The late-March air is still chilly around here, but it is unmistakably spring. The daffodils and hellebores are up and blooming, the forsythia and plum trees are turning my yard yellow and pink, and even the lawn is noticeably greener than it was a week ago.
I’m including a picture of this beautiful tree by my driveway, because it’s one of the first that blossoms each year. It has a lovely fragrant smell…but I’m not quite sure what it is. Does anyone know?
I went into NYC yesterday to give a talk. This event was at the Whitby hotel, which is a lovely space if anyone is looking for a venue. I left with the most darling little blue notebook that the hotel gives out for note-taking.
Less darling: I realized, once I was on my way for my trip, that the heel on one of my “speaking shoes” (actually the only heels I ever wear) was broken. There was not much to be done about this, and I guess the shoes are about 7 years old, but I hate that things break! I now realize they may have been on the way out for a while — but I have a very strong tendency to just make do. It is possible they can be repaired, but in the meantime I ordered another pair from the same company and hopefully they’ll be similar. I also realized that my favorite dress black pants (Betabrand black yoga dress pants, boot cut), which I was also wearing, were starting to get frayed. So, after about 5 years of wearing those, it was probably time to replace them as well.
How long have you been wearing your favorite pairs of shoes or pants?
Is your tree an ornamental pear tree? Ornamental pears are the early. bloomers that line so many NYC streets. They have lacy white blossoms. They haven’t bloomed here yet, but you can tell they are close.
@Gillian – It seems to be a star magnolia. Pear trees don’t seem to have the same base as this one, but yep, pears are pretty early. We had some at the old house but they kept losing branches in storms (I hear this is pretty common).
My husband is obsessed with the app Seek By iNaturalist for identifying plants. Maybe that would tell you what type of tree it is?
@Lizzy- I had Seek for a while but it seemed to have trouble with a lot of my plants (bad lighting? who knows) – so I just downloaded PictureThis (mentioned in another comment) and it got it immediately. Seek would often tell me “dicots” for quite a while which, um, yes.
I use the PictureThis app for identifying plants and trees. It’s so handy when at a botanical garden, on a hike, and so on. I also use it to check the health status of my indoor plants. On to the clothing question… I have 2 pair of Buffalo David Martin corduroy pants which I’ve worn every winter since 2017. Except for the height of Covid when I wasn’t going out anywhere, they are usually worn at least once a week each during the colder months. I do have other pants, ha-ha, but these are my favorites! They are dressier than jeans, warm for winter and fit me well. After 7 years (took off a year for Covid in my calculation) they still look good, but I live with the reality they will eventually wear out. I’m on the hunt for replacements. I go through shoes at a faster clip than that, for sure.
That should be Buffalo David Britton. Not sure where I came up with Martin!
@Holly – just got the PictureThis app and it ID’d it as a star magnolia, so I think we have a winner!
Photo is blurry so I’m not sure but based on good smell, I’m guessing star magnolia.
@Cate – we have a winner! You’re as good as the PictureThis app!
This is probably the highlight of my week! Glad my plant education could come in handy. Enjoy the blooms!
I had a skirt I had owned and worn for 15+ years. Last summer when I pulled it out to wear it I had to admit the white patterning was looking quite…yellow. But I think 15 years of wear isn’t too shabby. I can still remember where and when I bought the skirt, too!
@Elisabeth – so cool that you got to use it for so long!
I have three pair of identical black work pants that I’ve been wearing for 11 years ~ 2 days per week (so wearing each one 2 – 3 times/month). They are lined and dry clean only so I think that helps. I only dry clean each one 2ce a year. I love them and I’ve never found ones that are the same!
@Jen – ooh, what brand are they? That sounds like a good recommendation! Even if the company doesn’t make them anymore, I sometimes have had good luck finding stuff on Poshmark or eBay – just in case one of the pants suffers a dry cleaning mishap or something…
Surprisingly, they are banana republic. But they stopped doing the lined version and I think that made all the difference!
Was going to recommend PictureThis and am glad you were able to download! I purchased new heels recently for a work event, as my pair was uncomfortable (but only three years old!). My black dress pants are six years old. I know styles have changed, but don’t have to wear them often and feel I can get away with the straight leg.