Obedient plant, one of autumn's little beauties. Another beauty: dog on a Friday afternoon.
And lolling among daybed cushions before going into her crate for the night:
I had washed all the pillows and shams the other day, and had just put them back on the daybed, so she was making sure that everything smelled good and doggy again.
Golden morning in the late leaves:
Someone was burning brush last night. When we went out to walk with the dog, the air was full of smoke. This morning, there's still a leftover haze hanging in the trees, filtering the sunlight.
Up today: no particular plan. I do at some point need to finish these essays I've had a hard time making myself write, as well as walking the dog, etc.
Today's high: 83F. It's been feeling very warm in the afternoons, though cool and fresh at night, which is how we know it's not summer anymore.
Recovery and cleanup efforts continue in the mountains, as they will for some time. As a friend in Black Mountain reports, the adrenaline has worn off, and she is "dirty and tired." The stress of days without basic conveniences begins to tell on a person: just to be able to shower and brush your teeth goes a long way toward your overall capacity to cope. And my friend is, in many ways, a best-case scenario. She and her husband, both in their 70s, didn't lose their home. They know people who had to run for their lives as a wall of water bore down on the house, sweeping everything away. And those people, in running, kept their lives, which is more than some people were able to do.
Some additional places to give for hurricane relief, if you're so inclined:
Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Charlotte, home to all parishes in the affected region
Individual Catholic parishes in mountain communities, including St. Elizabeth in Boone, North Carolina
I think that in general, if you want to give monetary aid, the smaller and more local the recipient aid provider, the better. Churches across the denominations are doing a lot of heavy lifting, often in spite of crushing destruction to their own properties. Local food banks, local organizations, in towns such as Sylva, Spruce Pine, Swannanoa, Old Fort, Burnsville, Banner Elk, West Jefferson . . . there are a lot of small places that aren't Asheville.
And people who are there (if in fact they have power and can receive donations, which is an ongoing problem) are doing the work. I hear conflicting reports of government aid efforts, and I have no idea what's true and what's not. But if there's a way to give money to the mule-train people, for example, who are accessing remote areas in the mountains: do that. Lots of links on this Reddit thread. These are the people actually getting there and making a difference.
Meanwhile, here it's a lovely day. I'm watching a fat cardinal hen eat dogwood berries outside my window, in a tree full of sun. She's just seen me pick up my phone to take a picture of her and flitted away out of range.
Wearing:
*Thrifted J.Jill cotton-ramie sweater. I've had this so long I can't remember when I bought it. I don't wear it that often, but it's very lightweight and makes a good layer or top-on-its-own in transitional seasons.
*Secondhand Flax linen skirt, bought February 2024, last worn September 20. Total wears this year to date: 14, really not too bad for a skirt, given how irregularly I wear skirts as opposed to dresses.
*Default secondhand Birk Mayaris. I'll get more creative with footwear when the weather turns cooler.
This is maybe not an absolutely body-flattering outfit, but I don't care. Although I can't articulate why, the proportions feel basically okay. The sweater is very airy and light, so thin that I'm glad I have on an Allbirds croptop/bralette underneath, and not something that looks more like lingerie. At any rate, it's a very cool, as in temperature, sweater. It makes for a lightweight layer over things and sometimes under them.
I could see wearing this exact outfit in Advent or Lent with another layer under or over, plus tights and boots or Mary Janes. It's good now, but the colors will be great in the springtime, when it's still cold and I'm tired of feeling like winter.
For now, I'm happy to have made another all-secondhand outfit, including both newer-to-me items and one piece I've had for years. It's also fun to echo the color vibe of the fall flower at the top of this post.
Time in a minute to let the dog out and walk in the sunshine. I am so grateful that that's all I really have to do, that I'm not having to re-carve my life out of a mudslide. Not forgetting all the people for whom each new day is an exhausting challenge right now.
ALSO:
I've repotted my broken-off hydrangea twig, which hasn't really developed roots, but is putting out new growth nonetheless.
The old leaves have mostly dropped, but it's developed a new pair at the top, and new stems are working their way up through the soil in the pot.
Here's hoping I can keep it going over the winter, to put in the ground next spring. It would be nice to move the hostas in my shade garden forward, then fill in a lot of the space with hydrangeas, for summer color.
One thing I want to do is weed and trim my front borders today. I've been neglecting them, and there's a lot of grass growth despite the efforts of the various mints to choke out anything but themselves.
And that work won't do itself. Better get up and do something.