Our Lady's Garden is about to overtake her.
Excitingly, the gooseberry bush my sister-in-law gave us three years ago has berries for the first time! Three years seems to be the magic maturity line for a number of fruit-bearing plants, including grapes:
I'd really love to get a muscadine or scuppernong vine to grow on another fence, but right now my tomatoes are growing in the exact place where I'd put such a thing, so next year, maybe. Or maybe I'll just be content with these white grapes, whose variety I've long since forgotten. It'll be cool to have grapes at all.
And the blackberries are blooming away and fruiting:
The bare-root raspberries I planted didn't make it, so my next plan, in the corner of the garden just out of this shot, I'm going to plant some cucumbers, I think, to trellis on the fence, and either squash or canteloupe.
We took the chilluns out for pizza last night at our local wood-fired place, then hauled our son to the airport. Hello, goodbye, but he's still so mentally in the middle of processing the Rome semester that being on campus with friends is probably better for the whole transition-back process than being home is. He'll be back here Monday, in any case, for a few days before he returns there for May Term. No, none of this really makes sense to me, either, but I didn't buy the plane tickets or make the plans.
Meanwhile, the girly leaves midday today, so in just a while I've got to get myself together to take her. She'll be gone longer: her boyfriend graduates from the University of North Texas this week or next, and then she's going with him to San Diego to stay with his parents for a while.
Meanwhile, the girly leaves midday today, so in just a while I've got to get myself together to take her. She'll be gone longer: her boyfriend graduates from the University of North Texas this week or next, and then she's going with him to San Diego to stay with his parents for a while.
So . . . back to the empty nest, but it's okay. I have a lot of work to do, and the time will fly, as the entire semester has done. Meanwhile, it's been lovely to see them at all, to witness how life-changing the Rome semester has been. Whatever they went away as, they came back as grownups (and not just because they've been legal to drink for the last four months on another continent). What I mean is that they've come back having seen the world, having read good books and had good conversations while seeing the world, and managed a good bit of their own world-seeing on their own. Part of the beauty of it, too, is the way that they've forged intense relationships not just with their peers who were there, but with the faculty who were their mentors. It's just been really, really good --- and good to have time to sit down and let them talk about it before flying away again.
In other news, my new dress is scheduled to drop today --- as in, on my front porch. I really have been kind of panting for novelty, in case that wasn't obvious. But in the meantime, stop the presses, because I'm going to wear something else.
I've changed my label for this year from woolly23 to woollynatural23. This is just a paradigm-shift for my own mind, really --- I tend to make rules for myself and then feel bound by them, when in fact there's no law that says I can't wear whatever I want. I have been wanting to wear wool daily, just to show how versatile it is through all the seasons, but that is a thing I already knew. Meanwhile, perfectly good items, items I like, in my closet (and my outbox) have gone unworn because I couldn't wear them and still comply with my own self-imposed wool rule. This is beginning to feel maybe a little silly.
So yesterday I got that purple Pact dress back out of my outbox, and hung it in the closet again. It's cotton --- I don't have so much cotton anymore, because I like wool and linen better, but this dress is a very nice cotton, heavy and soft, in a beautiful color. Part of why I didn't love wearing it before is that I didn't have shoes that worked especially well with it --- my new(ish) Xero Jessie sandals fix that, as do my thrifted Birk Balis and, for colder weather, my Xero Tari boots. Granted, another part of why I didn't love wearing it is that the arm holes are very large, but I have enough bralettes and things like that to fill in, as well as tops to wear with it that help camouflage the armholes. Because of the fit, I would never have kept this dress at full price --- in a way, it does represent that thrifted category of this is okay, and anyway it was cheap. But I continue to think that maybe its little problems are ones I can work with, for the sake of the quality and the color.
So yesterday I got that purple Pact dress back out of my outbox, and hung it in the closet again. It's cotton --- I don't have so much cotton anymore, because I like wool and linen better, but this dress is a very nice cotton, heavy and soft, in a beautiful color. Part of why I didn't love wearing it before is that I didn't have shoes that worked especially well with it --- my new(ish) Xero Jessie sandals fix that, as do my thrifted Birk Balis and, for colder weather, my Xero Tari boots. Granted, another part of why I didn't love wearing it is that the arm holes are very large, but I have enough bralettes and things like that to fill in, as well as tops to wear with it that help camouflage the armholes. Because of the fit, I would never have kept this dress at full price --- in a way, it does represent that thrifted category of this is okay, and anyway it was cheap. But I continue to think that maybe its little problems are ones I can work with, for the sake of the quality and the color.
Part of the reason I pulled it out, too, is that I'd been eyeing the Wool& Milena dress, which is a similar style. The Milena is actually really close in style to this cotton dress I'd impulse-bought off the clearance rack at Walmart several years ago (one of my last-ever real clothing impulse purchases). For $5, that was not a bad dress, and I still wear it as a nightgown. It's very soft. But its armholes have stretched out, and it shows enough wear that these days I wouldn't wear it other than as a nightgown. Looking at the linked photo of that dress, it occurs to me that one other thing that's made a difference is that I've bought different underwear: six pairs of modal bike-short-style undies that I wear under just about everything. They're not shapewear, but they do create a much better, smoother line under clothes. I'd love to have wool ones, but for the money I could get an actual week's supply of these, and I'm very happy with them.
