by knlcleaners | Jul 17, 2026 | Blog
Prologue On my way home after finishing work early, I stepped into a nearby restaurant for a quick bite. Inside, the place was entirely transformed with Easter decorations, looking just like a playground for children. Looking around the tables, most of the guests were elderly couples who had come with their preschool-aged grandchildren. Some tables had grandfathers with their grandkids, and others had grandmothers. The only table occupied by just a couple, with no children in sight, was ours. “We’ll be able to bring our own grandchild here next year, won’t we?” my wife asked herself, nodding and smiling. A moment later, she asked me, “Oh dear, what was that man’s name again? It’s right on the tip of my tongue, but I just can’t recall it. Look behind you, the second table over. He used to be a customer at our shop. “Even though I could only see his back—a man with graying hair and a thick, white beard sitting with his grandson and granddaughter—I knew exactly who he was. Still, his name escaped me as well. “Let’s see… I know it starts with a W…” I murmured. “That’s right! It’s Andrew,” my wife chimed in. “I can’t remember his last name, though.” As expected, my wife’s memory is much better than mine. Andrew was a long-time regular customer of ours. A few years ago, he moved away from the neighborhood near my shop to an area closer to our home. At the time, he stopped by to say goodbye, saying, “I think I’ll have to use a dry cleaners closer to my new house. Thank you so...
by knlcleaners | May 12, 2019 | Blog
A couple of days ago, flowers were delivered to the cleaners. Beautiful flowers in a small vase were boasting their elegant appearances. They were what my daughter sent for Mother’s Day. My wife’s feeling which was buoyed up by the flowers lasted to the next day. In the evening on that day, as always, after work, I called my mother to say that “I came back home after work.” She told me that she was so happy, because my daughter sent her pretty flowers. As I felt thankful to my daughter for these, I called her. But I heard only the sounds of the answering machine. As of this morning, I still haven’t heard her voice yet. In fact, this is not unusual. Rather, I’m used to it. As I wrote in the last weekly letter that I strolled in White Clay Creek Park, one of my old customers introduced to me a good walk path in the park. Yesterday, I walked in that path after closing the store. While I was walking, Henry David Thoreau’s words came across my mind. “As you approach the wood & even walk through it–the trees do not affect you as large–but as surely as you go quite up to one, you are surprised. The very lichens & mosses which cover the rocks under these trees seem & probably are in some respects peculiar– Such a wood–at the same time that it suggests antiquity–impacts a usual dignity to the earth.” <Journal, Nov. 2, 1860>- Suddenly, I thought that family might be the same as the woods which Thoreau talked about. It’s Mother’s...
by knlcleaners | May 7, 2019 | Blog
It was only recently that I’ve truly realized that Delaware is a really good place to live. I mean, since I have turned to photography as an avocation. When I have shop-closing days, such as Sundays and holidays, I enjoy strolling and taking pictures in the parks in Delaware. Whenever I do so, the thought that “Living in Delaware is really a blessing on me” always comes to my mind. So was it on the last Sunday. With this and that concerns and fatigue loaded from the week, I started strolling in White Clay Creek Park. While I was taking a walk, the comfort which I got from the tender green colors of the woods and deep creases in the trunks of old trees lightened the weight of the concerns and fatigue in my mind and my footsteps became light and lively. Colors in between spring and summer! They were the colors of the clothes which the paths in the woods wore that day. Though it was for barely over an hour, the joy and happiness which I enjoyed in walking on the paths alone without running into anybody were really great. And the thought about which I kept thinking was that “Living in Delaware is what I feel really grateful for.” It’s May, the queen of seasons. I wish that every moment of here and now will always be times in which you feel grateful. From your...
by knlcleaners | May 7, 2019 | Blog
Before I knew it, it is the last Sunday of April and it’ll be May this week. The time between spring and summer, though it is rather short, is the period with overflowing gratitude for pleasant weather and nature. I wish that you’ll have a week in which cheery and wonderful things will be all around with you. Today I’d like to tell you about my cleaners. Almost two months have passed since I started to operate the cleaners at the new site. I want to thank you for your encouragement and care during the cleaners’ moving and settling at the new site. Very special thanks to the customer who helped me a lot in moving machinery and equipment and connecting to the gas line to operate the boiler. Now everything has fallen into place and I can run the cleaners normally. While I’ve been running the cleaners at the new site for about two months, what has troubled my mind most is the stairs between the parking lot and the store. Especially when I see the elderly customers with clothes come and go, I feel sorry more than thankful. The fact that parking at the new site is less convenient than the previous site has weighed on my mind, too. I’ve been thinking about the measures to solve or alleviate these problems. First, I’m starting to offer pick-up and delivery service as one of the measures. Especially when senior citizens or those who may have difficulty moving want the service, I’ll serve them in exactly the same way as when they come to the cleaners without any strings...
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