The pants-free adventure continues

I have received inquiries as to whether I am still adhering to the Skirts Only rule.

The answer is yes!

How long has it been now? Maybe a month? For the most part I have been having fun with it. I cannot resist a game. That was a problem back in Lent because I was treating this fast I was on as a game, and I kept trying to look for ways to make it easier while still sticking to the rules. Finally I had to tell myself, Uh, Mary? The point of this fast is not to outsmart it!

But that was the only way I could stick with it!

Anyway, this skirt thing. I am going the extra mile and wearing only floor-length skirts because that was what was suggested and without that it would be too easy because I was never really a pants person to begin with.

There is also the matter of the sleeves. Again, it is not as if we are bound by this at church or anything, but the suggestion was for sleeves to be elbow length.

For the first two weeks or so I just used what was in my closet. I combined things different ways. And it was fun because I wore things I had never worn. Two dresses in particular that I had never worn before became staples of my wardrobe. One is a pink Izod cotton maxi and the other is a loose ivory-colored rayon sleeveless gown by All That Jazz.

The problem with both of those dresses had been, they were too skimpy to wear out for most occasions, probably for any occasions, now that I think about it. Yet it had never occurred to me to wear anything over them. Until now! Now, I needed all hands on deck, and these dresses, not being polyester, were called into play.

Now, they are out and about! So are these cotton halter dresses I have. I have always loved these dresses and now they have a new look worn under an array of lacy tops and cotton shirts and jackets.

After about two weeks though I could see I needed some stuff, mostly in the sleeves department because that is a bigger challenge than the skirt. If anything would make me give this up it would be the sleeves rule, because in the heat it is no joke, and also I love going sleeveless. It just feels so good.

But I went shopping and that helped. Shopping always helps. I went to Amvets and Goodwill and acquired a range of loose cotton tops for this heat wave we are in. Oh! And I went to Salvation Army and I struck gold with some gorgeous colorful light vintage cotton shirts from Buffalo's own Chain's India Boutique. I wear them a lot with the Izod and the All That Jazz dresses. Score!

Today at Amvets I found a cotton flowered jacket from Spain. It is like wearing a cloud.

I will have to photograph and post pictures of these items. Meanwhile... good news!

Since I have done this, not only have I suffered no sunburn, I have received a ton of compliments!

Strangers have asked me where I shop!

I went and drew the Tall Ships on the Buffalo waterfront ,,, this is one ...

... and I was in one of those long white flowered halter dresses and one of my cotton white smocks and a straw hat -- and people thought I was part of the show! I guess I looked vaguely 19th century.

A passer-by took this snapshot of me.

And as I stood there sketching, folks treated me like this celebrity. The crew of the Nova Scotia ship invited me on board. I was in this daze. I had never foreseen any of that happening. I had simply been hoping to get in some good drawings.

Would any of this had happened were I wearing shorts, as I think I would have a few weeks ago? Or even a shorter skirt? I am not sure.

But one thing I am pretty sure of.

I am going to stick with this!

Maxi-dress Monday

Hereafter on Mondays I am going to wear only maxi-dresses. Because this being summer, any day I do not wear a maxi-dress is a wasted day.

I wore a short dress today and I felt bad. Walking with my friend Michelle along the waterfront I could not help coveting this one girl's maxi and I confided that in Michelle.,

She said, "Well, I think they look good on everyone I see wearing them. Including you," she added tactfully. Michelle is always tactful! But then she said, "I just think they would be hot on a day like today."

"O, they are not!" I said. "They are exceedingly cool." I explained that of course you have to make sure you wear cotton maxis on hot days. But that goes without saying. Matter of fact it was partly because of the heat that I was coveting that dress. This woman who was wearing it was slim, African-American, and this maxi she had was very light and gauzy, and she looked cool and tropical and free.

I want to do all I can to keep this maxi fad going. It is just too much fun! I was walking around the other day thinking, it is like 1820. Everywhere I looked I saw women in long dresses. It is like Kate Greenaway, one of whose masterful drawings is pictured up above.

Here is a drawing Miss Greenaway did of me at The Buffalo News' Jazz at the Albright-Knox festival the other day with my niece Barbara and nephew Georgie.

Notice my red shoes. I got them at the Shoe Outlet! They are new I am ashamed to say. But I still like them.

I think this summer I will go all the way and live a Victorian life. Along with wearing long dresses I am going to leave calling cards, practice my Chopin every day (inspired by Leonard Pennario) and say Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, not just plain Felix Mendelssohn. And say "O" and not "Oh," as when I was speaking to Michelle.

You must keep life interesting, you know?

Buying the farm

Shoes and eggplant.

Today it came crashing in on me, the grim reality of what I had wrought yesterday at the Clinton-Bailey Market.

Before yesterday, I had been good at not going near the place. Because I belong to that, ahem, Community Assisted Agriculture movement, and every Saturday I go around the block and pick up a bag of produce from the farm.

But yesterday, I had to go to the Clinton/Bailey Market. What a scene there! Such abundance! And a sound system playing "American Pie" and everyone singing along. And these huge black draft horses pulling a wagon. And everywhere you looked, honey, peppers, cheese..

Now here is what is in my kitchen:

Four eggplants, 38 tomatoes, five yellow squash, 17 peppers, 2 Hungarian hot peppers, five carrots, five beets, five ears of corn, one bunch of kale, five farm onions, 10 pounds of Clinton/Bailey onions, one bunch of Concord grapes, one cauliflower, one pint of golden grape tomatoes, one pint of red grape tomatoes, one pint of tomato berries, five apples from our backyard tree, four pears, half a watermelon. I know I am forgetting some stuff, is what is really pathetic.

It is really too much. They tell you "eat local." Not: "eat the locality." I mean, you cannot eat the whole farmers' market. But that is what I try to do, whenever I go to the Clinton-Bailey market. I cannot go back there again. That is for sure.

Still, I try. I cooked for Leonard Pennario once. I made him beef stew. I can do anything. I cooked up the cauli today into soup. It used up one of the carrots. (One down, four to go.) And I got to use up this awkward half a brick of cheddar cheese. I cook through the week the way normal people do Sudoku. It is a big, complex puzzle. You have to not repeat anything and have nothing left over.

Last week I killed the fatted kohlrabi. We used it for about three dinners.

There was a red cabbage and that went into a German pork dinner.

But Howard gets the creativity award. He came up for a new use for eggplant. He uses it to check the color of his shoes, these eggplant-colored shoes that he loves. Just now I walked into the kitchen and Howard was standing there looking down at his feet, going: "Unbelievable."

Between his shoes was an eggplant. He was staring at it.

I married a nut!