A glorious morning. I suppose one of the possible felicities of being a post-Vatican-II Catholic is that you can double-dip. I read the Mass readings for the Ascension on Thursday, because that's when it really, historically, traditionally is: Day 40 at the end of Eastertide, the end of the joyful wandering of the festal season. But then we get to do it again today, and on the whole, I don't mind that at all. Meanwhile, here's some blue sage I planted last fall, coming into beautiful, if subtle bloom.
Got up earlier than usual so that I could walk with Dora for an hour and still have time to get ready for Mass. The morning was fresh and clear, though by the time we got home the coolness was starting to burn off. I rolled out of bed this morning, stripped off and handwashed my bamboo dress, which I'd slept in night before last, worn all day yesterday, then slept in again because why not, and put on my freshly-washed Camellia dress with Xero sandals for the walk. In just a while I think I'm going to change shoes, put on a drapey cardigan and some jewelry, deal with my hair in some way (right now it's just loose, as it comes), and be ready to go.
My husband spent all last evening after dinner at the laundromat: we still have no working washing machine, and the sheets and towels were mounting up. I won't pretend not to be glad to have clean sheets to put on, according to routine, tomorrow morning, but otherwise . . . everybody else might have been running out of clothes, but I've been fine. I handwash necessary things as they come off my body, roll them in a towel, then hang them on my drying rack, and therefore have not been short of clothes and underwear this entire time. Yes, I feel a little superior, I guess, but mostly I'm just glad to know that aside from the really big laundry (for which I am grateful to have a laundromat and also somebody other than myself willing to spend time there), I can live pretty handily at this tiny distance off the grid. I could live in an apartment again without a washing machine and be okay, is I guess my big takeaway from this whole experience. If it were just me, I could probably go a month between machine washings, given my inventory of sheets and towels. If I had a clothesline, which at this time I do not, though I have had one, I could probably get away without a washing machine entirely. I don't want not to have a washing machine, because it's one of the civilizational developments I most enjoy (that and my dishwasher). Still, it's good to know that I could.
Out walking, Dora and I found a very small black snake looped on itself at the end of a driveway. It was very still --- made no move even when Dora went up to smell it --- so I think it might have been dead, but it didn't look dead. It was right-side-up, for one thing, which dead snakes usually aren't. I can deal with live snakes all right, as long as they aren't copperheads, but dead snakes give me the weebies. There's just nothing deader. If you want to know what death without hope looks like: dead snake. This one seemed not to be dead, just very very still, but I'll be interested to know whether it ever moves again or not.
I suppose I should gather myself to get ready for Mass, although I still have a good half-hour, at least, before we start making moves toward the car.
Looked pretty much like this before. A few tweaks, and I'm ready to roll:
Wool& Camellia dress, cheapo synthetic longline cardigan, which I love despite its cheaponess, canvas Chinese Mary Janes. Here's a clearer shot:
I haven't worn these shoes in quite a while, so I thought I'd pull them out. I wear barefoot sandals all the time anyway, so the non-support of very basic little what-we-used-to-call-coolie-shoes doesn't bother me. One thing I do notice, though, is the relative narrowness of the toe box. The shoes are soft and have some give, but I still notice slight pressure on my little toes and on my bunion. At this moment I have a pair of Xero Cassie Mary Janes in my cart, ready to buy, and this impression makes me think I'm really going to do it. I love Mary Janes, but a wider toe box would mean I'd wear them more happily more often. I still like these, though. The gray is a nice complement to just about any outfit in warm, dry weather. I like the frame they provide with the blue-on-blue of my dress and cardigan. These definitely fall into the "scratch-an-itch" category in my wardrobe: not a staple, but I'm glad they're there, because sometimes I feel like wearing them.
I'm also thinking that as much as I don't mind this dress length for church, I will really welcome a slightly longer dress as an option. Haven't pulled the trigger on the Maggie yet, but I think I shortly will. I'm not sure there's so much hurry --- I did just pull the trigger on the Xero Cassies, because they sell out of things, and the red seems to be "in limited quantities" right now. Maggie dresses, on the other hand, don't seem to sell out as quickly as some others. I'm curious to know whether the marine-blue summer midi dress, which just became available the other day, has sold out in medium. Seems like that one would just fly out of the warehouse as soon as it came in. I'm pretty sure I want a Maggie, though, and while I think there's no hurry, on the other hand I'd love to get it over with, have the dress, and stop thinking about it altogether.
