Morning kitchen, late July.
Not much on today, just the usual work and walking. I need to write an essay on Francis Quarles, English poet (1592--1644), and to peg away at this copy-editing, due toward the end of the week. I need to pick a headshot and write a one-line author bio for a very tiny poem appearing in next month's online edition of Ekstasis. And there are always emails to answer, which I need to do before they slip down the page and out of my mind entirely.
There's probably also some laundry that needs folding and putting away. When is there not?
High today is 93F, with 87% humidity, which is getting into Houston territory. So much for the dearest freshness deep down things. We're going to the mountains on Thursday to hike, though, which gives me a little jolt of looking-forward-to.
Speaking of looking-forward-to, I now have two little batches of Dharma dye on the way, and am looking forward to transforming some clothes. This seems to be the time of year when the heart cries out, not necessarily for something new, but for something that looks different. I have to think carefully about how I'm going to do the 100% merino leggings, because I want them to be still wearable, i.e. not felted and sized for a 5-year-old, when I'm done with them. The other thing I'm not so worried about, because it's territory I've been over before, and I've already seen how that item stands up to a certain level of abuse.
Possibly that will be a weekend endeavor, or something for early next week, depending on how long it takes things to get here.
It's nice to anticipate the coming of fall: I need to schedule these classes I'm teaching to record (I also need to plan the actual classes), and also Marly will be in North Carolina in September, so I want to set out a good block of time to go visit her in the mountains. Then the Texasgirl's best friend from middle school --- who spent years more or less living in our house before we moved to North Carolina --- is getting married in Memphis the first of October, and I at least want to try to be there. So possibly I'll do another fairly major jaunt and go to Dallas as well --- Texasgirl's book club is going to do Works of Mercy at some point, and I said I'd come for that.
It's a lot easier to contemplate all this because I don't also have to drive the younger set to and from school. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to not having to do that. The Chevy seems to be running fine, and our son-in-law's sister is coming back this way from her summer on the organic farm in Maine, and they're all going to caravan together back to Dallas, a thing I need to remember to tell my mother before they all turn up on her doorstep in Memphis, en route. That's less than a month away, which is hard to fathom. The Artgirl says she's ready to get back and down to her work again in the art village. And I imagine the Viking Son will have had enough of the newspaper print room by then, too, if he hasn't already.
But here we are, in the now. Wearing today:
Putting Fiona to the heat test again, for her third July wear. No, I haven't worn her as much this month as some other dresses, but I have certainly worn her, even in the depths of the summer, which comes as a surprise to me. She's just a remarkably satisfying dress to wear, a thing I didn't expect at all when I ordered her, way back last fall when I had some money to burn for my birthday. I'd never considered buying a Fiona, when suddenly, there I was considering it.
And I just love her.
I've been startled by how much I love this dress. I had thought that this was a design that went wrong in all kinds of ways. At the time, at least, the images on the company's website weren't that encouraging. I'm not sure what made me think that the dress itself might be better than the representation of the dress, but I am glad I thought that and took the gamble.
So today here she is in Team Basic form, with the battered Birk Floridas for company. I honestly love her this way more than just about any other way, though I am looking forward to pairing my new Birk boots with her in cold weather. She's just so comfortable and easy, and the color is always a lift.
Day 3 hair, damp-refreshed with a little gel, with one side twisted back and secured with an Invisibobble Waver clip. Kind of a vaguely 40s look, to get at least one more day out of Sunday's wash.
And now it's time to spring Prozac Dog from her crate, give her her pill, and take her out walking before the heat really gets going.
NOON BREAK:
Back from our 2-mile walk, and I didn't die. I was pretty warm, but then it just is warm out there, and I'm not sure I was any hotter in Fiona than I would have been in anything else. Now that I'm back in, I feel cool and fresh, so overall, that seems like a win.
