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company

is coming.  Setting my house in order.   First, the Living Room.  And,  in sisterhood with Dana of ravenandsparrow.typepad.com,  i am taking advantage of the moment to be SURE that all these things that i am dusting  BRING a FEELING of JOY.  

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Taken down from the Treasure Shelf

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this basket, squashed into the wall at the far end of the futon couch,  Untouched.  Don't want to deal with it today.  I KNOW there is not joy here.  Later.

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My grandson,  the one who is floundering,  made this for me in Middle School.

 

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It took 2  1/2  hours to clean this shelf and this corner.   I continued on and finished the whole room,  or,  end of the house.   Vacuumed the walls,  the floors,  the books.  Curtain rods.  Sucked up whole Universes of cobwebs behind the shelves and draped from here to there on the ceiling and walls.  

I love it.  LOVE.  It.  Evening Sun shines through and as i've said before,  the Vibrational level is HIGH and Elegant.  I love it when it's like this.  But i also rarely do it.  Given an option for Cloth or OutSide,  it always remains unchosen.   Except when company is coming.  In this way,  I AM my mother's daughter.

 

 

 

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40 responses to “company”

  1. julie Avatar
    julie

    Holy smokes, those is some gourds!!!
    Who is coming???

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  2. grace Avatar
    grace

    Marti and her husband. They are coming to get
    Compost

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  3. Liz Avatar
    Liz

    Your grandson’s artwork is wonderful … as is the red gourd which has both of us wondering what you used to paint/stain it. They are both truly joy-full things. And the “G” … I have one on my shelves, too
    Getting ready for company … the preparation and the anticipation. I do the wet washing, Don does dry cleaning (thank goodness … I can’t abide vacuum cleaners) … and the cooking. Yes, our mother’s daughters …

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  4. Liz Avatar
    Liz

    Oh … when?!

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  5. grace Avatar
    grace

    next Thursday

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  6. grace Avatar
    grace

    well, i don’t have a Don. So it’s Me.
    Marti would say…NO!, not necessary. But it IS. It’s an
    Opportunity
    and i love it
    His copper. He knew i love copper.
    the gourds, i painted with oil paint and
    “bled” with turpentine wash
    the block with G and T from the greatgrandson’s time here as
    is the glow in the dark Taranosaurus Rex

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  7. grace Avatar
    grace

    and it’s 9:03 p.m. and i sitting here, in the glow of the computer screen in this very Dusted end of this House, this Home and welllllll, it’s interesting

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  8. Mo Crow Avatar
    Mo Crow

    your house is glowing, love seeing spring in the air!

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  9. ² Avatar
    ²

    cleaning the house when your friend is comming is part of the love and respect for them , is prepairing for new energy
    necessary ? only if it feels like that
    i recognice that by myself
    being the mother’s daughter
    wish you all a really lovely time together

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  10. Dana Avatar
    Dana

    Cleaning for company…a heritage activity for sure. When I was little my parents moved away from their families in the Mojave Desert and came up to the San Juan Islands with us kids in tow. They were on their own here, but every summer our relatives would visit because really…Death Valley or Puget Sound in the summertime? No contest. My mother cleaned like crazy to get ready. Now I too, clean like crazy for company. As Maria and Liz have said, its part of the gift of receiving them…it is respect and anticipation. Another benefit is the attention lavished on the things that bring you joy. They are burnished and re-animated.
    I hope you and Marti have a great visit. I’d like to be there too.

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  11. julie Avatar
    julie

    And then there was the Superbowl: cleaning before my mother came to visit. I used to make myself so crazy that I told my daughters that they did not have to clean their apts just because I was coming. They took me seriously. A little too seriously.

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  12. .cynthia Avatar
    .cynthia

    oh a heritage activity..and a total barometer which i so inherited from my lovely messy mom..cleaning for my family, our friends a joy from which we so benefited…and still do..cleaning for my mother in law..was always edged with the knowledge that there would be something wrong and whatever it was would be unexpected..we resolved that as we age..as our edges smoothed ..
    but it was even when i was young such a marked difference to me ..the absence of joy..although i probably did a much better job for her.
    and now i am glad to be in this place ..in the company of women claiming to be their mother’s daughters..knowing how mine would have laughed..and to realize ..as my bag was carried up an old and winding staircase…that in fact i am cleaned for now…and when i say no it doesn’t matter..i recognize the look on the faces and the smiles and the words..it does matter as i am ushered into sparkling clean rooms and beautiful spaces…filled with joy and love and i so love being part of this ..
    gentle day grace full of joyful beautiful things you have touched and shared…oh and all the trees are once again covered heaped with snow…up to 8 inches today…

