Traveling ahead of a snowstorm

About to depart, a couple of days ahead of what we'd planned, I'm bemused by our preparations.  A snowstorm is coming into Eastern Quebec on Tuesday, so we want to arrive "home" before that.

I never have thought of myself as some sort of great housekeeper, but it's been interesting in our HomeExchange period, how that lens has crystallized.  I have always been careful leaving for 3 to 4 weeks of travel, to clean up the refrigerator and make sure nothing would be mouldering away while we were gone.

During our HomeExchange times, I began to think about how someone else would look at the kitchen -- are there crumbs in the drawers?  are the potholders stained?  did I leave any ancient condiments in the fridge, etc.?

We all vary in this, as our HomeExchange partners have, too -- it's all been good.  We all do reciprocal cleaning and tidying, after all.

For our housesitters, this time, the refrigerator is practically empty, wiped down -- ready for their month in our house. Hmm. Where does that urge come from, I think?  It's really just about the kitchen, as of course, we haven't done some sort of huge housecleaning, not our forte at all, as our monthly housekeeper is coming on Tuesday, a week ahead of schedule.  Woody's shedding is quite evident.

Perhaps all of this is about creating surroundings that are comfortable.   And wanting to return to a kitchen that's not full of old stuff.

We remodeled our kitchen before we downsized here.  I hunted around for a post about remodeling, but it must have been so traumatizing (it was difficult to be here during that), I couldn't find a post!

This rather humble photo was what came up first -- a dark image with what I think are apples on the counter...

Similarly, as we're heading for a winter month in Quebec, this reflection from last summer was telling, too.