HIGH BUTTON SHOE
October 14, 2005
I was going to say good morning, but I see by the big wall clock here in the kitchen with me that I have missed morning and it is past noon. I decided spur of the moment this morning to wash the kitchen windows. Which if memory serves I haven't done all summer, so you can imagine it was getting hard to see grass & such without squinting thru a menagerie of things that shouldn't be on clean windows. And lately of which are the distinct print of the fly swatter mark of the crazed fly killer that makes up the other half of this household. Originally given clear instructions NOT to kill flys on my curtains, I no longer have any curtains in the house, so I suppose Ron thinks that window splat of the fly swatter is OK. I know. You are thinking, so what is so hard about washing a window, right? In my case, there is that kitchen faucet I just HAD to have that is high. Which was put in long after those windows. And these are old windows. They don't just turn out like the new ones do. They COME out....into the house. Past that faucet. So first I have to get the big step stool, which I invariably stub my toe on. No, no shoes. You know that. I take down the three antique strainers, off the sides of the cupboards so that the shutters can be opened up fully. Take down the leaded glass door that hangs in front of the dirty windows. Take down the shade, which this morning the do-flippy pull down thing fell off in the sink. That would no doubt be from the stress of the last time I let the shade go back up and it went with such force that I separated the do-flippy thing from the shade bottom. And I take down the Hoosier glass tea and salts things, along with the old tin baking powder, and one nasty old white enamelware cup and saucer I seem to have favored, that sits on the window sill. Then I can start taking the windows apart and stacking them by the cupboard to wash the front and back of each window. There are 4. It is only when you get them back in, PAST that faucet ( a challenge to say the least), that you realize you have a smear on one window, usually the first one you put back in. AND they of course, have to go back in order. Doing all this, with the sun hitting from the south in the window at the angle it does this time of year, and shining off that faucet and reflected off my white cupboards, I am appalled to find dirt. Shining off the coffee pot glass, it is hitting my chrome on the stove on the east wall and lights up the very hidden side of the microwave and THERE is crude 1/2 inch thick! Yegads! So I have to move the wooden salt and peppers I never use (however they look nice there..) an old grey graniteware plate, and one antique bread board I also never use and move the antique bowl in my favored color of sage green that holds 4 large garlic cloves, only to realize that the bowl is sticky to the touch, and you only KNOW those are garlic cloves because they are shaped like a garlic clove and that is what I originally put in the bowl. You don't necessarily know it by the once white color which is now almond taupe. That in turn, made me wonder if there was any salt and pepper in those shakers, which of course, there was, but it is so old you would never want to use it. SO I take them apart and after a time, have them cleaned out and back to their original spot but now clean and empty. Thankfully the sun is moving rapidly across the sky, so it is finally off that part of the kitchen. The windows are clean and back together, and until the sun hits another spot of obviously overlooked cleaning, I am free to write you the newsletter. Good grief. Never think you are going to spent 5 minutes washing a window. You do realize, of course, that as soon as Ron gets home and spies a fly, my window will have a fly splat mark on it again. I simply cannot teach this man.
My itinerary for the day was to wash the big sliders inside and out and the big picture window in the living room too. That remains to be seen. Washing the sliders was how I got sidetracked that one time on the hunt for the elusive spider who was reeking havoc in the dining room with webs of massive portion. I would clean them up, as when the sun shines in, they were very evident, only to find the same webs the next day. Crawling around under the table and between 9 chairs with the vacuum hose, I oddly enough found the spider cowering between the wall and one big cupboard in a very small space....and I sucked him up in the vacuum. I assume this must be a great grandson of his who has come to evoke vengeance on me. I have long adhered to the theory that each snake I see on the farm is a descendent of ones I have killed off when Ron wasn't looking. The old farmer, you know, snakes are good. Kills varmits. Un-huh. Never mind that I about have a heart attack each time I spy one, and the neighbors 2 miles over probably hear me screaming and think I am getting murdered off.While on the subject of domestic chores, I have come to the conclusion that a thief is stealing into the house, wearing Ron's underwear and bringing it back for me to wash. Our usual arrangement for the fall season, when I am really busy with 'creating', obviously NOT washing windows, is when the dryer gets low on underwear he tells me and I wash again. Laugh you may, but there is some truth to that, as it does happen, and he likes to tell that story anyway. However, for the past several weeks, KNOWING that I wash clothes every few days, and definitely at least ONCE a week, I am perplexed as to WHY I always fold up 14 pairs of socks and 14 underwear when I KNOW it has not been 2 weeks since I washed clothes. The only conceivable explanation for this, I have concluded, is that somebody is stealing in, getting a weeks worth of underwear from the drawer, wearing it for a week, and then stealing back in and throwing it in the laundry before I wash clothes again. This is happening on a regular basis. I think I will write on the calendar when I washed whites, just to test my theory. I will let you know in a letter note. I know. You are SO interested!www.crowsoup.com comes out tomorrow on the 15th as it always does. We are at http://www.crowsoup.com/Market586.php The new things probably won't be up until late in the day. I will be showing Christmas things soon. This time, we are showing my wax corns, some crow things, and a piekeep. I had the harvest table laden with patterns and ideas the other day and some are in the works. But I have resolved myself to working from the basement table instead of the harvest table, on the theory that we may actually want to eat there once in a while. If you are not a crafter... (always hated that word!) you probably don't realize how bad a table can look for weeks on end this time of year with the table and chairs all piled with ongoing projects. I am blessed with a patient Ron who just moves my work over and puts his plate in what little space he can wedge it in, but I am mortified when my mother drops by. Now of course, with it clean, and hopefully sparkly windows, void of fly innards and swat splats, and spider webs, nobody will come. They only catch me at my worst.Reminder: We plan to be open most Saturdays until mid December. I start bringing in Christmas just as soon as I get it done. The Christmas Open House is November 18,19 & 20. We are not doing the fall show circuit we have done for 20 years.Beulah is making changes often in the website, so continue to check it out. www.highbuttonshoe.net We will be putting the Christmas card line up in the next couple weeks, so if you are looking for Christmas cards that are decidedly different, check them out.OK, back to my windows. You KNOW of course, it will now rain. Between the crazed fly killer and raindrops, I believe I am doomed to skuzzy windows for a while.Thanks for asking to be a part of the farm!in fond regard, Tilda