Engaging Emerald

I have been waiting all summer for weather like today’s, never dreaming that I would get such a day smack dab in the middle of the sultry season.  A cold front, predicted to wipe out mid-summer humidity and replace the mugginess with fresh, cool, northern air from Canada actually performed as expected.  Last night air-conditioners all over my region of the mid-Atlantic switched off. Windows were thrown open and long-sleeved shirts were pulled from winter storage.  Temperatures dropped into the 50s at my house in Baltimore County, Maryland.  I slept like a baby and awoke this morning refreshed and ready to embrace the brilliant fall-like conditions, eager to appreciate my fleeting serendipity.

The air was crisp when I climbed from my bed well before the sun rose.  And it stayed crisp all day!  Never even reaching 80 degrees Fahrenheit today, a cool breeze pushed billowy clouds across a smogless sky.  The meteorologists on the Washington D.C. radio station I listen to during the driving portion of my commute to the Library of Congress from home  were practically breathless in their exultation over the unlikely mildness of the day. I was equally ecstatic.

Denim is normally too substantial a textile for me to wear in the heat and humidity of summer.  But among the fabulous pieces carefully packed in several boxes of like-new clothing I received last year from my best friend’s mother, Joyce, in Spokane, was a sleeveless white “jean jacket” from Talbot’s that I’ve been dying to wear.  It’s a heavier-weight material than I prefer on oppressive summer days, so all last year I waited for a time when conditions were just right.  They never came.  I figured I’d try again this year.

Today was the day.  Pulling on a smart white eyeleted maxi skirt by Juicy Couture which I bought a year ago from Revolve Clothing online, I cast around my closet for a contrasting color that would really pop against all that white. An emerald tank by St. John’s Bay with silvery studs embellishing the neckline was just the juxtaposition I was looking for.  I chose white cork-heeled sandals by City Streets for my feet and a beautiful deep green malachite necklace and bracelet set in silver disks that my parents bought on a summer road trip to the Danish enclave of Solvang, California, when I was eleven or twelve years old.  Interesting that I had purchased some malachite earrings to go with the necklace years later when I was living in Dallas, Texas, but they were never really a good match.  Then my dear friend and former colleague, Linda Lowry, returned from a trip to Australia with malachite earrings she had purchased.  When we compared our striated, semi-precious stones, Linda liked mine better and I preferred hers, so we traded.  All these years later I think of Linda fondly every time I wear her earrings with my other malachite pieces.

I finished my look with a bevy of silver bangles and a rich, emerald-hued “Dea Dread” hair accessory that was custom made for me by the very talented Thea Asoto of Baltimore (deadreads). I practically sprang up the concrete steps at the subway station on my way to our nation’s capital, so jazzed was I to finally be rocking Joyce’s cute denim jacket on such a perfect summer day.  All the land around me seemed as lush and as green as the color I chose to accessorize my look.  Crisp air will do that to a palette.  I was positively bubbly in my snappy white denim. A perfect summer outfit on a gorgeous summer day will do that to a girl.

Cheers,
Lynell