A Clean Outlook

There is nothing like cleaning all the windows inside and out, and scrubbing all the deck furniture to improve my outlook. I am Puritan and/or Amish at heart, I must be. I feel better when I can see out clearly. Rumor has it that oil lamps leave a nasty mess on walls and windows and before guests come, Amish women still wash all the windows AND THE WALLS down. I didn't get that excited. But I do know that 18 windows inside and out is a day job for me. I am obsessive about streaks and spots so I go in and out often looking at them from both sides until I'm satisfied. I have a really neat special squeegie on a stick for the second story outside windows. And I have a special recipe cleaner with ammonia in it. I splurge and use dollar store paper towels rather than newspaper; I only clean my windows spring and fall, but notice my spring cleaning is in July this year. oops.
The other half of the job is vacuuming the screens. Leaving only the screens on the windows I actually open helps brighten and lighten in here too.
The deck furniture was disgusting. Years of grime on the legs and under the table are now washed away, with the help of a scrub brush and a boy with a hose. (We didn't get too wet.) I can't wait to sit out there and have a cool glass of something!
Tonight I have the privilege of seeing one of the great living pianists play one of my favorite concerti: Beethoven's Emperor! I'm so excited to go. It's up at a small college concert hall, and all the seats there are great, but it's general admission, so I want to get there early. Maybe I'll beg and wait around and get his autograph to add to my collection for students. Or maybe he doesn't do that sort of thing-every artist is different. I'll show it to you if I get an autograph.
Here is another amazing pianist, Claudio Arrau, playing the same concerto, from YouTube. Enjoy your weekend; take in some live music if you can. CDs just can not capture the energy of a real person!