It’s spring, that time of year when we used to clean our houses thoroughly. In fact, when my sisters and I were growing up in our small town, foregoing this yearly ritual was considered a social and cultural taboo. If you weren’t scrubbing and airing-out and waxing and buffing the same week as your neighbors, eyebrows lifted and tongues wagged.
Dust was still an action verb in those days.
Now, I see dust as part of a collection. I can’t imagine what’s under and behind some of the heavy stuff I rarely move. We’ve lived in this house more than 30 years, and I just bet there are yukky things lurking somewhere. It all looks good, though. When it’s time to clean, I’m very good at arm-scooping. Even now I see two boxes shoved under the drawing table, both with stuff recently scooped.
I asked my sisters, who appear fastidious, if they still scheduled this event annually or if they’d devised other means of keeping everything clean. My older sister, Nita, thought the question was priceless. Her answer to me was, “EGAD! NO!” She had several generations of dust bunnies, she said.
Cj, my younger sister, told me all of Pennsylvania regards dust bunnies as country accents. Essential to good decorating.
“Spritz them with Fabreeze,” she said, “and they become like little potpourris in every room in your house, very pleasant!”
She assured me they only become a problem when they unite.
“Tumbleweeds,” she said, “must be dealt with.”
Hmmm… shall I clean then?…
…or maybe I’ll just grab my paints and scissors and glue and go create something.
This collage started life as a messed-up watercolor. I cut it into strips and started playing. It’s rather large…
I wonder what you see in it, if anything?
and…
How do you handle your spring cleaning?
Oh, and for our visitors who don’t like coffee — there’s always bottled waters in the fridge. Square ones, little round ones that fit into your palm, tall skinny ones. Help yourself!
Barb
P.S. Patricia’s Wisdom blog post “Morning Light is Revealing” reminded me of our old Spring Cleaning Ritual. Though she heads a different direction…
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you for the shout out – it was a delight to find the ping back this morning and read about your spring cleaning routine.
Yep! I know those routines, that is what we did for spring break from school ( my mum was a first grade teacher) Clean for 4 days top to bottom, then shop for 1 day for summer clothing and Easter new….Whew! I am glad I don’t endulge in that direction any more…head to the paints!
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I love your collage, and I see Easter in it: the cross, the colors, the coming of spring and, of course, our redemption.
I don’t do spring cleaning except as the mood hits me, which is as likely to be in July or December as in March or April. Because we moved at the end of last December, I had the opportunity and impetus to lighten our load considerably…but too much still remained.
However, today I cleaned the downstairs and felt very happy to do it because I’d come home form the hospital on Saturday from my bout with pneumonia, and being able to do something myself, to put something in order was a pleasure.
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Hello that was a delightful read. No I don’t spring clean. The change in seasons here is very subtle. Some years it just feels like summer & winter with no inbetween. It’s autum now, but it could be spring. Australia’s like that.
But yes there are times when the urge strikes during sunshine hours & I’ll have more of a thorough clean.
I’ve arrived here via Barbara’s post featuring you and another Barbara and my time here has been most enjoyable.
Thank you and best wishes Ribbon
PS your collage looks electric… fully charged for spring
Beautiful collage, Barb! I see city buildings and a church (with cross on top). My mom used to tear up her old watercolor mistakes and make them into collages, also.
Dust – it depends where it is – dust bunnies I scoop up because they are obvious and taunting me. We have more of our share – hopefully I can blame it on our two dogs. Layers of dust on sills, window blinds, and furniture I try desperately to ignore until I can’t stand it any more. Then I get out rags and go into cleaning mode.
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Hmmn, clean house or go make an amazing one-of-a-kind piece of artwork, which to me looks like a sunset over a lake clearing…
Tumbleweeds can wait!
Congrats on New Blog Of The Week. Barbara Swafford sure knows how to pick em!
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Dust will never be a verb in my world again
Beautiful collage.
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Dust bunnies are fun. As I have both a dog and a cat, I co-exist with dust bunnies and it’s amazing how big they guys can get!
Regarding the picture, which I liked very much, I actually saw or felt a sense of spirituality…I saw crosses and stained glass. What really caught my eye was the spot of gold light at the bottom left corner…it was like a ray of sunlight coming through an old stained glass window. It’s a very peaceful picture to me :~)
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Hi Barb,
I love your sister’s definition of dust bunnies. Yep, with two big dogs, I know all about the tumbleweeds.
I was raised similar to you – spring cleaning rituals that left when I left home. Although I do like our home to be tidy, I no longer stress. Hopefully the guests are coming to see us and not our dust.
I love your creation. Like Sara said, it looks like stained glass. It’s a beautiful piece.
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You certainly brought back memories of our annual spit-and-polish ritual, as Daddy used to call it. I hated doing it, but the fragrance of a clean, waxed floor still stays with me……but it’s only from this memory, certainly NOT from my personal experience as a homemaker!
As for dust, I’ve grown to love the stuff that has accumulated on my silk plants……I tell people they’re “flocked” and were very expensive and that you just can’t get them like that any more!
The first thing I see in that picture is “prison”. It’s quite a visceral reaction to it. Most odd.
My mother is very hot on cleaning, and never needs to do a big “spring clean”. She has the beds out 4 times a year and vacuums under them, and stuff like that. “It’s the way I was raised,” is all she says when I ask her about it. I’m not quite that effective at cleaning, sadly. I much prefer “tidy” to “clean”.
Hahaha! Prison is it, Solomon? I see a row of town houses from the front, bay windows in the middle one, small trees planted in the sidewalk near the curb. Feels like Chicago to me — on a colorful day, of course, since their townhouses are called Brownstones. I didn’t see that until I put the collage across a 20-foot space, though, and walked in on it cold. Now it’s all I see.
I like tidy too…
Thanks so much for coming by. I’ll be checking in on your list of gratitudes……………… liked your list of amusements as well — especially the StopFail. Funny.
Whoa! Tumbleweeds under the bed !?!
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