Bare branches in the stairwell window at Stowe Hall, Belmont Abbey College, yesterday after Mass. Today the sun has fled, and it's a dank, chilly day. I have essays to write to get ahead of my Substack assignments for next week when I'm away, as well as the usual round of dog-walking and housekeeping.
Just put on a bag of dried lima beans in the small crockpot, hoping that I've started them early enough, and can cook them intensely enough, that they'll be edible by suppertime. I meant to put them on last night, as I usually do with dried beans, and forgot. If they're not done enough by tonight, I'll make something else for supper, but I'm really in the mood for big creamy lima beans, maybe braised in some broth. I have a tiny bit of onion left --- forgot to buy a new bag in my last grocery order, which was exorbitant enough anyway --- and some garlic, and some bacon if I feel like adding a little bit of that.
Today's high is 54F; Tuesday and Wednesday are both supposed to be 42F. Bleah. I was enjoying the sunshine . . .
Wearing today:
Base outfit:
*Secondhand Levi vintage 550 jeans, bought January 2025, first year of wear.
*Secondhand Barney&Co. vintage silk-cashmere-merino tank, bought January 2023, third year of wear
*Farm to Feet merino socks, Christmas gift in 2023
*Xero Tari boots, bought summer 2022, third year of wear
This is a little different from what I'd sketched on yesterday's plan, but that's okay. I decided I felt like a cardigan (coming up) rather than a pullover. And I asked myself: what thing that I don't often reach for (at least in this capacity) could I wear with these jeans and a cardigan?
Answer: this tank, which I wore all last week in New Hampshire as a thermal layer under my dresses. That's actually why I bought it to begin with, to be a thermal under-layer. It's very fine and thin, nice against the skin, adding warmth without bulk. BUT it's also a pretty top. I've worn it comfortably in the summer, because it is so fine and thin and breathable.
What I don't often do is wear it untucked, even though clearly it was made to be worn untucked. It has this funky 1990s/Y2K empire waistline, which is actually quite flattering for my kind of shape (yeah, yeah, I know, I wish I knew a better word than "flattering," to signal that I like the silhouette something creates), with a short natural waist and a lot of roundness in my hips and thighs. What I have found is that this top is difficult to wear with skirts, because --- at least in the flared skirts I generally feel good in --- you wind up looking like a big triangle. Without wanting to bring "flattering" back into the picture, that's not a silhouette I really love: Self As Great Pyramid of Giza (the short version).
I think maybe the original owner of this top would have worn it with flared trousers or jeans: narrow through the hips and thighs, boot-cut or flare at the bottom, and probably a lower rise, which is why the longer, drapey top. I hope that low-rise jeans stay in the pit of hell where they belong, but I can totally see that shape with this top.
BUT I think I like it all right with these vintage tapered jeans, of the sort that I wore all the time in the 80s and didn't even think about as a particular style. They were just jeans. Now, I like shorter, tucked-in tops with these jeans, because they do have a nice high waist, and the silhouette with my body shape is pleasing (to me, anyway). But I think this works okay. When you tuck this top in you lose its own shape and flow. Even if a horizontal line right across my hips is not, according the The Rules, the best thing ever, I think it's all right here --- again, because this top has a particular character. Also, this is comfortable, and that counts for a lot.
I could see wearing this outfit in warmer weather, but with Birk Mayaris or Crocs or something on my feet. I could even see maybe dressing it up a little by wearing my Birk Papillio Mary wedges. But right now it is not warm. I can't just wear this sleeveless top.
So . . .
*Secondhand Pure teal cashmere cardigan, bought spring 2024, still in its first year of wear
I love this cardigan. I'd bought it to go with my Cinnamon Rose Leila dress for Easter and then not loved that combination, but fortunately I love it with pretty much everything else. Here I like the greener teal stacked over the bluer teal/turquoise. The hemlines are pretty close, which is not great, but I don't care. I like these items together anyway. The cashmere cardigan is marvelously soft, light, and thick --- just a lot of loft in this sweater, which makes it very warm without being heavy.
I'm still calling this season winter into spring, even though today is a lot more winter, a lot less my favorite kind of spring. But then . . . spring is like this. In these parts, you expect the autumn to be warm if not outright not. But you never know what to expect from the spring, and you can be freezing just as readily as anything else. In this season I do like looking, even on cold days, not quite as though I had just come in from the tundra.
Now I think I might lift some weights a little, then eat some cottage cheese and get on with the day.
OH AND
I have made a 7th secondhand purchase. Yes, yes, we're less than two months into the new year, and already I have only three secondhand purchases left, and we'll see how that goes, but now is actually a good time to buy ahead for warmer weather. I was looking over my clothing possibilities for the Texas trip and thinking . . . hm, I wish I had just one more lightweight shorter cardigan to wear with dresses. I love my longline linen-rayon J.Jill cardigans (in navy and champagne) but they don't look that good with, say, my Leila dresses, which I do really want to wear in transitional seasons. I have that one light-blue rayon shrug that I've owned since about 2006, and I like it and wear it, but it's not really that breathable.
