Staring Out The Window & Washing Dishes

Several times a day, I stand here in the kitchen and wash dishes while gazing out this window.

I wash a bit more slowly this time of year as I ponder what I'm going to do on the patio come spring. 

For so many years and in so many homes I've spent dallying at a kitchen window. 

I've dreamed up blog posts in my mind and gardened a bit too as I wash, rinse and repeat. 

I make sure I have a wonderfully scented dish soap (whichever one happens to be on sale at the grocer's).  It is such a meditative and relaxing task, and I find it enjoyable.

My hands washing dishes and my mind urging little green buds to hurry up and speckle the trees, the sweet heralding of spring.

I don't like dishwashers. I have one. But I've never used it. I'm sure if I had small children around a lot, or people who are sick, I'd be more inclined to use it for health purposes.

I don't think of it as women's work. Men who live alone have to wash and tidy up as well. I just think of it as a pleasant chore that gives me the opportunity to let my mind roam and play.

Even better when I have the crock pot going and something is steaming and bubbling inside. My supper of course. 

Then I will make cornbread (just a smidgeon of sugar thrown in) and it would be rising in the Breville as it bubbles and bakes and browns. 

I watch the seasonal shifts in weather and light. Sometimes I'm washing my supper dishes with a darkened window, and that's when my I blink back at my own reflection.

I probably do waste water (a shame) as I dally here, thinking and washing. But what I don't waste are all the ideas that culminate during this time of day. 

I figure out just what I'm going to plant in what container. 

And I know the very chair I'm going to put over in that corner to lap up the morning sun while I sip coffee on spring mornings. 

Sometimes I think about the book I will start next. I look forward to getting everything tucked in for the night so I can open my book and lose myself in its pages.

Sometimes I hum and listen to the birds calling to one another. I never tire of listening to them.

Over the years, I've grown older of course. My hair has gray solidly sprinkled through it. My fingers that soap the plates and rinse them are stiffening with a bit of arthritis.

Before I know it, I'm finished. The last plate or piece of silverware is clean. The dishes are sparkling wet in the dish drainer, and the suds are oozing down the drain.

I dry my hands on a dish towel I've had for many years. One that is soft from being laundered so many times.

Then I'm all done until the next meal. When I start all over again. 

And dream my dreams through that rectangle of light that is, sometimes I think, the very window of my soul.

***

"Joy in looking and comprehending is nature's most beautiful gift." - Albert Einstein

I feel that it is healthier to look out at the world through a window than through a mirror. Otherwise, all you see is yourself and whatever is behind you.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/window.html

I feel that it is healthier to look out at the world through a window than through a mirror. Otherwise, all you see is yourself and whatever is behind you.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/window.html