Tuesday, March 23, 2010

… a bit of spring. . . (cleaning that is)


We've been having such nice weather for the past week. . . that I new it would hit me. . .


Time to do some big time cleaning.


I'm not sure how the term 'spring cleaning' got started, but around here. . . just having the windows open for a couple of days made me want everything fresh & clean after months of colder temperatures & everything closed up. So once again I opened up all the windows & as the house took a fresh breath of air, & took a deep breath & started. It started in the morning when I was simply wiping down the kitchen counters & stovetop. . . that led to taking things apart on the stovetop &  cleaning under the heating elements & then the entire oven. Then I tackled my bathroom. Seriously, every nook & cranny of it. Cleaned. Spic-&-span'ed. I can actually say that every inch of my bathroom as also fresh & clean.


Ahhhh.


But then, as I was cleaning my the bathroom, I decided to clean off the silk hydrangeas that I have in there. . . & that led me to go & gather all the other silk hydrangeas that I have throughout the house. Which leads to a confession. . .


I have a lot of silk hydrangeas.


Seriously. LOTS of them.


(. . .& to those of you who poo-poo on not having anything but real flowers. . . I forgive you. . . & you obviously don't live in the high desert of the southwest where the ability to even get hydrangeas (& many other flowers) to grow is impossible, & so silk ones are the only reasonable way to be able to enjoy them at home.)


When I moved here to Arizona - I was only planning to stay a couple of years. . . but that wasn't to be & I've now been here for 19 years this summer! When I realized that I might be staying around for a bit longer - I found that hydrangeas (my favorite flower) were really hard to find here & when they could be found - they were outrageously expensive! (Supply & demand, I figure.) That's when I began to 'collect' silk hydrangeas. So now, even though I haven't bought/collected any for the last couple of years - I have, um. . . plenty. 



I was well reminded of this fact as I washed each & every one of the silk  stems & bushes of my hydrangea 'collection'. I washed them all in my bathtub , & the ones that I keep in a tall whitewashed bucket in the bathroom, I hung them to dry in the shower curtain rod (. . . & I kinda like the look!). The rest I took out to the backyard & laid them out on the grass (covering over a third of the lawn!) to dry. After they air dried, I bunched them up - mixing how I had  arranged the colors from what I had before. . . just to switch it up a bit


After I had taken about a third of them back into the house - I caught a glance of the rest of them out on the back porch & it reminded me of the corner flower cart where I used to buy flowers from when I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, & in Santa Barbara. They all looked so pretty bunched together - that I actually left them there for the rest of the afternoon. . .


. . . just because!

Today, they are all back in the house - helping making it so much cheerier & definitely adding a touch of spring all over the house!

 Bren

9 comments:

Sparky said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Vickie E said...

silk makes perfect sense to me!

pdudgeon said...

This takes me back to my childhood. We had a huge Nikko blue hydrangea bush that would bloom every Summer on the North side of our house, and a much smaller pink one beside it. together they took up 9 feet of space. i used to love to cut the blooms and bring them inside the house. i was always so amazed by these large bushes and their beautiful blooms. thanks for sharing,
pam

Sherri said...

How beautiful! I know what you mean about the Spring cleaning...I am headed home from a week and a half with husband (he works out of town) and I can't wait to open all the windows, wash the curtains, dust, mop...all of that fun stuff!! I do have a few sillk flower arrangements, and I am with you, they do brighten things up! Have a blessed day!

Samantha said...

Hmm, you do have a lot of hydrangeas! But they perfectly complement your "cottage-y" style!
I mentioned you on my blog today, because you are so special to me... "hop" on over when you get a chance.

PamKittyMorning said...

They're so pretty inside. Your home is so warm and cozy. I wish I was there this morning enjoying a cup of coffee with you and your dad and of course Mr. Bailey.

mascanlon said...

Oh pretty Bren. I am lucky enough to have 4 huge bushes across the fron tof my house. They are just budding up so I expct to have a wild profusion by Easter. They don't last all that well in the house though so I do have a bunch (or 2) of silk ones around and about too.

Carrie said...

Too funny! I have been feeling guilty about all the silk hydrangeas I've bought at PB in the last month or so. And now I don't! Thank you!

It really was hard though. I couldn't decide whether I liked the blue or the white better, so I bought them both. And since hydrangeas look so much better when they are "massed together", I had to have a dozen stems of each. They do look amazing though, so it's all good, right?

Of course, now I'm thinking I might need to find some pink ones... :)

Happy Cleaning! And Happy Spring!

Lori Holt said...

I loved reading about your silk hydrangea obsession. It made me giggle. I totally understand because I am a person who needs to be surrounded by flowers at all times...and yes I love fresh but when it's not possible (like in the winter here) silk does the trick!
So don't you worry about fresh flower snobs...you go girl!
In my humble opinion, flowers rock in any form:)
xo
Lori