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  13. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    Yes it is so not necessary to clean up for us but it is also what you do, I do, we all do, to welcome family and friends.
    We could not get our garden going without our yearly trip to get grace’s compost – it’s the “elixir” that pulls it all together!
    Seeds have been started indoors in yogurt cups, we switch from peat pots to yogurt cups, we had plenty on hand. So far what has been planted are:
    Arugula- seeds saved from last year as well as Seeds of Change seeds. Managed to keep our arugula going all year, we still are enjoying some that wintered under our little “hoop” house but most are going to seed now. Arugula is one of those things that makes sense to grow as it is expensive and we are thrilled that it does so well here.
    Tomatoes- the most of what we grow. We will get most of our tomato seeds this year from the seed lending library. We have started green zebra from saved seeds and Russian black krim. From Seed Savers we have some candy cherry tomatoes started and will plant a French tomato,Jaune Flamme, an apricot colored tomato that is sweet as well as tart. (Have never grown this before, seeds were a gift.)
    Peppers- a mainstay for us. We plant assorted kinds and have started poblanos from saved seeds and purchased New Mexico Heritage Big Jim Chile seeds grown in Espanola.
    Acorn squash from seeds.Later we will plant zucchini, yellow squash, more lettuce as in romaine and oak leaf and maybe will try to grow some cucumbers and green beans again (did not do well last year.) Will replant more oregano, Italian parsley and basil, our rosemary is doing well as well as some zinnias, a few wildflowers and marigolds
    We don’t have a lot of garden space but are able to grow more than enough for us AND it all begins with the soil and grace’s goat compost…a gift beyond compare.

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  14. .cynthia Avatar
    .cynthia

    ps…and i am so impressed..you are doing this on the weekend before…which i admit i do usually manage now..but truly i have a life of being up so late or so early the night before…that was totally inherited..and we spent some of our best late night laughings doing such cleaning together…

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  15. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    Who is the sweet ruffly capped baby in the beautiful silver frame?

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  16. jude Avatar
    jude

    same here and it will be a big job the next time around.

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  17. Michelle in NYC Avatar
    Michelle in NYC

    Yup–company is my engine too. Oh, I keep things tidy just for me, but clean? Well, the vacuum cleaner waits patiently for company. I was happy to see the wooden block G and the yellow metal truck I sent so long ago when Julian was coming to visit amongst your treasures. I so appreciate being there in your home and on the shelf with others.

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  18. patriciaspangler47@gmail.com Avatar
    patriciaspangler47@gmail.com

    all the round pregnant vessels–from gourd to nest. holders of seed and egg and all wonders of potential. such feminine shapes — the round ripeness capable of nurturing life. and as i look at these artifacts, treasures, i’m understanding more and more my connection with baskets.

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  19. Tina Avatar
    Tina

    Not so very different after all…..surrounding one self with treasures…big and small. Connections to people and places…treasured gifts! Oh and cleaning in anticipation of visitors to show how much we love and appreciate having them visit…pretty much universal. No not so very different after all.

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  20. Liz Avatar
    Liz

    I love this … it makes me miss gardening for food and flowers. My all-time favorite Valentines Day present from Don was a pitchfork for spreading manure on our planting beds in Williamsburg … which totally mortified our daughters

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  21. Nancy Krampf Avatar
    Nancy Krampf

    yoy ! we have company coming and….taking deep breath i shall start on the windows. ugh!
    i have a love/hate relationship with cleaning.
    perhaps we will leave the cobwebs for entertainment. 🙂
    we are collectors. rocks,sticks,pottery, bird nests, art, feathers………art and science here.
    oh good grief i have just overwhelmed myself.
    yes mam i am my mothers daughter .

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  22. grace Avatar
    grace

    it CAN glow, in its own way. Glow has many manifestations

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  23. grace Avatar
    grace

    Maria…it’s maybe the only thing i carry from my Mother
    it will be good.

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  24. grace Avatar
    grace

    if you “tune in”, you will be here. Thursday.
    I can’t imagine….Mojave Desert/San Juan Islands different
    universe
    and i love this….the atten lavished on the things that bring
    you joy. Burnished and RE-ANIMATED
    this Place here is Burnished and Re Animated. Re Animated….
    ahhhhhh, yes, Re Animated.
    it’s the Re Animating that is just beyond Fine

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  25. grace Avatar
    grace

    i don’t clean for my kids much. Some, but not much at all.
    They are like my blood…blood doesn’t worry, they know me and
    grew up IN me, the dust, the dog/cat hair, the cobwebs.
    But i LOVE having reason to do it sometimes because it really
    Loves being done…as Dana sayd…there is Re Animation and this
    is totally True and the Vibrational HUMMMMMM is so High, it must
    help the Planet as a whole i think

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  26. grace Avatar
    grace

    cynthia, i want your Snow to STOP. I want it to STOP IT!!!!!!
    NO MORE!!!!! STOP! Enough!!!!!!
    and yes…how we carry such things, the Welcoming….how it
    differs but remains the same. Cleaning now for me means Joy.
    A kind of setting Free of stuff from the weight of days passing,
    getting a Breath and beginning again while knowing that more days
    passing will bring more weight from those days that pass, but
    it’s just Good, somehow. From day to day, i let those days pass
    but now and then, to Brush them away and start OVER….YES!

