By midweek past, we could see a stretch of unseasonably warm days coming up for the weekend. Much as we would have liked to dart to the mountains in all that sunshine, we knew the inside/outside right here needed us most. Purge and straighten the storage shed & larder; burn the heaped-up pile of leaves and ever-falling branches (cottonwood & willow, you're sure keen on dropping them); take to the pantry shelves with vigor, a soapy sponge, and a mind for order; sweep, sweep, sweep.
It's surprising to us that, even after having down-sized to 665 square feet over three years ago, how much stuff we still find to purge. Of course it's relative, but still, we're surprised. Life shifts, there are changes in ages, changes in interests - it all makes for ever-accumulating cast-offs. Like layers of an onion, we peel off what we no longer need (and remind ourselves to consider even more carefully what we bring in in the first place).
And where to put all that we purge between trips to the donation drop-off? So far, it's been in paper sacks, trash bags, the random cardboard box. This has certainly been a slouchy, torn, and crumpled way of doing things. No longer. I've decided that, since purging is part of our lives, I should give it a proper container - a bin just for holding the give-aways. I've chosen this. Lined with a trash bag, we'll place in it our no-longer-needed things as we find them. When it's full, we'll cinch up the bag, haul it in & drop it off. Just having that simple plan feels good.
Other things that are making me feel good as I look at the past weekend?
Inside: Four quarts of freshly-made chicken stock, ingredients gathered for this (because I consider the first step an accomplishment), rhubarb + strawberries (both pulled from the freezer, a riff on this & this), caramel corn (four batches, gone), this birthday gift (in the little house!), this hat pattern, beans in jars
Outside: An organized deep-freeze, things purged to sell ($), a kitty who visits with me while I work, baskets hung from rafters, a shed & larder set to rights, leaf smoke, a truck-load gone
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