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Mind, Body, Soul
Sense and
Sensibility
By Mona Lease
Greetings, Gals! I'm actually surprised at how well this column has
been received. to date. Thanks readers/hearers sooo much! A
reader wants to share the following. "When I was in my rearing years, I
do not remember hearing about anyone being depressed. Certainly you
never heard of any kids being depressed. You never heard of anyone
being bored either. Everyone had some form of work to perform. I
remember playing "I see something in this room that starts with"
(name an alphabet letter) while we folded laundry that had been brought
in the house from the washline.
Laundry was a big production...fill the wringer washer with warm
water...add soap...add least dirty, lightweight clothes (socks, undies,
etc). Set agitator to slow or fast...set the transmission in gear.
Newer models had a "timer" of sorts. At the end of the set time, the
agitator just stopped...no bell. Models with no timer went until you
stopped the machine.
There were rinse tubs behind the washer. You filled the side directly
behind the rollers at the top of the washer with cool, clean water. You
turned on the rollers, reached into the stopped machine, took out sudsy
laundry, and fed the laundry through the rollers. Watch your fingers! A
shallow pan under the rollers channeled the water back to the wash
water.
Once the laundry was fed through to the rinse water, you ran it through
the clean water with your hand to rinse it. Then you fed it back
through the wringer while keeping it from going back into the wash
water. It would then be put into the side of the rinse tubs with no
water. You repeat this until all of the laundry is washed, rinsed, and
in the dry side of the rinse tubs.
You add more soap to the water in the washer and add the next dirtiest
laundry. Repeat the above process until all of your laundry is washed.
You need to drain rinse water and add more clean water periodically.
After the laundry is washed, rinsed, and wrung out, it goes out to be
hung on the washline. This can be done after each load or all at once.
When the laundry is dry, it comes off of the line and in the house.
There it is separated...the pile to be ironed and the rest to be folded
and put away in it's assigned place. If you were really energetic...you
did all of the washing, ironing, folding, etc in the same day!!
I remember laughing and joking during all of this. There were weeds to
pull..flower beds to maintain..sidewalks and porches to sweep...if you
had a garden...it was added to the list of chores.
We kids ran barefoot from the time school was officially ended for the
summer until school started again in the fall. We played ballgames in
someone's yard. We drove Mom nuts with the constant questioning about
the Kool-Aid. "Is it cold yet?" Long, slow sips of the Kool-Aid in the
shade was heaven. The bluer your tongue...the better.
We had water fights. We hand washed and waxed the car. We caught
lightning bugs and put them in an empty Pepsi bottle...returnable
bottle. Remember those?
I do not understand life these days. If weeds were pulled...would that
fix any of our problems? Would it slow down our drug problems? Would
hanging laundry on the line slow down our teen suicide? I just do not
remember so many problems then...or the back-biting and random acts of
violence. Thanks, Mona for considering this."
Sometimes all you need is for someone to just be there, even if they
can't solve your problems. Just knowing there is someone who cares can
make all the difference. sun.gazing.com
The best is yet to be! MONA
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