Bright Ideas

Our dishwasher “died” a couple months ago. It had been ailing for many weeks, complaining each night when Brice turned it on. He did that at bedtime because I would have ear plugs keeping the sound away from me. Brice can sleep through anything; I would remain awake without the ear plugs.

Eventually the complaints ended and it was silent. Instead of replacing it, Brice just washed the dishes every morning. We don’t use many dishes, both eating off the same plate.

When I was growing up, my friend Kaye’s father sold appliances, and their home was filled with them, from color TVs to dishwasher. M...