Fresh Face Day

This past weekend has been picture-perfect weather. Warm, sunny, yet still with a fresh breeze....beautiful for drying clothes on the line.

There is no smell I relish more than sun and wind-dried sheets, pillow cases, and clothes.

Days like these, I pull dried sheets off the line and bury my nose in them to inhale the fresh scent.

Intoxicating.

On laundry days, I almost can't wait until bedtime to lay my face on a fresh pillowcase, nestled under fresh sheets.

So when I awoke on Saturday morning it felt great to know it was such a beautiful day.

Ladies, you know how great it feels to have a morning shower, freshly washed hair and face, and if the barn needs paintin'...a little fresh touch of makeup to feel alive and invigorated.

 That's how I felt with my freshly brewed coffee and fresh face - ('Fresh' is the word of the day, if you hadn't figured it out).

I went downstairs to begin the laundry. We have a laundry chute, and I noticed a sock suddenly fall behind the dryer. So I got in beside the dryer and peered behind it. Not seeing the sock very well, I leaned in farther. I submerged my fresh face squarely and completely into large dusty cobwebs. BLEEECH! So much for fresh. More like itchy (I'm allergic to dust). I couldn't shake the thoughts of tiny spiders and dust mites on my scalp.

Did you know that it is a fact that spiders build their webs at the height of just under 5 feet? It's true. I have several years worth of documented proof....on my face. Whenever my face is fresh - particularly early morning on the way to work - I will walk somewhere where there is a web, just under 5 feet in height, that will hit my face square on. Another little known fact is that oranges or grapefruits when cut will always, without fail, squirt directly into a fresh face...and most often, stingingly into an eyeball.

But I digress.

I carried on with the day, got the laundry out on the line and things were great until I started to prepare an early supper. I peeled the potatoes and prepared some green beans and cauliflower.

Then I got out my trusty compost bucket that I keep under the kitchen sink. It's a beauty from Lee Valley, made of stainless steel so it does not hold odours and washes up beautifully, so smelly compost in your kitchen is never an issue.

I had noticed that the lid had been slightly off on the compost pail a week ago - nothing to do with my son cooking and putting his scraps in there, of course. I had closed it tightly as soon as I noticed it.

I put the pail on the counter in front of me to dispose of the vegetable peels.

Removed the lid.

HUNDREDS of fruit flies flew right up into my fresh face! I slammed the lid back on immediately, but the damage was done. I had released a cloud of these tiny annoyances into my kitchen. Worse than Grade 9 Biology - fruit fly reproduction 101. My face got itchier.

I took the compost pail promptly outside to the composter and I had to open the lid and release some flies to the backyard as well - keeping my face well away from the pail. Too bad I didn't know about those flies in there beforehand or I would have donated them to some Grade 9 biology lab.

I set traps...and will continue for many more days...of baggies with decaying fruit. Every morning I will dispose of the baggy full of fruit flies and wonder if they are reproducing faster than I can catch them.

My face was safe for the rest of the day, although I had doubts when I was sloshing and splashing around cleaning a dirty birdbath.

'Twas nice to wash my face before bed and lay it down on the intoxicatingly fresh pillow case.

I even managed to wipe the thoughts out of my brain that there might be tiny spiders, dust mites, or fruit flies crawling around in my hair.

 That would be a problem to tackle in the morning..... after putting on my fresh face.