Walsingham seal on our dining-room wall.
Slept late today, waking up slowly over coffee. This time of year is so nice on an academic calendar, even when it's not me going out the door.
Sunny today, with a high near 80F. Hard to think of anything nicer.
An odd incident last night, which I didn't record in yesterday's post: We were sitting on the front porch around 9:30 p.m., beginning the rosary, when two loud vehicles --- large trucks (one maybe an SUV) without mufflers, it sounded like --- rounded the park loop, then came up past our house to park, one after the other, in the college lot across the street.
Hm, we said.
About six or eight young men got out of the trucks, some of them holding what looked like baseball bats. They didn't look, somehow, like guys who had been playing baseball. They were I guess kind of rednecky --- young white guys, in case anybody wonders about the race of the people involved. There was something about the way they moved off down the street, toward the gym and around the park loop, in a pack, that looked . . . weird. They were hitting road signs as they went, too, which didn't exactly allay our concern.
Sooooo, for the second time in less than a week, we called the police. It was an opportunity to note, among other things, that the streetlights on our block have been out for some days now, and that part of what concerns us about people's nocturnal comings and goings around here is that it's REALLY dark at our end of the street and down by the ravine. Night before last, in fact, sometime in the wee hours, we were jerked out of sleep by screaming --- not like somebody being wild, but like somebody being terrified, as in a horror movie. My husband got up, put on his bathrobe, and went out in the car to drive around the neighborhood, but saw nothing. I prayed for that person as I lay there, and again at Mass yesterday, because honestly, that scream has haunted me.
Anyway, the police went cruising around the loop and caught up with the young men just as they were emerging from the other side. They just kind of said, "Hey, dudes, what's up?" The young men sloped off to their trucks and drove away, and that was that.
So nothing really happened, but it was an odd incident. I've always felt safe walking around my neighborhood late at night with Dora, but after that, I got my husband to walk with me on our final round. I don't know that those guys were up to anything dangerous, but I did keep thinking that I'd have been unnerved to run into them, as I well might have had I gone out just a little earlier. I'm already just a little creeped out by how dark it is in the absence of streetlights. It has been nice that the college's building lights have been off, but not that the whole street has been plunged into darkness.
It might be nice to have the night walk be a ritual that we do together. I don't want to be nervous in my neighborhood at night --- and indeed, there are generally some people out on porches when I'm walking, so that I never feel completely alone. Also, I'm with Dora, who can be pretty threatening if she feels menaced. She is a not-small dog with a very big, loud, alarming bark, and she will put her hackles up and look like she's going to tear somebody's throat out (before she rolls over and widdles on the ground to show what a twinkie she really is . . .). But I enjoyed taking my husband on my little route last night, which he agreed was pleasant. It's especially lovely at this time of year. And now he knows which way I go --- which he didn't seem to, though I know I've told him --- so if by some chance I happen not to come back one night, he'll know where to look for me.
BUT it's a lovely new day now, and a new week. My workload has tapered off a lot, since I finished my last round of MFA thesis reading, and that's pleasant to contemplate. On Wednesday morning I'm doing another podcast interview --- with Matt Wickman again, of BYU's Faith and Imagination podcast. He interviewed Micah and me about the poetry anthology some time back, and that was a really fun conversation, so I'm looking forward to talking to him again, this time about Motherland and Works of Mercy.
Speaking of Christian Poetry, I've just read two nice, recent write-ups, here and here.
Wearing today:
Here's Audrey, catching up with some of her sisters for a third wearing in May. I'm still making a conscious effort to wear my whole closet, insofar as it's seasonally appropriate, so today I pulled out this thrifted Woolx tee. It hasn't gotten a ton of wear, ever, since I bought it late in 2021 --- I love the color, and it's hands-down the softed merino tee I own, but it's a men's tee, which means that the shape needs some tweaking. I have worn it under dresses, but over a dress it absolutely needs to be knotted, to get rid of the boxiness of a men's shape. And it helps to roll up the sleeves. The crew neckline is what it is, though I have considered cutting it into more of a scoop neck and leaving the raw edge, as I've done with some cotton tees in the past. I haven't done that yet, though, and have used necklaces to try to create a longer line at the neck. I wouldn't normally wear layered necklaces unless I was dressing up, as I did yesterday --- but there the longer necklace was, on the sink where I'd left it last night, so putting it on cost me exactly zero effort. And I'm happy with the way that one small touch elevates things just a bit, as well as creating more length at my neckline.
