July 11th, 1978: Cleaning Day

I had an irresistible urge to clean things today, so I dusted all the books in two of the four bookcases in my bedroom, carefully taking out each one, dusting it completely, and stacking it with the others from the same shelf.  Then I dusted the empty shelves.  My book cases have books on both sides so this was no mean feat.  The "cases" are metal stands with open work shelves, on which the books balance precariously.  Every time I bump one in the night, the books go over like dominoes.  I replaced all the books (absolutely necessary since they were on my bed), but still felt the urge to clean. 

I took a bath with with skin-so-soft oil (very nice).  Pete took one, and I scrubbed the bathroom (Pete heard me tapping the Comet can and thought there was someone at the door-at 11:00pm at night (if there had been, I wouldn't have answered).  

Then I washed all the dishes, and-still unsatisfied-scrubbed the kitchen sink and the bottom of my dishpan, and the kitchen table....and I dusted the small table that holds my jewelry findings, and the cases of findings, (but my energy ran out before I got to the stove and our refrigerator).  Still, I sat down in a glow (both sorts) of accomplishment.

I read Margaret Halsey's Demi-Paradise, and it left me feeling inferior.  I have no "Cause Celebre" to write about-McCarthyism and Vietnam having died too soon (though I dodn't regret their passing). and tho I read the Elizabethans, I have no one to quote them to.  Then I began Elizabeth Foster's The Islanders, and immediately felt better.  I remembered the Abnakis from Robert Lowell's Mills of the Kavanaughs, and, better still, she mentioned The White House Cookbook.  I have a copy of it sitting on my shelf.  I once tried to manufacture an eggnog (with a single egg) from its recipe which begins "take a dozen eggs...".  Mine was NOT a success, but I couldn't blame the book.  If only I'd had laying hens and a cow to milk for the cream, I'm sure it would have been very good.  She, like Ann Bridge, is no mean botanist.  Since I have an absolutely brown thumb, I love reading about successful gardens.  Gladys Taber charms me too.  The impossible doesn't leave me unhappy, only the unlikely.