A First Impression, 2008

I once had a husband who felt strongly that “appearances” are everything.  By that, I think he meant that first impressions are lasting and that it’s wise to put your best foot forward – all that homey advice our parents offered as we were setting out in the world.  It’s one of the few things we agreed upon.

In fact, I think it’s only for the sake of appearances that I dust the house or weed the garden.  Granted, I like to live in an orderly environment, but I could easily ‘look the other way’ about some of those chores that are the bane of my existence.  I do love it when the crystal sparkles and the silver shines but I resist getting it to that state unless I’m expecting company.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, perhaps) we do a lot of entertaining and so I’m always up against it, so to speak.  Sometimes I wonder which prompts the other.  Do I clean because we are having guests or do I invite people to force myself to tidy up?  I like to think I was born in the wrong era.  I should have a bevy of housemaids and groundskeepers to keep things up to snuff.  However, with my luck, I would have been the scullery maid, not the lady of the manor.

Our Stairwell (No white glove tests, please!)

I thought about all those things yesterday as I was doing a bit of weeding out in the south garden.  I’ve been out there the last few days – and who wouldn’t be?  It’s been gorgeous!  I’m sure (almost) I would have been digging and pulling and clipping in any case, but the fact that I am giving a house tour to the Community Historians tomorrow has definitely been nudging at me.

And I do confess that I chose the location for my gardening efforts with that very fact in mind.  The garden bed I’ve been working on is the first our visitors will see when they enter our premises.  I hope their first impression will at least convey that I care.  As for the inside… if we keep the lighting dim and decree that there be no white glove tests along the tops of the picture frames, I may be all right.

Although… I remember well the one and only time I hired someone to clean for me.  When she walked in the door she declared, “I can just smell the dust!”  I never had her back.  Come to think of it, maybe it’s not only appearances that matter…  Maybe I should be baking cookies for the fragrance factor.