James River, along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia, just north of the Peaks of Otter, on Thursday afternoon. South of the Peaks, the Parkway remains closed --- still dealing with damage from Hurricane Helene --- so I got off at Bedford, VA, and made my way home via back roads.
It's good to be back. No post yesterday, because I wasn't feeling very well, but I did rally enough to make it to confession and Stations of the Cross last night. The husband is in Dallas to see the Viking in his play --- TXgirl texted me a photo of him with her and the Artgirl in some bar last night, so he seems to be having fun. They've been dying for years to have him come on his own and be shown a good time, so I'm glad it's finally happening.
I came home to many growing things --- remarkable what can happen in four days. My lettuces are flourishing (even though the squirrels have been digging in the planters):
And my carrots are coming up!
I have beets germinating as well, and I really should plant at least one more planter of each before the weather gets any hotter.
My plan today:
*dog walk
*steam-clean the upstairs bathroom
*wash and hang another load of laundry --- I did sheets, towels, and kitchen towels yesterday, but I still have to do the extra blanket off our bed (removed now because it's warm enough to sleep without it) and a few other items.
*wash my hair at some point
*cook up some chicken thighs for my supper tonight and for the coming week, probably on the grill
*Go to Mass in the parish at 5 --- don't feel like driving all the way in to the Abbey in the morning by myself.
*Watch some more Vera
Wearing today (obviously I will change for Mass):
*Wool& Sierra, bought January 2025, last worn March 22. Wears in 2025: 16
*Secondhand Birkenstock Mayaris, second year of wear
Wow, it's nice to put on something simple. This Sierra dress is still far and away the frontrunner for most-worn of 2025. She's a great Saturday dress (last wear was two weeks ago today, in fact, toward the end of my 9x9 challenge), perfect for knocking around in whether it's cold and layers are involved, or whether, as today, it's warm enough to dress minimally.
I won't be cleaning with any bleach cleaners, just white vinegar (better for grout mold than bleach is anyway) and steam. So I'm not worried about ruining my dress while cleaning, which is nice. In a minute I'll let the dog out --- we might not really walk, since it's Saturday and lots of people will be out with their dogs, but we can nose about the backyard for a while, while I hang some hand laundry in the sun. Then she can accompany me on my round of cleaning, where I'm sure she'll be no end of helpful. Here, let me just stand in front of you as you kneel and try to scrub this bathtub. Let me just put my face right where you're about to aim the steam nozzle . . .
Anyway. My essays are all up for next week, so I can spend this day doing other things that need doing by way of spring cleaning. Nothing like coming back from a luxury hotel to your own house and seeing that . . . my goodness . . . your own house is not a luxury hotel, and the chief difference is that you don't have a cleaning staff working 24/7.
The cleaning staff here is not about to work 24/7, but she does need to work sometimes. Today, friends, is one of those times.
So let's get to it.
AFTERNOON UPDATE:
Upstairs bathroom: deep cleaned. I took everything off the side of the bath and the shower shelf, and I steam-cleaned the tub grout, the tile (it's actually one fiberglass panel, which is nice in some ways), and the tub itself with a solution of water and vinegar (turned to steam in the steam-cleaner). I cleaned the sink and the toilet the same way and wiped down the vanity. I still need to wipe down baseboards in there, but it's so much fresher already. This was probably a 2-hour job, because I was working on stubborn soap scum in the tub and on the tile-look wall panels, but except for Dr. Bronner's on a scrub brush to do the inside of the tub after steaming, I used literally nothing but water-vinegar steam. The shower-curtain liner is still washing --- a second wash, to try and get out stubborn mildew stains. I might have to break down and give it a third hot wash with some bleach, though.
I've also moved a number of houseplants out to the back patio. The weather is so warm at the moment, and between today and April 15, we don't have an overnight freeze predicted. One night the temps will go down to just above freezing, but I don't think that's really going to hurt anything, especially as they'll have been outdoors and hardened off a bit already. Most of my plants do far better outdoors in the sun, rain, and humidity, than they do in the more controlled indoor climate, so it's always a great day when they can move back out again after the winter.
It also lushes up my patio a good deal more. I took the opportunity to rake away old leaves that had collected in the lee of the house over the winter, and to move the grill to a new spot, flush against the back steps, that give me more leeway for positioning chairs.
After all that, I'm pretty wiped out. I think I have made an executive decision: Mass tomorrow after all, giving myself a more leisurely night in tonight.
I will eventually get around to a bath and hair wash, but for now I'm just sitting. It's been an active day, which feels quite good.
Shots from the patio, which is still quite weedy. I need to get some more industrial-strength vinegar (yes, that is a thing) and pour it in the cracks between the bricks. It doesn't absolutely kill weeds, but it does burn them down to the ground.
I need to straighten the back porch a little (well, a lot). And I could hose down the patio to get rid of the remainder of the leaf debris. But this is the basic arrangement. Now I'm going to be watching for somebody to put another patio table on the curb, because I've been able to make better use of the widest part of the patio for seating. A coffee table, or even some kind of metal bistro table, would be nice there.
Fun stuff. I might or might not grill chicken out there tonight . . . not sure how much I feel like doing that. Then again, I do want to eat dinner, and that's an easier cleanup than anything else I might do. So . . .