Spring Cleaning in February

(re-run, pre-pandemic)

It started with a koala bear. A bunch of them. Some musicians were having a fundraiser for Australia, the fires, and the koalas. It was a donation at the door. Two and a half hours of music, and I knew three of the performers.

We got there early and sat in the third row. Two good-looking shaved-head guys were playing long wooden didgeridoos. There was a cellist, a drummer, bass player, guitar player, pianist, and two on the flute. The music was classical, jazz, pop, tango and also Broadway tunes.

At the end of the performance the organizer practically begged us to bid on the silent auction items. I wandered from item to item. They were either too expensive or too unnecessary. Tango lessons? I was a head taller than the instructor. A black and white koala painting? The opening bid was $300. A horse painting? Lovely, but I’m not a horse person.

I walked up to the table with the three-foot by three-foot painting of a big purple flower on a yellow and orange background. It was splashy, it was bright, it was not me at all.

My house is filled with antiques. Think lots of dark wood and fancy curley-cues. A modern-looking garish flower was not part of the plan.

I bid on it. I won. It was even delivered to me at chorus rehearsal.

Now, five days later, everything has changed.

I bought a new bedspread today along with an air purifier. I stopped at Bed, Bath and Beyond on my way back from singing at the nursing home with the Singing Messengers. It was easy and fun to join the chorus, until I started crying during one of the songs. Music brings out emotions. We had people crying all morning. The folk songs reminded them of something from their past. Watching the old people’s faces as we sang to them was rewarding and also unsettling. I am only a decade younger than some of them. Will that be me someday, sitting there as younger people sing to me?

My sister could be one of those people being sung to. Her expression is similar to those on the nursing home side of the facility. She doesn’t look happy, and neither did some of those in the audience. But there was toe-tapping and mouths forming the words. One woman didn’t stop smiling the whole time we were there.

Now I have a new bedspread, a dusted bedroom, a big purple flower, and a whole bunch of rearranged pieces of wall decorations. The antique triple mirror over the bed moved to the dining room, the single mirror with carved fruit moved to a bedroom wall, replacing an oval mirror that will go where the hat rack, complete with dusty hats, came down.

I am hoping the air filter will help my allergies that are kicking up with all the pollen and no rain to wash it away. Getting rid of the dust on the ceiling fan blades over the bed helped, too. As did washing the dog sheets. And dusting the mirrors as they got moved around.

It all started with the koalas. I didn’t plan on the new painting, the new bedspread, or the rearranging of the wall stuff. But I really did need the air purifier.

Funny how one thing leads to another. Sometimes a little bit of a change is a big thing.

Thanks to the koalas, the singers, and pollen-busting measures, today was a good one.

Couldda Wouldda Dogga

Daisy says hey.