Suffice it to say that on this Feast of St. Dominic, the sky here does not look the way it did yesterday afternoon from the front porch. Today Hurricane Debby has blown in and brought rain, rain, rain. I got up early, washed my hair, and went out in the pouring rain to early Mass. I'm back now, drinking coffee, watching the rain fall, fall, fall, and steeling myself to take Dora out in it, because it's not going to stop anytime soon.
I thought I had a dentist appointment this morning, but turns out that that appointment, which I'd searched for in my calendar, was in 2023, and my actual upcoming appointment, in this Year of Our Lord 2024, is a week from Tuesday. Okay, then. Guess I just got my day back.
I've done most of my official work for the week, which is nice. For the last few years, since the husband got his teaching schedule tweaked so that he has no classes on Fridays, Thursday has been the start of our weekend --- and it's nice. Of course that means that by habit, my brain starts checking out around this time Thursday morning, because technically it's Friday and who is good for anything on Friday? But I worked all through last weekend on Substack things, so I think I'm maybe due a little respite, and should spend my day reading and working on my own things, in freedom. I always work better, as in doing my own writing, with a kind of jailbreak sense --- either I really should be doing something else (that's the most productive mode), or I've been set free from doing something else (less productive, but I can deal with it).
Speaking of productive . . .
I was productive in extremely slow motion for more than two decades, but here's a box of author copies. Still in pre-orders from Wiseblood Books, with books launching into the world August 27 (the Feast of St. Monica, which seems quite apt to me).
Meanwhile, it's very dark in the house, thanks to the rain, so I had to turn on various artificial lights to take outfit photos today. What I'm wearing is sort of taken from my week's menu (that's how I'm thinking of my outfit plans: not a schedule, friends, but a menu to choose from, and sometimes I order things that aren't on the menu), with some amendments because of the rain and the chilly air conditioning in the church.
Wearing today:
The first photos, taken before I left the house for Mass, feature the lights over my bathroom sink, whose LED bulbs are quite bright and warm. I really like them in real life, just not so much for photos, because they alter colors so much. I notice it a lot more when I'm wearing pinks, which tend to look far more orange than they are in this light. Teals are better, less affected by the warm tone of the light, but you can still see the difference between that light and the plain overhead light, which was on in the second three photos. I often just don't turn a light on at all, but this morning the bathroom was way too dark, and the photos I took just turned out grainy. So, here we are. No true light, but we do the best we can. There's a metaphor there, I'm sure.
Anyway.
*Wool& Fiona dress (M) in Teal (a discontinued color, which is too bad, because it's very pretty), bought November 2022, last worn July 29. Total wears this year: 14. Slightly less than twice a month, but still quite regular wear through the seasons.
*Secondhand Allbirds tencel-merino leggings, bought late winter/early spring 2024 (I forget actually when --- January or February, I think), last worn (with this dress, funnily enough) July 1, in the rain in Bergen, Norway. These aren't capri leggings, but I folded them up at the hem to fit that way today. Total wears this year so far: 17. Not bad for a clothing item that gets far less wear in the summer. It took me some trial-and-error to figure out styling with this rather unusual light color, but I think I have a good idea of how it does and doesn't work with the rest of my closet.
*Secondhand Stegmann clogs, bought late July 2024, last worn August 4. I love them, and like the look with this outfit, but it's too wet out to have worn them to Mass. Bookmarking this combination for wear on dry days in the fall.
*Secondhand Alegria black Mary Janes, bought last week, last worn August 2. I don't wear black shoes all that much (well, I haven't had everyday black shoes in a long, long time), but a) these keep my feet a little dryer than clogs would have done, and b) I do kind of like the sharp contrast with my light dress and leggings. And these are VERY comfortable shoes, needing far less break-in than my Earth Shoes Mary Janes do. I anticipate a lot of fall/winter wear for these shoes.
*Secondhand Peruvian Connection alpaca cardigan, bought September 2022, last worn (for real, not just tried on) July 3, on the plane home from Norway. In hindsight I think I might have worn my bright teal cashmere cardigan, because I like it with this dress. For some reason, I can't imagine why, it's easy to forget about half my cardigan collection in the summer . . .
My other Alegria Mary Janes, the floral pair, are FINALLY out for delivery. Shall model them once they arrive. I'm very excited to have some fun patterned shoes. Assuming they fit as well as this pair does (same style and size), they'll probably be the one pair of shoes I take with me to see the Artgirl tomorrow. I'll wear one linen dress and take another, and that'll do me. I think, given the wet weather, I'm going to abandon the idea of my rayon maxi skirt, which is very long and would just get soaked about the hem, from wet grass if not from actual rain. Next week, skirt, next week.
Rain rain rain. It's not coming down exactly sideways, but at a definite slant. The driveway is a river. And I tell you --- we are very far inland. If we're getting this much hurricane weather, then people on the coast are having a bad day, and anybody who prays should pray for them. There's nothing else I can do at this precise moment, but prayer is not nothing.
