My grandmother, left, and her sister, my Great-Aunt Sara (for whom my mother and I are both named), sometime around 1910.
Slowly grinding into action to hit the road for Dallas. We're not in any particular hurry --- will get supper on the road and let ourselves into my daughter's house, because she and her husband are out of town for a funeral on his side of the family.
Wearing today, again:
Maggie, belted this time, with tan sandals. I don't think I've yet worn her two days in a row, and why not, I thought.
Cool, comfortable, simple.
I like the belted silhouette at least as much as I like this dress without.
Going now to have some coffee and breakfast and eventually rouse the progeny, though again, we're not in a huge hurry.
LATER:
9:35 a.m.: Offspring still not stirring, but that's okay. Again, no point in making haste, just to sit in rush-hour traffic in Dallas.
I was just trying to remember the last time I washed this dress. I know I've washed it a couple of times since I've had it, but probably not since June --- the last time I remember doing it was at the beach. Of course, I haven't worn it that much so far, so it's hardly needed it, but that is one thing I've come to appreciate about these wool dresses: that they truly DON'T need it very often. Now, when I did hand-wash my Sierra a few weeks back (also the last time I washed that dress), the amount of dirt that came out of it was . . . a little shocking, shall we say? It's NOT that they're exactly clean. But they smell good, and they're supposedly anti-microbial, and they certainly PASS as perfectly clean, so that you can get away with relatively sparse washing and be okay. That's especially good news when you're traveling and don't want to bring tons of clothing.
It is nice to give Maggie a bit more of a whirl this trip than she's had so far. Of my three wool dresses, she's been the least worn, partly because it's been hot and even short sleeves often aren't that appealing, but also because I've wanted to keep her in new condition for events in the fall. But what the heck? I figure I might as well go ahead and wear her, since I have her. Break the ice a little more, stop worrying so much about babying her. She should be nice and comfortable for today's long drive.
Then I think I'll wear my Camellia tomorrow, with red Mary Janes and a cardigan for Mass. It'll be hot in Dallas, and I'll be outside a lot, I figure, even though I am determined not to spend the day hauling my children's stuff into the dorm. Two of my longtime Mater Amabilis friends are going to be on campus --- one friend's son is a new freshman, and the other has just driven down with her husband for the weekend after dropping their oldest son off for his first year of seminary --- so I've given notice that I'm spending the day with them, not with the dorm-movers. We will fortunately have two cars --- my oldest daughter is leaving us her keys and permission to drive her car, so that I can go back and forth, leaving the kids my larger car for storage-unit runs.
And now it's 10:00, so maybe I had better shake them.