On these brilliant almost-autumn days, you consider that in some trees, at least, nature's last green is gold as well. They will turn actually gold once the earth's tilted far enough past the equinox to withdraw the light they feed on, day by day. And then they'll fall, and the redbuds will be full of nothing but sky till they bloom again in the spring.
I started the morning with some fiction writing --- making tiny bits of progress on a new novel, seeing glimmers of where it can go and what it can be about.
My new dress is out for delivery, according to the email I received this morning, but it's not here yet. So in the meantime I'm wearing:
Audrey, though I think I've worn her this week already (on Monday, as it happens, as a "skirt" with a pullover). Today makes a third September wear. Temps are cooler today, with a high of only 78F, and it feels a little chilly in the house, currently, so my "Marly cardigan," this aqua alpaca favorite, is most welcome. I like the soft but definite contrast of the pale aqua on the dark charcoal dress. Also wearing a Kosher Casuals crop top for coverage, and repeating my Birk Madeiras from Monday, too.
Anyway, la-di-da, more flouncing around in front of the bathroom mirror. According to the internet, I am doing this (as women always do) for attention, although if I really wanted attention, I wouldn't post my pictures on a blog. If you want NOT to be noticed by millions of people, write a blog. I say this, actually, unironically, because the idea of being noticed by millions of people every day fills me with utter panic.
On the other hand, who doesn't want attention? Do these men with anonymous Latin Twitter handles, who pronounce on what women are like (whorish attention-seekers, apparently, collecting simps like Beanie Babies) ---- do these men not want attention? If not attention, what is it, actually, that they're after?
Maybe I don't want to know.
Anyway, for whatever reason, here's what I'm wearing today. When the new dress comes, I'll try it on, and I will take pictures, and you, reader, will see them.
NEW DRESS UPDATE:
Sadly, I think this one is a fail. I've already packed it up to return for a store credit.
This is the Norah, which I figured was worth a gamble.
I was torn between a medium and a small --- it's always a roll of the dice how things are going to fit, but so often, given my shape, mediums run large in the bodice, while the skirt of a small usually has enough swing to fit my pear shape. Not so this time, unfortunately. Here, the bodice fits fine. I think I'd have been swimming up top in a medium. But a) the set-in waist is unflatteringly low for me, and b) the skirt isn't swirly enough really to skim my stomach and hips in the way I would want.
This would be a great dress for a far more fit person, with flatter abs. I just don't see myself wearing it. I suppose I could exchange it for a medium, but then I think the waist would be even lower (not good), and the bodice would be saggily large for my relatively small bust and narrow shoulders. Also, while I love longer, swirly dresses, I fear that in a larger size this one would just . . . hang there. It already hits at a fairly unflattering place on my calf, and I'm not sure the extra inch or so that a medium would provide would improve the look.
So, sadly, back she goes. But happily, I have plenty of dresses and will not feel a particular shortage. What I think I'll do is wait until the Talia dress becomes available and try that one, which I think should fit more like a Fiona. Or maybe an Evelyn for the winter, for something completely different? Or maybe I'll just revert to my original plan for a Fiona, since I know how that style fits, and I know I love it.
Anyway, a strikeout. Them's the breaks. I keep wanting a dress in their "cobalt" color (which really isn't cobalt blue as we know it, but a kind of muted royal blue), but it seems not to be in the cards.
PS: I'd hoped that Norah would be my going-out/wedding-guest dress for Memphis next weekend, but not so. Now I'm contemplating which of my other dresses I want to wear to the symphony with my mother and to this wedding. I'm kind of thinking Audrey --- since I'm wearing her today --- might be nice with that lacy wool scarf I dyed bright blue some weeks ago. Like with a brooch to hold the scarf in place over my shoulders and some nicer shoes . . . that could really work. Brooklyn of course is another option for one of those evenings. And the Maggies are always versatile and pretty. But I really haven't dressed up Audrey much, and I think she might come into her own really beautifully for one of these evening events (neither of which is black tie, let me hasten to say --- thank goodness!).
Meanwhile, I've finished my last Sun essay for the week and am about to take the dog to the vet for some bloodwork, so they can represcribe her puppy Prozac.