Art shot down my driveway last night, with a sky of many colors. The moon's waning now, but still riding high and bright over the houses. Spring is everywhere, even though by Sunday it'll be cold again. Today we're supposed to get rain, though the warm temperatures --- weird but not at all unseasonal here --- will linger another day or so.
Much work today:
*one more Sun essay (preferably I'd also put up the next weeks' poems so that I could at least be thinking about them)
*novel-thesis editing (arduous, but I did about 15 pages yesterday, instead of 10)
*now I have a new poetry copy-editing project, actually a friend's book which I'm looking forward to glimpsing before it goes to press
*my own writing, though that's mostly just revision touches here and there on things
Wearing today (tastefully accessorized with wet hair):
I may be rushing summer just a little. But the good thing about a maxi dress is that you can have bare legs on a warm day, without looking too bare, considering that it's still February.
This is my Wool& Audrey in black heather, really a smudgy dark charcoal, which is as close to black as I'm willing to wear. I think it reads black enough from a distance that I could wear it for a choral occasion if need be, but it's not as harsh as true black. Wearing it with my thrifted pale-blue linen shirt, which again may be a little too summery a look for the season, but I wanted to give the shirt a turn at being worn. I got way too hot in my merino cardigan yesterday, walking the dog. I can always pop on some boots to replace the EVA Birks, especially for pub night tonight --- though last night I went out with Dora a couple of times after dark, to water the grass and look at the moon, and my feet in sandals were just fine.
Some different angles, just for a better idea of my body shape and the fit of this dress, which is a small. I've washed it once since November, and will never put it in the dryer, because there's really no shrinkage room. It fits, but fits better with some relaxation in the fabric. The only place where it ever looks small is in the pockets/across my hips, but again, it relaxes quickly, so that never remains a problem.
Anyway:
More of a side view, looking vaguely Egyptian. You can see more clearly that I'm not willowy. I have a belly, and I have a backside. I'm healthy and not really overweight, but I am a solid middle-aged person. Or old person, unless I plan to live to be a hundred sixteen. I am probably well past the middle of my allotted span. But whatever. I have this comfortable matronly body that's not your usual clothes-model shape, but here we are.
Another even more profile angle:
I'm not sorry I sized down in this dress. A larger size would just have been a nightgown. And as much as I can obsess --- as indeed can we all --- over my own body's imperfections, I'd much rather have a dress that fits without becoming a whole tabernacle situation. Or burqa, if you prefer. I'm not here to flaunt my stuff, but I'm not here to pretend that I'm bodiless, either.
All that to say: I continue to like this dress. Although it's technically a summer maxi, sleeveless, with a quite generous scoop neck (another thing I wouldn't want any bigger, to be honest), I have worn it constantly through the winter. In this dark neutral, it's been versatile to layer and keep warm in. I hope Wool& will bring back this color, since it's currently sold out. I can't decide whether I'd ever consider Audrey in another color, since most of them have been very pale and summery --- a lot would depend on what colors they offered. It's a terrific style, and so very nice to have at least one significantly longer dress. I also love the heavier tencel-blend merino fabric and wish they'd offer more styles in it. It's not as heavy or sweaterlike as the Sierra fabric, but a lot more substantial than the fine weave of my Camellia, Maggie, Fiona, and Willow dresses.
ETA: What other colors would I wear in this dress? Well, I keep thinking how nice ocean teal would be in some more styles. I don't have a dress in that color, but I was fantasizing yesterday about how lovely a Maggie would be in it. And I think it would work well for an Audrey too: dark enough to be classy, bold enough to be striking, substantial enough to work year-round. Marionberry would probably be good, too. I just don't really love any of the pale colors they've offered in this style, which do make it look like nightwear or a beach coverup more than a dress. Pine? I think I could probably wear that particular green, though greens are always tricky. Overall, I think more dark, intense colors would work in this style, so that it could go from casual with sandals to being actually very formal and dressy, with the right accessories.
At any rate, I can see wearing today's exact outfit all through the summer. It's perfect for church (I might iron my shirt a little). It's perfect for a party, especially if I wore my very bare Xero sandals. It's perfect for being a visiting writer in Houston. It's perfect for everyday, when I want a little more coverage.
The linen shirt was an acquisition during the Great January No-More-No-Buy frenzy, and like all my other purchases in that month, I do not regret it. It's a great shirt, exactly what I'd been looking for. It's exactly what I had needed to make transitional-weather outfits like this one.
In other news, before I sign off to walk the dog and work, I'm thinking currently that I really don't feel like doing a 30-day challenge in my new Willow. Yeah, it would be nice to have a gift certificate. But I really just do. not. feel. like wearing the same dress day after day. I did it for a hundred days; I don't want to do it again. What I like, as I realize, is rotating dresses. I think it's actually better for my dresses, in terms of long-haul wear, that I do that.
So I'll wear purple in Lent, because that's what I do, but my new wisteria Willow will be just part of that picture, not the whole picture. At this stage, especially because I post photos of myself doing these things, I can't really call "giving up not wearing purple" my Lenten penance. There will be others, which I will keep to myself, as is appropriate: "Do not be like the hypocrites, &c." But I like marking the season that way and will do so, making use of everything in my closet that either is or works with some shade of purple. It'll be a reminder to myself, and a focus --- and if that's useful to anybody else, all to the good.
But we're not there yet. Still a little Carnival time to kick up our heels before the Great Fast begins. Meanwhile, we have friends coming to stay this weekend, so I must also clean the bathrooms and make sure Dora hasn't been lounging on the upstairs beds.
Wet hair, blue shirt, giant glasses that make me feel like Iris Apfel. I guess, since I'm probably not going to live to be a hundred sixteen, I should just go ahead and be eccentric while the sun shines.
LATER:
I've written my last Sun essay for the week of Ash Wednesday and finished two full chapters of this novel thesis. Am exhausted and crosseyed. Also did some work of my own. I suspect this is going to need to be a working weekend, so that I can get other people's things turned around.
Dora nervous about something. It must be about to storm. We were playing in the backyard, then suddenly she was turning herself inside out to go back in the house, and she's been twitchy ever since. It is very gray out, and supposed to start raining in the next hour. But I'm not sure quite why all the canine nerves.
So very ready for pub night. I've updated my outfit a little to make it more like a date thing:
Switched out the rumpled linen shirt of the day for the jean jacket, which I don't wear nearly enough, but it's always cool. I love it with the long line of this dress.
I mentioned earlier that the Audrey neckline really didn't need to be any more generous than it is. I could stand for it, in fact, to be just a tad less deep, and feel better filling it in a little bit with a scarf.
My husband gave me this glitzy scarf for some occasion. It's not the kind of thing I really wear. But just now my hand fell on it, and I thought, why not? It does give this ensemble a little razzle. And I can lean forward at the table without flashing anybody who doesn't want to be flashed.
It's also still in the mid-60s out, quite warm. The good thing about a longer dress is that you can put on Chelsea boots and still have bare legs underneath.