In case you have not tried GGD, find to the recipe at splendidtable.org, from Lynne Rosotto Kasper’s July 5, 2008 interview with Russ Parsons, author of How to Pick a Peach: The Search for Flavor from Farm to Table (Houghton Mifflin, 2007). Copyright 2007 by Russ Parsons.
This morning I am doing an annual, summertime, dirty job; cleaning rugs. The reason for our recent purchase of another Black & Decker Scumbuster* (the battery-charger wore out on the last one). Why did I think that building a house with all wood floors that my days of carpet cleaning were over? Not so. One 10' round, silk, Chinese rug in the family room and two long hall runners are in great need of cleaning but are either too big or too little; 1) no laundry or cleaner will take them and 2) no carpet cleaning service will come to the house for three rugs (?). SO, guess who gets to do scrub rugs?
The rug-cleaning method that works best is first have Dear Hubby pull out the rug pads, vacuum the rugs the night before. Then go to bed early and get a good night’s sleep.Arise at the crack of dawn on a hot summer’s day and fix a solution of liquid detergent and cleaner. I am using the last of a bottle of Imus Ranch non-toxic cleaner leftover from the days when ole’ Imus was still on msnbc.
Get a couple of terry-towels, the brush heads for the ‘buster and start to work. And take off you shoes, your feet will get wet. In short time you will be wet all over from perspiration. That’s when I opened the back-deck door where the early temperature was supposed to be about 66° F. Maybe? Still wet, I take off all my clothes. Keep scrubbing.
The cleaning solution is working fine. My knees are not. Try bending over, yoga style. Down on hands and knees. Keep scrubbing. Pull up the library step-stool, still have to bend over. My lower back is getting a workout. Gawd is it hot. I am dripping wet. Lot of ‘stuff’ emerges from the rug pile. Keeping the circular motion of the ‘buster going is important to brush the pile in all directions and pull up fibers and embedded dirt. Keep scrubbing.
This would be good time for Bobby Darin’s ‘Splish Splash, I was taking a bath. . . . , once used in a cleanser commercial. Either the day is warming up or I am wearing down. Keep scrubbing. After little more than an hour, one runner and the round rug are done. Just at the finish of the round rug: the battery runs down. Da*m*...no power left.
As I write the ‘buster is recharging, the two rugs are drying and number three is waiting. One more to clean before I can shower, rest and head off for the day. Dear Hubby, coffee over and Times read has already gone to the gym for the morning aquacise class.
My reward at the moment is a big mug of iced mocha coffee latte with Silk Soy Vanilla and a bowl of ripe, juicy red cherries - the best of the season. Today I lunch with girlfriend Missy, back for a visit from the Dominican Republic. We get a short catch-up before they return August 5th for the rest of the year.
Actually I needed this intense workout as my neck, shoulders and back were getting tension-knots from bending over the sewing machine. Sewing several hours a day for the last two weeks has taken the toll on my vertebrae and even yesterday’s yoga was not all that helpful. After this mornings workout and an easy day I should be in good shape for the weekend DOQ workshop with B.K. Hunter. Got my bin of scrappy ‘crumbs’ all ready and lots of thread for sewing-sewing-sewing. That is until my neck pain tells me otherwise.
Making a list for the yet-to-make quilts for family (once I finish the Churn Dash quilt for step-son Douglas and his wife, Jennifer) is nearing completion.
The Churn Dash blocks were begun in 2005 after a DOQ workshop with Jan B. Smiley. The red fabrics were surplus from Mother’s 85th Red Hat birthday party that year and somehow got translated into red-blue-purple quilt blocks. After 36 blocks, borders and some ‘extending spacers’, the couple's quilt is now assembled in panels ready to fit into the whole top. The backing fabic composition is still ahead of me. I might say this could be their wedding quilt, except they have been married for 18 years. Best to make sure the marriage would last before spending three years making a quilt!
Next up, cousins get table runners and tea cozies (already in progress); a niece gets a quilted wedding present; two grand-nieces get ‘calendar’ quilts (calendar towels for the year they were born), one-more quilt (half done now) for a step-son David and that will end my quilting career.
As my bones get older and my creative quilting winds down, the joy of sewing is less therapeutic than it once was. Actually the therapy of sewing has translated into massage and yoga for physical therapy. Best to create what I can do and stop dreaming about what ‘might have been.’ Do I sound old or what? Must be the rug cleaning talking.
Keep scrubbing...b
* for B&D's Scumbuster: see amazon.com
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