Monday, lovely, 60's, becoming cloudy in pm. I washed, took Sue to dentist in pm. Wayne was out of school with a cold. Marilyn went to work at 6 to 10. I was going to mm (missionary meeting) with Marilyn at parsonage, but she had to work.
Comment: Mom pretty much always washed clothes on Monday, probably as much as all the folks of her generation did. Monday wash day was a tradition going back hundreds of years and my wife, Mary Ann still adheres to it...here is the traditional schedule for household chores and an explanation why.....
With a few variations (some folks had a gardening day instead of a separate ironing day, or the days were not quite in this order), this is the way everyone kept house for more than hundreds of years. There was the logic behind this. Laundry was far and away from the heaviest task a housewife faced, requiring a great deal of strength and fortitude to hand-wring clothes and carry big baskets of wet laundry to the clothesline from the basement washtubs. Monday was the day to do it when you were still fresh and rested from Sunday. Tuesday's ironing followed Monday's wash. Mending and sewing on Wednesday made sense when you'd just been through the clothes and noticed what needed a button or a patch. And so on.
3 comments:
From Marilyn: Gerald,
You come up with the neatest stuff. I am sure you remember our Mom had to carry the water sometime from the barn heat it on the stove and put it into the washing machine. In the early years before we had electricity she had a gas powered washer. Does anyone else remember it?? Had a kick starter. And of course there was always blueing in the rinse water.And the huge pulley line that was in front of the house. "M"
Marilyn: I remember the gas washing machine, and hauling water from the barn. Also the blue rinse in the water. I remember the clothes being frozen on the pulley line when an unexpected cold snap came through. I also remember Mom wringing the wash by hand when the wringer on the washing machine broke...do you remember kids with terribly scarred inner elbow where they had gotten their hands and arms caught in the wringer. The wringer could not get past the elbow and just spun and tore all the skin and flesh. I remember seeing that a couple of times....
From Marilyn: Gerald, I do remember all the above. Wow we really have it made these days.And I know life was easier for everyone when they came to Ca for the winter. Looks like you are getting a lot of rain. We are to have some tomorrow hopefully.Looking forward to you guitar playing with more than 3 cords. However we do enjoy the songs with the 3 cords very much. Also the banjo, wow that should be fun. LU "M"
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