The heavy heat of summer left on a cool fall morning. On a desk in the downstairs office was an
open, green composition notebook and a newly sharpened Ticonderoga pencil. On page 1 was the date and a short list of
attainable goals for housecleaning, that day.
The house on Popcorn Road raised one happy eyebrow and creaked with joy.
Daybook: Do something with old, yellow pillowcases There was a separate reason for sorting every single pillowcase by color, discovering at the end, there were 2, white, yellowed pillowcases, with petite, royal blue crochet trim, firmly and precisely attached to the outer hem of each. It could not be ripped out and re-used. One pillowcase had a tear and a hole. Without bleaching, neither one was acceptable. The perfect bucket for this project had sat on the backdoor stoop for months slowly filling with leaves. The first try was dicey. Remove the leaves, put the bucket in the bathtub, rinse, fill with hot water, add bleach, insert the pillowcase up to but not quite at the hem. Fasten the hem to the bucket handle which rested over the side, out of the water. The angle of the handle relative to the water was shallow, and bleach water wicked into the hem and on to the trim. Yanking the pillowcase out of the water, over the batht...