she walks these hills in a long black veil

(Outfit: Victorian hand embroidered shawl; 1950s juniors' dress; Stetson boots)

...not really. I don't have a black veil, though if I did I'd have worn it with this outfit. Oh well.

I took these pictures last week on an odd day that was chilly but strangely humid and breezy, so needless to say my rag curl ringlets that were perfect at breakfast were all straight and straggly by lunch time. If you love doing complicated hairstyles, don't come to Vermont... I'm only half kidding! It's absolutely stunning here (as you can see from these pictures... this dairy cow pasture across the street from my dad's house, and the view is what we see from the sitting room window) but gosh, the weather's been nasty lately. Rain, sleet, fierce winds... you name it, we've had it the last few weeks. Here's hoping some fluffy snow comes along soon to brighten the drab hills up a little!

Now that my hopes of a final Indian summer heat wave have faded away almost completely (hey, you never know!), I'm finding myself drawn to darker and heavier clothes. As much as I love a cheery sky blue cotton frock with white tights, my instincts have been steering me towards crepes and wools and blacks and navies. Fun fact: the black 1930s dress I shared in that last post is my first solid black dress ever! For some reason I've never gone in for black; I don't even think I own a solid black shirt or skirt. How strange; this winter, I'm finding simple black dresses with 30s and 40s femme fatale silhouettes extremely inspiring, especially with antique accessories like my shawl.

Have a nice weekend!! I have to write a 5 page term paper about... abandoned farms in Vermont! Around the turn of the century literally thousands of farms were left vacant when the soil turned out to be useless for agriculture and the opening of the West offered better incentives. Unfortunately I'm not doing any first hand research inside an abandoned farm ; )