Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Rinse thoroughly.

Oh my, how low have my fashion standards fallen since moving to the country. I compare myself to the recollection I have of Eliza Gant, in Look Homeward Angel by Thomas Wolf. She keeps a boarding house and generally has a red and runny nose. Her sweater has holes at the elbows and she wears fingerless gloves. Maybe the fingers have been worn off. She is not destitute, but in more interested in having money in hand than looking fashionable.

I thought of all this today as I drove to town for groceries. I wore, from bottom to top, a pair of Goodwill boots over a pair of hand-knit socks. On my legs were Sweetie's sweatpants, worn underneath a Goodwill denim jumper that almost reached my ankles. Above was a long sleeved t shirt that I actually bought new from Land's End several years ago, and over that was a gray wool sweater. From the Goodwill. On my hands were hand-knit barn fingerless gloves. I did sort of comb my hair and stick a few pins in before going out. And put on lip stick.

It is good to establish oneself as an eccentric before one gets older. I mean, my summer wear is not much better; there are merely fewer layers.

The weather today has been craptacular. Not particularly cold, as it is just above freezing, but it is windy and snowy and wet. The grocery store was not at all busy.

I want to share a freebie which is the audio books on The Gutenburg Project. I have been listening, while I knit, to Emma by Jane Austen. I read the novel many years ago, but I have enjoyed the sometimes clumsy reading. There are lots of titles available. Check it out.