stepping out

A favorite - on the sidewalk or at work - are older ladies whose clothes are fussy, old-fashioned, but put together.  Church ladies, older secretaries, daytime museumgoers.  Stiff bows, jewel-tone synthetic structured jackets, undyed wool in loose weaves, patent leather flats.  But more, the carriage and expression of the ladies themselves.  Poised, ready, unhurried but going somewhere, soft and sure.  They and the world have worked out an understanding, and neither crosses the other.