Living for a week in another time period is our monthly
suggested Genre-istas topic. What I’ve learned over the span of my life is
that, while I wouldn’t mind spending a few hours talking to someone I’m
interested in who lived in another time period, the idea of being somewhere
without the amenities of a flush toilet has no appeal.
Over my lifetime, I’ve camped out using trees and bushes
for cover as well as a Port-A-Potty.
Never
Again!
Growing up my family stayed at a lovely place along the
Oregon Coast that had a wood stove and the hot water pipes ran through the back
of the stove so, if one wanted hot water one kept the stove stoked. Even in
August!
Never
Again!
Oh, and we also cooked all our meals on the wood stove as
this was before electric frying pans, microwaves, etc.
Never
Again!
I remember when I was a child we had a wringer washing
machine and washboard for those stubborn stains. The basement ceiling was crossed with clothes line for those wet days when the wash still needed to be done. There was an agitator in the washing part but it didn't spin. The knob on top adjusted the rollers. A hand crank is off on the right. (See picture below). Floors were cleaned with a bucket
of water, bar of soap and a scrub brush---on one’s hands and knees or maybe with a string mop if doing a quickie clean. Either method required rinsing at least twice after the initial cleaning
Never
Again!
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| Wringer Washing Machine |
I counted myself fairly lucky as the other option was a
wash tub, washboard, squeezing water out by hand. I cringe even now thinking of
laundering filthy work jeans that way. And even when we had a washing
machine, I hand washed my more delicate items in the kitchen sink and hung them
up to dry.
Never
Again!
Now I will admit that I live in the Pacific Northwest
where the geologist have said it’s only a matter of time before we have a major
earthquake that will destroy our coastline and decimate the city where I live.
I’m fortunate that I have a house, I’ve done the earthquake retro-fitting
(well, had it done by professionals). I’ve an emergency stash of medications,
candles, flashlights, batteries, etc. I’ve a backyard and a shovel and I’ve an
outdoor fireplace and some wood.
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| Now available! |
While I say “Never Again!”, because of my life
experiences, should the earthquake happen or the Cascade Mountain volcanoes
erupt, I have those early life experiences so I know how to cook over an in-door
or outdoor fireplace (or at least heat things up) and I can make some type of a
(hopefully temporary) outside port-a-potty.
Now if the question was who would I like to spend a week
with in person, maybe job-shadow? My list would include people like Queen
Victoria, Abraham Lincoln, William Shakespeare, one of the Egyptian Pharaohs’
like maybe one of the female ones like Cleopatra. I’d like to sit and talk to one of the High
Priestess in one of the temples dedicated to one of the Goddesses. I’d like to
spend an hour or two visiting with Mary, mother of Jesus. Eleanor Roosevelt
would be another person. Attending a meeting with the early suffragettes? Yes,
count me in.
In the meantime, I’ll stick to spending time with people already
a part of my life; make an effort to add new people; all while enjoying the
amenities of the 21st century.
12 comments:
I enjoyed your post, Judith , and it brought back some childhood memories for me too! My grandma had a wringer washer in her basement/garage. When we vacationed at her house It was always FUN to help put clothes through the wringer.
Many years later and a newly wed, all we could afford was a wringer washer. Not so much fun any more! I'd hang the clothes on the clothes line even in winter. My mother-in-law taught me that you wait till the clothes freeze and then shake the ice off and bring them in to finish drying. When we could afford it, I'd take them to dry at the laundry mat.
Great blog post!
Ah, Judith - memories of loading up a bag of HEAVY, wet diapers, plopping it in the tiny extra seat on my tiny and inexpensive (re: TINY, fold up) stroller with my daughter in the front and walking about a mile to the laundry mat - 3 or 4 times a week. NEVER AGAIN! Even in this house when my unfixable, old dryer conked out (and I couldn't afford a new one) and I was away from home 12 plus hours every weekday - making sure I washed Fri night or early Sat morning so my laundry was dry by Monday morning. Then it was dodging laundry all weekend, as it hung everywhere to dry.
Fun post, Judith!
When we were first married over 40 years ago, we lived in low income housing that did not have 220 electrical hookups, so no dryer. Having a washer was a blessing! And there were clotheslines outside every apartment building.
I think most of us tend to romanticize certain periods in the past. I would like to time travel in an invisible floating time machine well-stocked with everything I would need, including a bathroom, climate control and and a universal translator. In that case, I would be happy to be a silent observer.
Diana,
We usually (and back then) did not get enough Freezing days. Hanging wash out in the rain or hanging inside were the only options most days. Having said that, I have hung clothes out in the cold and know that the water does evaporate that way. I see it in the winter with the bitter cold sucking the moisture out of ice and snow on the ground.
I don't really remember using the wringer washing machine as ever being fun...or maybe fun in comparison to using the washboard. We also had a "mangle" and I thought that was fun until Mom showed me how to use and then it wasn't as fun. But I remember getting paid to iron - 4 handkerchiefs for a penny if I remember correctly. 2 cloth napkins for a penny. Those were the days when going to the Saturday Matinee was 5 cents.
