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Warmer today: high of 69F, with sunshine. Hooray, hooray.
I don't have much on (I mean: in terms of things to do. Not in terms of clothing on my body). Worked hard all week, going to enjoy the weekend.
*Hair wash
*Nice long dog walk
*Laundry to hang on the line
*Arrange dog walker so we can be out of town overnight Monday for our 35th wedding anniversary
*Some weeding and sunbathing in the backyard with Dora
*I think I'll make lamb koftas again for dinner, because I still have both ground lamb and yogurt sauce from last week that we need to eat up
WEARING:
*Thrifted Chico's linen button shirt, bought December 2023, second year of wear
*Pretty old thrifted Gap cotton twill shorts --- I don't remember when I got these, or in which local thrift store, but it was before 2020, I'm fairly sure. I had had them in my Poshmark closet to sell, but after a couple of years nobody has bitten (and I priced them LOW, too), so I've decided to reclaim them and see how much I want to wear them.
*Secondhand Birk Rosemeads, bought February 2023, third year of wear
Very wet hair, just out of the bath.
This outfit is probably rushing the season, and I will almost certainly want a jacket when I walk the dog. But it's already almost 60F out, pretty balmy, with most of the chill already burned off the air. I want to be outdoors a good bit today, and if I'm going to be digging in the dirt, I might as well not be wearing my nice light lavender jeans (originally on my outfit plan) to do it.
I am a little dubious about shorts, but these are not too short --- they're longer than my Iris Blue Sierra dress, in fact. I generally prefer these, which read fairly masculine in their straight tailored lines, with a more feminine shirt: a soft tank, something with some curve, or with tucks or other delicate detail. That's really the best balance. But here I like that the voluminous shirt over the narrower shorts reverses and blurs my body's natural pear shape --- I do not dislike my body shape, mind you, but I do dislike the way these shorts look on me with, say, a plain t-shirt. Way too dumpy and blocky and blah. But a big, loose shirt with some motion over the narrow line of the shorts: yeah, that's a good balance that I feel in my feels.
I've loved them in the past with my blue Indian gauze tunic, for example. But for a Saturday's knocking around, I don't mind them with this voluminous shirt, which in any case is the right color for the season, and the right color for the color of the shorts.
Purple and green are natural complements, and these soft, washed shades balance each other beautifully, I think, in terms of saturation. One isn't really darker or brighter than the other to any significant degree.
Both these items were so cheap, in the thrift store, that I'm sure the cost-per-wear is well down in the negative numbers by now. It's easy just to think in terms of years of wear, though in the case of the shorts I'm just guesstimating. I'm pretty sure I've had them at least five years, though they've spent the last two summer seasons in the sale box, so maybe I can't really count those years as years of wear. But I have owned them a long time and have not replaced them in kind or anything like that.
At the end of the day, I don't want to get too hung up on sustainability formulae. Yes, I want to reduce my own consumption, for reasons I've gone over and over in this space and won't bore myself with, or you either, right now. But also I want to cultivate actual gratitude for what I have --- not just white-knuckle it through boredom, but be actively happy and grateful, in cooperation with God's generous grace extended to me. Envy is one of those root sins I want to work on this Lent, and as trivial, on a relative scale, as clothing is, it does give me a good field for developing the corollary virtue, which is a spirit of gratitude.
Looking back on the week, I'm grateful for the following:
*a good week on the Substack, with new subscribers and, I think, some excellent essays
*to have my work for same done for the next week
*to have sent out two packets of poems, and to be working on more things to submit
*to need more copies of books to sell at my next round of events in early April
*to have gone to confession, three weekday Masses, and Stations of the Cross this week
*to have eaten well from our pantry and freezer supplies
*to feel fairly strong, and to feel that I am investing, in my daily round of activities, in my future health and strength (though ultimately I know I have very little control over my future)
*to have had my eyes open to beauties in the natural world
*to have read good things
*to have seen and chatted with good friends
*to have enjoyed my break from certain social media thus far (not all social media, just the platform/s that has/have been the worst time devourers and driver/s of anxiety)
*to have agreed on an easy, friendly, mutually satisfying solution for a weird property-line issue that has arisen --- our next-door neighbors' house is under contract, and surveyors discovered that their garage occupies about five feet of our property. No idea how that happened. Last time the properties were surveyed, the surveyors obviously drew the line right through the garage. Why? Who knows. Anyway, it's good to have good and reasonable neighbors, and to be good and reasonable neighbors in return.
*for my house, even though everywhere I look at the moment I see things that desperately need repair. I guess I'm glad it's still standing.
*for the sun and the return of warmer weather
I guess now maybe I'll dry my hair a little, drink some kefir, and take the dog out.
AFTERNOON UPDATE:
*Curtailed dog walk because lots of other dogs were out, but plenty of time in the backyard together
*Hung a load of laundry
*My 30 10-gallon grow bags arrived yesterday, so today I opened the packages and set them out, sans dirt which I haven't procured yet but weighted down with bricks so they don't blow away, to get a sense of how I want to configure them. The kitchen garden will be much more filled in this year with containers, which I think will make the space nicer, tidier, and more interesting in terms of height variations and density and negative space. I put 25 containers in that garden, leaving 5 for the patio. It all looks pretty dumb right now. The husband remarked that the grow bags look like shopping bags, and he is not wrong. But once they're filled and have things growing, it'll all be GREAT. That much less room for weeds, too.
I came in, washed up, and started putting away yesterday's clothes, which I'd left on the bathroom hamper, and ---
Yeah, so in Lent you repeat outfits a lot more often. I do really love this dress. She's been a winner with layers in the cold weather, but she's perfect for a warm early-spring day when --- contra my original dinner plans --- I have been invited to the pub after 5, when it is technically the vigil for Sunday. I love Saturday nights and Sundays in Lent (and yes, I guess we're penance wimps, but there is just a blessed sharpness to the little foretastes we grant ourselves through the season, of what's awaiting us at the end). And I like having a fun little dress to put on and wear out. If it gets chilly I'll put on leggings, but for right now I'm perfectly comfortable.
This button shirt makes a great top layer. It's so big that that's really what it's good for, though I do enjoy it over those shorts.
I'm almost tempted to try a 30-day challenge in this Sierra . . . I dunno. Maybe it's enough just to wear her a lot. Already she's my most-worn dress of 2025, and I'm glad to have her.
Also doing some research to write on Coleridge's "Dejection: An Ode."
PS: I guess this makes a nice round 10 wears for this Sierra dress.
Hmmm . . .
I could maybe do a Wool& 9x9 Challenge. That might be more fun and manageable than wearing the same dress every day for a month. I've done that business, and I'm kind of over it.
The 9x9 works like this:
Choose any nine items you own and wear any combination of those nine items over the course of nine days as your daily outfit. If you do not yet own any wool& garments, you can participate with any items you already own.
What does not count toward your 9 items: sleepwear, cold weather gear, undergarments, shoes, workout attire (when worn for their intended purpose), handbags, items required for religious purposes, required work uniforms, belts, and jewelry.
What does count toward your 9 items: dresses, tops, bottoms, layers, scarves worn for fashion purposes, tights/leggings when they are a visible part of your outfit).
Further details at the link above.
The last day to start this challenge is March 26; the last day to submit photos is April 11. Note to self.
I shall have to mull over this. Part of me thinks it's too much trouble, when I'm already wearing a slightly more limited capsule within my regular wardrobe. Another part of me thinks it could be fun. We'll see.