The perfect origami of an orchid bud.
I got up early this morning to go to Mass --- we'll see how long I stay on that wagon, but one day at a time. My alarm woke me from a dream in which I was sitting around a table with a group of people, and a guy was earnestly flashing peace signs at everyone and saying, also in perfect earnestness, "Peace sign." I woke up laughing and was still laughing in the middle of Mass.
Hey, peace sign. Peace sign. Peace sign to you.
What the heck, dude?
Anyway, I'm home now, drinking coffee, and meditating on the day ahead. I need to get a head start on essays for next week, and I need to make more progress on my book chapter. I did send out two poetry submissions yesterday, trying to up my game there, although of course as soon as I send something out, I see things I want to change in the poems. At least, if anything gets taken, I can say that there's a revision I'd like to make.
The dog thinks it's time to get up, but it is not. She can sleep in a little longer.
I have bought myself a weighted vest, mostly to wear on dog walks. The TXgirl has one --- a 20-pounder, which as she said almost made her fall over the first time she put it on, but she wanted a weight that felt like something. I have not been quite so ambitious. Mine is 10 pounds. It's not hard to wear, and I might eventually upgrade to 20, but not this week. It's just enough to provide some resistance when I walk, resistance I feel mainly in my quads, though I hope it's a good core workout as well, especially if I keep wearing it in the house, to sit down and stand up and bend over and things like that. The weight distribution, across my shoulders and upper back, feels better than weights carried in a backpack, which I had been doing some.
When I do take Dora out, it'll be with my vest on. The other good thing about it is that it has reflective tape, so I'm more visible on night walks.
Yesterday was blustery and fairly warm. Today is chillier, with a high in the mid-50s Farenheit.
Wearing:
*Secondhand Not Perfect Linen Smock dress (S/M) in Grape Wine, with added waist ties and neckline modified to a v-neck. Bought August 2024, last worn January 24. Wears in 2025: 2 (but boy howdy, is that about to change)
*Thrifted Banana Republic lavender merino sweater, bought November 2024, first year of wear
*Secondhand Eileen Fisher merino cardigan coat, bought fall 2024, first year of wear
*Snag merino tights in Red Velvet Cake, bought 2023, second year of wear
*Secondhand Birk Rosemeads, bought February 2023, just entering a third year of wear
Coming in hot with the purple --- you can tell it's the day after Ash Wednesday. I do love this dress, which I know I'll wear a lot all summer. I'm anticipating one floaty linen dress after another, through the hot weather. But it's great now. I really should have been wearing it more, but then the point is longevity, right? Anyway, the heavier linen is perfect for March, though it's also so nice and breathable in the heat.
My new-to-me Birk Papillio wedge sandals arrived yesterday --- probably just as well that the weather isn't conducive to wearing them. I love them! The wedge is lower than my Papillio Mary wedge, which is nice, and they have lovely ankle straps. Maybe I will at some point get some Yara sandals, which I've been yearning for since at least the late 80s . . . I wasn't sure I'd like an ankle strap at this stage of maturity (yeah, your ankles wrinkle, too), but no, really, I do. Anyway, I love these, and they will be perfect for Easter, whatever else I decide to wear.
The sun is shining, and it's a lovely day, even if not quite as balmy as I would prefer. The forsythia is blooming along the curb in front of the house, and I should remember to get a photo before it's done. For most of the year, the forsythias are pretty nondescript, though I like their bare sculptural quality in winter. But this one week or so out of the year, when they blaze up in glory, is why I planted them where I did.
OK, well, on with things.
LUNCHTIME UPDATE:
Popping in while my leftover soup from last night (red lentil/potato soup with onion, garlic, dill, and a good glug of heavy cream) heats up. I'm turning into the homestretch of my second essay for next week (on John Clare's "I Am"), and my last pre-Lenten clothing purchase has arrived.
This is an Eileen Fisher silk-blend cardigan, in a very nice soft shade of pink --- not quite so candy/pastel as my pink merino cardigan. This is more of a blush, and I'm glad I have it. It will go better with my Cinnamon Rose Leila dress, for one thing, and with many more items in my closet. It's the kind of cardigan I could wear on its own as a top, too. The fiber is mostly silk (more than 50%), with some rayon and nylon content. Not too bad, really. My linen-blend long cardigans, both of which I love, also have some rayon content, and oh well. Sometimes you just need something like that to strengthen whatever the natural fiber is, and while rayon is not my favorite, it is at least distantly plant-derived, and it feels pretty good on the skin.
So, that's it for me for the next six weeks, and maybe beyond. I have one --- count 'em --- ONE secondhand purchase slot left. Managing to buy nine pieces of secondhand clothing in three months does give me pause. That seems like kind of a lot, especially given what I already own. I have cleaned out my closet considerably and either sold or passed on a number of things that weren't working for me, but . . . wow. I am glad I made this little no-buy a discipline for Lent, and I hope that this year it teaches me some actually useful habits (other than just not buying things, which is not sustainable over the long term).
I am really hungry for this soup. I didn't eat breakfast --- got up and went to Mass, came back and drank coffee and walked the dog, and by the time I started to feel hungry, it was almost time for lunch. So now I'm waiting for the crockpot to warm it through, so that I don't have to dirty up a saucepan.
EVENING UPDATE:
About to start dinner (a hash of turkey leftovers from Thanksgiving that have been in the freezer, with sweet potatoes and white potatoes, onions, etc), but first, here's some pink, for comparison purposes.
I put my new silk-blend cardigan (right) beside my pink merino cardigan (from fall 2023), and you can see the difference in pinks:
It's really hard to get colors to show up with accuracy in photos, and the new cardigan is not objectively as dull as it might look in this shot. It's really a nice pink. But look at the difference between the two. I like them both, but you can see how these aren't just repeats of the same color.
Then I was curious about my whole spectrum of pink clothes. I might have missed something, but . . .
Left to right: magenta cashmere/rabbit hair blazer cardigan, "Dusty Rose" wool base-layer tee, Eileen Fisher merino tank, Beetroot Brooklyn dress, Carolyn Rowley linen top, J. Jill ramie pullover, Brooks Brother merino cardigan, new Eileen Fisher silk-blend cardigan, Old Navy wide-leg jeans, NPL Cinnamon Rose Leila dress.
I probably should have put the jeans closer to the purply pinks, because that's how they look between the silk cardigan and the NPL dress, which really seem just like shades of each other. I was trying to make a spectrum from peachy pinks to purple ones.
Anyway, as you can see, "pink" is not at all a single color, but a whole family. The TXgirl, with her red hair, could wear my Cinnamon Rose Leila, I think, and the new silk cardigan, and be radiant. She would be less radiant in those magentas down the other end.
I used not to think of myself as a "pink" person all that much, but I do really like pinks, and I seem to wear this whole broad range pretty well. I am a lot more comfortable in the softer shades, but I do like my Beetroot Brooklyn, especially in the summertime.
So now it's time to make dinner. A productive day: finished and loaded one essay for next week, and have written most of another, which turned out to be more ambitious than I had intended.