My one real spray of dogwood blooms --- catching it while I can. We're having cloudy weather, warm though not as warm as it has been: high of 73F today, not 83. Other places in the South have been hit with severe storms, but here I think we might just get some rain.
My plan today is as usual: work, walk the dog, think about what's for dinner. I also need to do some poem planning for the Substack, because after this week, the schedule is pretty blank.
Still reading Emily Dickinson's letters (and will be, I expect, all spring): as of now she's just turned 16, still writing to her friend Abiah, not in school this term though she would like to be, but her mother thinks she needs more exercise and time outside, so she's taking music lessons, attending a German recitation class (her father says it's an excellent opportunity to learn the language), and tending her plants through the winter. Her friend Hatty Merrill hasn't written to her in a long time. Etc.
Wearing:
*Secondhand Christopher & Bank linen-cotton-blend skirt, bought summer 2023
*Secondhand Birkenstock Bali sandals, bought February 2023
All thrifted/secondhand today. For clarification, "thrifted" means I bought it in an actual, physical, local thrift store (in the case of this shirt, Goodwill). "Secondhand" means I bought it on Poshmark or Ebay, in the understanding that it was pre-owned. That's a fine distinction, I guess, but it does seem like a distinction. I do a lot more shopping online these days, mostly via Poshmark, simply because I can search for the category I want and target what I'm looking for, rather than having to spend an afternoon pawing through racks. I used to enjoy the search in the store, but I don't so much anymore --- mostly because the kinds of things I'm looking for, in natural fibers and particular colors, are hard to find locally. I do include tencel/lyocell in my stable of fibers --- I definitely prefer this kind of fabric to polyester or acrylic --- and did get lucky the day I went shopping with all the girls after Christmas, finding both this shirt and my purple linen button shirt.
Anyway, totally different energy from yesterday's outfit, but I like it. The shirt is marvelously soft, and the spring green feels so fresh and nice. I like this long, straighter skirt, too. As always, I'm trying to wear my whole closet, working my way through clothes I haven't worn so much owing to Lent and colder weather, but maybe won't wear as much once the weather gets really hot. This skirt was a good addition (and I'm glad I hung onto it, even though when I first bought it it was too tight), because as a very simple, straight-lined neutral piece, it will allow me to wear every shirt in my collection. I haven't been much of a separates person in the last couple of years, mostly because I didn't have separates that went together very well, and my outfits were often quite odd. I look back at photos from three or four years ago and cringe to think that I wore those combinations out in public. Weeding things out and judiciously adding things back in has allowed me, over time, to develop a little more coordinated collection that works together better without being weird. A lot of this is a function of more targeted online secondhand shopping, rather than taking potluck at the thrift store. I feel a lot less weird, a lot more together, than I used to, even when I'm not wearing a dress.
Simple updo hair, to get one more day out of it before washing again:
I just did a "topsy tail" ponytail, stuffing the ends inside without pulling them all the way through, and clipped the top together to hold it. This is a much easier updo to achieve with shoulder-length hair or slightly shorter than it is with long hair. Wearing the moonstone and citrine (I think) earrings my husband gave me for Christmas --- they're perfect spring earrings, and nice with this green shirt.
And weirdly enough, once again, the work won't do itself . . .