Back from a beautiful Mass on a glorious spring morning in Charlotte. The Cathedral has been undergoing major renovations and repairs, largely to address water damage, and the outside is still covered with scaffolding, but on Palm Sunday the doors were open for the first time in months. It is a beautiful church, and good to see it with fresh paint and detailwork. Obviously the choir loft offers a good view of the ceiling.
Home again, have walked Dora about 2.5 miles, and am settling in for an afternoon's work, if I don't fall asleep in this here chair first.
Wearing today (for Mass):
We didn't have to wear concert dress --- still considering some kind of black-dress purchase, though I don't want to have to pay full price for a dress I won't wear much. But my Audrey seemed like a pretty good dark-neutral choice for the day. Wearing my newest Poshmark purchase, this J.Jill linen-blend duster cardigan. I wasn't expecting it to be quite this dark a blue, but I really like it. Overall, this felt like a good tonal, low-contrast outfit. Nobody in church was going to see my shoes, so I did include a last little pop of Lenten purple.
Also debuting my Kosher Casuals crop tank, for neckline modesty. In short, I really like it. You can't tell, in the photo above, that I'm wearing a layer under my dress. You can if you look really closely ---
--- but to the casual observer, it just looks as though the dress has a higher neckline than it really does. I added a longer necklace to help balance out my face, but I felt covered and un-self-conscious in church, which was precisely what I wanted. The crop tank's fabric is a mix of viscose and spandex, which isn't ideal, but I am wearing a merino bralette underneath. For me, the crop tank really expands the versatility of this dress, which I otherwise love. Although I will wear it without, I far prefer something like this level of coverage. I do not like the feeling that men are looking at my neckline, looking me up and down. I feel less vulnerable to that kind of eye creepage when the line is higher and reveals less. Mind you, I KNOW that what I'm wearing doesn't make me less vulnerable to unwanted advances (and that being more exposed doesn't mean that I deserve said advances --- nobody deserves unconsented-to sexual attention). But it does make me less vulnerable to that one particular thing, which I truly hate.
Otherwise, I love Audrey and am happy to give her her first outing of the month. Since I've gotten home I've ditched the cardigan and changed into my Birk Bali sandals to walk. It's 80F out, and I don't really need a cardigan, thanks. But the whole ensemble together made a nice long line for my rather stumpy body, and I felt great at Mass.
Now to try to get my brain back in gear for other things.
EVENING: I have completed my virtual walk to Walsingham today, walking actually a total of 121.46 miles. I celebrated tonight by watching a recorded Mass from earlier today at the Catholic shrine in Walsingham, in the medieval Slipper Chapel. I'm going to try to watch more Masses and other things on this Walsingham Catholic channel this week, to make something of a retreat for Holy Week, to mark my being there in spirit.