Another gratuitous blackberry shot.
Today: laundry: all the things I'm going to pack tomorrow. All the dresses that haven't already had a wash are getting a little preparatory bath. Wearing only clothes that aren't going on this trip. Good thing I wasn't planning to take everything I own.
Otherwise, going to take a good walk --- yesterday was roughly a 4-mile day, though I wasn't measuring too closely, since Sundays are supposedly rest days.
In other news, I have a little poem up today at Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, one of my favorite venues.
Wearing:
Maggie B isn't going to Norway, so she's on today for a first June wearing. Team Basic with thrifted Birkenstocks and claw-clip updo/ponytail hair.
I tried this morning to capture several angles, to give myself a clear mental image of what this dress looks like on my body.
I'm bemused and a little saddened by the way women sometimes talk about these swing dresses. Frumpy is a word I hear a lot. Sacklike. Shapeless. My husband hates this dress.
I always wonder: what were you wearing before? I guess for a lot of women the answer is jeans. It was for me, too. (And let me tell you what made me feel frumpy and shapeless . . .). And also: for whom, exactly, are you getting dressed?
Mind you, I do want to please my husband. I am happy when he expresses admiration for me. What he mostly says these days is that he likes seeing me look nice in my dresses. I think the idea --- what he means by look nice --- is something like this:
*I look distinctly, and I guess traditionally, feminine in dresses. This doesn't preclude walking up a mountain or hauling rocks around the backyard; it doesn't mean that I've become some passive little flower. I just look womanly, in all the strong, good senses of that word.
*I look as though I care about how I look, and have tried to look nice. This is true. I do care. I have tried. I'm not going to spend all day trying, and I'm not going to make myself uncomfortable in trying, but yes, I do like to look nice, and that's a decision I make daily, because I respect myself.
*Maybe I look as though I respect myself should be its own line item. I think that's true, and I think it's important to him that it be true: that I respect myself as a woman.
Anyway, I don't know who all these husbands are who don't like their wives in nice flowy swingy comfortable little dresses, or what they expect, but I'm grateful for mine.
Meanwhile, maybe it's just that I was never going to wear a bodycon dress anyway, but I love how this dress looks. I'm grateful for the skim and swing, which feel a lot more flattering to me than something clingier or more revealing would be. If it does leave much to the imagination, well: that's fine. Among other advantages, I feel a lot slimmer this way than I would in a dress that clung to everything and showed it off.
So I feel nice, I feel dressed, I feel as though I tried, although I really only tried for about a nanosecond before I was dressed and ready to roll. My other dresses are in the wash and about to come out to hang dry on the rack. My husband is laying all his packing out on the dining-room table, and I'm about to go in there and say, "Don't take that synthetic workout shirt. Or that one. Or that one."
I can probably get in some good micromanagement before I walk the dog.
Here again is my fairly settled travel capsule:
I did decide to add Maggie T back in, because she'll fit handily, and I'll probably be glad to have her. Just imagine that she takes the place of my Camellia, next to the green pullover at top row right, because I'll be wearing Camellia on the plane, with those red leggings, socks and hiking boots. Underwear and socks are in a zipped bag, and include my cashmere-blend tank for an under-layer. The green pullover will be in my purse, with my pashmina. Everything else: in the backpack.
But first I've got to hang it all to dry.
PACKING UPDATE:
I have actually packed, as in they're in the pack and not coming out till I need them in Norway:
*a socks/underwear bag including 6 pairs modal bike-short undies, 3 bralettes (merino, bamboo, Pact cotton) with pads to insert, Kosher Casual teal crop top, cashmere/silk/merino base-layer tank, 6 pairs wool socks. We will have access to laundry/hand-washing, especially as we're staying more than one night in each of our Air Bnb locations, so I plan to hand-wash undies more or less as I wear them.
*bag with 3 pairs leggings: navy merino/tencel/lyocell blend, nordic-patterned merino, AND (a last-minute inclusion) teal striped bamboo/cotton --- plus room for dresses (Fiona, Brooklyn, Maggie T, all drying on the rack right now after a wash).
*Gore-Tex LL Bean coat (bought from Poshmark, and I haven't modeled or photographed it, but it's kind of slate-blue, not padded but lined, quite substantial, with hood, a good outer layer over wool layers), in back pocket in inner backpack compartment.
*knit hat and mittens
*Xero Jessie sandals, Xero Cassie Mary Janes (smashed flat in shoe pocket) --- I could MAYBE smash in my Xero Colorados, too, for another waterproof sandal-hybrid option. UPDATE: I did smash in the Xero Colorados for another waterproof sandal-hybrid option. They're so small and light that I figured, why not? And they don't read as summery as the Jessie sandals, so could be good in situations where I want something lighter than hikers, but not totally sandal-like. Now also pondering whether I can squish the Tari boots in somewhere after all . . . it's good to have shoe options . . .
*quart ziploc bag with shampoo, hair serum, gel, eye drops, lotion, toothpaste, and hand sanitizer (for refreshing clothes as much as anything else)
Still plenty of room for my laptop in the back laptop pocket and an empty but fillable water bottle in the water-bottle pocket.
Oh, also, my daypack is in the larger pack, with my underwear and clothing bags inside it. I can take it out to hold layers, snacks, and so on, when we're out on day trips.
In my purse:
*zipped laundry bag holding pullover, cardigan, pashmina for easy access in the airport and on the plane.
*belt pack holding wallet, passport, etc. --- basically functioning as my wallet while I'm carrying a purse.
*little zip bag with with hair ties and clips, plus a tiny bag with earrings in case I get bored with the ones I'm wearing.
*book (Jane Scharl's Sonnez Les Matines, which I need to finish and think about, because I'm writing an essay on it, fortunately not due till mid-October)
*room for my Kindle (i.e., a million more books)
*comb
*case with extra glasses
So basically I just need for my dresses to dry, and then I'll roll them small and put them in the bag with the leggings. I've hung the dress and leggings I plan to travel in out to air, and put the clean socks I plan to wear with my hiking boots in my boots, so I can find them Wednesday morning without having to think.
Dora and I walked about 2.35 miles this morning --- I slept well, but am feeling pretty tired for some reason.
EVENING UPDATE:
Shifting a few things in the pack and thought I'd take a picture of my coat, since I haven't done that yet.
As you can see, it's not a heavy, parka-type coat. But it is lined, so significantly more substantial than a rain slicker, and should be good for cutting wind as well as keeping dry. With layers under, it should serve me well in varying weather conditions on this trip and beyond.
I'm just about packed --- waiting for the three dresses I washed to finish drying, but I think I've got it all sorted out. The coat will actually go in the top of my pack, where I can pull it out easily if I need to.
I also took out the Colorado sandals and squashed in the Tari boots instead.