Winsett himself had a savage abhorrence of social observances: Archer, who dressed in the evening because he thought it cleaner and more comfortable to do so, and who had never stopped to consider that cleanliness and comfort are two of the costliest items in a modest budget, regarded Winsett’s attitude as part of the boring “Bohemian” pose that always made fashionable people, who changed their clothes without talking about it, and were not forever harping on the number of servants one kept, seem so much simpler and less self-conscious that the others. (Wharton, The Age of Innocence 123)
So, I am in one of those moods that vascillates between boredom, ennui, and tiredness, coupled with a heavy case of the “wants.” So to get myself out of this mood, which is obviously not especially productive or emotionally healthy, I went for a big walk with the dog and the kid. On the walk I remembered that I didn’t post yesterday (oops!) and I decided that I would go home, find a picture and a quote and write something. It was a better decision than sitting in front of the TV. I’m reading Wharton’s The Age of Innocence, which was serendipitous — since I was trying to work through the case of the wants. (I want to go on vacation. I want to buy new yoga clothes. I want a new bathhtub that I can soak in.) I also happened to be on MLS today — hence houses.
The picture of the grey dress (thanks Pauline!) put me immediately to mind of someone concerned with appearances and little else (see me adjusting the top?), and I thought the hat lent an air of wanna-be aristocracy. I wanted to write in clematis, since the design on the dress looks like that (and because I have a gorgeous purple one in flower in my own garden) but since they are climbing flowers they would not hold up well to cutting — hence lilies. I thought about irises too.
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