Backyard goldenrod: I'm working on a big stand of it next to the fire pit. There are asters, too, which I should photograph, next to this goldenrod. As the plants reseed and spread, I should have a marvelous autumn display in purple and gold.
Weather today: high in the mid-70s, Farenheit. Not that cool, but not hot, either. I'm wearing a warm cardigan in the house right now, because I feel a little headachey and chilly, here in the overcast morning.
On today:
*Talk to the vet as a follow-up for yesterday's visit with Dora, who seems to be . . . okay. She had another episode of stomach upset outside last night, but seems to have kept down her small dinner of canned chicken with a dab of pumpkin and some rolled oats, all bland and oriented toward healing her insides. I might go back and pick up some anti-diarrheal medicine from the vet today, if things don't improve on that front.
*Work on essays for next week. Yesterday was a complete bust in that regard. I could not pick up the pieces of my mind and concentrate.
*Groceries are in, so I can make a better dinner tonight. Yesterday I made baked oatmeal with chia seeds and some spent-grain flour to bind it, and some whey protein powder (plain, no additives), the last of which is possibly why I have the headache today. You have to get enough protein, which can be hard, but there is such a thing as too much. Anyway, I ate baked oatmeal all day, then had some sausages I found in the freezer for supper --- they weren't old or anything, but I had forgotten that they were there.
Otherwise . . . well, really just more of the usual. A little housekeeping. A little dog-walking --- probably a very little dog-walking. Just trying to catch up on various fronts, after spending most of my available energy yesterday finalizing travel and hotel plans for Milwaukee and the Notre Dame conference. I've just been asked to appear as part of the closing keynote panel (and I keep asking myself, Did they really mean ME?), so had to adjust my hotel reservation to add another night. Fortunately I hadn't booked my flight home yet --- waiting to see when I can get in a Mass, either Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning, that first weekend in November, and thus decide when I'm going to fly out on Sunday.
In other literary news, there's a good interview up today at New Verse Review, with my dear Marly. They are coming down for a bit, sometime toward the end of this month, so I hope to be able to connect. We might not get in a bougie consignment-store trip, but then again, we might.
Consulting my outfit plan, and wearing today:
*Wool& Brooklyn dress (S/Long) in Beetroot, bought November 2023, last worn August 30. Total wears this year to date: 18, not bad for a very vivid, obvious dress. I was maybe a little worried, when I chose this color, that it wouldn't be versatile, but really, I think it is. I particularly like the fluttery sleeves with this pinafore, but I have worn it so much on its own, too.
*Secondhand Erika&Co. linen-cotton pinafore, bought November or December 2023, last worn September 11. Total wears this year to date: 14. Also not bad for a patterned item that doesn't go with anything purple, so didn't get worn for six straight weeks in Lent.
*Secondhand Birkenstock Mayaris; I won't bore you with repeated details.
It's warm enough that I probably won't wear a top layer for most of the day, but as long as I had this pinafore on, I thought I'd try a couple of things I haven't yet worn with it.
First:
As cool and summery as this dress is, it also layers marvelously for cold weather. I love it with tights and my Tari boots, and I'm sure I'll wear Mary Janes and tights with it as well this year. I don't know why I haven't thought before about wearing this green blazer with it, but it's a perfect fall/winter layer for church, adding a little structure to the flow of the dress. I'd probably wear an under-layer that didn't show so much --- one of my wool or wool-silk-cashmere tanks --- and my indigo-blue lacy wool scarf. Tights in either navy, dark green, "Red Velvet Cake" or Sand Dollar, and boots, or Birk Papillios, or brown Mary Janes.
And then there's this:
I bought this Eileen Fisher merino cardigan/coat several weeks ago --- this was the package that went wandering all over the place before it arrived. And oh, my goodness. I love this cardigan. It's truly a warm hug. The dull greeny-brown is lovely with the colors in this floral pattern, and it's just so cozy. A little too cozy, maybe, for today, but I have had it on anyway, because it's like wearing a bathrobe.
Day 2 hair, relaxed somewhat out of the curls it had developed yesterday as it dried. I do always have to comb it out in the morning. I refreshed it a little with wet hands, to encourage the waves to re-clump a little bit --- I'd used mousse for the first time in ages, so there's still a little product there to be activated with water. Anyway, it's a bit wild, but it's finally getting long enough to feel folkloric, and that's my mood today. I am pleased with how my home trims have turned out --- the perimeter looks fairly even (fortunately wavy hair is forgiving, and is never going to hang in a straight line anyway), and the layers are growing and evening out nicely. Straight-hair season is just about upon me, but all the rain means that right now the waves and curls and volume are springing out, and I'm enjoying it while I have it.
Time to let the dog out and assess how she is this morning.
LATER:
I have
*drafted about half a new essay on George Herbert: back on my game!
*talked to the vet, and am now about to go pick up some additional meds. I need to give D. her next round of anti-nausea medicine as well.
*made the bed
*eaten a fig-jam-and-goat-cheese grilled cheese sandwich on sourdough.
*taken ibuprofen for this headache I woke up with, because I don't need to lose another day
*tried, unsuccessfully so far, to cancel a hotel reservation in South Bend, Indiana, for the end of next month, because now I've been put on this closing panel for the conference (to talk about the future of the Catholic imagination, like I really know anything about the future of anything), and they've given me a hotel room in the nice on-campus hotel and are now arranging my travel as well. Even if I have to pay a cancellation penalty, I will still come off a lot better than I would have otherwise, in terms of costs. I had just been thinking that this was becoming an awfully expensive work-for-exposure jaunt.
As it is, I did book a second night in the hotel in Milwaukee, just so that that's one less person in line for the bathroom at the Hrens' house the night before we leave to drive to South Bend, and now that doesn't seem so extravagant. It might end up being the one thing I have to pay for, which seems like a win.
Anyway, I might have to call the original South Bend hotel again --- I had just called them yesterday to add a night, because I was going to be on this Saturday-night panel, and now I want to cancel outright, which seems schizophrenic, but I really didn't anticipate being offered a complimentary room in the nice hotel. Fortunately I don't absolutely have to deal with this today, since it's all more than a month away, but I had better deal with it before I forget.
In the meantime, I'm going to pick up more pet meds.
EVENING UPDATE:
I am baking apples and a sheet pan of diced sweet potatoes to eat with chicken sausages. And I have successfully cancelled my original hotel reservation, so now I'm staying happily at the nice campus hotel, hooray hooray.
Also, this whole spree has suddenly become less expensive than I had thought it would be. I thought I was just writing a lot of things off on my taxes, but suddenly both flights are covered, my hotels are largely covered (I will pay for one night in Milwaukee), and . . . wow. Life is weird. That's all I'll say. But I might just have spent my Poshmark balance on one more dress to celebrate.