What I'm Digging

A round up of this and that catching my eye this week

Happy Friday, friends. You’re here. You made it.

This week was jam-packed for us. I had a dental appointment Monday (deep periodontal cleanings every 6 months, a necessary evil) and an OBGYN appointment Tuesday.

Glenn saw his neurologist on Wednesday (he had a stroke back in April 2023 and also takes epilepsy medication).

The Scholastic Book Fair happened at Alistair’s school. I do so very much love a book fair.

Thursday we celebrated my youngest sister’s boyfriend’s birthday (got that?) at Highland Brewery (primo dog-watching venue, I tell you what!) with beer and cake, where I rather auspiciously ran into a crew from Alistair’s school, there celebrating the school librarian’s birthday, the very same one who headed up the book fair mentioned above!

And today is my dad’s 80th birthday!

He’s up in South Bend, Indiana, home of Notre Dame, his alma mater (as well as my younger brother and aforementioned younger sister’s alma mater, ditto for numerous other family members). Dad brought up Notre Dame last year right around his birthday (he loves the place), and I suggested that it would be great fun for him to perhaps be there for his 80th.

He took that idea to heart, discovered a football game was happening this weekend, and is there now, alongside his wife, Gail (my stepmom of 43 years): my older brother, James, his wife, Emily, and their two sons; my younger sister, Theo, and her boyfriend, Spencer; my younger brother, Walker, and his wife, Mallory; two of my uncles and a cousin. All in the same rental house for the weekend! Alongside my dad and Gail’s two corgis! They’re destined to have a great time.

Happy birthday, Pop! He helped me move a couch on Wednesday, and hopped in and out of the truck we were moving it in like a lithe gazelle. May we all have such nimble joints at 80!

Life was full, and abundant, in all the right ways this week. Chief among them was learning the results of a breast MRI I underwent last week showed no signs of breast cancer. I’ll be alternating MRIs and mammograms every 6 months for next few years as we continue to monitor for what I believe will be clear results.

On to the roundup!

*Mushroom mycelia can response to stimuli like light when placed into a mechanical body. What a world!!!!!

*When Huxley was little, I wanted something I could always have with me to serve as a reminder/talisman of him, for those times we weren’t together. I discovered these zodiac pendants from Krista Tranquilla, an artist in the Lake Tahoe area of California, and ordered one for his sign, Libra. Once Alistair came along, I added a new pendant for him, an Aries. I wear this necklace every day, only taking it off for medical procedures. The boys love it as much as I do, because, as I told them, even when we’re apart, they’re always with me.

*My sister Devan recently drew my attention to Witches of Scotland. As described on their website:

WITCHES of SCOTLAND is a campaign dedicated to seeking justice for the nearly 4,000 individuals, predominantly women, who were accused of witchcraft in Scotland between 1563 and 1736.

Founded on International Women’s Day 2020 by advocate Claire Mitchell KC and writer Zoe Venditozzi, the campaign has three primary objectives: securing a legal pardon for those convicted, obtaining a formal apology from the Scottish government, and establishing a national memorial to honour the victims.

Not only do Witches of Scotland host a captivating podcast, they have also created their own bespoke tartan!

*Beautifica, a “360 journey through worlds real and imagined, from mind blowing particle fields to unashamedly euphoric fantastic environments almost impossible to describe”, is playing in a planetarium up in Burnsville, not too terribly far north of here. Tickets are still available. Definitely intrigued!

*Here in Western North Carolina, black bear encounters and sightings are quite common, especially this time of year. Do you know what you’d do if you encountered a bear in the wild, here or anywhere? Get Bear Wise!

*We are squarely in apple season. Throwing it back to this apple-focused article I contributed to Smoky Mountain Living in 2016, alongside my recipe for Rosemary and Sage Apple Hand Pies.

*Have you heard of the book Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon? Neither had I, until I stopped by a bookstore this past Tuesday, passing time after dropping Huxley off at school until my doctor’s appointment. And now I can’t stop thinking about it, as sure a sign as any that I need to read it.

*This Abide No Hatred flag and this Better South Beliefs framed credo, both from the fine folks at Bitter Southerner, are looking especially appealing right now.

*Every autumn, once I see the mulberry-hued harbingers of autumn arrive in area farmers markets, I bake up Melina Hammer’s Marbled Muscadine Cheesecake. It is, simply put, one of the best cheesecakes of all time. Side note: I do use all cream cheese and typically omit the goat cheese, to appease my non-chevre inclined children.

*Join the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, and comedian Kevin Nealon, in its 100-year anniversary celebration through their Take A Hike campaign. Instead of telling someone to scram, their initiative aims to instead view the phrase as one of the kindest things you can encourage someone to do, given all the benefits taking a hike provides.

A pear tree we planted over a decade ago decided to finally bear fruit! Though the harvest was small, at around 30 pears, I’m still properly delighted, and am already daydreaming about all manner of pear delights to render them into.

Whatever the weekend brings you, wherever you go, and whomever you do it with, may it be grand! Take good care.