Late autumn in the ravine behind the gym, yesterday afternoon when I was walking with Dora. Late autumn it may be, but the temperatures continue in the mid-70s at the height of the day. I really can't find it in me to complain, either. Yes, a little frosty weather would be nice. On the other hand, it's pleasant not to have to bundle up just to haul the laundry out of the dryer or take a turn about the neighborhood with the dog.
The college kids come home tonight, so today I'm cleaning house --- a proposition that makes me laugh a little, since it's not going to stay clean, but anyway. I think I'll just keep on the old dress I slept in to do all that, then emerge from my chrysalis when it's done.
Not much else to report. I'm happy that the past week is put to bed, with all the work it entailed. This autumn has felt so frenetic, although to anyone with an actual full-time job, I probably sound like a laugh a minute saying so. Still --- it's been a lot of projects, all of them involving a lot of mental energy. And after years of doing my own thing, on my own loose timelines, all these deadlines come as a shock to the system. They just do. Part of me enjoys these things, and part of me thinks, like Goldie Hawn in Private Benjamin, "I want to go out to lunch. I want to wear sandals!"Anyway, now I mostly can. I still have Sun pieces to write on the regular, but those don't take nearly as much of my time and energy as they used to. And I still have this MFA thesis to reread, but again . . . the writer needs it back, to finish it off for her thesis defense, so I can't spend years over it. I've simply got to identify what large issues might remain, and then mention them. I can probably do that over Thanksgiving week. The main thing is that I don't have that much else to do. Cooking, yes. And I'll hang out with the kids a good bit --- to which I'm looking forward, more than anything else. But no other big projects looming for the entire rest of the semester. That's a relief.
Finishing my coffee now, but in a minute I'll go and make myself somewhat presentable in my green Sierra, which has become my favorite regular nightgown. I'll take a photo so you can see how stretched out this dress has become. She began as a small long, two years ago. Dora was new to me then, too. Now . . . well, Dora has improved on long acquaintance, but this dress . . . again, has developed some pilling all of a sudden, which I think must be a function of my usually wearing it with a belt. And it's been a long time since I washed it. This has become something of an experiment, to see how long it will stretch out. Anyway, I'll wear an apron to clean, but I don't mind so much getting good old Sierra messed up. If anything really catastrophic happens, I can always redye her. It's nice to have one dress like that . . . maybe two, if I count Camellia, who will remain my favorite hiking dress until she falls apart.
If I got another of this dress, which I'm not necessarily sure that I ever would, to be honest (but I also don't know that I wouldn't), I definitely would not get another long length.
Looking at this, I'm not sure it's objectively any longer than it was to begin with, but it sure feels like a lot of fabric, in a way that I don't think it initially did. And I don't think I've lost weight or inches. I haven't weighed myself in weeks, but although I do walk a lot and work out gently with weights, I don't think I'm a significantly different size from the size I was two years ago.
Maybe this just was always a lot of dress. I don't know.
And then there's the pilling issue, which I think you maybe can see in this not-great shot:
It's there, down at the bottom of the photo --- not insignificant pilling, which I think my favorite leather double-wrap belt must have caused. Bummer, because I like that belt, and I like this dress belted, but now I know to be careful with other dresses.
In the meantime, I love sleeping in this dress, and I like being able to wear her to knock around. I can be slouching about the house, or walking the dog, and still look borderline presentable.
So this is not really my outfit for the day, just clothes I'm wearing right now, to do stuff.
More later, maybe.
LATER:
I'm calling this one "Interior With Half-Made Bed and Folded Laundry." The bedspread and blankets are out drying in the sun, but new sheets are on --- and other laundry has been washed, dried, and folded (and since I took the photo, put away, which is always the hardest step).
I have also cleaned the upstairs bathroom, which I don't generally use, but someone else does . . . and no comment on that, ladies and gentlemen of the press, thank you so much.
LATER STILL:
I think I'll wash Sierra here in a bit, because she is awfully dusty and has been slept in a lot. But in the meantime, I have washed myself and put on a favorite dress.
The kids get in around 9 p.m., so the husband has proposed going out to dinner in the direction of the airport (which is an hour away, give or take, depending on traffic), and I will probably put on tights and boots or Birk Papillios for the evening. But it's warm and lovely out right now --- I've been lounging on the front-porch swing talking to the Texasgirl on the phone --- and the house is clean, and I feel happy and comfortable and on good terms with all the world.
Also, I adore this dress. This dress is the one for which total strangers have stopped me on the greenway trail, just so that they could tell me how gorgeous I look. Or, well, that my dress is gorgeous, which is not exactly the same thing, but either way, I'll take it.
AND FOR IMPROMPTU DATE NIGHT:
Same dress, yesterday's tights, Birk Papillios. Really just going to meet our kids at the airport, but why not have fun, and why not look fun?