Today I'm trying to get the "Wash" caught up before I leave for Riding Arkansas and then immediately afterwards my trip to Florida.
Who remembers “warsh day”??
I remember as a young girl and up to the time I “married off” and left home, Mom and I would “warsh” clothes every Monday and in the Summer, when I wasn’t in school I was her helper.
My first memories are when we had an enclosed back porch with an old wooden dryer rack and a wringer type washing machine.
We’d carry water together in a big wash tub to fill it up.
After we’d fill the old Maytag up we’d pull up a chair beside it and set a wash tub full rinse water (Also, Mom would say rance water) on the chair to catch the clothes as they came out of the wringer to get the suds out.
I still remember the smell of the ”warshing powders” and bleach and the smell of Final Rinse we’d pour on the rinse water to make the clothes soft.
I remember the sound of the washing machine as it constantly agitated, it had a beat all it’s own.
Mom was always worried about letting me near the wringer. She'd always warn me that nothing hurt like the pain of getting your fingers, hair or any other body part caught up in those wringers.
I remember looking around and seeing our neighbors doing the same chore.
We’d wash everything in the house from clothes, to bed clothes and mom had to wash every throw rug in the house too!
Then we’d wash dad's work clothes he wore in the greasy & dusty machinery/ construction work last.
The water would be black by the time we washed his work clothes.
We didn't have a dryer until my Mom had my little brother (the youngest of her four children.) Then dad promised a new Maytag automatic washer and dryer set for all those cloth diapers. However, we still mostly hung everything out to dry. Even towels.
There’s nothing like the smell of sheets that have dried in the Midwest breeze!
Oh the memories of growing up in older days, I remember my Mom sharing her memories of when she was little girl with me. Thank goodness I didn't have to scrub the floor on my hands and knees like she did! However as a teen she did have me down on the floor raking my long hair up from her beloved carpet.
I now have my own memories to pass on to my daughters.
I try to tell them often of the times Mom and I washed clothes, scrubbed floors, and spring cleaned the whole house together. She had to have everything just so-so, we didn’t have a fancy house, it lacked some of modern amenities but you can bet, being a house where a Hanning girl was the woman of the house it was clean and clutter free!
I have to admit that I am not as dedicated as my mother was to her home. Mine might get a quick pass and that's it unless company is coming! 😂
Memories are very humbling!
Hoping For A Grand Day For Ya'll...
Nana
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