My August

 Well August is done and dusted, and so is Summer in meteorological terms. And it suddenly feels very Autumnal too. Autumn is usually my most productive period for dressing, so bring it on. August saw the continuation of this Summer's drought, and it also saw a bit of a dressing drought for me. August was simply too hot and far too busy for dressing. It has been a productive month in many ways, but also frustrating at times. It has been exhausting too. 

My Wife has been struggling a little with her mobility. We have got a  hospital bed for her, which has improved things to some extent, but she is still having trouble getting into bed unassisted. We need to find a solution to this, to allow me to keep my independence and have time for myself, be it for dressing or other hobbies. I would like to be able to do my photography again. Hopefully we will get things sorted.  One area of success is finding the perfect bath chair that fits our small wet room, so getting my wife showered is a lot less stressful. But we did have a fall to contend with, although no injuries to my Wife resulted from it. I just wish we could settle into a safe and manageable routine that doesn't involve too much stress and moments of danger.              

We have been doing a makeover of our front garden. We got a company in to do the hard landscaping and lay a resin surface and then I added nearly half a ton of top soil and planted it up. It looks great, and much better than our messy old garden. And it's designed to be fairly maintenance free. It will look even better when I can put some containers of bedding plants out on it next year.

Our front garden makeover 

We had a visit from my Wife's sister and her husband, so I had to do a lot of extra housework to make our home spic and span. Hard work in the hot weather. It was nice for my Wife to see them, but her brother in law is awfully racist and homophobic, and at times I had to bite my tongue. If it was only for my Wife's sake I kept quiet. But despite his occasionally bigoted comments, it was good for my Wife. And we did get to go out for a lovely Sunday lunch at a nearby hotel and I had the best tiramisu I've ever tasted. That's the diet trashed, but it was so worth the calories. 

It's been difficult to maintain my fitness regime this month, and I ended up staying at the same weight for the whole month.  At least I didn’t put any weight on. I'm going to try harder next month. It was quite difficult with family here, because there was lots of eating out and takeaways  which don't help the waistline (including the aforementioned tiramisu).

One motivation I have to help get fit, is my new fitness/smart watch. The casing of my old Garmin Forerunner 35 running/smart watch broke when I was changing the strap, so I needed to get a new one. You know your transfemme when your main criteria is that the watch mustn't look to big or masculine. I have used Garmin watches since my marathon running days, and so I wanted to stay with them. A lot of running and fitness smart watches look very masculine and rugged, not to mention huge, but I found the Garmin Venu 3s fitted the bill, as far as features and looks. And especially the looks. I bought a white one with a white silicon strap, but I suffer from contact dermatitis if I wear silicon or rubber on my skin for too long, so I bought a white leather strap. The white colour is non binary/unisex, perhaps leaning towards femme. But the best thing is there are loads of pretty, feminine colours I can get extra straps in in. So I can buy a few straps and swap them to match my outfit. The watch has a changeable display too, and I went for a nice pink theme. I'm such a girl, and I love it.

My pretty new smart watch

I have had a light brown mark appear on the right side of my face just on the jawline. I thought I'd better get it checked out, so I asked the pharmacist about it. They said it's nothing to worry about. Just an age spot caused by exposure to the Sun, but definitely nothing cancerous. But I don't want to get my face covered in age spots or worse, so I'm going to start wearing a 30 SPF sunscreen every day from now on. I chosen to try Supergoop Unseen Sunscreen, which is good for everyday use and acts as a primer for make up.  I'm also using a new exfoliating cream. Hot Cloth Polish from Liz Earle, which exfoliates but very gently and also moisturises. 

I've also been making a concerted effort not to bite my fingernails. I bite them as a part of my anxiety and they are usually in a horrible state, and split and bleeding around the base. But I felt ashamed when Sue Richmond posted photos of her lovely well kept fingernails and I looked at my horrible chewed stumps. I'm pleased to report that they are improving quite nicely.  Far from perfect, but not too bad. I'd love to visit a beauty salon and get a nice finish put on them, but that might be a step too far for now. I'll add to List Of Things I'd Love To Do. 

My improving fingernails 

I have been enjoying writing my blog this month. It feels like it's been a big month, with my post on my neurodiversity, which I've never opened up about before and also two big autobiographical posts about my trans life. I hope that they have been interesting. I have one more autobiographical post to write to bring my story up to date and then I'm going to concentrate on shorter articles and stories. 

So there hasn't been any dressing this month. I'm slightly disappointed by that, but not too much. I did have a nice dressing session at the end of last month and got some nice photos. But I will to have some quality dressed time next month, to keep the dysphoria levels from rising too much.

Talking of dysphoria levels, they were rather high last weekend, when I was watching the rather wonderful Chappell Roan headlining the Reading Festival on BBC television. I've been aware of her for a couple of years, but never seriously checked her out. Surprising since she is a queer icon, an openly lesbian artist, who makes wonderful music that can be empowering and also heartbreakingly beautiful. Pop tinged with country, as is de-rigeur these days, but with a rock edge to it. The songs and the lyrics were wonderful. And she looked absolutely amazing. I would describe her outfit as being influenced by lolita goth, but sexed up. Her make up and gorgeous dark red hair was fabulous. She is beautiful. She sang a song called Pink Pony Club, which she introduced by saying it was a place where every girl and every boy can be a queen. Ooh I want some of that. Her fans call themselves members of the Pink Pony Club and wear pink cowboy hats with pink feather fringes on the rim, and carry pink fans (of the wafting variety) that say Pink Pony Club on them. Well I guess I've found a couple of new accessories I need for my pink dress outfit I'm hoping to wear next month. I'm ready to become a part of the Feminomenom.

Chappell Roan at Reading Festival 2025

Mention of my pink dress, brings me on to my hopes and dreams for the month of September. I'm going to do some prep work this week, in readiness for my vintage pink photo shoot. Starting with some deyetification to remove a layer of masculine fuzz and some girly self grooming.  Then ironing two vintage dresses ready to debut them in a photo shoot. 

I'm also planning a  photo shoot where I wear all of my wigs, for future content here and on Flickr.  

I'm also hoping to visit my friend Veronica, either later in September or early October, depending on how things go with my Wife. 

I always seem to have a good Autumn on the girl front, so now it's almost here, I say bring it on.

Deeanna 

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