Here's a May monster rose for your delectation. This time yesterday everything was still rain-washed, but today the sun is out, the high is 81F, and spring has done sprung.
The usual stuff on this week, though we might need to make a jaunt one evening to Black Mountain to see the Fire Son, if he can't get down this way before he has to leave. Hard to believe his off-season assignment has come to an end, which is just another way of saying, yet again, Shouldn't yesterday have been Laetare Sunday?
It's funny: a week ago I was thinking, Just two more weeks in this no-buy month, and then I can buy something, goody goody. But now I seem to have turned a necessary corner, and what I'm thinking is, How full my closet is, how much I have to wear, what a challenge to wear it. In fact, that is the challenge, and I think I'm just going to roll forward with it in an informal way, shopping my closet and making actual (informal) shopping lists of what I have and what I want to wear from that collection.
Last night I did a little of this informal wardrobe-menu planning. And lo . . .
Wearing today:
*Secondhand Eileen Fisher merino tank, bought January 2023
*Secondhand Flax linen skirt, bought February 2024
*Secondhand Birkenstock Mayaris, bought April 2024
New favorite summer outfit just dropped, babe. Yes, I know this is a silly pose to be striking, but as I had anticipated, I'm really happy with what I have on. As I've said before, I had initially bought this tank to be a warm under-layer in the winter, but I quickly realized that I wanted to wear it on its own (and really didn't have much to wear with it). One thing I thought, on buying this Flax skirt before the start of Lent, was that it would probably look good with the tank top. And behold, I think it does.
The cut of this tank is really nice. I love bare shoulders in the summer, but this top isn't cut too low across the bodice as many tank and camisole tops are. It's just a nice, sane fit (by sane I mean not ludicrously, self-consciously modest, but not flaunting anything, either). It was for summer clothes like this that I started lifting my little weights back in the autumn.
I'm not going to win any bodybuilder awards, but that wasn't my goal anyway. My goal was to have some muscle. And in 2-minute increments a couple of times a day, most days, I have built some muscle. I've also toned my stomach some and re-found more of my waist. I have not starved myself, restricted myself from any food groups, or done massive cardio, though I do do some (i.e., jumping on the trampoline for maybe as much as ten minutes most days, but at random intervals, with or without music). I do watch my food portions somewhat (hand-sized serving of protein, palm-sized serving of carbs, if we have a carb with a meal, which we don't always, other than the standard fruits and vegetables). I do prioritize protein, largely because the husband is lifting a little more seriously than I am, and he wants a lot of protein.
Anyway, I'm feeling good going into the summer. The goal I've developed is to be more fit on my sixtieth birthday than I was on my fiftieth --- which would not be hard, honestly. My forties were rough physically. My fifties have been a lot better overall. But somehow the prospect of sixty has been an awakening: that if I want my body to function well for the rest of my life, during which time I will not be getting younger, but will actually qualify for Medicare and be an official Little Old Lady, then I had better set down some basic, doable habits now, and build the strength I'm going to need to get up out this chair and do things. I'm not going to deny my age. I'm not going to try to look and act younger than I am. But I'm also not going to sit down and just be old. I feel like myself, and I want to go on feeling like myself for a long, long time, God willing.
Anyway. So the nicest side effect of this minimal but constant effort I have put in is that I have some little visible shoulder and arm muscles that I did not have this time last year, and it's fun to wear things that show them off a bit. I worked for those muscles, and here they are.
BUT it's cool in the house this morning, so as much as I like to flaunt my new and improved shoulders, I have put on a top layer for now.
I could have pulled out any button shirt*. They all need to be worn. But my hand fell on this secondhand Chico's button shirt, bought last year and redyed over the summer with Rit Evening Blue. The shirt was a very pale ice blue to begin with, and nice --- I liked it and it looked good on me. Here's a shot from early last year where you can kind of see it. It was fine. But I haven't regretted dyeing it with this duck-egg blue. The hint of green makes it work even better with purples than it did before. In fact, this combination is more or less an accident, but I really love the colors: the intense berry pink, the soft textural purple, and the duck-egg blue.
Ran my damp hands over my hair to refresh it this morning.
*I should probably add a button shirt to my packing list, for sun coverage or warmth while hiking or trotting about a city. I'll have my Trades of Hope kimono, but I don't want to wear that on a mountain trail. My green tencel big shirt is probably the most live option here. Goes with everything I propose to pack, and I always feel good in it. AND it will roll up pretty small. This shirt I'm wearing today would be my second pick, but it's not quite as sturdy and substantial as that shirt.
Also, I'm still reflecting on what a good hair day I had yesterday. I wish my hair would behave like this all the time, reliably.
It doesn't behave like this all the time, reliably, and oh well. But it sure was fun while it lasted. I'm not sorry that in my vanity I took a lot of pictures of it.
And so to work.
LUNCHTIME UPDATE:
So far this morning I have
*written this blog (obvsly)
*walked the dog for about half an hour, followed by about 10 minutes of training games before I fed her her breakfast and crated her for nap/downtime. Enforced naptimes work well for her, because she doesn't always regulate herself very well. And consistently following a walk with crate time means that on Sundays, for example, when I walk her relatively briefly and crate her before we leave for Mass, the routine is expected and not an outrage (so very much).
*done my daily social-media promo for the Substack
*written two substantial paragraphs for my Emily Dickinson essay, which feels like progress.
I'm going to eat some lunch in a minute (leftover chicken with black beans, mango, and cauliflower rice from Saturday night's dinner), then I think begin a Substack essay. And later today I need to practice my Orlando di Lassus piece for Friday's choir rehearsal. I'd like to be in a place of actually being able to sing more than the first measure before getting lost for the entire rest of the motet.
Also, after being all preeny about these muscles of mine, I need to pick up a kettlebell and do something with it.
Decent hair day for Day 2:
Still wearing my sunglasses from the dog walk, though they have now more or less transitioned back to normal.
DINNER-PREP-HOUR UPDATE:
Waiting for water to boil so that I can make pasta salad with chickpea penne, to accompany some Aldi tomato-basil chicken sausages. I still have goat cheese, plus plenty of fresh basil, so that will be the theme of this pasta salad, largely. Maybe I'll make some peas with mint for another side.
Spent more or less the entire afternoon in a phone meeting, with the result that we have a poetry Substack schedule through the second week in July, which means that I can get everything done before I leave and be covered for a week when I get back. Also talked to my mother on the phone. So, what with having written like anything about Emily Dickinson (even if it's just preliminary water-treading) and gotten the poetry calendar filled, I feel that I have had a productive day, even though I did not write any fiction. I did tweak some poems, too, which washed out of a contest (moral of the story: I do not write prizewinning poems) and need sending out again soon. Back on the horse and all that.
Also walked the dog again, while talking to my mother, so multi-tasking for the win.
Some saved style images:
Been jonesing for florals. Good thing I have a blue floral skirt that I should go out of my way to wear with more of the rest of the closet.
A Christy Dawn dress is on my "someday" list, when I'm really to splash out even more than I have already splashed out for investment dresses.
I had a skirt like this, only it was cotton twill, a lot heavier than linen. I passed it along in a donate bag because it was too tight for me. Probably would fit now. Oh well.
I love this NPL color. Something to watch for when I'm buying pieces again. The Texasgirl has this dress, but in a much more electric redhead-flattering green.
These colors are also on the clothing bucket list. Not that I'm really lacking in blue clothes, as must needs remind myself at every turn.
Anyway. Just some nice sartorial eye candy. Off to make the rest of dinner now.