Book Club at This Old House

Pressure washing fail

Some Spring Cleaning finally happened "under pressure" last week, as it was our turn to host the Book Club. The four-hour rental of a power washer and my old arms resulted in rather spotty deck washing, as I was getting tired and careless by the end of the day. Our old deck boards can't really be damaged that much by a little gouging (visible above). They have other issues, including big charcoal burn spots. More successful was my cleaning of the old molded (and moldy!) deck chairs. They really cleaned up nicely! It is so satisfying to see years of mildew and sap and grunge simply disappear in a little cold water spray--even if some of the surfaces were removed.

I have spots on my berber, too, after attempting to shampoo carpets myself. The grunge in the high traffic areas would not budge. I spot cleaned a few areas and there are now light spots in the darker areas. I know a pro can still get it clean--next time. But hey, it feels good to know I sucked up lots of dirt.

Even though I worked hard last week, one cannot make this old house look good in a week! And perhaps if I had not spent my time and energy sashaying through Savannah in Spring, I would not have experienced this kind of a cleaning time crunch.

It helped that one book club member had just had surgery and was not up to coming. We had 12 instead of 14, which I actually had room for in the sun room. The surgery had been hip replacement--hip number five in this group of 60 and 70-somethings, but who's counting!

I took out the compost to the back yard in the afternoon of the event, picked a tulip and failed to see the stupid handles of the wheelbarrow (once again), tripped, sashayed into a boxwood and crushed a small bleeding heart and the tulip. It occurred to me that I might soon be a candidate for the 6th book club hip--but I was okay, except for a muscle in my ankle that got twisted a bit.

I put low wattage bulbs in the bathroom lamps and put a few spears of forsythia and a tulip on the back of the commode, trying to visually distract guests from my old bathroom, which should probably be gutted. The bathroom is original--as old as I am. (I still have all my original stuff, too, including guts!--don't you miss my "one poop per post" from last year??)

All the overwintering plants that will be ready for outdoor life in a few weeks were moved to the deck for the day. May is the month of in and out for my plants and I can't wait until all danger of frost is past.

I asked my daughter to bring back the tulip mirror from Grandma, which she loves. I just had to remove that framed photo of a full frontal nude statue, and nothing else fits that wall.

So you see, short of re-plastering and painting and replacing that stained berber with hardwood and getting all new matching shades, I did what I could, even power washing those big windows.

The Book: Walker Percy's "The Second Coming" (1980). A few didn't read it, one woman just found it depressing, one woman tried to make complete sense of it (so was he a Christian in the end?) instead of just enjoying it, and one man who often doesn't say that much about the books--loved it. So score one for the husbands's pick!

The Food: 14 for Sunday night dinner? The husband was delighted that I had a simple menu plan: sandwiches, fruit salad, chips and brownies/ice cream. He was not as delighted when I asked him to cut up the sandwiches. We also had Costco Torta rolls cut in half and stuffed with deli chicken salad. I enjoyed the leftover finger food the next day, dipped in a little honey mustard and mayo. The meat and cheese was bland and tasty, if that is possible, with just butter and mayonnaise. I probably should have spread on a zestier condiment.

Great Harvest Retro white, Boar's Head maple chicken and havarti

The Fruit: Costco fresh strawberries, canned pineapple, fresh bananas bathed in orange juice, angel flake coconut. It was getting a tad mushy by 7:00, much to my dismay.

The Dessert: I baked some milk chocolate brownies and bought extra creamy Breyer's ice cream and Hershey's chocolate sauce. I tried that the next day, too--see below.

I think ants are attracted to the smell of baking brownies. We had a mini ant jihad in the middle of the afternoon, but they seemed to be headed for bed by the time the guests arrived, thankfully.

my sandwich - next day

So lots of potential for near disaster, but everything was just fine, the husband's favorite assessment of everything. I had add-ons for the sandwiches for the more adventurous palates, but they didn't seem to avail themselves of the extras--really good sweet bread'nbutter pickle slices, thin-sliced radishes, lettuce, cherry tomatoes and Boar's Head honey mustard. Oh well--simple sandwiches for simple palates--but they were well cut, don't you think?

As I was cleaning up and grazing a bit later in the evening, I became convinced that nothing had tasted that great, for all my buying of the best brands, etc. available. I paid $5.50 a loaf for the white bread! Hot food from the grill would have been a tastier choice--but yet, more difficult to get 14 perfectly cooked items--and it would have involved the husband even more than for the cutting of the sandwiches...

The best thing is that it is over; the main rooms are clean, and it will not be my turn again for at least a year! Who knows, maybe there will be a new bathroom by next year, if we are still living in This Old House!

I made this the next day and it was good--more than just fine.