Lettuces and chives. I even dropped some lettuce seeds by accident into the planter with my creeping phlox (the little lavender flowers), so there that lettuce is, too.
All the plants survived the low temperatures last night, and I HOPE we're past the freeze point. The lowest temp over the course of the next week is 39F; everything else is 40s and 50s, Farenheit. Next Tuesday is the traditional "safe" date for planting summer garden plants in this zone, so my great hope is that we're really in the clear.
It's been a busy day, so busy I forgot all about my daily diary post. Mostly I've been working on my libretto, much neglected in the last month. I spent time yesterday making a narrative outline of the whole opera in five acts; I have a scene from one act late in the drama written, and today I went back and drafted the entire first act. I'm going to have to set it aside tomorrow to get other work done, but it feels good to have a big surge forward, and something to show my collaborator.
And of course I've walked the dog and fiddled about in the house. Starting to think about menu plans for Easter and the Triduum. Had some homemade yogurt go bad and threw it out---it just smelled and tasted a bit off, and not in the usual overfermented way. More was wrong with it than just being too tart. It's really not supposed to taste like bleu cheese, and I'm not sure why it did, but I can't have anybody eating that, so out it went. Bummer, but these things happen sometimes.
For dinner I've thawed some of the chicken thighs I'd cooked up and frozen in previous weeks, and we're having them in a casserole kind of presentation (only I left the thighs whole) with grape tomatoes, artichoke hearts, MUCH garlic in whole cloves (just scattered peeled cloves through the whole thing to roast), and either feta or goat cheese crumbled over --- haven't added whichever one it will be yet.
Wearing today:
*Wool& Fiona dress (M) in Marine Blue, bought fall 2024, last worn April 2. Wears in 2025: 6
*Old Thrifted Eddie Bauer cardigan, second decade of wear
*Secondhand Allbirds tencel-merino leggings, repeat from yesterday, second year of wear
*Secondhand Birk Mayaris, second year of wear
I got shots from every angle --- I don't always do the rear view, but it is good to know how things look that way. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love this dress. There is something truly forgiving about this design, the way it flows and drapes, accentuating the waist but giving the hips and belly a lot of grace. I've seen this dress look good on women whose shape is a lot more hourglass than mine (I am completely a pear), and I've seen it look good on women with very narrow, angular bodies. It's such a simple, beautiful, graceful design, and I wish Wool& hadn't discontinued it, or offered it in such a narrow range of colors when it was available. As much as I love my Brooklyns and look forward to wearing them again after Easter, I find this dress much easier to wear in more varied situations --- mostly, I think, because there's no worry about the bodice gaping (though I haven't really had much trouble with my Brooklyns in that way), but also because the skirt, while above the knees, is fuller, so it's flirty while still offering a little more coverage. If you don't have a flat stomach, the gathers are kinder to you than the flatter, straighter cut of the Brooklyn's skirt. I love both styles and feel beautiful in them, but every time I put on one of my Fionas, I'm reminded why I bought them and have kept them.
The longer line of this cardigan seems to work especially well with this dress, too. It felt too long and kind of frumpy with my brown Leila dress
when I wore the two together several Sundays ago. The combination wasn't bad, but something about the whole outfit didn't hit quite right, and I think the cardigan was part of it. Those dresses benefit from something like a bolero cardigan or shrug --- something really cropped. Or else they like something pretty fine and silky and drapey. Anyway, this cardigan with this dress gives me a little more of the exact academic/librarian vibe I like, even though today I'm not wearing a whole academic/librarian kind of outfit. Just the note there in the cardigan.
And now I'd better bestir myself to cook some green beans.
