The year is creeping to its close, but so beautifully. The Virginia Blue Ridge is a fairyland of autumn color right now --- I was wishing, as I drove the Blue Ridge Parkway going home yesterday afternoon, that I could simultaneously drive and take photographs as I rounded each bend in the road. I couldn't, of course, and didn't try. Instead I just looked as much as I could at that beauty which will be stripped bare so soon.
I did stop at Otter Creek, however, and take these shots of leaves reflected in the quiet water. This was one of the few overlooks not crowded with cars and people, which was why I stopped there and not many other places. I pulled off a few times just to get a good look across the valleys, peaks, and ridges, without driving off the road, but didn't get out again.
So I followed a meandering route home, which serendipitously circumvented a lot of stopped traffic on I-85. I drove the Parkway from just outside Buena Vista, Virginia, to the junction with Virginia Highway 8, which if you keep going south on it eventually lands you in Winston-Salem, North Carolina: the right state, but a good bit east of where I wanted to be. The only reason I got off at that particular junction was that I knew I'd need to get gas at some point, and I wanted to give myself plenty of margin for finding a station in the country (Woolwine, Virginia, for the win).
For some time I wound through the country highways, unable to pick up a GPS signal, but knowing that as long as I went south, I'd be basically all right. Even ending up in Winston-Salem would not have been the end of the world, though I wanted not to have to drive two hours west on I-40 to get home. Eventually I did get a signal, and the GPS sent me west on a state route toward Mount Airy, North Carolina (hometown of the late actor Andy Griffith, inspiration for the early-1960s Andy Griffith Show). Past Mount Airy I was able to pick up the interstate again --- not that I really wanted to take the interstate, but it was starting to get dark, and I was feeling impatient to get home.
In the morning I went to Mass with my friend Carla and her family, and what I wore for that was my outfit for the day:
Basically this was a repeat of Friday's outfit, but with the blue merino cardigan instead of the green merino-blend pullover. Willow again, for . . . let's see . . . Day 11 of this challenge that I'm maybe doing and maybe not.
Home today, and feeling predictably wiped out, but with a lot of work to do, because one thing I came home to was news that my 90-year-old aunt has died (she was 90, she had leukemia, this is not a shock, though of course I loved her and am sad), so we're going to Memphis --- again! both of us this time! --- on Wednesday, probably to stay until Saturday so that my husband can see his mother, a prospect that doesn't fill me with the anticipation that it ordinarily would, because I just got home. But anyway. There it is. She was my mother's one surviving sibling, so I imagine that for my mother, as matter-of-fact as she sounds on the phone, this is a huge shift in her reality.
At least my travel wardrobe can be simple. I guess I'll take my black ensemble for the funeral (with boots or heels, obviously, instead of sandals), in some tiny Episcopal church in the country. Otherwise I'll just wear Willow. I'll sleep in her Thursday night, I guess, to get the hours in, since I'll be that much farther into this challenge that I'm maybe or maybe not doing.
Meanwhile, today:
Willow again! This is Day 12, for what it's worth. Pretty Team Basic, with soft striped bamboo leggings and my good old Birk Rosemeads. I want to go get my hair cut, either today or tomorrow --- I meant to do it last week and ran out of time. Feeling really wilted and faded and all out of shape today, so maybe a haircut will help.
My dress is a real lift, though. This color might be my favorite teal of all --- who can say? I continue to love this neckline, too. As tempted as I am by the Iris Blue Rowena, I really don't think I want that style . . . it's lovely on so many people, but I prefer this more open neckline (and hope they make many more dresses in that gorgeous shade of purply-blue, because I might be tempted to do another 30-day in Lent . . . assuming that this thing I'm doing now really becomes a 30-day). Anyway. I'm tired and out of sorts today, and a soft, cozy, easy dress provides a bit of balm.
I'll put on a cardigan or pullover to walk the dog, and maybe boots, too, because it's 44F outside right now. The high today is 70F, quite pleasant.
Here's the ready-to-walk variation, which can be stripped down again as the day warms up:
I've had this thrifted pullover for more years than I can say. The heavy cotton knit makes it a nice transitional piece, adding some weight and insulation without being too hot. I swapped out my Birk Rosemeads for these Birk Melrose boots, with hidden (totally unmatching) socks. I love having tall boots that are actually as good to walk in as my hiking boots, if not better --- the suede is so soft and pliable that these are even better for the bunion than the leather hikers. At any rate, I can wear them comfortably with thicker socks, which will be a major plus in the winter.
Again, I'm sure I'll strip this down again to the more basic outfit once the day warms up, but for now I'm very cozy and ready to step outside.