It's the dark time of the year, growing darker each night until Christmas, when, if we can raise enough good cheer, it will start to roll back towards the light.

In the meantime, the cats have figured out that those dark rainy afternoons are purr-fect catnap times!  The efforts to restore Creepy Cinderella must be working, as she seems to have found a new friend, who thinks she makes a very cozy companion.  I often find these two curled up together!

Isn't it amazing what a little soap and water can do!!                                                                              

Meadow Sweet Grove © V. Buchanan 2017 ​ 

Meadow Sweet Grove © V. Buchanan 2017 / edited 2019

Of course, in all the fairy tale versions of Cinderella; the most important item in her transformation was a new dress from her Fairy Godmother.  So we decided to start the whole cleaning process with the clothes.  The dress is actually in good condition.  Pink and white lace overlay with buttons and bows (all in good condition) over an attached pink slip.  Hook and eye closure at the back are okay.  Hair band solid and elastic still has a bit of stretch, but seriously discoloured ... and the smell!  Okay, so atrocious - I can't even begin to describe it, but worse than the smell was the feel of these clothes.  They felt stiff, sticky and "crunchy" if that's possible to imagine.  So, so much dirt.  So into the tub they go!

After two or three rinses, the water finally ran perfectly clear - here we are drying in the sun!  The clothes turned out pretty good actually - still discoloured (especially the socks and hair band) but the contrast is considerably more subtle now.  Best of all they feel soft and smell sweet!

Tune in next week when we'll try our hand at cleaning those dreadful shoes!

Meadow Sweet Grove © V. Buchanan 2017 ​

Meadow Sweet Grove © V. Buchanan 2017                                                                                          (gif courtesty of animated images.org) ​