Kitchen window still-life, yesterday evening as I was making dinner. I also rather liked how things looked in my study (PARTS of my study) yesterday morning:
I've been leaving the pet cover off the daybed lately. There's a waterproof cover underneath that top fitted sheet, covering a whole spread/blanket/sheets made-up bed, and I think that's enough to protect and keep things clean. It's just as easy to pull off and change that top sheet every week when I do the sheets on my bed, to keep things from smelling too doggy in here.
Dinner last night was eye of round steak, the cheapest cut I can find at Aldi. Because it's cheap, it can be a little tough, so I'm always looking for ways to cook it so that it's less so. Mostly I just make sure it's fairly rare --- 2 minutes max on each side, on a smoking-hot cast-iron pan. But last night I went looking for acidic marinade ideas, because acids (vinegar, lemon juice, lime juice) tenderize meat, and came up with this Cuban recipe, ingredients for which I had readily on hand. As a side, I made a big casserole dish of quartered potatoes with flavors based on this recipe. I'd like to do the actual recipe sometime, but I didn't have fresh limes, just lime juice. So I added that to the oil for the potatoes, plus lots of finely-chopped red cayenne pepper, since I did have fresh peppers, instead of dried red-pepper flakes.
I still have potatoes and a little steak left over. The husband wants to take me out to lunch after Mass, but for dinner I think I'll make omelettes with peppers and tiny bits of diced steak in them (and maybe spinach, or maybe not), and leftover potatoes, refried in the iron skillet to crisp them up, on the side.
Going to wash my hair for Mass, then think about getting dressed. It's 57F out right now, quite cool and fresh, but the high again today is supposed to be about 80F, not so cool and fresh. The weather's clear, though, so I might pull out my silk dress, because it's been a while since I last wore it. And maxi dresses are always our friends on transitional-weather days.
AND . . .
Wearing:
*Secondhand vintage April Cornell silk dress, bought August (?) 2024, last worn August 29 (so it's high time I wore it again).
*Secondhand J.Jill linen-rayon long cardigan, bought February 2023, last worn last Sunday, September 29.
*Secondhand Birkenstock Papillio wedges, bought September 2023, also last worn September 29.
I do need to try to wear this silk dress more often, though I'm reconciled to the reality that it's not an everyday dress. Silk is tougher than you might think, and it has great thermal and antimicrobial properties, but just a touch of water will leave a stain until you wash it again. I am pretty much reconciled to this dress as a piece with a patina reflecting its wear, but I do also want to keep it in good condition. This is my go-to dress if cocktail attire is required. It's my go-to really nice dress for date nights. I will probably pack it for my literary travels at the end of this month. This dress makes me feel radiant and magical, without being too hippy-dippy goddessy about it.
And it works for church, too. Basically, it's a maxi dress in a special fabric, that's all. And the deep purple is a good choice for autumn, especially when autumn is still warm. BUT I could wear boots and tights and a warmer cardigan, and it'd still be great.
Time to let the dog out and take a walk, then pile into the car and off to Mass.
Oh, also, one month from today I turn 60. The title of this blog will change, although I still don't quite know to what. Brace yourselves.
AFTERNOON:
Home again, and have been napping on the porch, reading Tom Jones, and mindlessly scrolling.
A good Mass today, with many crying babies --- it was Belmont Abbey Homecoming weekend. It was also the jubilee celebration of Br. Paul Shanley's 50th year in monastic vows.
Still wearing the silk dress because it's comfortable. Thinking about what I'd like to wear in the coming week. The weather is continuing warm, but not as warm as it is right now: another day with a high in the low 80s Farenheit, but after that it drops into the low 70s, with overnight lows in the 40s and 50s (again, Farenheit!) instead of the 50s and 60s. So at least in the evenings and mornings we'll start to have a taste of sweater weather.
Things I'd like to wear:
*The only NPL dress I wore this past week was my beloved blue-gray Smock dress. So I'd like to prioritize especially my Grape Wine Smock dress, last worn Sunday before last, when I went to Cullowhee to visit Marly, before the hurricane wiped all my beloved mountain places away.
*I could also wear either, or both, of my Leila dresses with cardigans --- teal cashmere, purple cotton cableknit, cobalt-blue merino --- or with my green merino-blend pullover.
*Wool& Fiona dresses in Marine Blue and Teal --- both perfect for this transitional weather.
*Wool& Pacific Brooklyn, because I haven't worn that in a while, either. Could wear it with a skirt --- either red linen-blend, or a rerun of my Flax skirt. Or could wear it with leggings and Birks.
This could be a good week for leggings, actually. I'm not ready to break out the tights, although that time is coming. But leggings and Birks might be good as a midway point this week, when the weather is kind of one way, but also kind of another way.
Things I have on:
*Mass at noon on Monday and at 8 a.m. on Thursday
*Essay-writing, lecture-planning, etc. I really need to make some hay on various things this week.
*Online launch reading with Joshua Hren on Thursday evening (Zoom, so I have to look good from the waist up)
*Pub night, but maybe not on Thursday, unless we go for a late beer
So, busy in one way or another, although I mostly, most days, don't have to present my public face to anyone. Still, my private face likes to look nice, even if nobody sees it.
In the aftermath of getting paid for several things, I have bought several items secondhand:
*a green Aran knit cardigan
*a raspberry/magenta cashmere cardigan
*a pair of waterproof Sorel boots for the winter
It'll still be a while before I really want to wear any of those things, but the colder weather IS coming, with its rain. There have been years when the colder weather has taken me by surprise --- I really wasn't ready with warm enough clothes, or with ENOUGH warm-enough clothes to make decent outfits on a daily basis. As hot as it is for so much of the year, the fact that it will one day not be hot, for weeks and months on end --- even if it's not really that cold --- can sneak up on people. But this year I'm ready. What I have, and what I have on its way to me, is WARM. Not Arctic-rated, but warm enough for the damp chill of the winters here, in a drafty old house, with lots of time spent outdoors in all weathers.
For the time being, Dora and I are lolling about on the daybed pictured above, and at some point the husband will come home. We ate a big lunch, and nobody is hungry now (well, maybe the dog, since she was not invited to this pub lunch), so . . . loll, loll, loll.
Hoping everyone else is having a relaxing Sunday afternoon!