A shot of the garden from the driveway: beans on their teepee trellis, zinnias, yarrow seedlings that probably won't bloom this year, all on a backdrop of blue sage and bee balm.
It's Monday, I have two essays to write this week, and then next week to try to finish as well. I'm tired of writing hand-to-mouth, so to speak. Time to try to get ahead a little, especially as my last outside writing project is finished (and I have no plans to say yes to any more reviews or outside writing for the time being).
Summer is settling in, warming up steadily. June is always a nice month, though: highs might break into the 90s Farenheit, but mornings and nights are still cool. We're in a pattern of heavy rain at night, which keeps everything watered and fresh. Later on this will mean mosquitoes in superabundance, but right now they're not too bad, and it's pleasant to be outdoors.
We had a lovely Father's Day dinner last night, with gifts from the Artgirl and me. Menu was lamb chops marinated in salt, pepper, lemon juice, and garlic, with some ground thyme, then after resting in this bath for an hour or so, seared for 3 minutes each side in a very hot cast-iron pan, with the whole garlic cloves. After searing (which cooked them to perfection --- doesn't take long), I removed the chops to a plate, poured the marinade into the pan, added a tiny bit of water, and cooked it all down with pan juices and leavings, to pour over the meat.
Side was two yellow squash from the garden, sauteed with about half a Vidalia onion, sliced, in butter with salt and pepper. I slice my squash very thinly, so it cooks through fast, and I try to let as many pieces as possible rest on the cast iron long enough to brown before I turn everything over again with my spatula. The onion browned beautifully, too, and was delicious with the squash, with no other seasoning besides salt and pepper.
Dessert: gooseberry-blackberry fool, using this recipe (adding blackberries, obviously, since I had them).
Chicken thighs that I had planned to cook were still thawing (and I saw lamb chops in the store when I was picking up my Father's Day gifts . . .). We'll have those grilled tonight --- assuming it's not pouring rain right at dinner time --- over a green salad with, probably, more berries and either feta or goat cheese.
In other news . . .
On Saturday, when I was laying stone scraps in the garden, I found a better, wider fit for my bathtub countertop:
Another inch of width would have been perfect, but this is an improvement. Now my self-draining soap dish can rest stably on the edge of the tub, and there's even room for my coffee mug on the countertop. I turned the original counter piece into a backsplash and moved the little dark piece of granite into the garden paving. Yes, yes, this new counter slab has been cut and is broken on one end, but what care I for those minor details? This works. I have room for my stuff, on a surface that's easy to clean and won't collapse into the space with the pipes and hoses if I put something back in the wrong spot (again, what I did have there were two cutting boards).
I don't care that this is imperfect --- what I see are lovely, sturdy, clean surfaces where I can put things I need when I'm in the bath (yes, coffee too, ideally).
And again, the husband came home with a whole trunkful of these stone scraps, scavenged for free from a local stone supplier. From this one haul I got paving stones for my garden, a counter for the end of my bathtub, and a marble slab for my kitchen island --- this last has proved quite handy for serving cheese and crackers. Who needs a platter when you simply have a marble slab, and were going to be standing at the kitchen island to eat cheese and crackers anyway?
So we are feeling very clever. I sense that we could come up with endless ways to use free scraps of marble and granite, if we put our minds to it. We would never come up with these things if we had to pay for the pieces of stone, but when they're free, man . . . sky's the limit.
Wearing today (almost at the end of my Wear Everything Once Challenge!):
*Wool& Brooklyn dress (S/Long) in Beetroot, bought November 2023, last worn May 16 --- exactly a month ago! Wears in 2025: 7, I think (counting a time when I wore it under my floral pinafore).
*Secondhand Xero Z-Trek sandals, year 1 of wear
This is a lot of shots of me in this dress, I guess, but I did want to get lots of angles. I'm still convinced that although they are theoretically the exact same size, this dress is actually smaller than my Pacific Brooklyn, which I had bought about six months before. That's not a problem, really, just an observation --- I think. That is, I think I observe this difference. There just seems to be discernably less fabric in this dress than the slightly older one, which probably did come from an earlier manufacturing lot. I think Beetroot was a brand-new color for this style when I bought it, so it would stand to reason that it wouldn't have been made at the same time . . .
I mean, whatever. I like them both. And I felt like dressing like a zinnia today. The high is supposed to be near 90F, and I'm not doing anything but knocking around here getting work done, and this is a perfect dress for those conditions. As with the Pacific Brooklyn, I think I will be reaching for this one far more now that I've made a stitch in the crossover bodice, so it won't be flopping open unexpectedly. That is a huge plus. I put it on today, in fact, without my usual hesitation. I can walk out in this dress and not feel that I'm inviting people to stare at my exposed body. Their eye might be caught by the bright color, but that's all.
