routine

I swear I am not turning this blog into some sort of Pinterest thing–although I will note that we did that for MetaFilter on April Fools Day and it was pretty well-regarded–and I haven’t really been traveling much or anything (up and back to MA, not much else) I’ve just been taking photos of birds and sleeping a lot and waiting for Spring to come. Which it seems to have mostly done today. Yesterday I walked to and from work in the rain since I needed the exercise. Today it was one of those days where you talk about it to everyone you meet. “Today is just a terrific day, isn’t it?”

And I’ve been going to the gym. A lot. I don’t know if you pay any attention to Foursquare but it’s one of those location-based things you can do with your smartphone where you “check in” when you go places and you can keep track of where you’ve been and see if your friends are at the places where you are (for me, here, usually, no). But it’s good for doing some gamification of stuff that might otherwise be difficult, or more difficult. Hey I’m the Mayor of the gym (meaning I go there more than anyone else who uses this app)! Hey I’ve been there every week for the past four months! Hey I’ve been there 98 times since I started counting! Between that and only watching recent episodes of addictive television shows like Elementary (the US Sherlock Holmes, not bad at all) and House of Cards (Netflix-based political drama) when I’m there, I go to the gym a lot. Ride the bike. Walk around on the revolving sidewalk. Swim in the pool. Take a long hot shower that is longer and hotter and higher quality than my shower at home. Get real tired, get real clean.

Oddly while there are some tasks that I do that I seem to always resent “I did the dishes YESTERDAY and they are dirty again?!” there is something about getting all tired out that is something I look forward to. I’m keyed up and spend a lot of time, especially lately, interacting with other keyed up people on the internet. Starting real soon now I can go run around in the woods instead of a pretend never-ending sidewalk, and even though it’s going to be a bummer for all my stats, I’m pretty excited about it.

subnivean

So I’ve been reading this great book I got for my birthday or possibly for holidaytime called Naturally Curious. It’s written by a Vermonter lady and it’s full of all this great trivia about local flora and fauna, with photos! It’s arranged by month so you can read it and see what’s going on in the natural world at any given point in time. And this month I learned a new word–I love learning new words–which is subnivean. Some animals hibernate for the winter, but some merely burrow. Mice and voles, among other animals, spend a lot of time under the snow but above the ground, scooting around and doing stuff. When the snow starts to melt, you can sometimes see their little tunnels. This is especially true if you happen to have a birdfeeder. I was all interested in this, Gooling to see if I could find some subnivean photography (upon cursory glance, no, but I will keep poking) and then I walked outside with my squinty “What’s that big yellow ball in the sky?” Mister Peepers look and noticed that I had some subniveal tunnels right at my front door. The photo is not much to look at, but it must have been something I’ve seen in the ground hundreds of times and just didn’t know what I was looking at. Little fuzzy animals, burrowing in the snow, secretly eating the sunflower seeds that fell from my feeder. Another winter mystery uncovered. And one more sign of eventual spring.

caveman winter

pictures of food, clothes and me with syrup

So this winter is a lot more like real winter than last winter. Snow. Cold. I broke my snowshoes and they are in (hopefully) for warranty repair. Which means I’m a lot more like a big hibernating bear, or maybe some smaller hibernating animal, perhaps a hedgehog. Sleeping a lot. Slow. Squinty. Muzzy-headed when I’m awake. Foraging for squash and other easy-to-eat foods. Doing a lot of communication that amounts to “Ug” and “Not-ug” (thanks to Andrea and Corey for this formulation, it’s very helpful). Today I woke up briefly energized so I headed out into the world and spent some money and got some things done, tidied up my den. I have a Board of Civil Authority meeting tomorrow (Hear that, world? I AM A CIVIL AUTHORITY!) so I’m drinking tea and fumbling around with paperwork. Working on a mix CD that I’m sending out. I got a Kindle and I’ve been reading a lot. I feel like just holding up pictures to show you what I’ve been up to. But instead here’s a price list of where the last $73 I spent went.

$12 haircut at the barber
$2 tip
$37 syrup (grade B, from the librarian)
$11 thrift store purchases including electric kettle postage scale, one whole outfit including fuzzy socks
$11 sandwich, soda and cookie at what I’ve taken to calling “the clip art cafe” because of their window display but maybe I should stop because this sandwich was amazing

Last night I went out to this thing that happens in Randolph, a Community Supper. Last Tuesday of the month a local organization puts it on and they provide food whether it’s hot dogs or group-potluck or spaghetti. You get to eat a free meal, hang out with your neighbors who all look about as moleman-looking as you do, and have a good excuse to get out of the house. This month’s host was the Bethany Church who put on a good event, over a hundred people as far as I could tell. It can be tough to stay connected to folks when everyone’s snoozy or sniffly or snippy. It’s nice to get out and be reminded that it’s not just you.

a few words from the other jessamyn

“I hate to hear myself. I never listen to an interview. I don’t sound like the person I think I am.”
– Jessamyn West interviewed for the Paris Review, 1977

