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Between Friends

Bob Ann Breland

Spring is here and household cleaning begins for a lot of us. This always reminds me of the ever present collection of dust, which seems to always be there. The older I get, the more I resent it. No matter how many times I do it, the dust is there waiting, forming a light layer.

I was thinking about technology and the many household marvels it has brought. The broom has pretty well moved aside for the vacuum cleaner, the wash tub and clothes line have given way to automatic washers and dryers, hand washing dishes has been replaced by dishwashers and magic heating and cooking are produced by the microwave and other countertop electric appliances.

There’s even a mop for those hard surface floors that clean with just one swipe (at least that’s what TV commercials would have you believe.) But dust remains.

All these labor-saving devices should leave us more time for dusting. Unfortunately, time isn’t always the problem. So far, nobody has really produced anything to take away the boredom of the everlasting job of dusting.

There are products on the market that make dusting easier — sprays and cloths with a magnetic effect on dust — but nothing really to take away the eternal wiping down of furniture, whether with an old tee shirt, sock or what-have-you.

From where does all the dust come and where does it go when we dust? Mostly we manage to rearrange the dust rather than getting rid of it. Take the feather duster for instance. All you manage to do is scatter the dust and it settles right back down to be dusted away next time. A vicious cycle, if you ask me.

Filters in the house help a little, especially for people with allergies, but there’s still the task of dusting that comes around on a regular basis, no matter what. Nothing does away with all of the dust.

With dark furniture, the job comes around more often. If I had known earlier in life what I know now, I never would have even considered buying dark furniture. Dust really shows on dark surfaces. Light-colored furniture also collects dust, but it doesn’t show up quite as much.

Talk about dust catchers, the television and computer screens have to be the worst offenders. These dust-catching screens are like dirty eyeglasses…you wonder why you can’t see until you suddenly realize they need cleaning.

I enjoy having lots of little what-nots and photos in my house, but it surely adds to the work during dusting time. Every piece has to be picked up and dusted as well as the surface where they are sitting. I’ve considered putting all those things away to make the job easier, but so far I have talked myself out of it.

I suppose after so many years of keeping house, certain things get to be more of a chore than others. Dusting is it for me, over and over again. Why doesn’t somebody get busy and invent something to take away this everlasting chore?

Not likely to happen, but we can keep dreaming as we dust!