Spring cl****ng

After a lovely day yesterday, both weatherwise and in terms of arty activities - a talk at the British Museum on Hockney's 1967 prints based on Cavafy's poems (on till 14 May), followed by the Paolozzi exhibition at the Whitechapel (on till 25 May)

Paolozzi's pattern book, 1952

- and with a finale of an impromptu and late family meal at our favourite local vietnamese -

AND with today being another day of blue skies and springly delight, such as the rampant forget-me-nots in my little garden, and look at the spreading pillow of phlox, and the tuft of geraniums starting to flower (ignore the bags) -

the bags hold compost made at Wrentham Avenue

Well, with all this going on, one's thoughts naturally turn to ... Spring Cleaning. Though it was reading an article about the way moths are taking over our dusty homes - and seeing a couple of moths lately - that has spurred me on. Three free hours lie ahead, and my tools are to hand -

the feather duster, the yellow dust cloth; the rechargeable Dyson is looking fully powerful in the broom cupboard ... but can you spot the invisible tool? Of course not: it's "readiness". The part of the room that you see is as clean and tidy as it's likely to get (though I see how the counter could be improved!); my backpack has been cleaned out, ready for an excursion this afternoon; and the hidden part of the kitchen counter, and the cooker, are somewhat pristine. I feel ready to "work the magic" elsewhere, and will start in the Shoe Corner of my bedroom and see how far it can go in three hours.

A bit of background to my concept of "readiness". Do you remember feng shui? It was a hot topic quite a few years ago, and there are lots of pix of the bagua on the internet. Not exactly scientific, but useful - you take from it what you want.

This one names the areas somewhat differently from the usual - for instance, Completion instead of Creativity [my sink area], New Beginnings instead of Family [my Dan Hays print on the fireplace wall], Path in Life instead of Career [the place where our bags get dumped]. My desk is in the Abundance area - I'm here a lot. Relationships is the cooker, which my son hates to clean (hmm...). Benefactors is the broom cupboard, what does that mean?!

You take from it what you want. Some people do the alignment with their front door - I like to do it room by room. What brought this up again was a comment about keeping the loo lid down if the toilet is in the Wealth area, so that your money doesn't go down the pan. And sure enough, if every time you lower the lid you think about how to hang onto your money, or increase your wealth, that awareness should eventually translate into action.

So when I clear up the counter and wash the dishes, as part of getting ready to do Something Important, I'm usually thinking about what I'll be doing next (eg going into the studio, or garden). When I clean my cooker I always think of my mother, who liked a tidy kitchen and had made me a bit of embroidery: Mein Herd, Mein Stolz - she also worked quietly on relationships with family and friends throughout her life.

And I look over at that the Knowledge corner, where the bookshelf situation is unchanged...

But a little spring cleaning will change a lot in the bedroom, so I'm off upstairs to Make It Happen. Making hay while the sun shines!