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.
Garden and the Great Outdoors
“The cherry tomato is a wonderful invention, producing, as it does, a satisfactorily explosive squish when bitten.”
—Miss Manners
Garden Surprises
Every spring I make a trip to the nursery to load up on puny little plants that have no blooms. It's an act of faith, because half the time I have no idea what they'll look like. Then in summer, the color combinations in my garden come as a wonderful surprise, far better than if I'd planned them. Gardening in spring is life-affirming. The outcome is often less important than the promise of things to be, and the plants transforming in my flower beds remind me of the potential for growth in other areas of my life.
“Anticipate the good so that you may enjoy it.”
—Ethiopian proverb
Confronting Reality
Very early in the morning, when the mist is on the lake, I go down the hill in my nightie with a cup of hot tea and a handful of cat crunchies for Minnesota Fats, who comes with me. We get into the dory (Fats takes the bow), and I row out into the middle of the lake and just float there, luxuriating in the peace and stillness. When we come back to the shore, Fats rests on the dock, and I drop my nightie and slip, naked and quiet, into the water. It's a wonderful sensation to swim in the mist when you can't see the edges of where you're going or where you've been, and the air and the water are the same temperature so there's no feeling of separation. When I start to feel chilly, I go back up the hill to the pleasure of a