One of my numerous kitchen Madonnas.
Then we had a bonfire ---
--- and I made my rounds, examining the garden. Here are some Canada violets, a great later-spring favorite of mine:
Blueberries starting on our oldest bush:
Today's agenda:
*my son comes in at some point, so one of us will meet him at the airport
*Sun essay
*thesis reading, which I intend to do speedily
*administrative bits and bobs
*walk the dog
And get dressed, of course --- almost three years into this project of keeping a style diary, and almost two years into this wool-wearing thing, it's amazing to me how getting dressed has become something I enjoy doing and informally plan ahead to do . . . and surprise of surprises, reliably like the outcome when I've done it.
My new dress is supposed to come this morning, so odds are it's what I'll end up wearing, but thus far Willow hasn't had a wearing in May. I'll start the day with her:
Today, for my purposes, periwinkle is blue, not purple. I love colors with multiple personalities. I've been giving Willow not so much love lately, complaining about how short she is, but truly, she's great to throw on and wear. At her best here with a pair of sandals and no other fuss.
It is interesting to note the differences in cut between this dress and my marine-blue Maggie, worn and discussed yesterday. Both dresses are mediums. I think Willow has a wider swing, though I'd have to double-check the measurements of each garment in this size on the website to be sure. But the shoulder seam sits a little higher on my shoulder in this dress than in Maggie, the armholes feel smaller, and the sleeves are more fitted. I had room, I felt, to size down in Maggie (we'll see about that today, I guess). I don't think I could size down in this style without its being constricted under my arms and too tight in the sleeves. The neckline of this dress, while generous, isn't too wide or gapey. It feels as though it sits just right.
Anyway, that's interesting, and makes me feel a little vindicated in choosing to size down in the other dress. We'll see if I'm right!
Re all my thoughts about the coronation yesterday: writer and editor Susannah Black Roberts, married to an Englishman and living in England, made an observation this morning on Twitter that I thought was apposite:
One thing that HM coronation made clear is that actually existing “Christian nationalist” politics is nothing like how it looks in America. It has nothing to do with Christians as an interest group winning out against other interest groups,and instead is about political Christianity as a vision of a truly common good. There is no room for snark or bitterness or resentment in it. It is not fundamentally partisan at all, and has no room whatsoever for partisan spirit.
One person immediately weighed in with what I think has been my question --- or at least what has been niggling at me --- all along: the divide between that "political Christianty as a vision of a truly common good" and the mainstream reality of British life. Somebody else points out that the Act of Settlement makes the whole thing "pretty partisan and triumphalist," actually.
But I think as an idea at least, how she frames "political Christianity" is the ideal, and is not at all what we have in America --- perhaps because we don't have an acknowledged hierarchy (although nothing has hierarchies like an egalitarian society, with all the accompanying battles over those hierarchies, precisely because they're not established or acknowledged).
Anyway, I've got to stop thinking about this. I don't have time to think about it today. Yet I do keep thinking about it.
Also have picked up and resumed reading Adam Nicolson's beautiful The Making of Poetry, about Wordsworth and Coleridge. And reading Geoffrey Hill's The Orchards of Syon. The latter is not really speaking to me that much, but I'm reading it.
LATER:
I've done two chapters' worth of notes on this thesis MS so far (it's just after noon). I've walked three miles with the dog. I was just starting to get kind of warm in my 3/4-length sleeves. And when I got home . . .
She was here! Meet Aegean Teal Maggie! This is a small long, as opposed to the medium long of my original Marine-Blue Maggie. The size difference is more subtle than I was afraid it was going to be, but this fit is better. The shoulder seams sit maybe a hair higher on my shoulder than my other dress's seams do --- but it's only a tiny difference. The sleeves fit a hair more closely. The length is pretty close to the other dress, too --- again, a hair shorter, but that's really all I wanted.
The main difference is that there's less fabric through the body. I like the drape of this dress better --- it's just a little slimmer, without being tight. I still love the other dress, but wow, I was right in thinking I should size down. I really should have sized down last summer. Too late now, and I do wear and enjoy that dress, but now I know for sure.
There's a lot less hanging fabric under the arms. The fit in the arms is more like that of my medium Willow, the dress I have just taken off.
I know, too, that the fabric will give a good bit. That's always been the problem with my other Maggie, that I have felt I needed to wash her (on hot, even), and dry her to get her to fit better. This one just does fit, and will fit better the more I wear her.
I am REALLY happy I didn't just talk myself into dealing with the Sofia I sent back last week. As much as I wanted to try a style I hadn't worn before, I am so much happier with this dress than I would have been if I'd just said, "Eh, it's fine." This basic style is just good for me, really more so than styles with a fitted waist. As much as I enjoy my Fiona dress, I have to admit that this is the kind of dress that makes me feel confident, pretty, and comfortable in my skin: body-skimming, swingy, and fluid. I can wear a belt with this dress if I want, but it's fine without. And I'm already thinking of all the ways I can wear her: dressed up with strappy sandals or heels, with a duster cardigan. Under a skirt --- she goes with all the skirts I currently own. Under a jumper: I'm kind of halfway keeping my eye out for a linen jumper/pinafore to wear over dresses, because I think that would be a fun tweak, as well as another way to wear my tees and other tops more. Not rushing, but that's on my list, if I can find something I really like at a serious secondhand bargain price. With any of my jackets when it's cool. With tights and boots in the winter. With every other color in my wardrobe.
I do love this teal.
It's bright and saturated, perfect for summer, but great for all year round. I will wear this dress for readings and lectures, Zoom meetings, teaching, church, date nights, and every day. I probably won't wear her to hike, but that's why I have Camellia and Sierra. For so long I wrote off Maggie as a dress I wasn't interested in, because the model pictures on the website did not show this style off to very good advantage at all. But I'm glad I took a chance on her, because she may very well be my favorite dress of all time. I could see having even more colors in this dress, because it's just so versatile and easy to wear.
So there's my review. Now back to work.
PS: Since I'm almost halfway through the thesis MS . . . chiming back in to say that at $128, the Maggie is also relatively a bargain Wool& dress. No, they're not cheap, but the simplicity of this style makes it less expensive than some of the other more tailored dresses. I really will be watching to see what new colors might come out this fall --- or consider either a plum or emerald Maggie rather than a different style for a fall/winter dress. Or I might decide I don't need another dress at all. We shall see . . .
MUCH LATER:
*Again, about halfway through this thesis edit. I hope to finish tomorrow. It would be great to get that off my desk.
*Walked 4.5 miles today, not bad! Getting back on my pilgrim-walking game, even if I'm not currently doing a virtual pilgrimage (thought I would, but life has overtaken me in various ways).
*Waiting now for my husband to get back from the airport with the Viking Son, who returns to us for a few days before . . . going back to Dallas yet again, to take a May Term class.
*Still wearing Teal Maggie, to whom I will probably refer from now on as Maggie T, to distinguish her from marine-blue Maggie B. I will make myself not wear her tomorrow, so I can continue my rotation and keep her fresh to wear for Abbey graduation on Saturday. Not that she wouldn't be fresh anyway, because wool, but it would be just my luck to spill something on myself on Friday night. So I think I shall make a deliberate pursuit of not neglecting the rest of my closet.