Last night: weather watching from the front porch of the Moses Cone house, off the Blue Ridge Parkway above Blowing Rock, NC.
Rhododendron in bloom:
A shy visitor near the house:
A view of the house from behind:
We had dinner at a restaurant off 321 just as you come into Blowing Rock --- it's been many things over the years, but its current incarnation is pretty pleasant. The best thing about it is the deck on the back, with a view looking across to Grandfather Mountain.
Mostly what we got a view of was more weather, which was dramatic, as you can see. Sitting on the back deck, we got rained on (thank goodness for big table umbrellas), but it was a pleasant spot even so. Driving home, we came through the storm systems that had been moving that way all the time: heavy rain, fog, and balls of lightning across the sky. Some undaunted souls were setting off fireworks by the highway as we passed: in the rain, which seemed surreal.
In a continuation of my self-declared July 4/3 challenge, wearing today for Sunday Mass:
I'm doing the challenge thing of not wearing a swing dress. Today it's a repeat of yesterday evening's blue cotton embroidered scoop-neck tee, with this thrifted floral linen skirt, which I've also owned for a good many years now. I love its A-line shape and the fit-and-flare silhouette that it creates with any top. This skirt is one of my more successful year-round pieces, giving a springtime lift to sweaters and boots in the dead of winter. In the summer, it's cool and airy. Tan sandals offer a little subtle contrast to everything else.
This separates outfit represents the second of my three non-swing-dress choices for this first week of July. It's nice to push myself to wear clothes I actually like, rather than simply stepping into my default mode (as much as I do genuinely like my default mode, which is why it became a default mode to begin with).
I am wishing I had a natural-fiber half-slip to wear under this skirt. Its only drawback is that it is a little see-through in full sun, and I'm not quite brave enough just to wear it that way.
Anyway, off we go.