Another gratuitous garden shot. Someday, I'm sure, I'll be glad I took pictures nearly every day in July. It does change subtly, all the time. And before I know it, fall will be here, and the whole landscape will be transformed.
Also, we've been able to eat out of the garden a lot. Last night I made a quiche with my own tomatoes, peppers, and basil, plus a fruit salad --- a friend had brought us some gorgeous and extremely delicious peaches, which I tossed with such strawberries and blackberries as I had ripe enough to eat.
Working today on an updated poetry rotation for Mater Amabilis in Levels 1-4. I keep telling myself I'm done with homeschooling, but apparently I'm not. Here's a draft of what I've done so far. The challenge here is to make use of an anthology which was chosen by the initial creators of the curriculum, I think largely because it's Catholic, without a lot of thought about how to schedule it. The anthology was created for a "classical" curriculum and is divided into the (entirely specious) Trivium stages that have been interpreted to mean developmental stages even though that's not what the Trivium was meant to represent at all. Anyway, it's been set for most of the levels of the curriculum, and I'd scheduled it before, but I don't think I did a very logical job. I so often look back at these things and wonder what I was thinking. Anyway, I sat down today and recalibrated it all, trying to make maximum use of this anthology, since everyone has it, and it's not that bad. A little full of moralistic poems for my taste, but in my rescheduling I avoided the absolute worst of those and foregrounded the best things, while leaving in things that will make Catholic homeschoolers happy (Chesterton, Aquinas, etc), because we do want people to be happy.
Wearing today, in absolute default mode, for my July 4/3 Challenge:
Burgundy bamboo swing dress, blue EVA Birks. Zero effort involved, but again, not a "nothing" outfit. I did get kind of hot walking the dog this morning --- I went out later, after 9:30, when the trail was a lot less crowded, but for a reason. Already the sun was beating down, and the long sleeves were a little much, but honestly not TOO much. I wasn't miserable. I didn't want to come home and peel my clothes off. It was okay, basically. And I'm always happy to put on these dresses. While this color could read as fallish, I like the intensity in the brilliance of summer --- it works, in the same way that the heavy gold of a sunflower works.
Hair in a ponytail already, because 1) it's hot, and 2) I think the layers have gotten too grown out. It's just not holding any shape very well. As soon as I get my car back from the guitar daughter, I'm going to go get a haircut. My husband will make puppy-dog eyes, because he would like for me to grow it out to my feet, but I have my limits. I won't cut much off, just enough to restore some spring and vigor. V-shaped taper, blended layers. That's what I always ask for, and it always seems to work, even when the haircut is cheap.
Anyway, I guess this might be "nothing" hair, but it could read as "intentionally simple" or something.
I'm not going anywhere like this, but I could.
Tomorrow, says the husband, we're going hiking in the Linville Gorge Wilderness with Dora. I think I'll take another bamboo swing dress for a hiking whirl. Which one I choose remains to be seen . . .