There were, as I remember it, nine windows in our part of the house in Brooklyn. This would include the wired glass panel in the front door under the stoop as well as the tiny window over the commode in the bathroom.
My mother was a bear about keeping those babies clean. I can’t remember the schedule that she kept, but I do remember that she used a product called Glass Wax. You see, the cleanser, this Glass Wax stuff, would go on as an opaque film which you then wiped off, leaving a sparkling piece of glass. You could manipulate this by writing on it, drawing pictures, etc. as you put the Glass Wax on or took it off. You can just imagine how this seemed almost mystical to an impressionable child’s mind.
When the weather allowed, that woman would perform what I called a phenomenal feat of vitrine cleanliness: She would sit on the sill of the windows on the second floor so that while her legs were inside, the rest of her was outside, ably moving the double hung windows up and down to get at the gritty Brooklyn window dirt from the outside, a gymnastic feat of washing the outside windows, hanging on by … well, I have no idea how my Mom did that. but I wanted to do it too.
I was that kind of kid who wanted to be as much an adult as possible, and my approach to getting to this goal was to learn as much as I could from the adults about how to “adult.” I actually begged my mother to allow me to iron. She let me begin by ironing my father’s handkerchiefs. I wanted to help her clean, so I was taught to dust all of the stuff that was under things, like table legs and the sort of legs that held up the sofa. Washing windows with Glass Wax was aspirational to a child.
Of course, I grew up, and washing windows as a fun thing faded quickly into the “I hate doing windows” category, especially when Glass Wax disappeared from the shelves. I researched Glass Wax and there are substitute products that you can purchase online, some promote the fact that, with stencils, you can decorate your holiday windows with them. You can even purchase an old rusty can of the original for close to $40.
But, washing windows has lost its luster, its mystery – a ship that sailed off with Glass Wax.
Why not worry about the windows in my house? Well, my Mom had nine windows, two of which were miniscule. In my house, at latest count there are 27 windows. That count does not include the storm windows attached to each, nor does it include those in the basement.
Marcellus has nothing like the coal fed heating systems of the 1940s and 50s Brooklyn to pollute the air and deposit that pollution on windows, but there is ordinary dust and road dust, particularly on high traffic streets to add a layer of patina to my windows.
I tried, as a young homemaker, to clean all of them, but ultimately gave up. Without Glass Wax, I was chasing streaks on every attempt. I tried newspaper and water, newspaper and vinegar and water, plain water and a squeegee … even the blue stuff in a spray bottle. And, as for the outside of anything on the second floor, not a chance. So, several years ago, I hired someone to clean them, all 54. It was getting to the point that it was difficult to judge whether the sun was out – they were that dirty.
It cost a fortune! Comparing the cost of washing my windows to the purchase of my first car … The bill equaled half the cost of my 1963 Volkswagen.
I have tried all kinds of seductive products for cleaning second story windows, including a hose attachment and a contraption that had a long handle with a sponge on it for washing the outside while inside. Nothing worked. Last week I bought a pale green microfiber cloth from a Norwegian company that really cleans beautifully without any kind of chemicals except water. But, it still doesn’t help with the outside.
While I negotiate with myself about cleaning the inside and hiring someone to do the outside, I’ve hung mirrors everywhere – eight in total – strategically placed to enhance what sunlight gets through.
Chasing the light, I remain still in awe of my mother and resigned to the knowledge that I will never meet her determination and courage when it comes to windows.