Totally forgot one of the things I wanted to add last time I typed in this box. WNYC has an Archives and Preservation department. They got a grant. They are putting their old stuff on the air and online. I think I’ve mentioned in the past how I like Jessamyn West’s writing and how I’ve always imagines she would have been a neat person to know. She liked writing in bed, she didn’t suffer fools gladly, her books had compelling and interesting female (and male) characters and she always looked snappy in photographs. I’ve read a lot by her–she sent me a few cards as part of a “write a letter to someone famous” assignment I had in elementary school–but never heard her voice. Here is a speech she gave at a Book and Authors Luncheon in 1960: Jessamyn West on an Author’s Responsibility to Her Readers . Ignore the photo of her, it’s from fifteen years earlier.

taking the time

Last years resolutions, such as they were, went pretty okay. I lost the weight I’d wanted to lose, I cooked at home like crazy, I spent more time home and with my family, friends, and boyfriend, and felt like things went okay. Now I’m chipping away at some other things I’d like to do better on. Most importantly: not rushing through things in the name of “efficiency” when I don’t really need that extra few minutes for anything else more important. If I rush through doing the dishes I often break them. If I rush through errands I often forget something. If I rush through a meal I often don’t appreciate it. If I rush out the door I don’t feed the birds and where did I have to be in such a hurry anyhow?

So, I’ve been getting into the habit of not being late exactly but not trying to be so punctual that I am painfully early. And not being such a taskmaster about things. I have the capacity for great productivity, but that’s not the only axis along which I should be measuring my value, to others as well as to myself. I get to work at the school more or less on time, not thirty minutes early. I start working at MetaFilter when my shift starts and not whenever I sit down at the computer. I cook meals that take hours sometimes.

It’s tough because I get the fidgets when I’m not crossing things off of a checklist, but for me that sort of thinking was a bit of a trap. Or, rather, maybe I didn’t have the right things on the checklist. Things like go stand in the woods, have a cup of tea, call a friend, lie down and read for an hour or more.

So far, okay.

Hello New Year

So I’ve been writing up new book and library oriented New Year’s posts over at librarian.net and you can read them there. Short form: I read a book a week and visited a library a week, more or less. This blog is usually where I report where I’ve slept and what I’ve been doing exercise-wise. I’m working on the sleeping list but it’s gotten sidelined because I’ve been doing so much actual sleeping.

While Kate and Ned and Jim all got full-blown versions of The Crud, I seem to have a version that is 30% of the strength but lasts three times as long. Nothing bad, just mild achiness, sleepiness and always feeling a little muzzyheaded/dizzy. So I’ve been taking it easy. I changed the Justice of the Peace blog from daily to “irregular” which seems like an okay move. I’ve been drinking lots of tea and getting to bed early. I’ve been eating healthily but haven’t gotten back to the gym yet.

my fitness plan graph of minutes exercised

The good news is that thanks to keeping track of food and exercise on MyFitnessPal (and some concerted effort on my part) I lost the 20 pounds I was aiming for by the end of last year. For people who haven’t seen me in a few years, I look the same as I used to, just not the same as I did last year, if that makes sense. Additionally, thanks to to soap opera lure of Downton Abbey and my routine of only watching it while on the treadmill, I’ve got a pretty good exercise routine down (though looking for good one hour series to watch, suggestions?). The days are getting longer. I did not get demoted in my online trivia league, for once. There’s snow on the ground and it looks like real winter here. I got to see a lot of friends and family over holidaytime but without it feeling like a forced march. I finished a few long books that I really enjoyed.

I had a really long list of Shit To Do at the beginning of last year and I’m pretty certain I have done all the things on that list that were doable by me (as opposed to, say, by a team of lawyers and accountants) so I’m forgiving if I haven’t started 2013 in a blaze of energy. I’ve got to find some time to think out some new goals, new plans.

squash roundup

Thanksgiving was great. We are now into a two-year “routine” where we go to Kate and Ned’s and spend the day with them and some of Ned’s family. It’s terrific and relaxing and I enjoy it. For whatever reason this year I’ve been cooking squash like it was going out of style. Partly it’s because I’ve been eating out less but partly it’s because I just got sick of soup. Squash, as it turns out, is delicious. So I’m now one of those women who finds recipes on The Pioneer Woman and passes them around. I’m not proud. Here are the recipes I have been making. If you’re squash-curious but don’t know where to start or never really get past the stuffed acorn meals, this is for you.

Acorn – stuffed squash with brown rice and sausage (my photo)
Buttercup – twice baked buttercup squash OR buttercup squash casserole (my photo, another photo)
Butternut – red pepper and butternut soup OR roasted beet and butternut soup (my photo)
Carnival – quinoa stuffed carnival squash (my photo)
Delicata – maple glazed squash rings (my photo)
Golden Acorn – topsy turvy stuffed squash (my photo)
Spaghetti – baked spaghetti squash with garlic sage cream OR simple spaghetti squash parmesan (my photo)

I haven’t braved the giant lumpy hubbard squash yet since I am usually just feeding me and maybe one other person. Now that I’m back in Vermont after holidaytime I may see if the farmer’s market has anything outside this usual suspects list. Oh and the Frontier Woman recipe I made? Not squash at all but something called Crash Hot Potatoes (my photo, looks the same, doesn’t it?). Simple.