REALLY wish it would slacken up so that I can take the dog out. She's going to want to hold it and run back inside, which is not a great idea, but it will be hers.
LUNCHTIME UPDATE:
Took the dog out and got soaked, even with a raincoat on. Should have remembered my rain pants, and tucked my dress into them. I did not remember them and have had to take off my leggings altogether, and the hem of my dress is still drying.
BUT my final new-to-me shoes are here at last!
These are another pair of Alegria Palomas, the same style as my black ones. And they're really fun. I definitely see getting a lot of wear in the fall and spring, though maybe even in the bleak midwinter I'll want flowery feet. Who knows?
I bought them really with both my NPL Leila dresses in mind, as an alternative to brown shoes, to complete my geriatric little girl in a party dress image. But they'll look great with most, if not all, my Wool& dresses as well, and at least one of my shrinking collection of skirts. Like my other new acquisitions, these are leather inside and out (soles are rubber or something like it), and like my other Alegrias, especially, they're very comfortable. The toe box is just right. The "rocking" sole is easy to walk on. These are the kind of shoes I could wear for travel and not look as though I were wearing touristy walking shoes to walk ten city miles, up and down hills. And they'll comprise a fun "pattern" element in any outfit, for the light-dark-color-pattern formula (which, again, I think is a helpful formula for putting together outfits, even if the world really isn't going to end, and we're really not going to look terrible, if we choose not to follow it).
Again, these shoes retail new for about $130. I bought this pair for $30 on eBay. They are in excellent condition for secondhand shoes, and I hope to get years of wear out of them. All in all, I think I've done well in this round of secondhand purchasing. With these three pairs of Mary Janes, my Stegmann clogs, and two pairs of boots (brown Xero Tari chelsea boots and graphite-gray Birkenstock suede Melrose taller boots), I think I'm really set for winter. I have things to wear with both microfiber and merino Snag tights, and with leggings. I have boots and alternatives to boots. I have shoes that I can wear when it's still warm but I want to feel autumnal. I have shoes that I can wear when it's still cold but I want to feel like spring.
All this feels sufficient. It should, I hope, be sufficient for a good long time to come. My favorite Finnish Instagram account is back today with more good thoughts about what an "optimal" wardrobe is for her. We share a basic philosophy: no interest in minimalism, enjoyment of variety, yet acknowledging the dangers of overwhelm and decision fatigue. I'm with her, too, in wanting to the greatest extent possible to purchase with both the natural and human environments in mind. For me that's a function of Catholic social teaching, but good is good, period. It's also useful to remember that none of us is going to live our convictions perfectly, because life and all our decisions therein are hinged about with contingencies. Good enough is good enough. Anyway, I appreciate her thoughts. Maybe I'll also get around to counting literally every piece of clothing I own, but not today.
I did change into my cashmere cardigan, just because I was thinking about it and haven't worn it in a fairly long time. So I have lighter and darker teals going on, both of which are colors (I mean, really, what isn't a color?), plus color and pattern in my shoes. I'm kind of a sodden disaster, but hey! Light-dark-color-pattern!
EVENING UPDATE/DATE NIGHT
Here's what I wore:
The thrifted denim jacket is maybe a little boxy? The curse of a short torso . . . But I wanted a change from cardigans. And I like denim with this blushy Cinnamon Rose --- a chameleon color if ever there were one. I think the Texasgirl, with her ginger complexion, could wear this color at least as well as I do. But I don't think it's wrong for me.
I had this dress planned for Sunday, and will still plan to wear it then. But you know, I love it. Why not wear it twice in one week? It's a great dress that can go everywhere, dressed up or dressed down.
Wore my new flowery Mary Janes, too --- it's so wet out that I wasn't even tempted by the thought of sandals or clogs. My Stegmann clogs work really well with this dress, but not tonight.
I bought these shoes with this dress in mind, and they are fun with it. You can't see in the photos how some of the floral pattern picks up the Cinnamon Rose tone, but it does, in a nice echo that's not an exact match.
I was easily the most dressed-up woman at the brewpub, but you know: this is my DATE NIGHT. I'm going to dress up for it. I don't care what anybody thinks.
Food truck was Korean BBQ, kind of. I have been to an actual Korean BBQ restaurant, and what was on offer from this food truck was not . . . quite . . . the same menu. But it was very good. We drank porter, said hello to friends, endured some very frigid air conditioning, and had a good time. And now we're home, where Dora is glad to see us.
Tomorrow, we go to see the Artgirl in her summer habitat. I saw her just last week, yet I am eager to see her face again. In truth, I'm eager to see all their faces, all the time. But this is the one in North Carolina, so it's the one we're going to see tomorrow.
Plotzing my next Texas jaunt, however. And I really need to think about how I'm going to get to Montana . . .