Anyway, the fact that I'd been eyeing this kind of shift dress made me think that I actually still owned a fairly nice dress in that style, and that if I was contemplating wearing one, I maybe should try again to wear the one I already owned.
So, here are some experiments and thought processes:
First of all, the dress by itself. Here's me, with my uncombed morning hair, just putting on this dress. I'm wearing bike-short undies and no leggings, which create bulk under the dress, which this style doesn't forgive as easily as swing styles do. The fit is pretty good overall, I think. My weight fluctuates so much within a range of higher-than-I-wish-it-was that I have really appreciated the forgiving nature of swing styles, but this makes me happier than I was afraid it was going to.
Side view. Again, here, you can see the armholes. The odds of my ever finding a bralette or cami that exactly matches this dress are pretty much nil, but just having something under works for me.
I also like that this is another mid-calf dress. Wearing swing dresses all the time, I start to forget how much I like this length and how comfortable I am wearing it.
Some actual outfit experiments:
It's chilly out, like 40 degrees currently, so my first thought was to layer a wool dress over. And . . . eh. This is weird. It's the kind of thing I'd do out of desperation during a challenge, but not otherwise. I do like the periwinkle with the grape, but this is not a win, and I will not be wearing it.
Next thought:
Thrifted linen-blend duster cardigan. Actually, this is the kind of thing this dress has really needed, and I didn't have before. The straight line of the dress looks good with the straight line of the cardigan. The dark blue is beautiful with the grape. This is a winner, which I am glad to catalog.
Here in a more finished warm-weather outfit:
I like this a lot (even though I still hadn't combed my hair at this stage). I like the dark shoe with the lighter hem. I like the line of the dark cardigan, though I also think my beige cardigan in the same style and material would work well with this dress. I'd wear this for everyday or to church. It's simple and comfortable, but with some polish.
The problem is, though, that again it's 40F out currently. I'm going to put on a coat to walk the dog in any case, but this is just a little not-warm-enough for today's changeable weather.
So, wool. Enter this thrifted merino cardigan, which I wore day before yesterday. I also really like royal blue/cobalt with the color of this dress. If I button the cardigan, I get this waist definition.
But I think I like it just as well unbuttoned. The cardigan is fairly small, so buttoning it, while possible, is just a bit of a strain. It's still short enough, with enough subtle definition, to be not boxy when unbuttoned.
Polished it up a bit with an extra necklace, and combed my hair for maximum effect:
Polished it up a bit with an extra necklace, and combed my hair for maximum effect:
So, still wearing wool, but for the first time since January, not a whole wool dress. I am glad to rediscover this dress --- it's nice to be able to shop the outbox, though I certainly don't want to reclaim everything out of it. And even though I'm not wearing a wool dress, what I am wearing is a) still all natural fibers (even my underwear, which is bamboo and plant-based modal), and b) 100% thrifted (except my underwear). Cotton is a pretty good choice for a day when I'm not likely to get really sweaty, and it's not raining --- cotton performs all right except when conditions are wet, either in the atmosphere or on your body. It tends to need washing more than other fibers, but for a day like today, it's pretty perfect, especially in combination with wool.
I considered wearing my aqua alpaca cardigan, because I think the color would be beautiful with this dress, but I'm happy enough with what I'm wearing that I don't plan to change again.
Oh oh oh: I've just seen that my Wool& shipment is out for delivery, so this could all change in the twinkling of an eye, but I am really glad to have had time this morning to play with some outfits and reclaim an extra dress that I think has the potential to work hard for me in my wardrobe this summer, at least. AND works well in my Marian-blue scheme for May!
LATER:
Well, my new dress came, and I fear it's a return. I wanted to love it, but the fit is just weird, and I don't think a change in size would help.
As you can see, it's a Sofia, a style I've been looking at for a year now. And so much about it is great. The color is gorgeous, and I love the length. But check the bodice. The armholes are just . . . weird.
The whole bodice really feels too big, but the armholes are a particular problem. This is a medium, my usual size, but I don't think I could size down. The skirt is a good fit, but wouldn't be so good in a small.
It's too bad, because this is otherwise such a pretty dress.
But I think I'd just feel awkward and be fiddling with it all the time. I do a little of that with Fiona and her waist, but somehow it doesn't bug me as much as I think this would bug me. For the money, I really want the bodice to fit.
I also just feel hippier, somehow, in this style --- not as in "like a hippy," but as in "wow, look at my hips here." So back in the package it goes, and back to Wool&. They've already started processing my refund, though I don't have it yet. But I'm thinking, thinking, thinking . . . what else might I want? I need to remind myself which other dresses I've been looking at with longing.
Kind of glad I did get the purple dress back out of the outbox. Looks like I might be wearing it more than I thought I would.
As it happens, I think it might look good with my jean jacket for Pub Date Night.
I mean, yeah.
Yeah.
YEAH.