A second batch of dandelion wine is underway. This tea of petals has been steeping overnight, and the next thing I need to do, once I've been out with the dog, is to strain out the petals, return it to the stainless-steel saucepan, and simmer it with orange, lemon, raisins, and sugar. Once it's cooled, I'll pour that mixture into my handy food-safe ceramic bowl, stir in yeast, and wait for it to start bubbling.
Great choir practice last night. We're singing Elgar, from his oratorio The Apostles, plus a fun little baroque piece, plus all the other regular Chrism Mass music. Saw my good friend Kristen, with whom I used to direct the parish choir, and many other people I've gotten to know over some years, now, of singing in the diocesan choir. Good time had by me, if not all. Then a rather harrowing interstate drive home through heavy rain in the dark. I was glad to get here, walk the dog during a break in the rain, and go to bed.
Today the sun has come out, after two days of rain. As much as we need rain, this is a welcome development. It's cooler, with a high of only 64F, going down to 36F tonight --- the coldest temperature in the forecast between now and the 15th. I'm going to take the risk of leaving my houseplants out, because although the chill might pinch them a bit, I don't think it's going to kill them. I might plant another round of carrots and beets today, too.
Other things on the agenda, besides the inevitable dog-walking:
*2 essays for next week, plus an introduction for a guest contributor
*opera libretto --- I've spent about an hour already, working on that this morning
*ditto my book chapter, which I should have banged out, I HOPE, by the end of the week. I'd love to get that sent in before Holy Week
*replies to various emails
Wearing today:
*Secondhand Wool& Sierra dress (S) in Washed Navy, bought November 2024, last worn April 3. Wears in 2025: 10. I could be wrong about this, but I think my two Sierras are my only dresses so far to break into double-digit wears. Winning the race, Sierra, winning the race. So far, anyway.
*Old Thrifted Eddie Bauer cotton cardigan, second decade of wear
*Secondhand Allbirds tencel-merino leggings, second year of wear
*Secondhand Birkenstock Mayaris, second year of wear
Clean hair, diffused about 3/4 dry. About halfway through drying, I emulsified a little gel in my hands --- I discovered that I still had some leftover Aussie Instant Freeze gel from a couple of years ago, which was good since I'm not buying products for myself until after Easter. Use up what you have, say I. Anyway, I put a pea-sized amount of gel in my palm, ran some water into my hand, rubbed my hands together, and then, bending over to flip my hair upside down, scrunched the emulsified gel into my ends and glazed it very lightly over my hair, to try to minimize frizz and encourage some definition.
Why? I don't know. Just felt like trying today, I guess. Anyway, my ends are a bit crispy, and my hair looks wetter than it is, but I'm going to leave it like this as long as possible.
Here in Passiontide I am feeling pretty basic when it comes to clothes --- today, anyway. I am maybe a wee bit tired of purple at this point. On the other hand, as default modes go, I could do a lot worse than this combination. While I've been moving swing dresses out of my life, or at least out of a central place in my wardrobe, I do still really like this particular style, in this particular fabric, whose heft gives the silhouette a little more shape than the silkier, drapier wool jersey fabric does. And while I like the closer fit of my XS Sierra in Iris Blue, I do also really like the forgiving nature of the same dress one size up. And as dippy as it is, I like my little embroidered fish, covering the hole that came with this secondhand dress.
So: feeling good. I slept well, after an abbreviated night on Sunday, when the husband came home from Dallas, and I'm grateful for that. I'm glad to see the sun. I'm glad to have done some good work this morning already.
And now it's time to let the dog out.
AFTERNOON UPDATE:
Taking a little work break to contemplate various things. Our whole house is about to be engulfed in weeds, but I'm sitting in the garden anyway, because the sun is out, and I am here for it. The blessing of the South is the springtime --- but it's so brief, and it gives way so soon to heat and bugs that if you don't soak up every drop of it every chance you get, you'll have missed it altogether. So it is that Dora and I are in the kitchen garden, soaking as much as we can. A pair of house finches have been in and out of the redbud by the back gate, and big heavy bees are making forays among whatever things are blooming. The blackberries are in bloom right now, and I think the gooseberry must be as well, though its blooms aren't really that visible. And then of course there are all the weeds, flowering away in the lawn. If I thought we could get away with it, I'd just mow paths and areas in the lawn and let all the rest of it be meadow, because it is pretty in its wild way. We've never received a citation from the city, but there is always a first time . . .
I'm contemplating, too, what this Lent has been like. Fast is what it's felt like, though I really can't account for that. Wasn't Ash Wednesday the day before yesterday? How is it that this coming Sunday is Palm Sunday? I suppose one explanation is that it hasn't been that arduous a Lent --- our penances aren't nothing, but they haven't induced great suffering. Still, some things have gone well. I've gone to daily Mass more often this Lent than I was doing. I've gone to confession (without leaving it to the absolute last second). We've gone to Stations of the Cross every Friday night without fail --- I went by myself last Friday night, but I went. My reading goals: not so great. My prayer goals: eh. I have prayed the Office of Readings more often, though not every day. My jaunts out of town have meant maybe a little more holly-golly (on a modest and restrained scale) than I would have partaken of had I just been at home the whole time.
But on the whole . . . it hasn't been a bad Lent. There have been a good many graces, chiefly the grace to sustain those small penances. The purple-capsule-wardrobe penance has been an effective one, chiefly because it's meant that I've fasted from some of my favorite clothes. The no-buy needed to happen and has given me time to think and prioritize, as well as to cull the closet a little more. I have done a partial social-media fast (one platform in particular, which was my worst time-waster and occasion of sin in the form of partaking in gossip, which I was doing, frankly, just by paying attention to a lot of discourse), and that's been a huge relief. I probably won't go back there, though I also probably won't deactivate my account, either. I do have friends whom I keep in touch with that way, so I don't want to disappear entirely. But I also don't want to get sucked back in.
So . . . I don't want to be disfiguring my face and rending my garments like the hypocrites, in talking about my penances, but I figure it's worth saying that these things have felt like spiritually productive penances to engage in for a season. How will my life be changed? It's hard to say. Life is a lot of falling off one horse or another and getting back on again, but I figure that if you don't fall off the same horse all the time forever, then that is progress.
I have done a good bit of work on the libretto, at least by way of outlining and making notes on the structure of its acts, and I've written a good 500 words more of my book chapter. I've made the bed and wiped down the bathroom. I still need to strain those dandelion petals and get the next winemaking stage going --- so perhaps that's what I should go do right now.
