A little Sunday shelfie, there in the study corner, which always looks especially golden in early morning light.
Outside, along the front walk, the peony buds are bursting into bloom. I've cut a number of them to bring inside and fill the air with their powdery scent.
Just as Easter Monday seems a good day to die, Divine Mercy Sunday seems a marvelous first day in eternity. I didn't watch the papal funeral yesterday, though I suppose I'll catch up with it eventually on YouTube. But I think about Pope Francis, whose tenure was marked by hits and misses (which I think is the only fair thing to say, and which can be said about any pope in recent memory), and my great hope for him is that his time in Purgatory is over already, and the joy of the unending Easter is his. It's what we hope for any human being, in our charity --- it's what we would hope for ourselves. To love your neighbor as yourself is ultimately to put your trust in the unproven certainty of God's goodness and mercy to that person. You hope --- with all your faith --- that what you would most want for yourself is theirs today.
I've got to take the dog out in a moment, but here's what I'm wearing. It's weirdly a throwback to Lent, but I'm reclaiming purples as spring and Easter colors. In Eastertide, we remember that everything is redeemed, including but not limited to purple. Anyway, although I will certainly be wearing this dress, God willing, in future Advents and Lents, I think we can all agree that it's not a terribly penitential shade.
*Secondhand Wool& Sofia dress (S) in Purple Sage (I think that's what this color was called), bought April 2025, first wear.
*Very old thrifted Pierre Cardin cardigan, easily into a second decade of wear
*Secondhand Birkenstock Papillio sandals, year 1
My one real quibble with this dress is that the pockets show up through the skirt fabric. It's not a deal-breaker at all, but I did notice that when I got dressed. Otherwise, I love the color, the fit, everything about it. It's a slimmer design than the Fiona --- the bodice doesn't blouse as much, and the skirt is less gathered. If I could change anything, I would, I think, increase the fullness of the skirt, so that the dress fits more like a sleeveless Fiona. I do like the higher neckline, however, which seems to work well with the sleeveless design and certainly makes this a church-appropriate dress with no modifications or extra layers. A very light, airy cardigan to cover my shoulders, and I'm good to go.
I am not going to buy a new dress anytime soon, I don't think, but as I live with this one, I will consider whether I want another. This design comes in some beautiful new colors --- Spruce Green, Rosewood, and Cerulean --- all of which I think would work for me, whereas other dresses I'm attracted to, like the Audrey, are available in colors that I'm not as keen on. We'll just see how much I wear this dress, vs. my other dresses, and how well I feel the style wears for me.
I have thoughts about some of my other dresses, but I need to walk the dog now, so they will have to wait.
LATER
A lovely Mass, with more students received and confirmed into the Church.
We came home to find a minor disaster: Dora had had an upset-stomach incident in her crate, and the mess was . . . considerable, but not nearly as bad as it would have been if she had been loose in the house. I shucked off my cardigan and church shoes and cleaned the crate (and the wall behind it), then hosed off her crate pad before putting it in the washing machine on hot (I'm actually washing it twice, just to be sure). THEN I had to bathe the dog herself. I didn't even care that she went and lay in the dirt afterward --- plain old dirt is cleaner than what I had just washed off her.
Some people simply do not appreciate the privilege of a good cold bath in the hose. Actually, cold water is supposed to be good for stimulating the vagus nerve in the right way, so I'd been meaning to give her another bath sometime anyway. She has had some chicken bone broth --- on clear fluids as well as medication until this resolves --- and looks and seems to feel a whole lot better. She had had a couple of emergency episodes in the night, when I got up and went out in the backyard with her, but I had hoped she could make it until we got home from Mass. Alas, I was wrong, but all's well that ends well.
So I washed myself up thoroughly and had some eggs for breakfast, and now we're lounging about. I'm still feeling a little sore inside myself from my own stomach upsets --- ready for that nonsense to clear up. But it is what it is.
I did pull my hair back for church, which always feels more polished than wearing it loose. One thing I like is that the silvers around my face show up a lot more this way. This is the opposite of how many people think, but honestly, I like my silvers and think they add a little drama and interest to my same old hair.
Took some photos outside, too, of the dress by itself with Birkenstocks (well, and me in it).
I do love this color very much. It feels so fresh and springlike and tender. And I can report that this is a great dress for the whole Mass-to-cleaning-up-liquid-dog-mess sequence. I got kind of wet bathing the dog (could have been worse, I assure you), but I dried again pretty fast.
I was having thoughts about dresses earlier, but I don't remember much of what they were, except that I'm mulling putting a little stitch in the crossover bodice of each of my Brooklyns. They seem to have loosened up, both of them, a good deal, and I really want to be able to wear them without worrying about flashing people. I don't love the look of a stitch --- even when it's hidden, it still disrupts the drape of the bodice somewhat. But I think that might be preferable to always feeling that I've got to wear some covering layer underneath.
Oh, the other thought I was having was that I rinsed off and changed clothes after gardening yesterday, so I would be fresh and beautiful to eat steak. Without thinking much about it, I grabbed my floral pinafore out of the closet and found my teal silk-cashmere-merino tank to wear under (yes, it's a good warm base layer in cold weather, but it's fine in hot weather as a tank). Then I thought: I wonder how this would look with my jean jacket.
Verdict: pretty nice, I thought. I even liked my default ponytail, with my damp hair slicked back. I've never worn this pinafore as a night-out dress, but you know, I just might, with this jacket. I really like the juxtaposition of the sort-of-tough jacket with the feminine floral pattern and the flow of the dress. And while I often don't reach for this jacket, because I think it's going to be stiff or uncomfortable, I actually wore it until I got undressed for bed and was perfectly comfortable. How had I not registered that it's really quite soft?
Enough about clothes, but I wanted to log this so I don't forget it.