Nature study: the wrens obviously liked this back-porch pothos. I'm not sure they actually nested here, but then wrens are famous for starting, then abandoning, nests all over the place. I've been meaning for weeks to take a photo of this one, and now here it is in all its glory. The pothos, for the record, seems no worse for the hard usage. It might even be enjoying the extra mulch.
Morning kitchen, because I haven't taken a morning-kitchen shot in a while:
I always admire how fresh and clean it appears at this remove.
Pre-dog-walk attire:
Last night I grilled burgers in the rain, right outside the back door, where water was pouring over the top of the gutter (back to Homeowner 101). Even wearing a rain slicker, I managed to get pretty soaked in my Sierra, which I was wearing (exact same outfit, in fact). Here she is after a night's sojourn in the dryer, because being wet had stretched her out a good bit --- wrinkled but otherwise fine.
Strange dreams last night, with a lot of bicycling and horseback riding, though at one point, toward the end, I was doing some kind of time-travel thing where I was watching the Beatles appear in various venues through time, in rapid succession: circa 1965, for instance, dancing with girls wearing costumes designed to make them appear topless, with two or three sets of breasts, though it was clear that they weren't actually topless or triple-breasted --- this seemed very 1965, somehow. At the end of this sequence, I happened to pass bearded 1969-vintage John Lennon and said to him, "You have no idea how young you are." He laughed. I said, "No, really, you'll look back on this and be amazed. You're just so young." On that note, the dream ended, and I woke up.
Now it's about time to dress for Mass. I'm not sure whether I'll just keep Sierra on (maybe with my silk kimono), or change into something else.
Aaaaaaaaaand:
Turns out I'm way too lazy to change. Just keeping my Sierra on, since there she was on my body anyway, with a quick shoe switch, from EVA Birks to these tan fake Birks, plus my big linen soft-grape scarf (tried the kimono, but it didn't look good), which works very well as a shawl, as it turns out. I don't think I've ever worn it this way, but it leapt out at me (not literally) as a possible alternative to my usual cardigan. It's so light and cool --- really a favorite-thing-ever --- and the color is nice with the charcoal Sierra. My shoulders will be covered for Mass, but without a lot of weight and warmth. Very big humidity hair, but with some definition, thanks to the vestigial gel. Turns out that when you have a lot of gel in your hair, and then it gets wet, as in a rainstorm while you're outside grilling burgers, the gel sets up again, a whole new cast. I slept with my hair in a "pineapple" on top of my head last night, the first time in ages I've done that, then shook it out this morning and combed through it to break up the gel cast. So what I have now is just great big hair without a lot of definition, but my husband likes the "luxuriant mane" look, so I guess that's a score.
Demonstrating the shawl width here:
This truly is a terrific scarf, bought some years ago (at least five, possibly eight) at a now-defunct little factory-seconds shop on our Main Street. This scarf, perfect in almost every way, originally had a lace death's-head stitched to one end, but I was able to pick out the stitches without ruining the linen underneath, and give the death's-head to my daughter, who likes that kind of thing. I really should remember to wear my scarves as shawls, those that are big enough, which is a lot of them. I default to cardigans so often, but unless the weather's actually cold, this is a good arrangement with a sleeveless dress.
If I'm counting at all correctly, today makes about the 76th wearing for my Sierra dress since I received her in early November. I've been a little surprised not to have hit a hundred days yet (not that, until recently, I was counting), but we are getting close, even without any kind of challenge. She remains far and away my most-worn dress in 2022, at any rate, trailed closely only by my Camellia dress. Camellia would still win most-worn-since-purchase, since I did wear her 100 days in a row upon receiving her. But I suspect that over time, Sierra will win out.
Yesterday was the Feast of the Transfiguration, which I forgot to note in my blog title for the day, but which I thought about nonetheless. The readings, of course, were marvelous, some of my favorite of the entire liturgical year. I especially noticed, as I don't think I'd really noticed before, that in the Gospel reading, in the moment of His transfiguring, Jesus is talking to Moses and Elijah specifically about his course for Jerusalem. He's talking to them about the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, and showing Himself as that fulfillment, which Peter doesn't entirely understand. He gets that Jesus belongs in this company, which is why he proposes to build three booths. He doesn't understand that Jesus is the reality in which all booths are built --- the humble stable that contains eternity.
Anyway, I'm sort of sorry Transfiguration was yesterday, not today, because it would have been nice to sing the Transfiguration hymns at Mass and hear those readings and a homily upon them. But whatever we do have, I'm sure it'll be nice.