Current view: fog and bare trees, very January. Tonight temperatures are supposed to plummet, and tomorrow, according to my weather app, will be "noticeably colder." The mountains are supposed to get snow. I'm not sure about us, beyond the fact that spring isn't coming this week.
It's Sunday, of course --- the third Sunday after Epiphany. In the traditional calendar, you count "Sundays after Epiphany" until you run up on the pre-lenten season, and while we don't really follow that calendar in our churchgoing life, at home I do observe Epiphany and the whole lengthy season of the Incarnation through January, until Candlemas. On gloomy days like this, it's good to have the red-checked cloth on the table, the candle in its Christmas/winter holder with holly berries, the glinting star over the dining-room table, and the Nativity scenes on mantels and tabletops. Our days are lengthening out, but imperceptibly, and it's good to keep the light shining in the darkness, instead of trying to gut it out through the long shankbone of the winter.
Today is warm enough --- or at least not-cold enough --- that I can wear what I'd planned for Mass. I think I shall arise from this chair now and put it on.
Well, this is more or less what I had planned.
Wearing:
*Secondhand Not Perfect Linen Leila dress (S/M) in Cinnamon Rose, bought December 2023, last worn sometime before the new year. First wear in 2025.
*Secondhand Not Perfect Linen Bay (?) tank top (M) in Natural or Oatmeal, I'm not sure which. Bought January 2025 (it arrived yesterday), first wear.
*Secondhand Connemara merino cardigan, bought fall 2024, first season of wear.
*Snag merino tights in Sand Dollar, bought summer 2024, first season of wear.
*Secondhand Keens Baby Bern boots, bought December 2024, first season of wear.
I was going to wear my crystal-studded cashmere shrug with this dress --- it does look really good --- but recalled that I had bought this Connemara cardigan at least in part because I thought the green would go well with this strange-but-beautiful pink. And although it's not really that cold out, I am grateful for the weight and warmth as well as the color.
I'm also glad I pulled out this brand-new-to-me NPL tank to wear underneath. It does add some warmth as well as breathability, and it fills in the very open neckline just enough for a little more winter coverage.
The seller from whom I bought the tank top noted that someone ---- she or someone else, I'm not sure which --- had picked open the armholes at the bottom, to add about an inch to the open space, hemming up the raw sides. I had fully expected to sew that opening back up, but no. They fit perfectly as is, without an iota of gaping. This top must have been made for a stick figure. Anyway, I think that was why she was asking only $18 for it, when these tanks tend normally to sell in the $60-$90 range secondhand. You had better believe I snapped it up. And already I'm glad I have it.
Time now to walk the dog in the gloom and mist, then pile into the car and off to church.
AFTERNOON UPDATE:
Nice Mass this morning with the bishop presiding --- always a pleasant surprise. He seems to feel the need to come wake up the college students at the start of every semester. The sun has come out and gone back in again, and I think for the duration of the daylight hours, temperatures are going to be falling.
I don't usually change clothes when I get home from church on Sundays, but today, with two pairs of jeans hanging in my closet, I thought I might.
I kept on my new-to-me $18 NPL linen tunic, worn as an under-layer this morning, and added:
*Secondhand Levi 550 jeans, bought January 2025, second wear
*Secondhand Aran Knits zip hoodie cardigan, bought fall 2023, second season of wear.
*Boody bamboo "Chunky Bed Socks," bought sometime in 2022 or early 2023, can't remember now. I think this is their third season of wear. They are very soft and squishy and comfortable.
*Xero Tari boots, bought summer 2022, third season of wear.
I decided to use this afternoon as a further break-in session for these jeans, which already feel more comfortable than they did when I first wore them on Thursday. Whether it's in or not this season, I love this tapered silhouette, which brings my college days in the early 1980s right back to me. I'm not sure I want to channel the girl I was in those days, because she was really kind of a mess, but I wouldn't mind having a little of that time back, because even if you were kind of a mess, it was a fabulous time to be alive and young.
Anyway, I'm already thinking ahead to later in the year and what I might do with these jeans. I could see wearing them with my Papillio wedges. I could see making a Lenten outfit with this top and cardigan and my purple Birk Rosemeads, or with my purple Xero Oswegos. I can wear this top tucked in or left loose to swing. It looks nice by itself with these Levis, as well as potentially all my cardigans.
I will probably keep an eye out for other NPL tank tops like this, in different colors. Now that I've seen how nicely this one layers under a Leila dress, I can see wearing others as well under any of my linen dresses, as well as with a skirt or pair of jeans.
Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the simplicity of these basic colors: denim blue, charcoal gray (with the texture of an Aran knit), earthy natural linen, natural leather. The combination feels elemental without being stark. I'm warm and comfortable --- it is true that linen as a layer is thermally regulating as well as breathable. We think of it as a summer fabric for its lightness, but it really is great in the winter as well, and not just with wool layered under it. Unlike cotton or a slick polyester, it's soft and warm on my skin, perfect for this chilly, overcast day.
Going to work a little on poems, to try and drum up enough finished (or finished-enough) work to send out. A happy Sunday afternoon to all!