Morning kitchen still-life: chair and stool made by my brother.
Here we are, the last Sunday before the start of Lent, gathering ourselves for the spring. It's cold out, though not as cold as it's been the last couple of mornings, and overcast again, but the sun does keep breaking through. The week holds the promise of warmer temperatures again: not quite 60F today, but rising into the high 60s and low 70s --- with an 82-degree day? --- through the week. Typical, crazy, southern spring, when you don't know from day to day whether you'll be freezing or sweltering, and old rules about what's appropriate to wear in which season fail to apply.
Kitchen table with Valentine's Day daffodils starting to get a little sad. I need to pick some more! I need to de-wax a spot on the tablecloth, too, where Dora, in her infinite whatever-it-is, jumped up and picked the still-warm tea lights out of the candle holder there and ate the wax out of them, spilling only a little. This was Friday night, and she seems no worse for the wear, but there's something else to add to the list of Things To Dog-Proof. Fortunately she spat out the little metal wick disks, though I think those could have passed through without doing her any harm. I'll do a whole wash-and-de-wax number on this tablecloth on Wednesday, once I've whipped it off and put the purple one on. I do have a duplicate, but this one has stayed clean enough (except for the wax) that I'm going to try to stretch to three more days before I change it, wash it, and put it away for a season.
Last night, on a whim, we went out for dinner, to the Olde Hickory Station (up the road in Hickory, in fact), which is a brew pub and restaurant. I'd pulled chicken drumsticks out of the freezer to thaw at home . . . and then after yesterday afternoon's two-hour Zoom event, just couldn't face them and wanted a burger instead. I kept on exactly what I had on: my Camellia dress, blue cardigan, striped leggings, and hiking boots. It was a night-out look, for sure. Hickory is mountain-y enough that nobody thinks twice about hiking boots as streetwear. And it was a nice night out, with good food and real beer and my husband's excellent company.
Today: Sunday Mass and prep for the week ahead. I need to plan a fun dinner for Tuesday night --- into Lent, we'll be eating down our pantry supplies a lot. Beans, beans, beans. So something really good for a Mardi Gras meal . . . even if my husband has to work late and it's just me. If it is just me, now that I think about it, I might go out and pick up another burger.
Wearing today:
I really need to remember to wear this skirt more often, because I love it. It's one of my three --- three skirts honestly are about enough, given how seldom I wear them, but when I do wear them, they bring a nice shakeup to my usual dress-shoes-maybetights or leggings mojo. Here I'm wearing my Wool& Maggie dress in marine blue as a "top," though it's also functioning as a slip under the skirt, a 90s-vintage rayon April Cornell piece which I bought on Ebay sometime late in 2021. Navy Snag tights are more or less hidden, but there for warmth. Tari boots, which have had a little brush-up and a rest from hard daily wear lately. I've got a suede-and-nubuck cleaning kit on the way, because (ahem) the other thing I broke my February no-buy for was a pair of purple suede Birkenstock Mary-Jane-style clogs with a couple of spots which the seller says a good cleaning should take care of (and if not, oh well, they were quite cheap for what they are, and I'll consider the spots like the first dings on a new car and quit worrying). Anyway, I will give the Taris a much more thorough cleaning and refurbishing when the kit comes, because I have worn them hard through the winter, and I want them to last a long time as my good boots. I don't mind their looking a little distressed, but I do want to take care of them.
Emerald-green thrifted cotton cardigan on top. I suppose I could replace it with my green corduroy blazer, given the temperatures, but I do like this particular green so much.
Off to walk the dog now before Mass.