WEDNESDAY, ORDINARY TIME 10

 
I posted this shot toward the end of yesterday's installment, but here it is again. It's prettier and more interesting than any other photo I might take right now. I love the redbud leaf-shadows on the grass, the green canopy (I love those little trees, full stop), the blues and greens drying on the line. 

Those clothes are all dry now, and my project this morning is to pack them. I've made an outfit plan for the week that doesn't include any of the items shown here, so now that they're dry, they might as well go into the backpack, in the packing cube I bought for that purpose. 

What I am not doing today, AT ALL, is think about Emily Dickinson. I am going to think about everything else in all creation today, but not Emily Dickinson. My brain: Emily-Dickinson-Free Zone. EMILY. DICKINSON. That is all. 

So what I am doing is going to Blowing Rock to meet Zina. We'll do a lot of walking, because Zina likes to walk (so do I), and eat ice cream, and drink beer at the Ale House, because also . . . 

Anyway, it's a lovely day, sun shining, and I'm looking forward to being in the mountains. In Bergen it's also sunny right now, but only 54F, not unpleasant but not quite balmy, either. Right now the forecast for next week in that beloved city is looking a lot like rain. Oh, well, that'll be authentic, probably a lot more authentic than the absolutely halcyon weather we had last year. I've been looking forward to drinking beer in the sun on the harbor, but I can look forward to drinking beer in the indoor bar by the harbor just as well. Good thing my Gore-tex jacket packs down so small in a packing cube! Not that for one minute I'd have contemplated leaving it behind, but I might wear it a whole lot more this year than I did last year. 

Wearing today: 

Actually, I was torn between two choices. Of my collection of Wool& dresses, two are not going with me to Norway. 

1. Wisteria Willow

2. Beetroot Brooklyn

It's really a challenge to decide which one I feel like wearing today. 

This?

Or this? 

Do I like myself better this way? 

Or this way? 

Such a problem to decide, but the answer is . . . 

Wait for it . . . 

The answer is that I was wearing Brooklyn while typing all of the above, when I happened to glance down and see a big black stain, like an ink spot, about the size of my pinkie fingerprint, right in the middle of the front of the skirt. 

I don't see it in any of these photos. I have no idea where it came from. But that's the answer to my dilemma. I'm wearing Willow, while Brooklyn gets to sit with Grandma's Secret all day, then have a bath. 

Another day, another installment of It Happens Only to Things You Really Like. 

The stain must have been there the whole time I was trying on that dress, so the good news is that even if it doesn't come out completely, I doubt anyone else would ever notice it. I truly don't know where it could have come from, and I didn't notice it myself when I got the dress out . . . a mystery! But it did make up my mind for me, so that's something (and no, I don't rule out divine intervention, even in something so trivial). 

And it's all good. I always feel great in this color --- I'm wearing this Willow dress in my current author headshot, and people always comment that it's a good picture, that this is my color, etc. 

So I'm going to take my day pack with me today, with my Gore-tex jacket for rain, plus a pullover, plus my light hikers, just in case we want to do some trail walking. 

Maybe I'll wear Brooklyn out for date night tomorrow --- or maybe not. 

In any event, I had better let the dog out and get on with things --- I'll plan to leave here in about an hour, not to return, probably, if the last time Zina and I met up in Blowing Rock is any indication, until fairly late tonight. 

A good Wednesday to all!