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“April prepares her green traffic light and the world thinks Go.”

—Christopher Morley

A Job Well Done

I'm a window cleaner and I get very attached to the windows I work on. I know their individual personalities, their mineral deposits, bad seals, and BB holes. I remove every speck of bee gunk, snail trail, fly crud, and bird doo that desecrates “my” windows, as well as the damage inflicted by that natural enemy, the painter. I bring garden clippers and prune bushes and plants that dare to interfere with my windows. As I drive my route, I get great enjoyment from seeing my glass glistening in the sunlight.

“We will have to give up taking things for granted, even the apparently simple things.”

—J.D. Bernal

THINGS TO DO

Healthier Cleaning Pleasures

When the weather starts getting warmer and the days longer, you know it's time for a good spring cleaning. There's great satisfaction in a major cleaning project, but the result should be a clean-smelling house or apartment, not one over-whelmed with chemicals or artificial scents of some mythical forest glade. How many plastic containers of chemical spray cleaners do you need under the sink, anyway? They aren't good for you or the environment. Fortunately, nontoxic cleaning substitutes are within easy reach.

Baking soda is a mild cleanser for kitchen and bath fixtures; just sprinkle it straight from the box onto a damp cloth or sponge. A couple of tablespoons dissolved in a quart of water can be used to wash the interiors of refrigerators and freezers, neutralizing odors. Add a tablespoon to coffee pots and vacuum bottles, then fill them with water to freshen them, too. Still on supermarket shelves, venerable Bon Ami cleanser (with the drawing of the chick that “hasn't scratched yet”) is a little more effective than baking soda, and doesn't contain chlorine, phosphates, perfumes, or harsh abrasives.

Borax or baking soda with lemon juice will handle soap film in the bathtub and shower. Adding a couple of teaspoons of vinegar to a quart of water produces a handy glass cleaner, and there's even a less pungent solution for the dishwasher—equal parts of borax and washing soda (sodium carbonate, often labeled as “detergent booster”). Discolored copper pots? Try a cleanser from early in the twentieth century: a tablespoon of salt mixed with a half-cup of vinegar.

There are also all-natural air fresheners made from the concentrated oils and essences of orange peels that can neutralize odors, not just cover them up. Orange-based fresheners are available in hardware and larger natural-food stores. Cedar oil spray can freshen pet beds and closets and renew the scent of cedar chests and shoe trees. And, for more than a century, Mrs. Stewart's Liquid Bluing has been added to the laundry rinse water to whiten sheets, shirts, and other fabrics that have yellowed or grayed with age. Mrs. Stewart—whose no-nonsense portrait is still on the label—would be pleased that she's still teaching us a thing or two about housekeeping.

Psychic Cleanup

When I accumulate too many people, experiences, and fatigue in my life, I get emotionally and spiritually disheveled. The sign that this is happening is that I have a dream full of cluttered, kaleidoscopic images. Then I know I need to set aside a day for a good old-fashioned clear-out. When I wake up on the appointed morning, I go on a cleaning binge in my trailer. I put away books and tidy up papers, empty the old cream cheese out of the fridge, and wash my clothes. I clean up my body, too, by drinking only juice and maybe going for a very long run. I unplug the phone, keep the radio turned off (news is clutter), and if anyone comes to visit me, I say, “I'm sorry, I'm not talking to anyone today.”

At night, the clean-up ends when I go to bed in fresh, clean sheets and read something peaceful and uplifting. Then I have a good long sleep, free of cluttered dreams. The next day I feel completely replenished, with all my psychic garbage hauled away.

“What a gift of grace to be able to take the chaos from within and from it create some semblance of order.”

—Katherine Paterson

THINGS TO DO

“Scent”sational Idea

Take your favorite essential oil (peach, rose, and vanilla are very nice environmental scents) and rub it on the light bulbs in your bedroom and the night light in the bathroom. The room will be infused with scent as light heats up the oil. For a “higher tech” approach, you can also buy inexpensive clay light bulb rings that hold the oil. Good sources for the oils, as well as all kinds of other yummy simple pleasures are: Body Time catalog and stores (510-524-0360), The Body Shop catalog and stores (800-541-2535), Bare Escentuals catalog and stores (800-227-3990), Cost Plus stores, Earthsake stores, Green World Mercantile (415-771-5717), Red Rose catalog and stores (800-374-5505), and Hearthsong catalog and stores (800-432-6314).

“We should all just smell well and enjoy ourselves more.”

—Cary Grant

The Zen of Vacuuming

I never wear shoes unless I have to. I always go barefoot if I'm painting or cooking. I like to feel the ground against my skin, with no interruption in the energy that comes through my feet. I prefer to live in the desert, where I don't need shoes either inside or outside. And wherever I'm living, clean floors are essential.

