Beautiful blueberries in the rain-wet garden this morning. It's another overcast, showery day right now, though I think the sun is supposed to come out later. We have not had the intense storm activity that states to the west of us have had, but last night, when we went out to walk the dog, the high-atmosphere lightning was dramatic and constant to the east of us, and after we went to bed, it rained hard. I do look forward to a little sunshine, but the rain has made everything vibrant with life, and I'll miss that later on, when the hot dry summer sets in for real.
Last night I found a little moth on my clothes on the drying rack. I don't know that it was a clothes moth, but I also don't know that it wasn't, so I bundled up all the wool on that rack and put it in the deep freeze, to stay for the rest of the week. My dresses and sweaters in the closet I put in the dryer for two high-heat cycles, which should also kill any possible eggs. I haven't seen any moths in my pheremone traps, but you can't be too careful.
Linen it is today.
Wearing:
*Secondhand Not Perfect Linen Leila dress (M/L) in Chocolate Brown, bought November or December 2023
*Very old thrifted Pierre Cardin crocheted cotton cardigan --- no idea when I bought this. Maybe not as long ago as ten years, but possibly as long ago as eight. I can remember wearing it to the Artgirl's Irish dance performances fairly early in her dancing life (a former life, she would probably call it, but really, those were fun days, and her most enduring longtime friendships have come from her years of dance). Anyway, I've had this cardigan a long, long time.
*Xero Jessie sandals, bought March or April 2023.
Nothing like a twirly fit-and-flare dress to liven up a Tuesday, right? And I haven't worn this cardigan in a really long time. The dress I last wore April 24, which I think is the last time I also wore these sandals. So, wearing the whole closet, working my gradual way through all the clothes I own that are appropriate for the current season and weather. I have been wanting to wear this cardigan with this dress, because I thought I'd enjoy the soft periwinkle against the equally soft, washed brown.
This just feels like a nice, gentle contrast that suits my low-key demeanor. The cardigan would be better if it were shorter, like a shrug, but oh well. It is a cardigan I have, and I like that it adds interest and pattern without adding a lot of weight. Today's high is 85F --- a swampy 85F, given how wet everything is. This airy crochet is a good choice for a top layer, though I might end up losing it anyway.
As always, this brown is maybe not my very best color, but it's not bad. It harmonizes all right with my pink-toned skin --- in fact, this brown looks nice with pink. It's not so orange that it clashes, though it fact it is a shade earthier, I guess, than my brown hair, which has kind of a metallic tone, I guess? Or the tone of a less-orange wood? Anyway. Given that I have brown hair, it follows that there are shades of brown that I can wear, and I think this is one of them. Can't do yellowy or orangey browns, but this muted chocolate works all right.
This was my first NPL dress, a (relatively) cheap purchase to see what all the fuss was about. Truly, the fuss is about something. These dresses are so beautifully made by an ethical company that they're worth buying new (but they're definitely investment clothes, and the price reflects that). And I love this particular design, which always feels like a party dress --- and who doesn't need a party in the middle of a mundane Tuesday?
And now for the dog-walking party . . .
PS:
Continuing my no-buy, though of course I am beset by myriad temptations! There are some lovely new Wool& designs that I can't help running across now and then, and . . . well, but really. I have enough dresses. I might bend my no-dresses rule for my birthday in November, but not until then, and maybe not even then! But of course I'm tempted, and the FOMO (especially since things do sell out) is powerful.
Meanwhile, I have finished the Darwin and Dickinson book (Renee Bergland's Natural Magic) and am back to reading Dickinson's letters, which I'm far better able to contextualize, having been immersed in the timeline of the Bergland book and been given a sense of the intellectual cross-pollination that was happening in the mid-19th century on both sides of (and traversing) the Atlantic. I'm also continuing to read my friend Jane Scharl's new play. AND I've read and sent back comments for both my college kids' final papers, which they'll turn in today, God willing.
The sun's come out, and I think I'll go sit on the porch swing with Dora and Emily Dickinson.