It’s the last day of Spring! And yesterday, just under the wire to qualify for “spring cleaning,” I worked my little fingers to the bone. It needed to be done. Every time we drive by our house, I see the mold that has formed on our front porch railings and it drives me crazy. I put on some old MUSICA and went after it.
This housework didn’t kill me, but I did sleep well.
Yesterday morning I got out a bucket and filled it with hot water and a little bleach, put on my work clothes (read: not beauty queen) and a pair of yellow rubber gloves, prayed no one would notice the woman crawling around on her front porch at 7 am, which is an impossibility considering where our front porch is, but I told myself everyone would think I was the maid, and went to work.
This is the picket fence next to our front porch. It lives in the shade under the Linden trees. It doesn’t show that much from the front of the house, but I can see it and it was too awful to continue on this path. Our house is old. It was built in 1849, so it has seen a lot of summers — which aren’t all humid all the time, but they definitely have their moments. Which means mold. And hardly anything is worse than mold on a picket fence. Or on the “welcome home” front steps and bannisters to your front door. We had let this get out of control.
I’m sorry but green mold means your house does not look perky.
I should have started taking pictures earlier, I had already started when I realized I would need before and after pictures of this! Mold on rails and bannisters, and especially on that little white painted strip under the doorstep. Which is about eye level to our car when it comes up the street in front of our house. Which is why such a little thing drove me crazy. Was I doing my part in making the world a prettier place? No. I needed to do better.
So I went out there, crawled around and scrubbed away, with sponge, brush and toothbrush.
I made it all white and perky again. I figure I got rid of a good 200 calories doing this so it was a win-win.
I could probably have hired someone, but it came over me yesterday morning that I could not go on another moment without having this done, and NOW was the moment. I didn’t want to take time to find someone, wait for them to come, explain it to them, make a bucket of water for them, give them gloves, when I could just do it, while Joe was off island (he went off yesterday to look at cars, maybe going to get a new van) and I could surprise him.
Then I hung a wreath on the porch, and voila, we are done.
That felt so good, that I knocked off another hundred calories and washed my good old car with the hose. I bought this Volvo in 1982, it’s my first east coast car. When I got here, I looked around to see what people drove in a place where there was snow. I saw a lot of Volvos, so that’s what I got. She starts up in any weather no matter how long I leave her alone, and has never spent a day in a garage (or barn, because we like to fill our barns with STUFF and there’s no room). She is a very good girl even if you do have to use your arm muscles to get her windows up and down. I could never let her go, she knows all my secrets. After I washed her, I took her to the nursery. It was a red letter day.
Here she is on a fall day in front of my first house on the island ~ she was brand new. So anyway, she is clean again! We went to pick up Joe at the boat last night and he was proud of us.
The other fun thing I did yesterday is join Goodreads! Do you belong to Goodreads?I really just found out about it. What a wonderful connective way to enjoy books and to learn about new ones. During my childhood summers when I lived at the library, the librarians gave us a card where we could record all the books we read that summer ~ oh, I wish I would have saved one of those cards! It gave me such a sense of accomplishment to fill in that little card. Bookreads is the modern version of that, with all kinds of connections between books and readers and tons of reviews from smart people who love to read. Here’s my Booklist so far. I didn’t add any books that I didn’t like yet, there are too many that I do. But probably the biggest thrill of all was seeing A Fine Romance on the web for the very first time. I guess it must really be happening!
What else, oh yes, getting ready for the book to arrive, I designed new Beatrix Potter pages for “I Love England” that even includes a reading list (you can see it at the top of this page, just click on I Love England and you’ll see parts one and two). I enjoyed every moment of doing it!
OK Girlfriends, I must go, but here is your first assignment for today: go get some thick rich creamy Greek yogurt (we use nonfat Nage — only 130 calories per cup) and a juicy watermelon, because they are sweet and ready now. And some organic red grapes. Chunk the watermelon in bite-sized pieces — put a serving into a cereal bowl with a few grapes, top everything with yogurt. Sit down at your kitchen table, open up your favorite book and eat your breakfast to the tune of the songbirds. Ahhhh summer.
Assignment two, oh yes, two assignments from the taskmaster: This weekend it’s time for the Strawberry moon — and this one should be extra specially big because the moon is as close to earth as it will be this year. Plan ahead to spontaneously go see it with someone you love and make it an adventure. Make a little picnic, pack a couple of sandwiches, or a salad with good cheese and fresh vegetables, a thermos full of some special sort of drink, creamy iced coffee, basil lemonade, skip and go nakeds, and go park the car in the perfect moonrise place nearest you because the moon is biggest right when it first peeks above the earth, or the sea, or the field, or over the mountain top. See it from the car, or spread a blanket somewhere beautiful, even your own back yard. ♥
Make a wish, say a prayer, count your abundant blessings.
Happy Day Girlfriends! XOXO