Think ahead
Tuesday, September 16, 2014 at 12:14PM
I’m a practical sort of person. Even if you didn’t know me, you might guess how I spend much of my time by taking a look at my hands. They are frequently a little bruised and battered from sewing and cutting things and, truth be told, when I have things on my mind, I’m a bit of a picker. If I’ve been painting and dyeing things, then all of this might be revealed a little more than usual, because the stain tends to stay in the cracks and crevices, doesn’t it? It doesn’t worry me. I get out the sugar scrub just as my Mum would have done and usually, in a day or so, it’s gone.
Yes, I have a large box of latex gloves on my worktable but no, I can’t work in them.
Anyway, a couple of days ago, I read about Noelle’s Elderberry Cordial and thinking about the last drops of berries sitting outside on the trees in our garden, I just had to give it a whirl. Bless her, she shared her recipe and yesterday I set to work.
Result, a couple of hours later, we had about a litre and a half of aromatic cordial. Thank you, Noelle, it’s delicious and remarkably easy to make. Next year, though, I’m not going to wait until the last gasp of summer to gather the berries, but get out there when the trees are dripping with them!
I was also left with a pair of the most vile looking hands you can imagine. Believe me, they are way better today than yesterday, for I have washed and scrubbed away at them at every opportunity.
They still look dreadful and I’m wondering just how long it’s going to take for that grey-blue stain to wear off. Because, although I wouldn’t normally give it any thought at all, I didn’t think ahead to what’s happening in the next few days.
Tomorrow, I’ll teach a group of country ladies who will hopefully appreciate the situation, for I’m pretty sure they’ll have done something similar themselves. Though I’d rather not have close attention paid to my hands when I am so conscious of their appearance, I hope they know me well enough to be able to look beyond some grey-blue fingernails.
But what about Thursday? The day after tomorrow, when we are invited to a vernissage in a small Swiss town where everyone will be elegantly dressed and many hands will be shaken? I didn’t give it a second thought. I hope that I’m not destined for a weekend of explanation about the “holunderbeere” auf Deutsch.
Surely, they will be clean by early next week when Tra will play a concert and we will be in rather grand company. Maybe I’d better sneak some Ferrero Rocher in my pocket to distract the honoured guest?
Or perhaps I’d better just get the Domestos out?
Actually, I could have written a whole blogpost on the difficulty of taking a photograph of my hand. Out came the tripod, the self timer was switched on and about thirty photographs taken before I got just a handful to use here. Where was my hero when I needed him?
Reader Comments (6)
Try washing powder + nail brush. Biotex pre-wash was great but doesn't seem to be available in UK???? Work a scoopful of washing powder until it isn't powder anymore but a thick paste in your hands then use the brush.
Have fun in Ferrero country - will you visit a certain factory in Steckborn too?
I thought you might like to see how my computer's translation program translated the first sentence in the articleabout the new Raff biography:
"LAUGHTER -Born in 1822 in composer Joachim Raff laughter lives scratch."
And you think folks will worry about your blue nails. I think they have bigger problems on their "hands" at the publishing house.
Te He! Will we never learn? My nails frequently look as if they are in mourning for the cat (as my Mum would have said!)
I find that cif cream does a pretty good job without making my hand sore, and Vanish does too.
Have fun at your various upcoming events.
Cleaning silver is my 'hand noir'. Those gloves are useless and always go to a hole and make slimy hands. No wonder that the polishing cleaning is done rarely.
So pleased you tried the elderberry cordial. I don't remember a problem with stained fingers though. At the start and end of the job, I usually have a quick bleach, diluted, around the worktops, so maybe that is cleaning my hands too! Had to crack open the bottle this week, as I have caught a nasty cold. Its nice and soothing, and seems to be helping my cough. But it has to be night nurse for a good nights sleep.
I think its time to invest/ make some lovely white crochet gloves to cover the hands ;o)