My love affair with vacuuming began when I was a child. The noise blocked out my mother's scolding, and I could feel like I was doing something that made grownups proud of me. Vacuuming is still my joy and meditation. I totally check out when I'm running my Electrolux over the floor. Sometimes I go over the same spot over and over again. I feel about my Electrolux the way some people feel about classic cars. It's like an old DeSoto or Studebaker. It never gets too old, it just keeps getting more stylish, and it gets the job done. The only thing better than walking barefoot on a freshly vacuumed floor is getting a foot massage.

“That man is the richest whose pleasures are the cheapest.”

—Thoreau

THINGS TO DO

If a foot rub is your idea of a good time, try doing it with peppermint foot lotion. Many people swear by it as the only curative for a long day's walk or a hard day of work (or shopping!). The Body Shop has a superior one. You can also make your own by adding 1 tablespoon of peppermint oil to 6 ounces of unscented lotion. Or try this therapeutic indulgence courtesy of the Fredericksburg Herb Farm in Fredericksburg, Texas: Grate approximately 1 cup of fresh ginger. Squeeze gently and add, along with a few drops of olive oil, to a foot basin or tub filled with hot water. Cover the bowl with a cloth or towel to preserve the heat, and soak for fifteen minutes. Then dry your feet and slip into a pair of warm socks.

Hanging Out the Wash

On Saturdays as soon as spring arrives, I take the sheets and undies outside into the fresh air and hang them up in the sun and wind. No one else is allowed the job—I tell them it's because they don't know how to hang out the clothes. I feel the early morning sun on my back and listen to quiet sounds as I leave the long week's raggedy days behind. I bathe in the morning light under the clothesline and delight in the feeling of air on my skin after being shut up in the office all week. When I bring the laundry in, I press my face to the sheets. They smell like all the promises that detergents make but don't keep; they smell like the very essence of spring.

Oh yes, I have a dryer, but on nice days it sits silent. Placed on the bed, the fragrant sheets from the line become a silent welcome after a tiring day.

“Smells are surer than sounds and sights to make the heartstrings crack.”

—Rudyard Kipling

THINGS TO DO

A Bird Haven

When the birds have begun to build their nests, that's the time to clean the lint screen in your dryer. Instead of throwing the lint away, put it out on a porch railing or even a branch of a tree. The birds will use it to line their homes.

“I was always a lover of soft-winged things.”

—Victor Hugo

The Duct Tape Fan Club

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. That's a motto I can agree with, but I'd take it a step further—if it's broke, don't fix it with more than you need to. When things break, it's a pleasure to be able to fix them with whatever's close at hand, with minimal time and expense. People who share this philosophy usually swear allegiance to some universal solution for fixing things.

I've always been partial to duct tape. It doesn't matter if the broken item is a canoe or a computer or a chair, I'll always turn to duct tape first, and it's always a great satisfaction to find new uses for it. I've run into several other types of universal-solutions people who have tried unsuccessfully to convert me to their methods. There are the Krazy Glue people and the epoxy people and the minority group that favors little pieces of wire. Finally, there's the tiny fringe group that goes in for a mixture of glue and duct tape and wire. These are the desperate people who couldn't fix anything if their life depended on it. You can tell which group you're in by what you reach for in a crisis.

“What a people—we make something out of nothing and revel in its simple delicacy.”

—Carol Talbot

THINGS TO DO

Instant Room Makeover

If you are tired of the way your living room or bedroom looks, do an instant makeover by revitalizing old throw pillows. Place a pillow kitty-cornered on top of a pretty scarf or bandanna. Bring opposing corners of the scarf or bandanna together and tie them in a knot. Do the same to the other corners. You have a new, colorful look for your home.

Bear Essentials

I make teddy bears and the best part is right at the end when I sculpt a face on the bear. I never know till I've finished stuffing the bear what its personality is going to be. Something about the way the fur lies gives me my clue, and I go to work. Usually teddy bears have a worried, poignant expression that shows how empathic they are, but now and then they get a wild gleam in their eye and a foolish leer on their face. You just never know. Their sex is also a mystery until the very end, and sometimes remains so. I once dressed one of my bears as a boy, and it took me weeks to realize he'd be more comfortable in a dress. I'm still not sure if he was a girl or a transvestite.

“Simple pleasures are the last refuge of the complex.”

—Oscar Wilde

THINGS TO DO

As the weather begins to warm and you no longer use the fireplace, evoke the romance and beauty of a fire by placing four or five pillar candles inside it. The soft light they will give off will compensate for the loss of the roaring fire.