Every day, religiously, I make my bed --- every day but Sunday, when I rest from this actually-not-so-laborious labor. My sense of order in the universe depends, in large part, on the orderliness signified by a neatly made bed. My sense of well-being, likewise, depends on the orderliness and comfort of my bed. When I get into it at night, I want my bedclothes to be clean and straight. I don't want anything twisted or sliding off. I don't want anything rough. I want my sheets to feel smooth and cool. Good sleep = good life. And these are the ingredients for good sleep, in my view. Your mileage, obviously, may vary, and I was not this obsessive about things when I was younger. But the older I get, the more life seems to hinge on details like this.
All the same, there's something rather lovely about an unmade bed in the morning. My eye was caught by the sea-glass colors of my new bamboo sheets and my old silk pillowcase, juxtaposed in their rumpled, slept-on state in the morning light. I do love these sheets, let me tell you. Having two sets of organic bamboo sheets feels like absolute luxury. They're soft and silky, but also thermally regulating --- cooling in the summer, but warm in the winter. They hold up well to washing, at least so far (we've had the older set for 18 months, which is not that long in the lifetime you envision for a fairly expensive set of sheets). I have no regrets about splurging on a second set, so that we can sleep on these sheets week in and week out. But they do also just look kind of pretty, in this moment before I strip them off to wash them and put the dark-blue set on in their place.
Last night we drove up to Blowing Rock with Dora (who wound up riding in her crate, because she could not sit still and kept falling all over the back seat, even with her seat-belt clip on). We parked in the covered garage downtown, where it stays cool, and took Dora for a walk on a waterfall trail that runs through the woods, away from the town and people, and was therefore ideal. It was late enough when we started that we didn't go very far, and we didn't reach the waterfall, but Dora got some of her kinks out before we crated her again in the car with her supper and went to have ours.
This was all a great plan, especially as Blowing Rock's town fireworks actually happen several miles out of town, at the Tweetsie Railroad amusement park. What we did not count on, however, was people starting to set stuff off independently before sundown. Dora was a little hysterical by the time we made it back to the car --- exactly the thing we had wanted to avoid. Anyway, we drove a good way down the Parkway, then got off and went through Linnville and down toward Old Fort and Marion, before picking up I-40 home. We got home around 11:45, just as the neighbors were getting going with their town-fireworks after-party. Dora refused to go out again, so finally I just crated her and sat with her until 1:28 a.m., which was when the last big firework went off.
I love my neighbor I love my neighbor I love my neighbor I love my neighbor
So that was all fun. Maybe next year we'll rent a dog-friendly cabin somewhere in the absolute freaking boonies. Of course, nobody loves setting off fireworks like people in the boonies, so that's probably not a great idea. I have a feeling that no matter what we do, we're not going to win this one.
On today:
*recovery from last night for all of us
*I am bathed and hair-washed
*dog is walked, fed, resting in crate (see: recovery)
*work on essay still in progress
*read Prose Edda
*make something kind of simple and vegetable-y for dinner. I have a lot of grape tomatoes that need to be eaten, plus green beans off our vines
It's yet another hot one, though marginally less hot than yesterday, with a high of 91F.
Wearing:
*Wool& Audrey dress (S) in Black Heather, bought November 2022, last worn June 23. Wears in 2025: 17
*Secondhand Xero Z-Trek sandals, year 1 of wear
When you're tired and out of sorts, but you really need to get dressed for the good of your soul (and also to walk the dog), you reach for your most nightgown-like dress. I'd love to have this dress in a more summery color, but the dark smudgy charcoal/black is fine and versatile. I can't seem to wear this dress without remarking that it was my most-worn dress for two years running, and even now it's up there in number of wears. It's wonderful with layers and boots in the cold weather, but also a lot of fun just as a bare-shoulder va-va-va kind of situation.
I think I'm going to go read some Norse literature now, while I eat my lunch, and maybe try to watch another class this afternoon.