Moth In The Window

The other day a moth got caught between the two windows here in the office. The little fortichka window was partially open and apparently it flew in and couldn't find it's way back through the little open slit. It was just a plain, drab brown moth.

Plain? Drab? Really? I've modified the photo to highlight this little guys true nature. Oh my! Just look at the beauty in those wings! I would love to be able to weave something even half that beautiful. God's creativity and artistic-ness (is that a word?) never cease to amaze me.

It flew around between the windows for awhile. I tried to shoo it out, but couldn't do it through the pane of glass between us. It took a little rest here on the window frame, spreading it's wings and showing the glorious colors hidden under the brown cloak. What an incredibly beautiful little moth!

Did you see it? I didn't at first. No, my attention was on the beautiful orange and black underwings, the moving 'feelers', the fluttering frantic flitting about all over the window and the window frame. From one side to the other, up to the top, down again to the bottom.

Hidden in plain sight, resting itself on the window from, hidden in the shadow of the big beast beside it, was this little guy.

I am in awe.

Thank you, Father in Heaven, for your gifts of color, of movement, of life. Thank you for the gift of sight, for the gift of joy and pleasure in the small things You have created. You are an amazing God! Thank you for loving even me.
Your Daughter

Clean, Clean, Clean!

Tanya just left. I hired her to come and deep clean my kitchen. I can't get up on a stool any longer - well, maybe I could, but I'm afraid to even try. My knees, my weight, my fear of heights - all conspire to keep my feet firmly planted on the floor.

I also cannot get down on my knees any longer due to my knee replacements. Titanium knee bones on plastic knee caps, full weight on the floor = broken knee caps that must be replaced surgically. So, I can't get down on the floor to get behind and inbetween cabinets. It's been several years since everything was deep cleaned, cabinets emptied and shelves washed down. I've done the lower cabinets as far as I can reach, but not the high ones.

Today Tanya even pulled the stove out and oh. my. gosh. I could not believe it. I don't think it has ever, in 11 years, been pulled out away from the wall and the floor under it cleaned. As I wrote: oh. my. gosh.

Can you say: embarrassed? (Can I spell it??)

I tried to explain that we've been gone most of the past 2 years, plus I can't get down/up due to my knees... But still. Why didn't I hire her a long time ago to do this cleaning? Sheesh. She did not get all of the cabinets cleaned, but the one I was most concerned about, yes. It has my spices and herbs in it, plus Mel's coffee, the teas, etc. Everything is in containers, but a couple of years ago now (time does fly!), the gal who was staying here broke the glass door and it's been without a door this whole time. Needless to say - those shelves must have been filthy. Tanya will do the cabinet beside it next week.

And then she will help me strip the wallpaper off the walls in the livingroom and get them ready for me to paint. I've also asked her if she would paint the ceilings (actually they are whitewashed with good old fashioned whitewash stuff). I can paint the walls myself, I just need help getting them prepped.

Yes, I did the bedroom and the little hallway all by myself, but it took days and even weeks. And I had help in the entry area - and that took days and days, too! But I think the livingroom will actually be easier. And if Mel will help me get some stuff moved into our bedroom (yikes! not much room in there!) and into the office room (also not much room) before she arrives, then it should go a lot faster. I'd cross my fingers, but what good would that do? :-)

I'm also hoping to move the furniture around a bit in the livingroom. We'll see if that will work - it may not fit any other way than it is now. But if I can move it, I'm going to try and get the rug cleaned. There are "Kemcheesties" here that do dry cleaning type stuff and I've heard that they will do rugs like our big one. I just don't know how much it will cost. At this point though, the cost is worth it!

While Tanya was doing the kitchen, I shredded a bunch of papers (addresses off envelopes, letters, receipts we don't need, etc). I fried the shredder in the process - plugged it directly into 220v and it's from the States. Stank up the office room pretty bad for awhile. So, I now have a blister on my right ring finger from the scissors. Will have to either buy a local shredder (best idea) or use the scissors more often and not let so much stuff pile up. Now there is an idea.....! ha!

I also cleaned our bedroom, at least partially. The window has been driving me nuts. When we got back in January I washed the inside of the inside window, but did not open it due to the styrofoam insulation Mel had put in there before we left. He used a sheet of styrofoam about 2 inches thick, cut the pieces to fit between the two windows all along the edges, bottom and top and kind of stuffed them in there so they wouldn't all fall down.

The space between the inside window and the outside window was filthy with dirt that came in through the cracks between the fortichka and other windows, and with spider webs. Yuck. YUCK. I've been keeping the shades down so I wouldn't have to see bits of styrofoam, and now elm tree seeds, sticking to the spiderwebs halfway up the window. Oh double yuck!!!

Also, even though I washed the inside of the inside window (and the rag came away black with sooty-type of pollution (we breathe that stuff!!!)), the outside of the inside window and both sides of the outside windows were still filthy. I clean my windows 6 or more times a year, usually. I do NOT like dirty windows! (Even though the kitchen was dirty, the kitchen window, on the other hand, was/is clean!! - but then, I don't look through the kitchen to see other things, just the window. sigh)

When I washed the inside of the bedroom window, the rag came away black again. This fact really bothers me. It bothers me that I'm not sure where all that black stuff comes from. If it came from all the trucks and cars going by on the major street on that side of the building, wouldn't the other sides of the windows be that black, too?? But they aren't. Yes, they are dirty, but they are dirty with dust and dirt and raindrop marks, only a fraction of the amount of black stuff. I washed the glass on some photos in the livingroom, too, and the rag came away black there, too, so it's not just on that side of the building. As I said, this bothers me. Where does it come from? What is it (other than "pollution")? Is it going to give us Black Lung Disease? :-) Or cancer? Well, we've lived with it now for 12 years, so... probably not good questions at this point - what IS the point?

Anyway, I washed all 4 sides of the windows: inside/outside of inside and inside/outside of outside and it is amazing how much brighter the room looks! Mel will need to put in more styrofoam this fall if we're still here after the 21st of May, of course, but that is more than doable. I wish we could afford to get new windows installed - Western European style windows that have just ONE inside and ONE outside - but as this is not our flat, we don't want to pay for them.

So, parts of the livingroom are cleaner due to my dusting and washing while Tanya was here. At least for a couple days any way - everything will be covered in dust by the middle of tomorrow again. And the bedroom is much cleaner. And I love clean windows! even more than a super clean kitchen. ("Are my priorities wrong?" she asks herself.)

I hardly recognize the kitchen. Will have to go and check it all out and make sure it's still 'my kitchen'.

:-) :-)