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  27. grace Avatar
    grace

    i would like to share late night laughings with you

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  28. grace Avatar
    grace

    i so so SO look forward to all the talk of PLANTING that we will have. SUCH HAPPINESS and to load the Goat feed bags with what has occured over the year…this is such deep Pleasure to me. And as it goes,
    through out the growing season to know that what has happened here over the last months is changing into what is happening in your gardens there….it’s just so Beauty Full…
    HAPPINESS…it’s just such Happiness
    plus…you are bringing that oh so exotic pizza

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  29. grace Avatar
    grace

    you CAN. Why aren’t you?

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  30. grace Avatar
    grace

    That is Alyssia. Did you notice she’s bare footed? Jenny and her
    best friend Cassidy took Alyssia, just a few days old, to Sears
    at the mall for her Formal Photograph. We (her dad and i and those we hung around with) didn’t do those Formal Photographs, so it was
    yet another form of Individuation that she and Cassidy Marked this Time this way. But…funny…they forgot shoes. or booties, or socks, maybe because they were brought up Bare Foot?

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  31. grace Avatar
    grace

    big but Freeing

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  32. grace Avatar
    grace

    tidy. Neat. Orderly. Yes. but
    dusted????, not so much.
    yes. You are Here. You Are. Here. Very Much.

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  33. grace Avatar
    grace

    this is Good. Baskets. things that can HOLD. yes. i see it,
    all around me, these things that can Hold

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  34. grace Avatar
    grace

    Tina…i am so GLAD you said this…”no not so very different after all”
    This is SO the Truth. not so very different after all. No.
    SO
    SO much more the Same
    and that’s why we find ourselves in the same place, because we ARE
    the SAME, just doing different things
    And isn’t that just the BEST?????????

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  35. grace Avatar
    grace

    WINDOWS!!!!!!!!!!!!! i LOVE, like LOVE clean windows!!!!!!!!!!
    When i do it, wash all the windows, it is Ecstasy. no less.
    but o
    maybe every few years or so?
    WHO CARES….when it is, it is.
    I am my mother’s daughter in this. Even before going anywhere (which i don’t do anymore) you Set Your House In Order. Last time i went anywhere was when the great grand son Julian was born and i went to San Diego to Witness. I spent maybe 2 weeks cleaning here before that. My neighbor Margie was taking care of the dogs for me and she wouldn’t have cared a whit, but i Cleaned and Cleaned and
    Cleaned before leaving
    it’s like always wearing clean underpants, just in case

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  36. Liz Avatar
    Liz

    Good question … I guess because we really enjoy helping the land grow what is native to it. Yesterday I walked the property inhaling the honeyed fragrance of agaritas in bloom while adding new windfall to the lichen farm. The bluebonnets are coming up and more wildflowers will come soon … mother nature does a wonderful job of setting seed for us.
    Besides, I just don’t relish the idea of fenced areas to keep out all the critters that would help themselves to food or flower crops. I like the open land too much to close it in.
    So, missing something that was but recognizing in writing this that it has been replaced by something new … not better, just different.
    And there’s always the farmers market …

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  37. Liz Avatar
    Liz

    Oh, I hoped you would say it was Alyssia. Wonderful!

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  38. grace Avatar
    grace

    yes. Alyssia. and i look at her face here, and i look at the face of her mother in a photograph, a portrait, really of when she was moments old, all still covered in…what was it?, the newborn
    substance…before they wash them…and i see in both their faces
    the Women they have become
    it’s really quite Astounding.
    it makes me wish there was a photograph of me, so new, so i could
    look at a Self that just showed up and see if i could recognize
    anything????

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  39. dee Avatar
    dee

    Hi Grace… reading backwards from the 28th, sometimes scanning just to get the ‘feel’ the season the general concerns, other times carefully taking in every word… have been ‘away’ and wanted to pop in here and say, the joy in these objects really comes through the pictures…
    and also, how much commonality I feel caring for my sister in your caring for the Cowboy. much more than I will go into.

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  40. grace Avatar
    grace

    hi to you, dee….
    commonality, yes. the willingness to do whatever it takes.

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