all things being equal, it could be worse
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Refresh yourself with the entries in Where’s my backpack?’s Travel Theme: Clean
Tag: clean
Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Clean – Week 2
not since and probably never again
Once upon a time, and it was a very, very long time ago, there was a young woman who had received a gift of more tomatoes than she could possibly ever eat in one sitting – or even four. Being somewhat frugal and hoping to earn some brownie points in the domestic arena, the maiden (against her better judgement it must be said) consulted “she who is never wrong” for the best way to preserve the quickly-ripening fruit for the long, cold winter ahead. Complex instructions were dictated, interspersed with anecdotes of how “she of the bad temper’s” recipe was not up to snuff and why “she who never listens” methodology was questionable, amongst other digressions.
The process was supposed to be an easy one but like so many culinary endeavours that masquerade themselves as “a pleasant afternoon” spent in the quest for the authentic flavours of yesteryear, it wasn’t. It was tedious and messy, labour-intensive and messy, dangerous and messy. From knife blades sharp enough to slice a single hair lengthwise to industrial-sized pots of boiling water threatening to erupt at a moment’s provocation, it was not fun. The young lady was not pleased but completed the task, placing the many precious jars in a very high, very dark cupboard.
Three months down the road and well before the first snow, the hint of an odd odour in the kitchen began to tease the maiden’s nostrils. She was told it was all in her head, that she had an over-active olfactory system, that it was the age of the building, the damp weather or, heaven forbid, the possibility that something had reached an unforeseen demise between the walls. The last option was not to be tolerated and so “she who always persevered” crawled up to the top rung of a very tall ladder, gingerly opened the cupboard door and discovered the unthinkable – no rotting gypsum, no black and creeping fungus, not even a nightmarish rodent corpse – worse. 42 jars of fermenting tomatoes oozing a slick and noxious liquid out from under once-tight metal caps and down their sides to corrode eighty years of paint off the shelf in perfect circles. A crucial step had obviously been omitted – or not transmitted…
Conserving a summer’s harvest is much like this fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme – it doesn’t hurt to make sure that everything is really – Clean.
Last week, Across the Bored put forward an age-old question – “How does clean appear to you?” – The lines of a Countach or curve of her back, fresh laundry on the line or graphics of a sign, raindrops, old-fashioned string mops, even spinning tops, is it sudsy or soapy, stringent or strange, glossy and glassy, fancy or plain… We would love to see your vision.
For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info or want to browse past themes? Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.
Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Clean
sometimes a little help is a good thing
Cause and effect. These are two words that usually spur Across the Bored into taking action on matters long-procrastinated upon. Not that we don’t usually have a plan, but this one hinged upon ideal climactic conditions, a reasonable amount of free time and the motivation to hurl ourselves into the infernal chasm of (belated) spring-cleaning and material divestiture. All while tidying up, doing laundry and checking emails…
Effect: suspicious cracking grout and lifting floor tile near the bathtub and shower.
Cause: clear (to us anyways) evidence of a leak, a drip, moisture finding its way somewhere that was not down the drain. The handyman did not concur – he put the blame on our rather heavy tub not having a supporting frame – it rests atop the plywood sub-floor – something akin to an elephant sitting in the middle of a trampoline. Sooner or later, something is going to give.
This week’s sudden cold snap finally spurred us to begin the long-overdue task of garage triage. One must understand that this “room”, which is directly under the master bath and surely the reason for the cold floors in same, has never actually been used as a place for parking a car in minus 40 degree weather. Rather it had been converted into our “studio” with a nifty raised floor and held all the stuff that we didn’t use on a daily basis or didn’t fit neatly into the rest of the house. It worked well for a while, but like most things we got busy with projects that didn’t require being cloistered in a room with no view and our little studio quickly became the repository for that “which shall not be seen” and “that which multiplies tenfold when left unattended”. Until yesterday, that is, when good intentions forced us to start somewhere – somewhere being to the stuff which shouldn’t have been lying precariously atop boxes already stacked six high not according to manufacturer’s explicit instructions.
Effect: That somewhere was damp.
Not full out rainstorm wet or someone spilled something wet but oddly just enough that something was amiss wet. Directly under the bathtub wet.
Cause: a small, water damaged crack in the conduit built around the drainage pipes that run along the ceiling of the garage (don’t ask, I didn’t build this one…). Although dry now, it must have leaked recently and begged the question when would the disaster of elephantine proportions occur?
Someone will, of course, have to come and fix it (hopefully sooner rather than later) and for that to happen efficiently all that stuff would have to go somewhere. Like a horrible game of domestic dominoes, everything that had gone in in a careless fashion was now coming out under a more critical eye – out to a new home, out to a charity, out to that garage sale the foundation is having, out of the garage studio abyss. But sadly, for the moment, out into the common room. And the dining room. And the computer room…
Now, the The Two Cents Tuesday Challenge has no choice but to wrestle cause and effect into a manageable stranglehold and make it – Clean.
“How does clean appear to you?” – The lines of a Countach or curve of her back, fresh laundry on the line or graphics of a sign, raindrops, old-fashioned string mops, even spinning tops, is it sudsy or soapy, stringent or strange, glossy and glassy, fancy or plain…
We would love to see your vision.
For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?
- I will post some commentary on a random topic that pops into my head (such as the above) and then ask you to respond on the same.
- Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
- Please, don’t just link to an old post… challenge yourself.
- The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
- ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.
SO – Create your Two Cents Tuesday Challenge post
- Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
- To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Two Cents Tuesday Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
- If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Two Cents Tuesday” challenge on your own blog.
- Feel free to pick up your badge on the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge page
- Remember to Follow My Blog to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.
ACROSS THE BORED 