Also considering throwing another pair of leggings in with my spruce dye job. I just revisited the Facebook post where I'd seen the redyed Sierra (and yes, that's what I plan to do) and reminded myself of how pretty I think the color is --- and I think I might do my marble-patterned bamboo leggings, too. I might leave them in less long, so that the pattern will show through, but I am considering that I might actually enjoy them more, and like them more with the rest of my clothes, if they weren't so white. Looking back over my winter outfits, I see that my favorite leggings outfits, consistently, involved a pretty close match between my dress color and my leggings color: marine-blue Maggie with navy leggings, for example. There's always the danger of being too matchy --- it comes off as a little too safe or boring, but also can work to distract your eye from interesting outfit elements, if those elements repeat their colors in other places. BUT I think that too much contrast, or too many colors in a scheme, can make the whole thing look disjointed and off. That's one place where a lot of my winter outfits have gone awry in the last couple of seasons.
So I am thinking in terms of making more tonal outfits --- not monochrome, but arrays of colors that are closer to each other, or have softly muted levels of contrast, with maybe one standout color: a red cardigan, for example, on an outfit that's otherwise mostly gray or green or blue. At the same time, I want the tones themselves to be in colors I really love: blues, greens, teals, purples. AND there are combinations I know I like, even when they involve contrasts: blues with purples, especially, but also reds with various other colors.
I also find that my least favorite outfits from last winter involve pale legs (including my own winter skin . . .). I've already cut up my old light-gray cotton leggings to be bike shorts, so that I will never again be tempted to wear them as leggings. Now I think I'm also going to transform the marbled leggings into something darker. They're soft and comfortable, and I love the idea of them, but I just have not loved how they actually look on my body. The main thing I liked wearing them with this past winter was my gray Sierra, because they gave a lot of gray-on-gray. Now Sierra is set to undergo a big change. As much as I like gray, I think I will love this darker blue-green year-round: close to the color of my Brooklyn, but more heathered, dyed over the original charcoal-heather, on the wool terry fabric. So now I could see enjoying an outfit that layers that color over another iteration of itself, with another subtle pattern. I could also see enjoying a blue-green Sierra with sapphire-blue patterned leggings, which I hope is what my Nordic merino leggings, bought for Norway but not worn there, will achieve. I am a little worried about the dyeing process for those, since they are all wool . . . I will have to be really careful, as I've said before. I'd rather err on the side of the dye's not taking as thoroughly, than err on the side of tiny felted elf pants.
Anyway, this is all in the works. The blue dye should get here first, so that will be the initial project. Again, fingers crossed. No tiny felted elf pants!
ALSO, DONE TODAY SO FAR:
*one short essay on Francis Quarles
*a calendar of poets' birthdays from the end of August to the end of December, with some poems linked so we don't have to spend time in our next meeting hunting things down
On to the next stuff I said I was going to do today. Tomorrow I have an appointment (nothing serious) that will likely eat the whole day, so I'm trying to make as much hay now as I possibly can.
LATER:
*Have sent the headshot and bio. Go me.
*Have copy-edited about 20 pages and am giving my eyes a break. Go me.
*Have folded and put away laundry, then pulled towels out of the upstairs laundry to wash (so people won't start sneaking my towels of out my bathroom). Go me.
*Have picked tomatoes, peppers, and an eggplant. It's just the old married folks for dinner tonight, so I think we'll have a cold bean salad with tomato and pepper, plus some fried eggplant. Go me.
BEDTIME UPDATE:
Sitting up with the dog while she goes to sleep, because apparently I am that person.
Walked 3.93 miles. So close to 4! So close to 10K steps, but not quite. But . . . it was hot.
Thinking about Poshmarking/reposhing items in my closet to streamline my wardrobe more. Do I really need those merino tees? I love my long-sleeved rose-pink one and will keep it, but the short-sleeved ones? The merino tanks? I know I think I don't want them because I'm not wearing them now, because . . . hot. So I'm going to sit on this idea. But I think I would like to compress things a bit more. And I think I'd wear crop tops more readily --- I really like those Kosher Casuals ones that I have, even if they aren't wool, linen, cotton, or bamboo. They serve me well, and I think I might like to have more of those, and to move along tees that aren't serving me as well as layers. BUT again, I'll sleep on that idea, probably multiple times, before I list anything for sale.
And now I think the dog is settled, so I'm going to go to bed.