I may have a dishwasher at the dacha, but for the past week I’ve had no mirror.

And this is sort of interesting. With no mirror, you don’t see what your hair looks like. You don’t notice the slow tan (that gets through the 30-block sun screen) building on your face. And make-up? Whassa?

It’s not that vanity has gone away. It’s just that it’s gone on a little holiday.

And this is sort of nice until you catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror at the grocery store as I did yesterday. Eek!

My unstyled hair was blown over to one side and sticking up at the top making me look vaguely like Pud from the Bazooka Joe bubblegum comics. I had two untanned ovals around my eyes from the sunglasses. And there was a layer of white salt building up on my face.

I’m glad I have no mirror in the dacha. It’s more fun not knowing. And not caring.