Meanwhile, depending on how quickly my shoes get here (and they tend to be slow), I'm suddenly thinking it would be fun to have red shoes for Pentecost. Oh well. If I do, I do. If not, there's always next year.
And now I need to go brush my teeth.
***Yes, I have technically just broken my no-buy year, but --- as you know if you've been reading --- with plenty of consideration. I'm not going to stop calling it a no-buy year, because that is my over-arching rule, which has served me really well for nearly 150 days now. In fact, I'm chiefly anxious to get back to it, because it's very peaceful, a lot more peaceful than thinking about buying clothes!
UPDATE:
I am glad I pulled the trigger on the Xero Mary Janes. Came home with some knee pain from wearing the Chinese ones, a knock-on effect of the narrow toe box. I've really been noticing how various shoes affect the alignment of my legs and feet, and how that in turn causes knee pain, hip pain, lower-back pain --- and so often it's because my toes don't have enough room. I had been saying to myself: Do I really need this pair of Mary Jane shoes? Answer: yeah, really, I kind of do. I need a shoe that's not a heel but can go into more dressed-up situations, without causing me some kind of pain. I'd been feeling a little anxious and guilty about this purchase, because no-buy-year fail? But honestly, I think this exception was warranted. It won't be instant gratification, either. Tomorrow is Memorial Day, and then it typically takes them a week to get something in the mail. I won't have my red shoes for Pentecost, but that's okay. I'll have them for when I really need them. And that's one tab closed, anyway.
Already thinking I'll just wear my Sierra with a gray scarf that has some splashes of red in it, and call it good for the Holy Spirit.
UPDATE 2: After checking in with my husband, I took the plunge and bought the Maggie (marine blue, medium long). Now to re-unsubscribe from everything, tear myself away from the Facebook group, and continue as I was, but with my work look, I guess, sewn up in a versatile way.
*I'm excited to have one more wool dress that I can wear in a huge variety of circumstances.
*I'm excited to have one more wool dress in a shape I'm familiar with but a slightly longer length: good for church and professional appearances (this will be my reading dress for the summer and fall, with my new red Mary Janes).
*So much that I have goes with this dress to tweak the look up or down. I think I could very successfully wear today's marled blue cardigan with it for a polished look. Ditto my old shiny-blue shrug cardigan, which I think will be very pretty over the luminous darker blue. Ditto most of my cardigan collection, actually. I can also think of at least two blazers that will look good. I like that I can potentially belt it and have it not be too short --- I really like Camellia with a belt (note to self to do that more often), but she gets a little short. With the shoes I've bought, plus items already in my closet or drawer, I can potentially make any number of outfits.
*I think I'm going to enjoy the scoop neck and sleeves as an alternative to sleeveless dresses under cardigans. One thing I noticed with Camellia over the winter was that certain cardigans didn't provide enough consistent coverage to keep my armpits warm!
*Although my Camellia is holding up well, it's pretty obvious to me, anyway, that she's come out on the far side of 100 straight days of wear. This could be just in my head, but I definitely feel and see it. I still wear her all the time, mind you, and will do so increasingly as the summer rolls in. But it will be nice to have, for all kinds of situations including everyday wear, a dress that will not have been worn that hard and will, I hope, last longer in newer condition. I will of course take care of her. I took pretty good care of Camellia, too, which is why she's still rocking and rolling in decent shape. But taking that level of care of a dress that gets a rest between wearings --- I certainly hope that that will extend her life as a "good" dress. So I won't be doing a 30-day challenge anytime soon, not least because I don't want to plan to buy another dress, or anything else, anytime soon.
*I am also ready to stop obsessing over all this and writing about it all the time, because I'm about to bore myself off the edge of a cliff. Just shut up and wear the dress, already.
Happy to have made these decisions and followed through on them --- and now to resume my normal no-buy/closet-shopping life.