Am I just a reflection?

Do I exist?

I see my reflection.

I feel the wind on my cheek.

I hear my heels clack on the sidewalk.

But how do I know it's real?

How do I know any of this is real?



I caught this image in the mirrored window of a local business. It's Sunday so I hope they were closed.

The white letters in the photo are a poem that someone has stuck to the window - and someone else has unstuck. My sweater has the word "Wi" (why) on it.

Sometimes when I come out of my coffee shop after journaling, my mind stays behind at my little table, still ruminating over those pages which are now safely stowed at my side in my toolbox handbag.

This dress has headed to the donation pile more than once, but this morning I found a rescue and it's now one of my favourite pieces. I put mitten clips on the sides to shorten it which created this interesting pear shape. The knit sweater was also destined for redonation until I chopped it off, hemmed it, and embroidered that kitty head with the sticking-out-tongue on it yesterday. I didn't use a pattern, I just started, and I'm glad I left everything to chance because being raw it feels alive. I started to stitch "Why?" but decided it would be too long and stopped abruptly before I had finished the "H," only to realize that the H arm could transform conveniently into an "i" with the addition of a dot - same word, different spelling. "Wi."

The mitten clips were only 50 cents a pair at my favourite local fabric shop, Dressew. From them I also bought yarn, a bag of 3 balls of odd eyelash black yarn with metallic silver threads, for $3.99, and a pair of metal darning needles for 25 cents.

Those are my cool stripey socks over my cool plaid leggings in dark brown with blue and rust-coloured lines. I had to play with the photo contrast and colour to get that pattern to show even faintly. I brought along my brown wool shawl but didn't need it; my knit top was perfect for this cool sunny day.

Details

• dark brown dress with squiggles, rescued, sample sale
• mitten clips, Dressew, 50 cents, new old stock I presume
• plaid leggings and stripey socks, retail
• black knit skirt worn under dress for warmth and dress-flying-up protection, sample sale
• buttery-soft brown leather ankle boots, thrifted, Value Village, $7 I think (1/2 price day)
• knit top, thrifted, Value Village, upcycled with scissors and yarn

I'd never embroidered with yarn before but the idea of stitching big yarn into loose knits appealed to the slacker sewist in me - you can accomplish a lot in a very short period of time. I'm on a roll now...

My hair has finally taken root in the sense that the white colour feels Right now. Since I had my hair done, the transformation was not sitting well on my head. I think I feel better because I've been experimenting with cosmetics, which has been very exciting. I'll post some photos soon. If only these products would come off my face with as much fun as they go on.

I'm heading to Patti's Visible Monday to see all of you in pixelated reflections. How odd is that? How interesting and great that we can slip into this netherworld of hardware and dots of light.

PS. VOGOFF magazine has put out a call for submissions. Check my previous post for details if you're interested.