Bedsheet and tree-shadows, just a little more backyard magic.
We've turned the corner into the week leading to Pentecost. The weather is coolish right now, though today's high is supposed to be 81F. Last night we looked for the Aurora borealis, because it was (possibly) going to be visible this far south, but there was a lot of cloud cover, and we didn't see it.
A lot of work this week, writing a big essay for Friday, then banging out my three for next week. I also need to get grinding on a book review due by mid-month. All that and the usual dog-walking, gardening, housekeeping, cooking, etc. Is my life dull? Sure doesn't seem it.
Still praying the Novena to the Holy Spirit for . . . things.
Wearing today:
*Wool& Fiona dress (M) in Marine Blue, bought fall 2024, last worn May 25. Wears in 2025: 10
*Secondhand Pure cashmere cardigan, year 2 of wear
*Xero Jessie sandals, year 3 of wear
I feel like a narcissist, posting all these pictures of myself. But then a single outfit can look really different, depending on how you stand and from what angle you're looking. It's interesting to me (if not to you) to examine what I'm wearing from multiple angles.
Here, for example, I can see how this cardigan, which I really like from a head-on view, can look sort of boxy from the side, obscuring the shape of my dress. I mean: I don't care. I'm wearing it anyway until the day warms up. But it's good to know this, so that I am making a conscious decision, instead of catching a glimpse of myself in a window as I'm walking, or being photographed at some party I am totally not going to today, or something, and being unpleasantly surprised by an effect I hadn't considered. Can't control everything in this life --- can't control most things in this life --- but I can control my awareness of my body and the clothing on it. And, as always, I'm just normalizing myself to myself. I'm reconciling the (unrealistic) picture of myself that I carry in my head with the pictures of myself that I take with a camera in the bathroom mirror every day.
Meanwhile, in so many ways, this dress does what I had wanted my old Marine Blue Maggie dress to do, that it didn't do. It hits cleanly above the knee in a fun, swingy way, but does not feel like oceans of fabric. I don't feel over-exposed --- I can and do wear this dress to church --- but I don't feel swamped, either. I get the same luminous navy fabric, the same graceful neckline, the same fun movement --- but in a way that feels much more aligned to my body than out to smother it. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I wish they would bring this style back in more colors. I would buy another one.
While I'm hesitant to levy any more challenges on myself for now, because I'll just decide I don't want to do whatever the challenge is, I have thought this morning, as I was getting dressed, that it would be a good idea to make myself wear every dress in my closet once (with the possible exception of the purple silk dress) before I wear it again. This doesn't seem that onerous a challenge, really. I love every single dress in my closet. I don't own a dress I don't enjoy wearing. I do default to some comfort choices (*ahem* Sierra *cough*), but I don't have to do that.
I know I'm going to wear my red skirt next Sunday for Pentecost, and I actually have a new-to-me blue patterned linen skirt, bought with credit from my sales, on its way to me (and it might or might not fit --- we'll see). But then I can cycle those two skirts with tops into my "dress" rotation. There are plenty of days in the month. There are more days in the month, in fact, than I have either dresses or skirt outfits. So I'm not going to struggle here, or feel deprived because I can't wear something twice (and if I really want to wear something, I will simply wear it, and that will be that).
Having a little challenge like that would help me with this syndrome of I've picked this dress to wear today --- but oh, what about that dress?? It also reminds me that as tempting as new (to me) dresses always are, I do not need any more dresses. I am at my outer limit. If I need to buy something --- well, first of all, I should be spending earned credit, not money. But second, I should be focusing on things that I often overlook, such as shoes, bags, top layers, etc., all the things that contribute to making an outfit and extend the versatility of the basic dresses I already own.
So that's my thought for Monday. Pray the Novena to the Holy Spirit, wear all my dresses once before I wear them twice. And walk the dog.
LUNCHTIME UPDATE
So far today I have
*walked the dog
*finished and uploaded Thomas Traherne essay for tomorrow
*walked to post office with parcel postman did not pick up
*received two of three new-to-me items: a cross-body bag and this linen maxi skirt I was mentioning earlier.
The skirt does fit! I am actually excited about this. Tag sizes don't mean much, as we all know, but it's been a while since any Size 8 skirt has fit me. This one has no extra room, but the fit is really nice, I think. Bear with me for multiple photos of said fit (in the sense of is the right size for my body and outfit, both):
*Secondhand L.L. Bean linen skirt, first wear
It rides a little high on my body, but the fit is smooth throughout, even over the flared skirt of my dress. I think this is still a fairly new skirt, never washed --- it's in great shape, but also the linen is a little stiff. With wear and washings (really I should have washed it first anyway, but I'm always impatient) it will soften up and be more flowy, though probably not as flowy as my red skirt, which I think is probably a linen-rayon blend. This is 100% linen.
I am happy with this purchase. It scratches the "floral/pattern" itch, and because it is linen and above my ankles, I suspect I will wear it a lot more than I have worn my April Cornell rayon maxi skirt --- which I'm now considering reselling. I've had that skirt since 2021, so it's had its innings with me, and while I really like it, I don't find it that wearable on anything like a regular basis. I might just fold it up in the outbox and see how I feel.
This skirt, meanwhile, is just lovely. It's a light pattern, but not so pale and washed out that I can't potentially wear it in the winter as well. The lighter parts look kind of lavender/periwinkle, rather than stark white, which is quite useful to me (hello, Advent and Lent, even if I restrict myself to purple and neutrals). It will go --- as I never tire of saying --- with practically everything in my closet, summer and winter alike. I'm already looking forward to styling it with cardigans, pullovers, and boots, though I'm not in too much of a hurry for that . . .
I also strongly prefer the longer sweep of an A-line maxi skirt to a midi skirt --- even though I love midi dresses. A skirt like this makes my shorter dresses that much more versatile; both my Brooklyn dresses will wear well with this skirt. The navy Flax tunic I took out of the sale box will go well with it, tucked or untucked.
I think I'll take this off now and wash it, but I wanted to wear it a bit to see how it performed. Here it is with the new bag, also a secondhand find:
This green is not so much my color, and I'm not sure how it will play with all my clothes, but I like it. It does go well with blues and teals and pinks. I'll just have to intend a green-crunching effect when I wear it with my bluer greens. Certainly the price was right. It's an anti-theft travel bag, with many useful pockets, including one that might have been meant as a phone pocket, when phones were small, but works now as an emergency lip balm pocket. AND it rides comfortably next to my body, which means I don't have to take it off in restaurants, which means maybe I won't keep leaving my purse different places and then panicking when I don't have it.
I'm considering this bag an ADHD accommodation, not a clothing purchase, so it doesn't count toward my remaining secondhand purchases for the year. The skirt, on the other hand, does, as will the Xero sandals that should arrive on Wednesday. But that's okay. It's not as though I really need anything else.
LATER
Lounging upon the porch with the dog, because the sunny back patio got too hot. I'm about to dive back into work, but I have just sent off a revision of my poetry book MS that was supposed to have been published last year, but is still somewhere in orbit around my poetry publisher, out there in the ether somewhere . . . So now I've changed it, and I hope he doesn't give me any pushback. On the other hand, I hope he answers me at all. Queries last summer and fall got no response, an experience shared by everybody else I know who is connected with this publisher. We shall see --- but maybe I should add this as an intention to my Holy Spirit Novena.
Now I'm going to read some short stories sent me by a young writer putting a collection together . . . Then I had better think about Coleridge a little.
Oh, and order groceries. Otherwise I don't know what's for dinner tonight.