Deb, I had a wooden drying rack set up next to the oil heater that took up much of the living room for diapers first. Then my husband's jeans. Shirts, jackets could be put on hangers and hung from doorknobs, etc. I am so grateful for my washer and dryer although I used to hang clothes out to dry in the summer. Don't do that anymore because the air quality sucks and I'd have to wash everything again once I brought them inside. It's been at least 5 years since I did that. Not sure why I keep three drying racks although I use two of them as I damp-dry in the dryer and then hang clothes up. I do thoroughly dry towels and bedding in the dryer...those are things I used to put outside to dry.
I agree on the "romanticize certain periods" statement. There are some things from my past I wish was as true today...kids playing outside for hours for one. We played Kick The Can in the street...these days unless I lived on a cul de sac, I wouldn't like that. And, I don't really remember being warned about the kinds of things I warned my grands about. By the time they were 2 - 3 (youngest) and 5 (oldest), they had certain landmarks memorized so if the "got lost or stolen" they could find their way back. The Marquam Bridge over the Willamette River...youngest grand has already started teaching her daughter (soon to be 4) those same types of things.
Your "never again" made me smile. I do remember growing up with a wringer washer on the back porch for a while. I think around age 8 or 9 we got an automatic washer. We hung clothes on the line until I was 14 and we moved from a house into a townhouse with such a small back porch and no place for a clothesline. I thought we were rich then because we got a dryer.
In college I was enamored with the back to living off the land ideal of hippies. I had dreams of living in a cabin in the woods, built by my own hands, with no electricity except that generated by a water mill and having a wood stove for heat and cooking. I tried it for about four months and quickly learned it was not for me. The idealistic and romantic dream was instead filled with hard work all day long.
Later in life, when DH and I married and we moved to Oregon (both in our mid 40's), we revisited that hippie time. We built (with a contractor) a passive solar cabin in Zig Zag, on Mt. Hood and heated with wood. We did have electricity and did have both a washer and a dryer. He cut the trees himself and we both split wood (6 cords each year) for heating. It was kind of a reliving our hippie past but with an upgrade in some of the comforts of home. But again it became a chore as we aged. Too much snow to shovel to get out in the winter. Too much wood to split. Too much time spent filtering iron out of the water.
I realize I spoiled I've become with so many conveniences. But I really don't want to give them up. However, like you, I know I have those skills if I'm required to use them again in a disaster. Personally, I hope that doesn't happen because the body isn't as strong or resilient as it used to be.
Unknown - thanks for sharing your journey in and out of "living off the land." I'd thought I'd like to live in an old farm house with a well and stone sink, wood stove to cook on and heat part of the house, etc. The Universe knew better and turned my life in a different direction. A few years later when I went camping (tent, sleeping bag, fire and those bushes) I realized before the weekend was out that I wanted conveniences. I'm sure there are many people who feel a great deal of satisfaction doing things by hand that could be done with machines. My time for that has passed in part as I've aged but also because there are so many things I want to do with my day, finding ways to make "chores" easy and effortless is high on my list.
The wringer-washer at Grammy's house was FUN! It sat in the back porch and was filled with a piece of hose connected to the kitchen sink. White clothes were washed first and by the time you got to the dirty work clothes, the water was dark grey LOL. Then you repeated the process with the rinse cycle. Grammy was always very particular about how we hung the clothes on the line (longest items on the left, decreasing gradually to the shortest items on the right) and that was passed on to my mum and so to me. I'll make adjustments to my clothesline presentation if I mess it up.
Luanna,
Thanks for sharing your early clothes washing experiences. Hope you no longer have a wringer washing machine! That's a fun tradition to pass down through the family, especially when it is filled with memories that we share with others. Last year at this time I distributed many items that I'd inherited from my mom. That was one of the best parts - remembering with my niece who was very close to her and telling stories to my granddaughters who knew her but were very young about the history, the importance of various pieces. My mom insisted dishes had to be washed right to left and if, in my rebellious stage, did them left to right, I had to do them over again. Now, with a dishwasher, that isn't a big deal but laundry!? Yep, there is a "right" way.
We lived with my grandparents in Los Angeles until I was nine. Grandma had a wringer washer on the back porch and two big porcelain laundry tubs. I remember watching the clothes go through the wringer and plop into the closest tub. The clothes were hung outside on long lines. With six of us in the house, there was a lot of laundry. I vaguely remember a couple of drying racks. In southern California clothes could be dried outside much of the year anyway. My mother had a Mangle and I was taught how to use it. Sheets were even ironed in those days, because they didn't have formaldehyde and other sizing chemicals in them so they wrinkled. My mother bought an automatic washer when we moved to Pomona in 1947.
I didn't have my own washing machine until almost time for my daughter to be born in 1960. She was number two. I washed clothes at my mother's house or took them to a laundry, up until them. Diapers for our first son included. There was a convenient laundry that washed and folded for 10 cents a pound! I used the laundry when I was working. Of course I used cloth diapers and had to fold them for putting on the babies. I hung a lot of laundry out on clothes lines for years. I didn't get my first clothes dryer until my youngest son was almost a year old. And I was getting ready to start college as a freshman. And I haven't hung clothes to dry since then!
Barb, thanks for sharing your memories. Yes, we did iron sheets and pillow cases back then. The Mangle made that a relatively easy task...much easier than with an iron and ironing board! Learning how to shake out the laundry and to hang it up "just so" to minimize the wrinkling was also a skill. Laundry was not hung up to dry all higgly-piggly..
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