The bright color makes this dress somewhat less versatile than others in my closet --- it can be a little hard to style it with layers, for example, in a way that really feels right in terms of color combinations. But that is not a bad thing. It is okay to have something just fun in the closet --- even a few just fun things that might not get worn as often with everything else, but that make you feel great when you put them on. Mostly I do choose clothes based on what else is in the closet, making multiple outfits in my mind before I decide to buy. I did do that with this dress as well, or I wouldn't have bought it. But I also decided that it was okay that it didn't go with some things.
It is easy, especially when you're thinking about things like sustainability and capsule-type wardrobes, to forget that fun is a value, too. This is the same syndrome as the idea that the food you eat is simply fuel for your body. Yes, much of the time, it is good to think of food that way, because the idea of fueling your body means that you make healthier choices. But if fuel is all you allow your food to be, then there is no room for enjoyment, and no permission to eat something sometimes that you simply enjoy. OR it's like the idea --- which is easy for homeschoolers to buy into, let me tell you --- that absolutely every life experience has to be educational in some way. Even if you're going to watch cartoons, you have to turn them into some kind of lesson.
All of these are examples of how our basically good ideas, if allowed to take over our lives, can drain those lives of joy --- because they reduce everything to some kind of utilitarian value. This is why we have to be reflective. We all take on messaging of various kinds, and often (because our intentions are good), that messaging is basically good. But if we don't examine it and figure out our own relationship to it, then even basically positive messaging (streamline your wardrobe, fuel your body, the world is your classroom) can become a kind of soft enslavement. It's a fallen world, and that's just how things work, sadly enough. The good news is that we do have agency. We do have powers of discernment. We do have an intellect and a will. And we are meant to exercise those faculties, even in small things --- because our life is made up of small things, and if we don't exert our agency, discernment, intellect, and will over those small things, then we'll be out of practice when something big comes along. There's no part of our life that isn't meant to be touched by our God-givenness, no part of our life that is devoid of theological import.
So yeah, anyway, all that to say: I own this dress because I like it. And I like it even better now that I know I'm not flashing people on, say, the dog walk that I'm about to take.
Tomorrow I'll try the linen skirt again, the one I didn't wear yesterday. Today I'm enjoying this.
LUNCHTIME UPDATE
My new-to-me Xero Oswegos have arrived, and wow!
These are absolutely my favorite Xero closed-toe shoes yet. The lower-contrast olive green is perfect for me. It will go with literally everything in my closet. I like the color of the sole, which is not too sneakerish --- these look more like moccasins than athletic shoes, which I appreciate. They are just a nice unobtrusive closed-toe shoe that I can wear for travel, walking, even hiking. I'm well acquainted with this Xero style, so I know how they perform --- these just happen to be the best-looking ones I've had. I am seriously contemplating selling my charcoal-gray ones; these look and feel better on my feet, and I think I will wear them a whole lot more.
I've changed back into my sandals because they're cooler, but I was tempted to keep these Oswegos on. They don't look bad at all with this dress. Again, I prefer this level of contrast to black/charcoal gray. I have also bought two pairs of Darn Tough no-show socks, which will make these shoes even more comfortable. It's cooler, paradoxically (in terms of temperature, not image), to wear a wool-blend sock with shoes like this than it is to wear them without socks. I have ankle socks, but I really prefer (despite what's apparently, dorkily, on trend right now) that my socks not show at all.
Anyway, I am very happy with this purchase. I had enough credit that although my cost wasn't $0, it was quite low --- and, to me, worth it. This has been the Year of Shoes, and it's sort of needed to be the Year of Shoes. Of course, it has also been the Year of Shoes That Don't Work Out, so it's seemed even more a Year of Shoes than it really has been, in terms of what I'm actually wearing on my feet.
I could also, potentially, resell my Xero Mesa Trailrunners, which I wear for hiking, but I think I'll hang onto them. They're good shoes, and the husband gets anxious if I don't pack Designated Hiking Shoes for a trip (which is how I wound up hauling my heavy leather boots to Norway last year, then just wearing my Xero Mesas instead . . .never again). The great thing about these shoes is that you can pack multiple pairs of them in a carry-on without their taking up much space or adding much weight to your load. They're the perfect travel shoes. The sandals, especially my Jessies, are totally flat. Everything else is pretty close to flat. And now that my feet are used to barefoot shoes, I can walk all day in them, in the city or the countryside, quite happily.
OK, I need to eat some lunch and get to work, but I wanted to report on my happiness with these shoes. I wish Xero still made them --- these small companies sure do love to discontinue popular models. A version of this exact shoe in hemp would have been really nice. My one complaint is that the uppers are some kind of synthetic, and they don't breathe as well as they might. But again, wool socks (weirdly) take care of that by wicking moisture away. And they are washable and sturdy, so I can't complain too much even about that.
And now for lunch. Really.