It's by no means a unique lament, but where do the weekends go?
Saturday was spent running errands. There were groceries to get at the co-op 30 minutes from here. A stop at the woodstove dealer's to buy new gaskets, special glue, and extra-strength wood stove glass cleaner. At the hardware store, we got caught up in a fervor of bulb buying - daffodils, tuplips, crocus, and hyacinth for spring. To further stoke the planting spirit, we picked up a few more pansies and mums in vivid pumpkin orange. A bird feeder caught our eye, a model out of all the different models that we both could agree on, so we picked it up along with a huge bag of bird seed and a couple of suet cakes. By the time we made it home, it was after dark and past time for supper. We brought in the groceries and unpacked the perishables before I started fixing our cozy supper of tomato-chard-white bean stew with cornbread. After a long work week, I caught up on the dishes and we threw a load of laundry in the washer. Keith started doing maintenance work on the Vermont Castings stove, trying to pin down the air leak that's wreaking havoc with the draft.
The next morning we awoke to a steady rain. Too wet for planting bulbs or mums or pansies. Too wet for setting up the bird feeder. We drank coffee and enjoyed more corn bread while the rain slowly stopped. We fed the donkeys. The thermometer said it was 50 degrees out, but the damp and the breeze made it feel much colder. Keith started in again on the stove. We saw our neighbor out in his yard, and Keith decided that the time was right to take down a pesky wild cherry tree of the neighbor's. The tree leans into our property, its leaves deadly poison to our donkeys. Our neighbor graciously agreed that we could remove the tree, which he kindly claims to have long considered a nuisance. Keith headed out with his chainsaw and I got ready to join him. First, I quickly surveyed our kitchen: the wood stove was in pieces and a second load of laundry was sorted into the laundry basket, ready for the wash. The non-perishable groceries were still in bags waiting to be emptied onto pantry shelves. The pan of cornbread was on the counter - one piece left. The counters needed wiping, as did the cooktop. The coffee pot was still warm with the dregs from the morning. Cups were where we'd left them. The same for the newspapers. The week's mail was stacked on the sideboard. The bathroom adjacent to the kitchen was in dire need of a good scrubbing. I remember looking in there and thinking "thank goodness we're not expecting any guests this weekend."
And that's when I heard the exchange of greetings from the driveway.
Ha! Wouldn't you know it? Keith's brother Tim had gone for a drive with an old buddy visiting from Colorado. They set out to admire the fall foliage, and one thing led to another - and here they were. It was a friendly, low-key visit, kept short by the old friend's need to keep an appointment in Northern Virginia.
Our kitchen is the central gathering place in our home. It's where we hang out - and keeping it clean and clutter-free is a challenge. I had to laugh at the state of our kitchen this weekend, as it was about the worst it has ever been, and it reminded me of what Michelle posted about her kitchen on her blog this weekend - except we don't have a teenage kid to contribute to the mess or to pin our housekeeping lapses on!
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