Monday, a busy day. House-cleaning. There are so many distractions. Things we'd rather do. That kind of thing. But it all gets done. Not that we mind doing the cleaning. We don't, and tackle the house together. Once I'm finished dusting upstairs, Irving begins the vacuuming, starting upstairs and making his way downstairs while I'm dusting the rooms downstairs. Then dry-mopping the hardwood floors for me, and finally washing the floors.

It's actually all that dusting that takes so long for me to get through. Items we've collected over our 67 years of marriage. Irving is enthralled by art and antiques, and guided by him, I've learned over the years to appreciate them for the beauty, craftsmanship and artistry they represent. It is calming and soothing to be surrounded by beautiful and unique objects.

And Irving is himself a craftsman with a streak of deeply embedded artistry prodding him to produce so many different objects over the years. This house of ours is not only our home, but a long-term project that he engaged himself in for the past thirty years. Transforming it from an interesting architectural edifice to a reflection of his aesthetic taste and artistic capabilities over the years. Although we moved into an open-concept house all those years ago, Irving transformed it so that each room of the house is separated and performs a separate function for us. 

He finishes up long before I do. And because it's been another lovely, warm day he decided to wash his truck. We'll be using the truck to transport us to our vacation destination next month. Gives us a lot more room for all the baggage we invariably take along. And Irving has devised a way to transform the front seats from two buckets to a bench to accommodate Jackie and Jillie sitting with us up front. Like the car it doesn't get washed frequently, but neither was particularly dirty. We haven't been driving much anywhere in the past two years.

We had some morning rain, and it's been threatening rain ever since. In fact, as soon as Irving was finished washing the truck, cleaning the interior, rain began. So there with its arrival went our plans for a ravine hike with Jackie and Jillie. Do they care? Not really. They followed me upstairs as usual once the floors were done and I washed and changed and their usual excited shenanigans began, leaping from bed to loveseat, skidding through the halls, wrestling, boxing with one another. 

As far as they're concerned, everything's fine as long as they're presented with their afternoon vegetable salad. Cutting up bell peppers, cucumber, snow peas and grape tomatoes, the smell of the vegetables drive them to distraction. Jillie nudges up against my calf, while Jackie does his anxious little leaps, lightly touching my back to ensure I'm fully aware that this is a matter of life-and-death.

Since a hike through forest trails is out today, I set about pre-preparing dinner a little early, figuring it can simmer on the stove a few hours. Beef stew, for a change. I just bought a new package of Garam Masala and added it to the onions, garlic and stewing beef I had cut into bite-sized chunks earlier and refrigerated with garlic powder, white wine vinegar and olive oil to marinate for several hours beforehand. Adding carrots and potatoes and tomato paste, they'll make our evening meal along with green beans.