Flowering thyme and the omnipresent speedwell. Many things are coming into flower right now, and are being amply watered overnight by the rain. Last night, after we'd gone to bed, a storm front moved in. We were shaken awake by a huge clap of thunder and spark of lightning, right over the house, that vibrated everything and induced stark terror in the dog. I had to get out of bed to sit on the floor by her crate for a while until she calmed down enough to go back to sleep. Mercifully the rest of the storm, with its diminishing mutters and flashes, didn't bother her, and the rest of the night passed peacefully.
Today: intermittent sun with more possible storms in the forecast, high of 84F. The Artgirl turned up around 8:30 last night, saying she had driven through blinding rain for much of the way between Dallas and Memphis, and then again between Memphis and here. And whatever weather happens to the west of us will eventually wash up on our doorstep. She was in good spirits, though, and her car had run reasonably well. Her father is going to take her and the car to our mechanic on Monday to have it looked over and some lingering problems addressed --- it's a 23-year-old car, so lingering problems are to be expected, but on the whole . . . well, it's a Toyota, and Toyotas run more or less forever, as long as somebody is willing to comb the junkyard for parts. So we'll see what Steve the Mechanic can accomplish in the course of several days. She plans to stay until next Thursday --- she has a lunch date with her grandmother and aunt on Friday --- which is a nice long visit and makes us happy. I spent some time yesterday cleaning her room, steam-cleaning her window air conditioner, putting fresh sheets on, and deep-cleaning the upstairs bathroom (which needed it, boy howdy), so she can settle right in.
I think what I'm going to do, once I've taken the dog out, is work in the kitchen garden, weeding and setting pieces of granite as pavers. We have two bales of pine-needle mulch left from who knows how long ago, so I think I'll spread those before I set my pavers out. I don't much like pine-needle mulch and would prefer to have my potager graveled, but use what you have, they say, so that's what I'm doing.
Wearing today:
*Wool& Sierra dress, bought January 2025, last worn May 31. Wears in 2025: 29
*Secondhand Xero Z-Trek sandals, year 1 of wear
I don't need to post more than one photo of this dress. Anybody reading this blog has seen this dress. The miracle is that I haven't worn it for two straight weeks. And the only reason for that miracle is that I was purposefully wearing everything else, in my Wear Everything Once June challenge.
This challenge is still ongoing --- I have a few things left yet that I haven't worn. Off the top of my head, those items are:
*Wool& Beetroot Brooklyn dress
*NPL Emerald Green Smock dress
What am I forgetting here? There is my purple silk dress, which isn't an everyday dress, but which I could wear to go out some evening. Maybe that's it?
We'll see. On with the day.
AFTERNOON UPDATE
So far today I have
*taken a short hot dog walk (late, because on Saturday mornings EVERYBODY is out walking --- so first thing, instead of walking, we tend just to hang in the back yard)
*weeded the kitchen garden and laid out granite scraps for pavers.
I think we could fill those gaps with small gray gravel, to level it out. And I think that, wonky as it is, it looks kind of cool.
*hung out some hand laundry to dry in the sun
*written roughly 1K words of fiction, for the first time in a while, which felt good, although I can see that what I thought was a short story is turning into a novella, which is more of a commitment than I really had in mind . . .
I still need to change the sheets on our bed and wash the blackberries and gooseberries I picked this morning, which are going to go into a big side salad to accompany grilled steaks for supper. Spring mix (now that our lettuce has all gone to bolt, we have to buy greens for salads), plus berries, plus maybe some grated beet if I feel like doing that, plus feta, plus some kind of vinaigrette.
For Mass tomorrow I think I might wear my L.L. Bean linen skirt with my NPL Dusty Blue Bay tank, which I haven't worn in a while --- maybe with a pink cardigan, and with my ankle-strap Birk wedge sandals, because I haven't worn those in a while, either.
Then maybe Beetroot Brooklyn on Monday, and Emerald Green Smock for Tuesday? And then I'd be done with this challenge and could re-wear something? It's been fun, but like any challenge, it starts to get old before it's over. I guess the advantage is the continual reminders that I do actually like all my clothes, like really, I love my dresses, and I'm eager to wear things again.