Brazilians often shower more than once a day, according to our son Seth, who spends about half of each year in Brazil.  They understand clean.

In greater Boston, Brazilians have a lock on the housecleaning business.  When our Brazilian cleaning person had a baby recently, she arranged for two friends to clean in her place.

Neti and friend are a fierce team.  They cruise through the apartment like a speedboat, chatting in Portuguese about I don’t know what.

I can say “how’s it going” and “thank you” in Portuguese.  Neti and her friend are a bit lacking in English, but we manage to communicate.

All good. 

Except that they don’t miss a thing, and they want me to know it.  So every picture on every wall is leaning a slightly different way after they clean.  One day I couldn’t find the bathroom scale because they had moved it.

This week after they were here, one metal leg of the bathroom sink fell off while I was brushing my teeth.  They had worked too hard cleaning it, I suppose. Luckily, I was able to screw the leg back in.

When they leave, the apartment is sparkling clean.  That’s what matters