Ensemble for cantoring last night's Confirmation Mass --- I did end up wearing precisely this. In a spirit of experimentation I tried it with a belt, because I haven't belted my Sierra before:
At the last minute, though, before leaving the house, I ditched the belt. This was a case of look in the mirror and take off one thing. The belt felt like one thing too many, but I did actually like it with the dress and will probably do that again. Just not also with a shawl, which felt like a lot on its own. I love that I can turn my swing dresses into fit-and-flare dresses that work for me. In a lot of ways this seems preferable to dealing with somebody else's elastic-waistband placement. I can place my waistline where I want, depending on what I want --- or I can have no clearly defined waistline, which is also often what I want.
I love that I had actually thought, If only I had a red cardigan. Maybe this is a need and I should go to Goodwill and find one, quick. And then I thought of this scarf and put it to use instead. I tied it in front so that it wouldn't fall off in Mass, and I kind of wish I'd gotten a picture of that just to see how it looked. I didn't even look in the mirror in the bathroom at the church, because I was so nervous about singing. I used to cantor weekly in the parish, like every Saturday night of the world, as well as singing in choir on Sundays, and I'd kinda sorta gotten over the performance panic, but last night the entrance hymn, just me and no organ, was pretty shaky. As in, I was shaking so hard I couldn't sing. By the psalm I was better, and then that buoyed me up for the rest, but man. If I could ever figure out how to get the panic attack over with BEFORE Mass, that would be nice.
Anyway, the scarf did not fall off, which was good. This parish has a dress code posted on a sign outside the door, which is one reason why we don't go there anymore --- not that I really, myself, dress very much otherwise, but persistently not following the dress code gets assigned the status of mortal sin (I'm not exaggerating; it really does, as in you may be denied Commuion), which is not right. I do still love my parish and its people, and I'm personally fond of the pastor when we're not having conversations about, say, my daughter's attire and what he plans to do about it. So I was happy to be able to step in and cantor for just about the last of my old First Communion classes as they made this commitment to an adult life in Christ. BUT I was glad I could keep my shoulders covered, as well as choke out some singing.
As I was reflecting on Sunday, the little Chinese shoes are cute. I'm not going to get rid of them. Sometimes a light-gray shoe is what I need, and here they are. But I'm looking forward to my red Xero Mary Janes, whenever they shall arrive. I didn't have as much knee pain last night wearing the gray shoes as I did on Sunday, but since I wear either sandals or wide-toebox shoes virtually all the time, I really notice when the toebox isn't roomy enough. This cotton canvas does stretch, but it can only stretch so much. I liked what they added to this gray-on-gray outfit, which incorporated a dark, a light, a color, and a pattern.
Today I'm wearing Camellia yet again. There she was on the rack when I got up, still clean and fresh and ready.
I think I'll wear her just as she comes all day. We've been for our walk, down to the dog park where we were the only parkgoers, so I spent some time teaching Dora to play with the agility equipment. You're not really supposed to have treats in the enclosure, but since she was the only dog, I got ours out and taught her to jump the hurdles and climb up and down the ramps. She also got to run around and smell a good bit on her own. We're back home now, and she should be pretty worn out, which is good news for me if I want to get work done. It's supposed to rain, as it did last night, so I figured we'd better go all-out this morning while we had the chance.
A new poem up at Ekstasis, just about the last of the hermit sequence to appear in print. Today I need to tie off my responses to copy edits on the novel, then write little essays on John Clare, Alice Cary, and Richard Crashaw for next week's Sun lineup. Today's offering (essay by me) is Longfellow's "Aftermath."
LATER:
Taking a work break to ponder packing for the beach. We leave a week from today! Here's my list so far:
Core pieces:
Camellia
Sierra
Maggie (due to arrive Monday)
Top layers:
Emerald-green cotton cardigan
Blue marl longline cardigan
Tencel chambray big shirt
Beachwear
2 swim dresses pictured in this post from last year
Royal-blue pucker-fabric big shirt (pictured in the same post), which can also serve as a top layer
3 hats (1 plain straw, 1 multicolored straw, 1 pink sunhat)
Shoes:
Xero Colorados
tan fake Birkenstocks
Belts:
Braided brown leather
Thin white
Thin braided silver
Sleepwear:
1-2 bamboo swing dresses, which I could also wear in the daytime if I want more variety
Underwear + 1 pair bike shorts for under dresses
I bet I can pack all this, minus the hats, in my usual daypack. I'll wear one dress (probably Camellia) on the road, plus one pair of shoes (probably Xeros). The hats I'll just stack together and stash somewhere in the car.
It's striking to me how much more minimal this packing list is than my projected capsule from last year. I don't think I wound up taking all those items with me on the actual trip last year, but even so, I packed a lot more than I plan to this year, partly because I was thinking "coordinating separates" and not "rotating simple dresses." I could throw in my one remaining pair of shorts (and who knows, I might), but then I'd have to be sure I had tops to go with them (though both the shirts I'm taking would) --- but that seems an unnecessary layer of complication when I like wearing dresses. I'm so much less into making outfits out of disparate elements, more into flex the one dress. This is especially true when our range of projected activities is so simple. We will:
*Go to the beach, obviously, to swim and walk and bird-watch.
*Hang out in the house.
*Eat out in extremely casual but highly air-conditioned restaurants.
*Go to Mass (and possibly be the most dressed-up people there, without being dressed up).
*Spend a day in Ocean Springs, MS, having lunch and visiting the Walter Anderson museum.
*Maybe ride the ferry to Fort Morgan.
Anyway, this will be an overwhelmingly casual trip with hot weather. The packing really can be simple. The most complicated thing about it, in fact, is remembering to put in bathing suits and hats for the sun. Other than going in and out of buildings, we won't experience extreme temperature changes. It might rain, so I could remember to toss in my slicker, but if I forget, that won't be the end of the world.
I entertain myself sometimes with fantasies of a trip to England or Europe, including fantasies about what I'd pack. Given my current wardrobe, my packing list would look something like this:
*3 wool dresses
*2 sweaters. If I were really making such a trip, I'd probably indulge in a wool cardigan.
*2 wool tees for layering and variety
*2 pairs of leggings. Again, if I were really planning a major trip, I'd splurge on wool ones.
*2 pairs wool tights
*2 pair shoes
*2 belts
*2 bamboo dresses to sleep in
*requisite underwear
*minimally requisite toiletries (shampoo bar, etc)
I'd really try hard to get it all to fit in a daypack to take on the plane, wearing probably my heaviest dress (like a Sierra) and a cardigan and leggings to travel in. In England, even in the summer, I'd probably need some kind of jacket in addition to a warm cardigan, but you never know. It can be cold and raining, but it can be sunny and triple digits Farenheit, with no air-conditioning anywhere. Still, if there was one thing I wore a lot of in England, it was COATS. The Continent is reliably hotter in the summer, at least the places I've been (Italy, France, Germany), but weather can cool down in the evening, so I'd want the option of layers.
If I were traveling on the Continent, where there are rules about what you wear into churches, I'd be glad to have my Maggie, which has sleeves and should cover my knees. If I had any doubt about that, I'd throw in an elastic-waist maxi skirt to carry in a bag with me for sightseeing and pull on as needed. I could also easily roll up a scarf/shawl like the one I wore last night to cover my shoulders.
But the thing that really makes it easy to visualize a packing list for a trip is having versatile wool dresses. No tops and bottoms. Don't even bother with jeans. Just wear dresses everywhere, with whatever you need to dress them up or down, for warmer or colder weather.
Ah, fantasy packing for fantasy trips! At least I have a real trip to look forward to . . . and oh, how I do look forward to it!