Cozy morning kitchen on a dank day. Sometime in the small hours I woke to the sound of rain --- very welcome, especially as I was warmly tucked up in bed with hours yet to sleep. This morning we've continued to have rain in fits and starts, as I think we will all day, and temperatures that will undoubtedly feel chillier than they are.
Today's agenda:
*bundle up in a bit to walk the dog
*write another Sun essay
*make my final shopping list for Thanksgiving, so that I can send the Artgirl to the supermarket
*Contemplate what I'm going to need to cook
*Make some kind of supper for tonight, eventually
Dora has eaten all the leaves off my basil, there in the big pot on the kitchen counter. She jumped right up and grazed until there was nothing left but stems. We'll see if they produce more leaves, or if what I really need to do is add "potted basil" and maybe "potted cilantro" to the grocery list. That pot's so big that I could really have a more varied indoor herb garden happening there, and that might be a good move. It would look prettier, at any rate, than the chewed stems currently on display.
Dora: our ambassador for the joys of dog ownership since 2021.
Anyway. I've bathed and washed my hair, which I've decided to let air dry because why bother when it's raining, and put on clothes.
My fashion goal for this dank November Tuesday: maximum coziness, dry feet. Away with the stylish boots! It was for days like this that hiking boots were made. Wearing my wisteria Willow swing dress, thrifted alpaca cardigan, thrifted Allbirds merino-blend leggings, Darn Tough Socks (not seen), thrifted Birkenstock Jackson hiking boots, and a scarf my mother made me so many years ago that I can't even remember where I lived when she made it. It's mohair and satin ribbon, and that kind of thing was big in the 90s, so maybe it's that old? I'm not sure. I'm trying to branch out in the accessories I wear, and really wear what I own, and today my eye fell on this scarf as a good blend with the colors I'm wearing. It's also nice and warm, and I hope will keep the cold air off my neck while I'm walking the dog.
Wet hair, don't care, as they say.
Also good to start the day with a little balance exercise. I can really put my foot on my thigh, but it's harder with boots on. I've discovered that while I won't stop my whole day to work out for a straight half-hour, I will intersperse various kinds of workouts into the flow of the day --- two minutes of balancing here, five minutes of weights for the upper body there, another five minutes of glutes or core . . . My way might not be the most effective for fast results, but it's better than no way, which would be the other alternative.
And it always involves several brisk walks daily, of varying durations. Shortly I shall embark on one of these walks, clad in wool and jacketed against the rain.
LATER:
Back from a brisk 2+ miles in the rain --- my thrifted Gore-Tex jacket, bought for Norway but not worn much there, kept me quite dry and warm, with the layers I was wearing underneath. It's not cold-cold, but it is wet and a bit raw, so I was grateful to be zipped up cozily (my word for the day, obviously) and waterproofed. Feet stayed dry in boots, legs stayed warm in merino-blend leggings. Let me again sing the praises of these Allbirds leggings . . . they're the absolute best.
Now I'm making blueberry baked oatmeal for a very belated breakfast --- drank some kefir already, and will have some more with my baked oatmeal when it's done. Have seen the Viking Son but not the Artgirl today. She says that her friends are having a "Friendsgiving" dinner today or tonight, not sure which, so she'll be out, but he has been around quite a lot. His hometown friend group seems to have scattered and are not currently keeping in touch, as it appears, so he is (I think really honestly) enjoying some downtime. His life at school is nonstop friends and action, so to come home, fall into bed, and sleep the sleep of the righteous for hours and hours is kind of a gift. At any rate, he seems perfectly content, and it's nice to have him around so much.
The rain is coming down again, but it's lovely here in the warm kitchen with the oven on and the smell of something baking.
EVENING UPDATE:
The husband got home around 7, and we had chili with chips I made out of Lavash flatbreads, cut into triangles and baked for five minutes on a pizza pan, plus beer and wine. The Artgirl was out, but the Viking was in. Lovely long conversation about theodicy, essentially --- well, the insufficiency, or not, of original sin as an answer for everything that goes wrong in the world. I guess that doesn't sound that lovely, but it was a good conversation.
The husband is now finished with classes for the week, and we are Hanging Out. He still, I think, has exams to grade, though he finished about 40 between 7 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., when he had to leave for school. BUT he doesn't have to do them tomorrow or Thursday. My plan is to send the Artgirl to the store tomorrow for whatever I didn't manage to get in on Friday when I ordered the groceries (some things I forgot; a lot of things Aldi didn't have in stock), and then she and I can cook in a leisurely fashion, since it's just us. How much food do four people need for one holiday dinner? As much food as the cooks feel like cooking, that's how much. The idea is that we cook tomorrow and Thursday, and then don't cook again for the rest of the weekend. We have probably enough chili for tomorrow night --- or chili plus the cajun cream chicken I made last night --- and then it's Leftover City.
I've been happy and comfortable in my clothes all day. Took the scarf off to cook, so it wouldn't be in my way while browning meat, but otherwise have had the same ensemble on all day. I love that --- to put on something that feels nice, makes me feel that I look nice (if not dressed up), and transitions effortlessly through whatever I need to do. In this case, what I needed to do was write an essay on Shakespeare's Sonnet 97, talk to my progeny, and make dinner --- not really a hard slate of activities. I didn't work out, other than walking, because I'd done a good bit of lifting and targeted muscle work yesterday, and then my walk this morning was longer than I'd done in a while. I did also do some little standing crunches and hip-abductor exercises while cooking, because you know, you can choose to do something other than just stand there, but otherwise it was a rest day. Tomorrow I probably will work out with weights again. I like doing it, and the idea that I'm building muscle is addictive. The idea of being physically strong(er) is downright seductive. I'm doing it just a little bit at a time, but it feels so good.
BUT now Dora and I are cocooning in the leather chair. That feels good, too.