I wasn't expecting the Jerusalem artichokes to be twelve feet tall and need their own fence, but here we are.
Monday, a new week, and what's on?
*Coffee later today with my friend Lisa
*Some fiddling with my own writing (already a little bit done, honestly --- now that I've placed some poems and gotten a few others back, I'm putting together a new submission to send out)
*An essay for Thursday. I panic when I don't have the week's work done at least a week ahead of time, but last week was interrupted by this family funeral, so I am scrambling to catch up and get back ahead.
*I also need to get back on the horse with my self-directed reading. I've been neglecting Epictetus, Augustine, Milton, et al. These small disruptions toward the summer's end --- our trips to Seagrove, this last jaunt to Memphis --- have thrown me off a lot. My habits are always fragile, and the least disturbance shivers them to dust.
The college children are back on campus, a phenomenon I have noted from an unusual distance this year. In three swift years I've gone from moving people in to simply driving them to move themselves in to seeing them off on the road to receiving word from afar, having not seen them in some time, that they're all settled and the new school year, the last of their undergraduate careers (God willing), has gotten itself underway.
Wearing today:
*Wool& Willow dress (M) in Wisteria, bought February 2023, last worn --- wow, July 30? It's been that long? Is that right? I guess it is. This dress is my shortest dress, which may be why it sometimes gets less love, although I like wearing it with skirts or under pinafores. Total wears this year so far: 15. It hasn't been really neglected, though over the summer I begin to feel that I haven't worn it that much. Still, this is one of my two purple dresses currently, so it does get tons of wear in Advent and Lent.
*Secondhand Birkenstock Mayaris, bought in April, total default shoe in warm weather. Not even keeping track of wears.
This dress was on my
outfit plan for the week, kind of as an afterthought. Funny that I got up this morning and reached for it.
I cut about an inch off my hair last night after washing it:
The ends feel nice and soft now. I might try to do this once every week or so for a while, to start really eliminating the layers that I'm so tired of. I do periodically give myself a "unicorn cut," which just means putting all my hair in a tight ponytail at the center of my forehead and trimming the ends of the ponytail. I usually trim very minimally, an inch at most, to remove dead ends. This gives you some face-framing graduated layers in front, which I do want to keep, and helps maintain a gently tapered shape overall, which I find easier to wear than a blunt cut straight across.
My hair isn't long enough for this "unicorn" approach to address the ends at the back, so what I do for that is what I did last night: part my wet hair in the middle all the way down the back, gather into two low pigtails fastened with hair ties, making sure to have them even/in the same place on each side, then trim the ends of the pigtails. I take them down, comb my hair forward onto my chest, and trim any stray ends. This also gives you a tapered shape, with the longest point in the middle of your back, which again I prefer. Even without layers, it mitigates against the big triangle of hair that people with thick or curly hair can so easily end up with.
This was a quick, simple wash with no styling: just one shampooing with Head&Shoulders Bare, followed by two squirts of LUS 3-in-1 for wavy hair, worked through my hair with lots of water, combed with a wide-toothed comb and then brushed through to distribute it evenly. I didn't follow with foam or gel or any brush styling. I let my hair air dry until after we'd walked the dog, then diffused it the rest of the way dry before bed. It was very curly when I went to sleep; now, having been detangle with a wide-toothed comb this morning, it's less curly, but still quite soft and wavy and full. I'm very happy with it.
In my office I finally replaced the old Ikea curtain (formerly in the Artgirl's room) that Dora had torn a hole in when some cats were fighting on our back porch, and she wanted to dig her way out to get at them.
The set I bought is nothing fine or ethical. I ordered them on Amazon. They were cheap and are synthetic, not actual linen, which is what I would have preferred. Still, the window where the torn curtain was looks a lot better. And anyway, I'm not spending many bucks on anything my dog has any kind of access to --- though these are sturdy enough that they might just withstand another attempt to dig through them. The Ikea cotton curtain was nothing like that sturdy.
Part of me wishes I had ordered either white or aqua blue, not "natural linen" color. But this is okay. It lets in light but screens the room from the back porch and the back porch from the room. I got a set of two and put the other on my "view" window.
I'd been meaning to do this for a long time anyway, because come Christmas, someone will be sleeping in this room, and that person will want some privacy, if not total darkness.
This was a good opportunity, too, to dust the window frames and knock down some cobwebs. So we're beginning the week with a little refreshment.
I had better do something now (other than this).
