hassenfeld at Vox.
“Proust, Morandi, & taking a lot of time,” a Maybe Baby illustrated guest column by Lena Moses-Schmitt
“Inside the Subreddit Where Men Share Their Dinners—And Their Most Intimate Feelings A months-old subreddit called r/BoyDinnerDiaries has drawn over 4 million users and become a place for men to spill their guts. Why there and why now?” by Zack Hauptman at GQ. Wholesome. “”Internally, the subreddit proclaims itself an incel-free space: “This community welcomes discussion about difficult experiences, but it is not a place for misogyny, misandry, incel ideology, blackpill content, or broad generalizations about entire groups of people,” its rules read.”
Watching
We watched a version of Agatha Christie’s A Caribbean Mystery (1983) with Helen Hayes as Miss Marple (not great, very Hollywood compared to the BBC version with Joan Hickson) and also the David-Suchet-as-Poirot Three Act Tragedy (2010) this week, plus football on Sat. and Sun., and yet another ‘Death in Paradise’ on Sunday.
- Connections & Community
Local Support: My husband volunteered at a local museum for 11.5 hours this week. I dropped off fall/winter clothes at the local consignment store on Tues. I had lunch with a friend on Wed. at a local bakery/café for an hour and I bought small treats there on Friday. I shopped at the local farmstand four times this week (mum, aster, pumpkin, spinach, pear, green beans, three shallots, four sweet potatoes, some potatoes, summer squash, three zucchini).
Relationships: We spent 1/2 hour at a friend’s (ND) on Monday, having tea and helping her with a small task, and she gave us a garden ornament. I had lunch out with a friend (ED) on Wednesday. I caught up with my hair stylist/friend (GV) on Thurs. morning. Salon met on Friday with six of us for 2.25 hours. My husband and I went to a permaculture group potluck on Saturday afternoon for 2.5 hours, with seven of us there (I brought 3 Amish paste tomatoes for the host). Texted (and sent gift) for friend’s (NN) birthday on Friday. The usual email, texting, and brief chats with neighbours and others when we run into them.
garden ornament from friend ND
permaculture party
- Endings/Harvest
Harvests: The last cuke, 4 Amish paste, 6 yellow pear, 1 sungold, 17 Sweet Millions, and 22 Matt’s wild cherry tomatoes (most not ripe yet). Rosemary, thyme, and parsley. And most of the cilantro.
Endings: The last cucumber of the season was picked on Tuesday, from the raised bed.
- All This Useless Beauty
penstemon’s fall colour
cat in sun
Leave a Reply