Overall, this is a pretty decent Monday look. I like how this dress lends itself to the Rule of Thirds --- it's easy to achieve a 2/3 proportion with a longer skirt. I definitely haven't lost weight, and absolutely haven't been watching my weight over the last week, but this line makes me feel fairly slim.
I look and feel like person who drank a lot of red wine last night ---
But I also feel pretty good in this outfit, like a person who can face the day after all. We'll see how the wool layers feel on my walk, but all in all, I've been finding even double layers of wool not uncomfortable in this weather.
I hope that sometime this week we'll be able to get up into the mountains. I'm in the mood for a real hike and an evening at the Ale House in Blowing Rock. I want to try out my Birk hiking boots on an actual trail: expend some serious energy, drink in the beautiful mountain air, and kick back happily at trail's end. We shall see if we attain that objective this week . . .
In the meantime, yet again, as always, it's time to walk the dog in the ordinary sunshine of my ordinary town.
Oh: still reading Oliver Twist, in tiny bits because I'm finding it surprisingly intense and hard to read. After so much Dickens, I don't know why this book, which children read, is so difficult. Maybe because the protagonist is an innocent child, so much at the mercy of other people in their evil and their misunderstanding. So I have to ration it out.
LATER:
Walked 3 miles this morning. Also received a Poshmarked pair of Pact leggings, which I bought for $16 mainly to see how the sizing runs. I'd heard that you need to size up in Pact, and now I can confirm: this is correct. The leggings I ordered are a large, and they fit, but wow, are they snug through the legs. So I can go back and unlike (dislike?) any medium pairs I might have been interested in. I'd never get my legs into anything smaller than a large in this brand. These are cherry red, as you see here:
They're very heavy, soft, and nice. Cotton, maybe, is suboptimal, especially for wet weather, but for the price, you get breathability, some warmth, and the good feel of something non-synthetic against your skin. I haven't had any red leggings or tights and thought these would be fun with most of my dresses --- maybe not the purple ones, but everything else will go really nicely. The red is just slightly more red than my burgundy Snag tights: definitely a bluer berry-ish red.
As my husband is talking about this trip he has in mind as if it were really going to happen, I am letting myself think about a travel capsule. We'd be going where it's relatively chilly, not anywhere tropical, so I'd need layers and leg coverage. I would for sure pack some merino tights, which I already own, but have moved my leggings line item up the priority list for purchases. I've also ordered a pair of Allbirds merino-blend leggings, rather like the ones I bought my traveling daughter for Christmas, but in navy blue, not black. These are a Poshmark purchase as well, not new. They should be here in a few days, so I can try them out as well to see how the sizing goes, but in most instances, I do wear a medium. These run a little more expensive than cotton leggings, but far cheaper than the all-wool brands. Having just bought dresses, I'm not quite prepared to spring for a pair of leggings as expensive as a dress, but I can go for secondhand wool blends at slightly more than my normal limit of "under $20."
And you know, even if this trip doesn't happen, I will then have leggings for next winter, and will not be scrambling to buy things when the weather gets cold. Might as well do some of that now, in this season of wearing less-not-more, when I don't need anything immediately.
Also, I think I might cut my old cotton-blend leggings off to wear as a bike-short layer under dresses. I have bike-short underwear, but something just a tad longer might be good for hikes.
EVEN LATER:
Forgot to add that in walking 3+ miles this morning, in 70+F temperatures, I was perfectly comfortable in a Woolx tee knotted over my Audrey dress. Not too hot at all, even in the sun, even on my way home, near noon, when it was probably close to 80F. My chosen outfit was perfect for the day.
LATE-NIGHT WALK MILEAGE TOTAL: 5.09 miles!