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Authors: SUZANNE PRICE
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across the front seat for the door handle. I didn’t think I knew him, but it was hard to be sure. Between the darkness outside, the roof of the Lexus blocking my view, and my being three stories up, it was hard to get a decent look at his face.
I stood at the window, my curiosity piqued. It was past eleven o’clock. Nothing stirring outside except that car. What had I been thinking before about the late-night quiet in Pigeon Cove? At that hour, it let you hear sounds that didn’t seem to fit. Like the Lexus pulling up to the house. And like the side door of the inn suddenly opening now as somebody stepped out onto the porch.
Carefully easing the door shut, the shadowy figure hurried down the porch steps and then crossed the sidewalk to the waiting car.
My eyes widened. Chloe was one person I would’ve recognized anywhere. From any vantage, day or night. And just an hour earlier, she’d told me Oscar was already fast asleep. That she was going to join him in bed right after I went upstairs.
So much for that. Standing at my window, I watched her pause on the sidewalk for a quick glance back at the inn. Then she climbed into the Lexus, shut her door, and sat back as the car pulled away into the night.
Too stunned to move, I kept staring out the window at the empty street. Oscar Edwards was bald except for a sparse, messy fringe of white hair. I’d never seen him stalk around the house in anything besides a battered old peasant cap, a pair of plain brown work pants, and a goose-down vest on chillier days. On the rare occasions he left the house, Oscar wore a red barn coat with corduroy elbow patches and drove a decrepit Chevy station wagon with fake wood paneling on the sides.
I wondered who the Lexus’s driver could be. And then wondered where Chloe had gone with him at that late hour. One thing was clear—it wasn’t to bed with Oscar.
It was a while before I let go of the blinds and returned to the computer to work on my cleaning tips. I guess I finally went to bed around midnight, feeling tired and ready for some sleep.
Staring up at the darkened ceiling hours later, troubled thoughts swirling through my head, I conceded that I hadn’t been nearly ready enough.
SKΥ TAΥLOR’S GRIME SOLVERS BLOG
Mixed Greens
Rough night tonight. Don’t ask how come, because I don’t want to think about it right now. My goal is to lull myself into sleepiness, and I’m sticking to the subject of cleaning since it relaxes me. And since I figure that’s mostly why we’ve all gathered together in this dirt-free corner of the blogosphere.
Besides, my night wasn’t a total shipwreck. Its redeeming moments were bare and fleeting, but we can’t ask for everything, and there were a couple. One of them was noticing that my best friend had put one of my new ecofriendly cleaning hints into practice. It gave me the idea for this entry and that’s something to hang my apron on.
I’m calling these tips Mixed Greens because I’m combining new environmentally sound cleaning methods with more traditional ones. The bottom line is that my hints work , and that means being careful not to ignore practicality and efficiency when substituting the old with the new—a commonsensical approach as we make a conversion to alternative products and techniques.
Incidentally, you can give Bry the Wonder Guy credit for the name and raising my environmental consciousness. He’s made me realize that small changes in the ways we clean—and use our cleaning equipment—can make a big difference. Whether it’s saving energy (and cutting down on high home fuel and electric bills), helping to ease the impact of toxic chemicals that infiltrate our soil and food, or reducing the amount of waste containers dumped into landfills, I think these will be helpful to you—and everyone around you.
So . . . here are a few greens to toss in with your old tried-and-trues.
1. Using a dishwasher is nearly always more economical than washing by hand. This is
I stood at the window, my curiosity piqued. It was past eleven o’clock. Nothing stirring outside except that car. What had I been thinking before about the late-night quiet in Pigeon Cove? At that hour, it let you hear sounds that didn’t seem to fit. Like the Lexus pulling up to the house. And like the side door of the inn suddenly opening now as somebody stepped out onto the porch.
Carefully easing the door shut, the shadowy figure hurried down the porch steps and then crossed the sidewalk to the waiting car.
My eyes widened. Chloe was one person I would’ve recognized anywhere. From any vantage, day or night. And just an hour earlier, she’d told me Oscar was already fast asleep. That she was going to join him in bed right after I went upstairs.
So much for that. Standing at my window, I watched her pause on the sidewalk for a quick glance back at the inn. Then she climbed into the Lexus, shut her door, and sat back as the car pulled away into the night.
Too stunned to move, I kept staring out the window at the empty street. Oscar Edwards was bald except for a sparse, messy fringe of white hair. I’d never seen him stalk around the house in anything besides a battered old peasant cap, a pair of plain brown work pants, and a goose-down vest on chillier days. On the rare occasions he left the house, Oscar wore a red barn coat with corduroy elbow patches and drove a decrepit Chevy station wagon with fake wood paneling on the sides.
I wondered who the Lexus’s driver could be. And then wondered where Chloe had gone with him at that late hour. One thing was clear—it wasn’t to bed with Oscar.
It was a while before I let go of the blinds and returned to the computer to work on my cleaning tips. I guess I finally went to bed around midnight, feeling tired and ready for some sleep.
Staring up at the darkened ceiling hours later, troubled thoughts swirling through my head, I conceded that I hadn’t been nearly ready enough.
SKΥ TAΥLOR’S GRIME SOLVERS BLOG
Mixed Greens
Rough night tonight. Don’t ask how come, because I don’t want to think about it right now. My goal is to lull myself into sleepiness, and I’m sticking to the subject of cleaning since it relaxes me. And since I figure that’s mostly why we’ve all gathered together in this dirt-free corner of the blogosphere.
Besides, my night wasn’t a total shipwreck. Its redeeming moments were bare and fleeting, but we can’t ask for everything, and there were a couple. One of them was noticing that my best friend had put one of my new ecofriendly cleaning hints into practice. It gave me the idea for this entry and that’s something to hang my apron on.
I’m calling these tips Mixed Greens because I’m combining new environmentally sound cleaning methods with more traditional ones. The bottom line is that my hints work , and that means being careful not to ignore practicality and efficiency when substituting the old with the new—a commonsensical approach as we make a conversion to alternative products and techniques.
Incidentally, you can give Bry the Wonder Guy credit for the name and raising my environmental consciousness. He’s made me realize that small changes in the ways we clean—and use our cleaning equipment—can make a big difference. Whether it’s saving energy (and cutting down on high home fuel and electric bills), helping to ease the impact of toxic chemicals that infiltrate our soil and food, or reducing the amount of waste containers dumped into landfills, I think these will be helpful to you—and everyone around you.
So . . . here are a few greens to toss in with your old tried-and-trues.
1. Using a dishwasher is nearly always more economical than washing by hand. This is
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