Author: 459856pwpadmin

 The September issues of magazines and fashion catalogs have started to arrive.  I haven't really started to absorb anything yet, but the cover of the September Town & Country magazine really captured my imagination.

I just like the combination of everything Tory Burch is wearing in this shot: the sweater, the blouse, the squash blossom necklace with the scarf over it.  It strikes me as the perfect combination of color and pattern, of classic and boho.    I wouldn't necessarily have thought to pair these items this way but it looks just right to me.  I love every one of those pieces except I couldn't really wear the yellow scarf as it would do very unflattering things to my skin.  Of course the scarf that makes the whole outfit pop but it is the play of color and pattern, the repetition and the contrast that makes it work.  I can learn from that.

Aside from the overall outfit, I want that sweater.  Actually I want the sweater I imagined when I first saw this photo, before I looked at it carefully and noted the details. When I first looked at the picture, I thought the sweater had short sleeves, and I actually preferred that, although I can see how long sleeves would be more versatile.  I personally wouldn't like the thickness of even a very light sweater bunched up at the elbow, and after pushing the mohair up, I'd have to reblock it to get it to fit at the wrist again.  This kind of thing annoys me to no end.  But I would wear a short sleeved, very loosely knit mohair sweater with a shirt with the sleeves rolled up,or even with a turtleneck sweater with the sleeves scrunched up.  Although I think the original price of this sweater is reasonable, it is not really what I want.  My own version of this sweater however is a definite possibility, it would be a quick knit, and at some point the perfect mohair in the perfect color will cross my path.

I finished two books this week, neither of them requiring great thought or attention.  

 Last weekend I picked up Every Last One by Anna Quindlan.  It was my turn on the waiting list, and it turned out to be a good choice for this week even though the day I picked it up I was thinking about several weightier books I had on my stack that I was eager to chew my way through.  I really enjoyed this book.  I like the way Quindlan has of developing the inner life of her characters through the little details of daily life and she is very effective here if you give her the chance.  By telling this story through the voice of the mother she unifies the book and also gives us an insight into the inner life of a woman and mother who seems to have everything right but who then is faced with the reality that we never really fully understand and know what is going on with those we love.  We try so hard to make the right choices, and in the end, whether we do or not, is as much luck as anything else.   It is difficult to say I enjoyed the book given everything involved, and yet, ultimately I think it is a well-paced and good novel in which one quietly gets involved in the lives of the characters, gaining insight into their lives and through them, into one's own.  Yes the main character is inconsistent and doesn't make the same choices everyone might make; she is dealing with her own issues combined with her children's issues, like oh so many people, and sometimes she gets it right and sometimes she doesn't, but the author has a way of catching her pulse and letting us in it.  I'm not going to say what happens in the book, or how the main character is forced to come to terms with herself, but I found it a rewarding read.

 But before I read the novel, I read A Company of Readers.  I came across it on the shelves when I picked up my ongoing library cataloging project a bit last weekend.  The problem with shifting, moving, and cataloging books is that I tend to want to sit down and read every one of them again.  I suppose if I don't want to read a book again, it is a good sign that it is time for that book to go, or at least that is my operating principle.

Anyway, this book is a collection of essays which made it perfect for this rather frazzled week.  WH Auden, Jacques Barzun, and Lionel Trilling started a book club in the 50's and a collection of their reviews for the club are included here.  Admittedly I have a weakness for good book reviews, and these, for the most part are fabulous, the kind of book reviews I wish I could write, and they make me want to read almost every book and wish I was a member of the book-buying public when their club was in existence, because it must have been fabulous.

Well, actually I have read quite a few of the books reviewed by now, but there are still a few I have missed, and regardless the essays are still fascinating.  In fact all the books make me think about the works I have read and look back on them differently, and even books that sound completely uninteresting to me pique my interest as I read the reviews here.

Auden is the writer with whom I am most familiar, and his reviews often make me cackle with glee. An example is this line from a review of Dostoevky's The House of the Dead "The House of the Dead is not Dostoevsky's greatest work but it is, perhaps, his least irritating."   He reviews Tolkien.  His reviews of poetry often make me look at the poet under review differently and also reflect on my understanding of Auden's own poetry.

As for the other two, suffice it to say I love their reviews too.  I want to read almost everything Jacques Barzun recommends, although I have read none of his other works.  Reading his reviews makes me wonder what else I may have been missing. And as for Lionel Trilling, I admit to never having liked reading Trilling, except in these essays.  Actually, I think I never really liked Trilling until I read his review of The Wind in the Willows, after which I had to go back and consider his other reviews.  Perhaps one of these days I shall have to explore the writings of Barzun and Trilling further, as well as spend some more time with Auden.  But then perhaps I shall just curl up with an essay from this book now and again, because these essays are not just about the books themselves but the world and culture and people who write and read these books.

Somehow this week kind of got out hand and here it is Thursday already.  My mental list is still stuck on Monday.  I don't know what it is, but somehow when routines or the status-quo takes a dip or a turn it takes me a couple of days to get out of my funk and stop fighting and just settle into the new routine.  I would hope that I would get better at this, but I guess change is hard no matter what, and we all cling to our expectations.

 In the meantime, the walk is almost done.  There is still a bit of finishing up to do, and I have distracted the mason somewhat by deciding to go ahead and get all the stone-work and hardscaping done now rather than at some indefinite future date.  This doesn't mean the yard will be finished this year, some of the landscaping will be put off until next year, but at least the structure will be in place and it will all look so much better.

It isn't foggy outside today but I had trouble taking pictures without the camera fogging up right away as the humidity is around 75% now at mid-day.  Luckily it is not quite as hot. And the lenses start to fog up as soon as I open the camera.  I suppose if I just left it outside for a while it would equalize and be ok.

But onto the plans.  We will finish the dirt side of the path (north) and put a gravel path through the south side, which I had long planned.  But cleaning up th south side of the walk, where the vinca and pachysandra are now, will take a little longer.  I am counting on the idea that just having structure will help, and future plans are mostly for digging and replanting and I can do this in stages.  Besides, I personally need time to think about plants and mull over the possibilities.

And although the mason has to finish filling in between the stones on the walk, his crew is already preparing for a stone wall and a raised bed that will finish off at least the North side and the first view of the house as one comes down the driveway.

More to follow.

I tried to get the earlier post out early, because I am learning that, at the moment at least, my most focused time is in the early mornings.  As a result I didn't completely think things through.

The first photo I posted of me wearing the sweater bothered me for several reasons but as I moved through my morning, constantly readjusting the sweater, it dawned on me that the main source of my discomfort was that there is no closure on this sweater and I am not really a fan of open sweaters at least on myself.  

 The immediate solution was to sew a hook and eye at the neckline.   Fastening a sweater only a the neck and allowing it to swing free is one of my favorite looks and I am very happy with this.  Unfortunately, I do not have any really tiny hooks right now and the smallest one I had is still too large and it shifts around dragging the sweater out of alignment.   Luckily I was planning on placing an order with Atlanta Thread in the near future and I can easily add tiny hooks to the order.  

 In the meantime I feel more "finished" and pulled together, and the sweater now makes a much more flattering line.  Well, it would it I hadn't gotten it bunched up in my belt so that it pulls over the bust, but although part of me wants to go get a more perfect picture, another part of me suspects that I tend to look more bunched and rumpled than sleek and pulled together most days.

I will wear the sweater open at the neckline on occasion, most likely belted over a skirt or a dress. Now, at least, I have the option of choice.