Yesterday morning: cold outside, condensation on the window.
I've been drowning in work and lacking the time or energy to write blog posts. But I got up early today and am purposefully not getting drawn into work (though I will have to finish and upload my essays for this week this afternoon --- I try not to work on Sundays, but sometimes, despite my best time-management moves, I am left with things to do that I try not to feel too servile about).
I spent yesterday researching and finishing a big essay for tomorrow and beginning Tuesday's smaller one. Wednesday's is done but not loaded on the site yet --- still, there's not much I need to do there.
My MFA student sent me her first thesis draft yesterday, so on with that as well. And I'm working on lectures and presentations.
In case you missed it, here's the recording of Thursday night's reading with Joshua Hren, my publisher and friend at Wiseblook Books. I spent Friday being a bit exhausted (as well as working), but it was a fun time, and I'm looking forward to our next outing together in Milwaukee, the evening of October 29.
Friday night the husband took me out to the pub in Hickory; last night I cooked a pork loin using this recipe, which did turn out very well. Even in the slow cooker pork loin can come out tasting weirdly dry, but this oven-roast system was a big success. Had applesauce and green beans on the side, and it was a good, simple autumn meal with a lot of leftovers --- my pork loin was pretty big.
Then the husband made a fire in the backyard pit, the first we've had all year. It's always either too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry, too buggy . . . But he had done a lot of yard cleanup after the storm and had built a pyre, ready to light, two weeks ago, so last night that's what we did.
Here too is a shot of Dora sunbathing on the front porch with me, yesterday afternoon:
I was on the swing, but she likes to position herself wherever the sun will strike her fully.
And here's what I wore:
*Wool& Maggie dress (S/Long) in Aegean Teal, bought May 2023, last worn September 27. Total wears this year to date: 20
*Secondhand bamboo-cotton marble-patterned leggings, bought fall 2021, dyed green by me summer 2023.
*Secondhand Eileen Fisher merino sweater coat, bought September 2024, first actual wear.
*Shoes: 1. Secondhand Stegmann clogs, bought August 2024 (worn mostly in house); secondhand Xero Oswego sneakers, bought April (?) 2024, worn for walking and outdoors.
The day warmed up a lot, and I took off the big cardigan for much of it, but I'm wearing it again right now as a bathrobe. It's lightweight, but marvelously warm, and I can see wearing it as a staple all through the winter, with or without a coat. What I wore yesterday was fairly schlumpy, but for feeling all day that I was wearing pajamas, I was also relatively put-together.
Today:
Mass, of course, then this final push of Substack work. I won't touch my other projects today, but only line things up for the Stack for the week, since I'm on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Then I hope to have some time to read and lounge about on the porch. It's looking like another sunny day, and I'm conscious of the fact that soon enough, the season for sun-soaking on the porch in the afternoons will be over. Not that it gets that cold here, but it gets cold enough that that's not such a luxurious prospect. Although it's only 52F right now, today's high is supposed to be about 80F, so I intend to take some time to enjoy it.
But now I'm going to drink my coffee and play my New York Times games.
Wearing today (to accommodate a fairly wide temperature range):
*Secondhand Not Perfect Linen Mama dress (S) in Caffe Mocha, bought September 2024, last worn September 29. Total wears to date: 3
*Secondhand Connemara merino cardigan, bought October 2024. Last worn October 10.
*Secondhand Birkenstock Papillio wedges, bought September 2023.
*Snag merino tights in Sand Dollar, bought this past summer.
Every time I put on this dress, I note that there's nothing actually caffe or mocha about the color --- but I love it. Purples, as long as they're not too bright, are a great color for me, but this dusty, muted periwinkle/lavender color is, I think, my own personal most perfect purple. It's a comfortable, comforting tone for me, and one in which I think I show up pretty well. It also pairs so beautifully with the soft minty green of this cardigan, which I washed the other day to rid it of allergens, and which has finally, after some days on the drying rack and some hours in the sun yesterday, completely dried.
This is a nice, warm, chunky kind of autumnal outfit, complete with the soft note of my tights. I foresee that these Sand Dollar merino tights are going to get worn flat out this season --- I'll probably take them off later on, as the day warms up, but I was comfortable in them all day Friday, even as the temperature rose through the afternoon. I chose this dress, too, because I figured I might want to slough off my cardigan while at church, and I can do that without being left sleeveless. Sleeveless dresses, funnily enough, work better later in the season, when you know you're not taking your top layer off.
Anyway. Here we are, dressed and ready.
I might or might not sketch out an outfit plan later on. Depends on how much mental bandwidth I have. Right now it's time to walk the dog.
LATER:
Whew. Two essays all revised and loaded, one more written, to be revised and loaded tomorrow. Then I can be off to the races in the morning with this MFA thesis, my other lectures and presentations, and the next week's Substack essays, of which mercifully there will be only two.
As predicted, the cardigan, tights, and Papillio wedges have come off, and I'm lounging on the porch swing in my dress and Birk Mayaris. Though it was cold this morning, it's really warm now. In just a while I'm going to go in and slice off more pork loin, to pan-fry the slices in butter. We'll eat them with more applesauce and green beans, I guess, since those things are right there, available, without my having to cook them appreciably. Tomorrow I think I'll make white beans with kielbasa and kale . . . found a recipe that looked good, and I have all those ingredients on hand. I can put the northern beans on to soak tonight --- they cook up pretty fast, as I recall, but I want them to be soft and very creamy, so pre-cooking and soaking will help (since I've actually thought of it this far in advance).
In other news, I have been thinking about getting a steam cleaner. Although I wouldn't use it on my wood floors, I can think of lots of places in my house that would benefit from steam-cleaning. Just . . . thinking about it.
Oh, meanwhile, an outfit plan? I dunno . . .
Things I want to remember to wear:
*floral pinafore
*Wool& Audrey dress
*Gray-blue NPL Smock dress
*Brown NPL Leila dress
*Wool& Beetroot Brooklyn dress
*Garnet Hill green skirt
*Flax linen skirt
*Wool& Ocean Teal Willow
This at least gives me an ingredient list to start with --- like reminding yourself to use up what's in the cupboard before you hit the grocery store again.