On this first Tuesday in Advent, in the Year of Our Lord 2024, Our Lady of Mount Carmel and a wooden pig enjoy sunshine and a current temperature of 30 degrees Farenheit.
Low tonight: 17F.
The dog was awake at 4 a.m. with a stomach upset, and desperate to go outside. The husband, who was getting up anyway, took her out, which if you want to know what heroism looks like, seek no further. She seems settled now, but yay. I had poured a little turkey broth on her kibble last night, and I suspect that that's the culprit, because as far as I know, it's the only thing different that she's consumed.
Today's agenda:
*manage potential dog runs (so to speak)
*try to write some lines in meter and rhyme (I have drafted couple of things lately in rime royale, which is encouraging, even if they aren't finished)
*gird myself to write an essay
*fold laundry, mostly from the upstairs regions, and return it to its proper places
*change our bed sheets, which I meant to do yesterday and ran out of steam for doing
*maybe a hair-wash later on --- had to get dressed and ready to go out with promptitude this morning, so no time for wet hair
Wearing:
*Wool& Fiona dress (M) in Marine Blue, bought September 2024, last worn November 19. Total wears this year to date: 8
*Secondhand Connemara merino cardigan, bought October 2024, last worn November 23. Total wears this year to date: 16
*Fairly old linen scarf, bought at a now-defunct shop on our Main Street
*Snag merino tights in Red Velvet Cake, bought in 2023, now in their second season of wear
*Xero Tari boots, bought summer 2022, now in their third season of very regular wear
I'm letting shades of mauve and burgundy/plum be my purple today. These tights pair really well with pinky purples, such as my vintage silk dress (worn Sunday), though when the light strikes them, as in photos above, they definitely look more burgundy than purple. I like how my pale scarf echoes that color, though the "purple" is honestly pretty erzatz:
But we do our best. My linen Mama dress from yesterday is dry after her unscheduled bath, and I almost put her on again --- later this week, maybe, she'll make a repeat appearance.
I was very warm taking the dog out, all zipped up in my Gore-Tex jacket and hood, with just this cardigan for my under-layer. It's a very warm cardigan, and I'm glad this shade of green pairs well with all manner of purples, so that I can get lots of wear out of it between now and Christmas. I'm also appreciating these colors and textures next to each other:
I also appreciate the slim fit of my Fiona dress, especially with a bulky cardigan. I broke all my self-imposed rules buying this dress, and I couldn't be happier to have done so.
The projected high today is 43F, and it's good to have these warm wool layers to wear outdoors and in. The husband will be out until fairly late this evening, so I will be enjoying the cold clarity of the darkling neighborhood, and its blaze of Christmas lights, alone with Dora --- which I honestly don't mind. I prefer the husband's company to not having the husband's company, but I do sort of enjoy these solitary evenings, when I can putter about.
Little Advent devotion (which I hope I can sustain even to the end of this week):
We pray the rosary together most nights, but I'm doing an extra scriptural decade daily (this is the idea, anyway), focusing on one of the Joyful Mysteries, which encompass the narrative sweep of Advent and Christmas. I used to do this with the children when everyone was homeschooling --- our daily devotion would be a scriptural rosary decade like this. You say the prayers at the beginning, then before each Hail Mary of the decade, you read one of the ten verses of the scripture passage. Your single decade thus takes almost as long as a whole rosary, especially when you're going around having children read the verses and lead the Hail Marys, but it's a good way to immerse yourself in actual meditation on that mystery, something I often have trouble even wanting to do when praying a whole rosary last thing at night.
I also need to get myself to Confession this week, because once again, I've let a lot of time elapse since the last one. Make your house fair, &c. It's not just about buying daybeds and chairs and tatami mattresses, let me tell you --- though you do also have to do things like that when you have many people clutching their plane tickets in apparent expectation of a good time.
So, maybe I should go ahead and pray this decade while I have it on the brain, then get to work.