Lingering in the long starlight of Epiphany, just a little longer. Meanwhile, today the sun is out, brilliant in the cold. Currently it's 19F here. I think I'll wait a good bit longer before I take the dog out.
Much to get done today.
Wearing (with wet hair):
*Wool& Audrey dress (S) in Black Heather, bought November 2022, last worn January 10. Wears in 2025: 3
*Secondhand WoolX base-layer men's tee, bought maybe as long ago as 2021? I *think* I bought it expecting it to go more closely with my Lapis Camellia, before I dyed it, than it actually did. And then I cut the neckline, arms, and hem in 2023, if memory serves. Anyway, this is either a third or fourth year of wear.
*Secondhand Pure cashmere cardigan, bought spring 2024, first full year of wear.
*Snag merino tights in Silver Lining, feet cut off by me. Repeated from yesterday, when I wore them as a base layer under my pink wide-leg jeans. Bought fall 2021, fourth year of wear.
*Old wool-blend hiking socks bought at Aldi some years ago.
*Secondhand Birkenstock Melrose boots, bought summer 2023, second season of wear.
This is a riff on my outfit plan --- I added the WoolX tee because I hadn't worn it in a long time, and subbed this cardigan for the green Connemara one, which is becoming very much a default mode. I like what I'm wearing very much, and it should keep me nice and warm today. I believe the plan is to go to the pub tonight, because the husband will be away for a few days starting tomorrow, and this outfit, as is, will take me through the day and out the door in the evening.
Going to drink my coffee, play my New York Times games, and dry my hair, once it's had some time to air dry in the sun by the window here. Then on with the day.
AFTERNOON UPDATE:
So far today I have:
*walked the dog.
*jumped for 10 minutes on my trampoline while listening to the first chapter of Moby-Dick on Audible. I read it, sort of, in college, but one of my goals for this year, besides reading my way through Shakespeare's plays, is to revisit it with perhaps more attention than I gave it when I was 19.
*answered an email about a possible collaborative project, about which more as things develop, if they develop.
*bought and sent copies of Motherland to Thomas More College for my upcoming visit.
*worked on my sonnet crown.
*written about 300 new words of my short story.
*revised a Substack essay to upload later.
*decided not to do any machine laundry, because the washing machine is probably frozen up --- not that we really need any laundry done right now, with any urgency. I just always ask myself if I need to do some.
I still need to
*revise and prepare at least one more essay to upload.
*read at least the first scene of Act IV of Richard III.
*get serious about my class preparations for this Thomas More College visit.
*lift some weights.
The husband's classes were canceled today because of "weather," which is a laugh. We've had zero precipitation out here, and all roads are clear. The sun is shining. It's cold, but not life-threateningly so, as in you can step outside and not risk frostbite.
Anyway. That's stupid, but at least he has time to run some errands. He spent last night going through files and boxes in the study closet, which I had cleaned and reorganized before Christmas, and is taking boxes of stuff to be shredded. We have a shredder here at home, but I guess sometimes you just need something a little more industrial, when you have boxes to get through. He also found the appraisal report from our home refinance in 2011, which he plans to take in to protest our property tax increase (valuing our house at over $400K, which is another LAUGH, let me tell you. I love my house very much, but a luxury property in a prime location it rather emphatically is not). I don't know how much water a 2011 appraisal will hold for the county tax assessor of today, but it's what we've got. We've maybe added a little value to our house in the last week by painting the peeling woodwork, but surely not $300K worth.
There are still decades' worth of financial records in the closet that don't need to be in the closet, or anywhere, really, but this is progress. I anticipate with great pleasure the prospect of having more downstairs closet space for my own purposes.
As I might have predicted, my hair, which was very curly while it was wet, has dried straight because it's cold. I did diffuse it the rest of the way dry before I went out with the dog, and it was still wavy then, but twenty minutes around the block in sub-freezing temps (though truly, not that sub-freezing, come on), and the spring is gone from its step. Oh well. That's winter hair for you. I've pulled it back from my face in a little claw clip and just leaned into the sleeker look. We soldier on.
I really really don't want to do anything else productive. But the time is getting away. I'll be in New Hampshire before I know it, and I'll feel a lot better if I have an actual plan for 3 hours of classes. I'll also feel better if I can get a solid start on this book chapter I'm supposed to send in by the end of March, but do I feel like doing it? Reader, I do not.