Desktop still-life, and the morning sun in my eyes. Chickadees at the feeder, here and gone so quickly you have to be looking --- they're not lingerers over breakfast. I'm watching to see if the bluebirds come back, those birds of surprise. Not long ago I was out walking when a pair of them flew across my path. Nondescript, fat, dark, they might have been any little birds in the cold. But then they hit a shaft of sunlight and the male's blue blazed out, pure and perfect, vivid and startling, enough to make you want to take your shoes off in the presence, except it was over so fast, and the day was freezing.
Today's weather: high of 57F, not bad. The nights have been cold, in the 20s, but it's good weather for walking in the dark, with your coat zipped up and some layers on under.
In news of the trivial (I know, I know, this whole blog is News of the Trivial), as my hair grows and I have no immediate plans to cut it, I've been paying attention to tutorials for updos --- things to do with hair that isn't that long, but needs something done with it, especially on days when it doesn't get washed. There's this, for example, which mine still isn't quite long enough to do, or has too many layers that haven't grown out enough (next haircut: NO LAYERS). But it's a good idea to keep in mind. This one I can kind of do already and have done in the past --- it's an updo that works better, actually, when you don't have a whole lot of long hair. Basically I want a way to get my hair out of my face and dealt with, but to look better --- and more mature, I guess? --- than a default ponytail.
When I do get it cut again, incidentally, I think I'm just going to ask for this, but no texturizing: a basic blunt bob that I can then grow out for six months. Maybe a little layering in the back for shape, but not much at all. The thing I have hated the most about my last haircut, in October, was the short layering the stylist gave me --- I haven't liked the shape especially, and the layers are hard to make look right, even now. I mean, it wasn't awful, and I haven't lost sleep over it, but I definitely have notes about what not to do next time. Of course, I get these cheap Great Clips haircuts, and the stylists have one technique for any given haircut, so it's always a crapshoot what you're going to end up with, but whatever. Usually I am at least not unhappy with the outcome.
In fact, usually I'm happy enough, and it's all fine. In all the years I've been getting my hair cut at that exact Great Clips, I've had one really bad haircut (in 2010, as it happens). The woman clearly knew how to do one thing --- it was her own hairstyle, and I should have known, but of course I didn't until it was too late. I know a lot more now about how my hair behaves (top layers are curlier, underlayers are straighter) and can be a little more directive, which some stylists appreciate and others --- mostly the ones who know how to do one thing and are going to do it no matter what you say --- do not. But them's the breaks.
I guess I could go to the nice stylist down the street --- I have had my hair cut there a couple of times, and she's very sweet and does a good job, and given how seldom I get my hair cut, the price is not bad. It's not Great Clips cheap, but every 4-6 months I can spring for it. BUT you have to make an appointment, and I hate making appointments. Usually I just get up in the morning and go, CUT IT ALL OFF, and that's how I get my hair cut.
Anyway, as I said: News of the Trivial. Maybe that's what I'll call this blog once I turn 60 and am out of the Eff Years forever.
Wearing today:
*Wool& Audrey dress (S) in Black Heather, bought November 2022
*Secondhand Chicos purple linen shirt (Size 2 in their weird sizing system), bought January 2024
*Snag merino tights in Silver Lining, bought fall 2021, feet cut off
*Darn Tough Socks, bought summer 2023
*Secondhand Birkenstock Melrose boots in Graphite, bought summer 2023
I was going to belt this shirt, because I always think that's going to be objectively more flattering than wearing it loose. But then --- and that might be true, that it's objectively more flattering to wear a belt, but anyway I took it off again. Something about it bugged me. So here we are.
My husband is going to come downstairs and tell me how much he likes this outfit. I feel it in my bones that he is. But I also like this outfit. I like big slouchy linen shirts and long flowy skirts. I kind of feel that this sort of outfit looks better on tall, thin, angular women, but I like it anyway. Pajamas-as-daywear is a vibe I can settle into, especially on a Monday morning, in a week when I have a lot to do and might be going out of town for a few days (to see Marly, who's down this way right now but not feeling well and very taken up with family affairs, so my possible visit is a play-by-ear situation).
I want to make some headway on this book review, as well as knock out a few essays for upcoming issues of the Substack. There's always housework to do: I did a good bit of laundry over the weekend, but still have a load to fold, a load to dry, and another load to put in. AND at some point I really need to clean the upstairs linen closet, which is a complete wreck. I notice this especially as I'm starting to cart full-size sheet sets, which we used on our former bed, up to that closet for use on the two full-size beds up there. When the kids moved out, I cleaned and purged and organized that closet, so that I could lay my hand on anything I needed without having to dig for it, but now . . . ayayay. It makes me want to leave home. If anybody has a magic bullet for making other sentient adults see and comply with a clear system of organization, please drop it in the mail to me. Please, Obi-wan Kenobi. You're my only hope.
Meanwhile, making use of a claw clip today, though not following any particular hair tutorial. I just kind of folded it up and clipped it, and here we are.
AFTERNOON UPDATE:
It's been a productive day thus far. I have:
*drafted most of a Substack essay for Longfellow's birthday next week
*drafted about half my book review
*washed out a plastic jug to use for another round of cold-sowing (just found a pack of oak-leaf lettuce seeds which I don't seem to have opened last year)
*made the bed
*taken the dog out in the sunshine
*eaten two hardboiled eggs for lunch and drunk a lot of water
I think shortly I'll do a workout, then start giving some thought to dinner.