So I've bought this silk/cotton cardigan, and I hope it comes in time for my trip (it might not, but then there's the whole spring ahead of me, so I'm not actually that worried). It will go with everything, but everything, in my closet. It's 80% silk, which means it will be light and breathable but also thermally regulating --- I can wear it for dressy occasions even when it's cold and be warm. I have really liked my lavender Banana Republic merino sweater, bought at Texas Thrift last fall --- they are not a great, ethical brand, but you can find some very nice things in their label, and I don't so much mind buying them secondhand.
Anyway, I really kind of hope I'm getting this purchasing thing out of my system. But I also feel that I'm filling in some legitimate gaps. Buying trousers was a good thing. I had kind of missed them. I still wear dresses at least 80% of the time, but it's nice to have this other option. And then you have to have things to wear with . . . and then you consider what else you might have been missing, that would help your existing wardrobe work harder. So far I have not felt compelled to buy any more dresses --- even though I'm sometimes a little tempted --- but to focus on wearing the ones I have. But then I stop and ask myself what's stopping me, sometimes, from choosing a given dress on a given day. Sometimes it really is that I don't have the right cardigan. I think this beautiful neutral cardigan will carry me through many of those days and help me to reach for, say, my Cinnamon Rose Leila, when I need a little something on my shoulders.
And Lent is coming. I'm probably anticipating the scarcity mentality more than I should be. On the other hand, at the moment there is no reason for me to have a scarcity mentality, so I'm not going to beat myself up for really nice secondhand clothing purchases that I will enjoy.
ETA: It occurs to me that I will love wearing this new silk-cotton cardigan with my purple silk dress. That will be a great outfit for weddings, for church in Lent, for a beautiful night out, say on my anniversary, which is in Lent . . . I like the longline cardigans with that dress, but I think this one will be the nicest with it.
LUNCHTIME UPDATE:
Took a good long walk with Dora this morning, winding around the neighborhood. The weather is chilly and gloomy, but I was warm in my clothes (pictured above) and my Lands End down parka, the Christmas gift from my mother that's already coming unstitched below one pocket. I've sewn it a little, so at least the interior lining isn't so visible, but man [insert familiar comments about decline in quality from legacy "quality" brands].
Before walking, I did some reps (not many) with the 25-lb kettlebell, just lifting it with both hands to the level of my chest and lowering. Then shoulder and triceps reps with the 10-lb dumbbells. If I'm going to wear these sleeveless things, I've got to keep the arms toned. This does start to matter more as you get older . . . not that I don't want to maintain strength anyway, but there is also an aesthetic element involved. I've been so encouraged by the results I've had from just a little lifting --- a visible upper-arm muscle that wasn't there before. Lifting even a little does help with core strength, too.
ETA: I am thinking in terms of fitness and toning goals, not weight loss per se, though in fact I could carry five to ten pounds less on my frame and feel pretty good. Just not gaining weight back is my real goal, though. Keeping the metabolism burning as well as possible --- because it does slow down with age --- is a goal. Keeping myself nourished is a goal, because my muscle and bone depend on it, as do my overall energy and sense of well-being.
I am five to ten pounds lighter than I was this time last year, and I'm happy about that. It's one reason why I've taken the plunge of wearing jeans again. But I'm even happier to have developed some visible arm muscle, to have lost at least a little belly fat (these jeans would fit better if I lost just a little more belly fat), and to be generally stronger, more energetic, and more endurant, I guess, if that's even a word. I can bounce for a solid 20 minutes on the trampoline and not have jelly legs. I can walk a long way with vigor. I face the day feeling that I can face the day. And for those things, may I always be truly grateful.
Reading today so far:
*One scene (Act II Scene 1) of Comedy of Errors
*First section of Melvyn Bragg's The Adventure of English: The Biography of Language
I read a good chunk of Helen Castor's The Eagle and the Hart last night, and will probably read more this evening. It's so excellent --- readable and fascinating --- and I'll be glad to have read it when I broach Shakespeare's Richard II and the Henry VI plays, down the road.
Trying to wake my brain up for essay-writing.
LATER:
Wednesday's essay mostly drafted.
Meanwhile, in case you're interested, these are the other items I have coming from Poshmark:
Universal Threads wide-leg lavender jeans
I won't pretend I'm not stoked, or that I'm not looking forward to wearing each of these items. I've already imagined outfits . . . and I'm particularly pleased to anticipate some more clothes for these awkward transitional seasons, when I've traditionally been most apt to wear something weird to accommodate the temperature, or my seasonal mood, or both. I've moved along some items that were reliably part of my least favorite outfits, and that helps. But it's nice to consider more options for combinations I truly enjoy wearing and feel confident in.
I'm also enjoying cycling between dresses and trousers right now. Once the summer is here and the weather is hot, it'll be dresses all the way, I'm sure. I won't want to put on jeans. But for now . . . yeah, this is nice. I like it. And again, I really like how these new items make it easier to wear things I've had for a while --- such as this tank. Things do tend to fall into place, and I'm glad I didn't resell either this top or my pink merino Eileen Fisher tank in the period when I had them but didn't really have much to wear them with. It does all work out. And I think the lesson is that if you really like something --- even if you're not sure it's earning its place in your closet at a given moment --- you should hang onto it until you figure out how to wear it more.