Housekeeping on Ossabaw Island
Today was the first day to try out our housekeeping skills at the main house on Ossabaw Island. It was really great to have a da
y of hands-on activity as I had been spending a lot of time in my head. I am also thinking a lot about wrappin
g up this project as I am leaving on Monday, which is only a few days away. We have a beach planned for Sunday, and then I am leaving the next day so Saturday will be my last real day of physical work.
Housekeeping is hard, grimey work, especialy as I decided to clean the hearth in the room first and I had Maggie and Ari to help me which was great. Maggie was great at removing the buckets of ashes from the fireplace and then poultice cleaning of glass baubles that had been set on the mantle.
Ari cleaned the fireplace stones to remove soot, using dampened sponges and detergent. She and I also cleaned windows, firescreens, and glass.
I have been really impressed with Ari and Maggie as they have identified insects, cleaned sooty fireplaces, and had the energy to cook dinner in the evenings for their “cook night”. They both made sugar cookies last night which were very tasty, especially considering there are no measuring cups at the house.
Ben has been fearless cleaning the wainscoting with a duster, taking care to cover paintings and curtai
ns to prevent pushing dust onto these items.