Monday morning kitchen windowsill still-life, while I wait for the coffee to make.
No real Memorial-Day plans, except to do nothing. Maybe we'll go walk along the river later today, I don't know. The mountains will undoubtedly be overrun with holidaymakers, so we will not be among them, though I would love a walk at Moses Cone sometime soon.
This is the beautiful time of year when it's pleasant to dine on the front porch, as we will every evening until it gets too hot, then again until it gets too cold. Last night we sat outside for a long time over the last of the wine, watching the bats come out over the buildings across the street. Our view is not picturesque, but since we took our big tree down --- four years ago? Five? --- I have appreciated the skyscape above the community-college roofs, which is full of drama day and night. We've watched mockingbirds mob redtail hawks in that sky, storms move in, bats come twittering out at dusk. If only they'd ever turn the lights off, we could see more stars.
Yesterday afternoon, after we'd come home from Mass and had bacon and eggs (I had a bacon, egg, and arugula wrap, since we have so much arugula growing), I was sitting in the study with Dora, when suddenly she wasn't there. From the kitchen came a clatter, as of a pizza pan knocked to the floor. My son likes to get up in the middle of the night and have himself a little frozen pizza, so most days there is a pizza pan on the stovetop with two or three pieces left. Following the clatter, Dora came streaking back into the study and into her crate with something in her mouth, which she immediately thrust behind her as if to hide it from me. Of course it was a piece of pizza. I took the pizza away from her --- one measure of how aggressive this dog is not is that you can take anything out of her mouth, thrust your arm into her crate to remove hoarded food, etc, and not even get growled at. Meekly she let me take the pizza. She knows when she's been busted. Normally, if it's not bedtime, she doesn't seek the refuge of her crate, but I guess when you want to devour something in secret, it's the obvious place.
One more thing Tiny Dora does not do.
Coffee is made now, and I'm drinking some before I go walking with Full-Size Pizza-Thief Dora. Once again I slept in a dress, which I'm wearing at least for the morning if not all day:
This is my beloved short-sleeved bamboo swing dress whose armpit I had to mend last week. Per what is becoming my normal drill, I slept in it, then got up this morning and put clean underthings on, and here we are. It was comfortable to sleep in and smells fresh today. Cheap as these dresses are, I am really happy with how they perform. They're 95% bamboo fiber, only 5% spandex, which is a pretty good ratio as these blends go. They're not as warm as wool in the winter, but they are reasonably thermally regulating and feel nice on the skin. I have become a huge fan of bamboo in general: I've converted my entire stash of bras and underwear to bamboo and cotton, no synthetics, and wear the bamboo a lot more than I wear the cotton. Bamboo bras, in particular, are a real upgrade from the synthetic ones I did have, even the supposedly "cool" and "moisture-wicking" ones. These bras and bralettes, all from Boody, never feel clammy on my skin the way even my nicer TrueKind bralette did, and they stay fresh-smelling for days. Underwear was one exemption I'd allowed myself for my no-buy year from the beginning, because I knew I was going to need some --- and I'm glad I went with these. I'd love some merino under-items, but those can wait for another year, at least.
Meanwhile, I got my four bamboo dresses last December, so they've largely seen cold-weather wear. Again: not as warm as wool, but pretty good, especially paired with bamboo/cotton-blend leggings, of which I also bought two pairs last December. Wool leggings are farther up my priority list for future purchases than wool underwear is, but in the meantime, those two pairs, especially served me really well until just recently, when it started to be too warm to wear them comfortably. I'll be interested to see how the dresses do as the weather really gets hot and I really get sweaty. So far so good, but July will be the test.
As always, the main thing I don't always entirely like about these dresses is the length. I certainly wear them, but they are short. For everyday, it's fine, especially as I rarely wear shorts --- I'm not flashing any more leg than I would have in a pair of shorts, and really, I have so much more freedom of movement in these dresses that I'm not sure I'd ever go back to wearing shorts on any kind of regular basis. I also do really like these with leggings or heavy tights in colder weather. Some of my favorite outfits from the last six months or so have featured these dresses. I wore the long-sleeved version of this dress out for my birthday, for example. This dress itself is so cute with leggings of all colors: magenta, blue stripes, the lot. The purple one has been fun to style, too. And here.
Anyway, having just made a considered dress purchase, I feel the need to sing the praises of what I already have, because it is an abundance. As someone who for years was never happy with her clothing or appearance, I'm both surprised and grateful to find that I am largely happy with all of that these days. I don't have as many things as I used to (though I certainly have plenty; this is a minimalism-free zone), but what I have is much.
And now I'd better finish this coffee and go walk the dog before it gets hot.
UPDATE:
The snake was definitely dead. But we had a good hour-long walk on the greenway, passing many people and dogs without incident. No losing our minds over squirrels. Good time had by all. It's nice that the dog I got because I wanted a dog to walk with has at last started to become a dog I like to walk with.
Just a few days of first-thing-in-the-morning hour-long walks, and already I feel fitter. This truly is why I wanted a dog. I mean, that and the comedy factor . . . she does make us all laugh all the time.
ALSO:
I've been going through and highlighting (in blue) some items in my wardrobe tracker. This is an as-I-think-of-it kind of thing, and the reason for it is that there are things I haven't worn, or have barely worn, that I want to watch, because the fact that I've barely worn them, if at all, makes me think they might be outbox candidates. One of these items is my rose linen jumper, which I've had for at least fifteen years. As long as I've had it, I'm never sure I love it as much as I think I do. Is it that flattering? Does it really do what I want it to do? I've worn it year round, summer and winter. But I'm not sure that --- at least in a long time --- I've really been entirely happy with any outfit I've made with it.
I have provisionally outboxed the duster-length gray cardigan I bought secondhand last year. I dunno, I might choose to keep it. But it's a lot bigger than I had anticipated when I bought it, more like an extra-large, and instead of feeling longline and slim, it tends to feel more like a bathrobe without a sash. I've liked some outfits I've made with it, and I did wear it through the spring, but I dunno. I certainly wouldn't need to replace it, because I do have plenty of cardigans, but down the road I might try to find one that fits better.
That seems like something to pay attention to. When I scan my STYLE album, where are the outfits I'm REALLY happy with? Which outfits do I want to remember to wear again? What is it about those outfits --- by which I mean, which items compose them, to make them re-wearable? AND which outfits are just meh? Especially, which outfits are repeatedly meh, no matter how many times I wear them, thinking that surely this time, this time . . . Which specific items turn anything they touch to gold? And which specific items turn anything they touch to meh?
I don't want to hang onto the meh. Whether it's sunk-cost anxiety, or longtime (but misguided) attachment, I don't need anything in my closet that turns anything it touches to meh. When I have clothes I look and feel great it, I don't need to cling to stuff that will do.
This clinging seems different from keeping an item that sometimes scratches an itch. What I'm describing is keeping an item that I pull out when I have a particular itch, but the item doesn't really scratch it. It's like a stand-in for something else I really want in that moment. Whether the something else exists, or whether I will ever own it, is a separate question. What's important here is recognizing when I'm clinging to something because it's not what I want --- not a direct hit, but a direct miss. I don't know whether that makes sense, but anyway. It's something I'm giving some attention to as I think about it.