Again....a memory. As I have mentioned before, when we came to Canada we had never experienced the bitter cold Winters in England. that we have here. But we survived, and all the daily and weekly chores were still taken care of, even laundry on Monday. My Mother followed the ritual of doing certain jobs on a particular day. In the house we lived in there was no hot water heater, so all the wash water needed to be heated on the stove, a long process to say the least. When that was done the laundry was hand washed. I learned a lot about hand washing clothes during those years. The whites were done first, and after the washing and rinsing, my sister and I would each take an end of the sheets and twist in the opposite direction to each other, squeezing out the water. All the other clothes were washed in order depending on colour and how dirty they were. As my Dad was a farmer all of his clothes were washed last, for obvious reasons. We had no dryer, and a few areas where some clothes could be hung inside the house, those work pants along with other clothes were regulated to the outside clothes line. Hanging cold, wet and heavy pants outside when the temp is below zero, is far from a fun job. After being outside all day, and not drying much, the pants were brought in the house for the night. They were stiff, frozen solid, Mum would stand them on a rug in the corner. It looked quite strange to see a pair of pants standing stiff and slowing collapsing into a wet heap on the floor as they thawed. If not dry in the morning they were out on the line again, hoping they would dry, if not the process was repeated until they were. The cold weather reminded me of the harsh days we had on laundry day many years ago and those stiff pants. I am so thankful for my hot water heater, washing machine and clothes dryer.
Spring cleaned the linen closet today, I do believe I have OCD as I had to take everything out, refold and some even got an iron over them, and put it all back in, in neat piles with all the folds in one direction. I am a sad case. Hubby opened the door and remarked on how beautiful it looked. LOL. A couple of things were regulated to the rag bag, not even fit for the charity shop.
At lunch today Hubby chipped one of his front teeth and was able to get in within half an hour at the dentist to have it fixed
It is cold today, sun trying desperately to shine once in awhile, not having a lot of success. Tomorrow is expected to be a sunnier day, but still cold.
Dinner tonight pork chops and leftover veg. Made a fruit in jelly yesterday, lots left so dessert all taken care of.
Ahh, life was hard during those times without a hot water heater. I can' imagine doing all that washing by hand during winter. When we were kids, we also did washing by hand but washings dried in a matter of hours and we never had stiff pants standing in the corner. What a frightening sight for me!!
ReplyDeleteI had an aunt (RIP) who ironed sheets & also underwear. I certainly don't but no shame in it, Pat. Just do you! ~Andrea xoxo
ReplyDeleteOnce again, you remind us that the good old days weren't necessarily so.
ReplyDeleteOh, Pat, what an ordeal wash day must have been for your mother! As you say, thank goodness for our current technology. If you have the energy, go for it with the Spring cleaning! I take it much more casually, one little chore each day. I am still shoveling out from out recent snow fall.
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