Memories of Snow

April 25, 2014

Friday is laundry day! I went to the laundromat today, where I washed four loads of clothes. I used one of the five load washer for $4.75 because I didn't want to deal with removing clothes from two different washers. Laundry is hard enough as it is without having to unload from two different washing machines when I'm going to put all the clothes in one dryer.

I got to thinking about the way Grandma Mary washed clothes. I remember her using a wringer washer and she rinsed the clothes in two wash tubes. One of her rinses was clear water, but the other one had bluing in it. I was amazed at the way Grandma did laundry. She always separated her clothes, which is something I don't do. I suspect Grandma would turn over in her grave is she know how I washed clothes.

Grandma always hung her clothes on the line. I remember she had three long clothes lines in the backyard. She would wash her sheets first, at least I think she would wash them first, hang them on the line and then wash another load of clothes. The sheets were dry by the time she finished washing and rinsing the second load of clothes.

Grandma would take the dry clothes off the line, put then in a clothes basket, and take them into the house. Then she would hang the wet clothes on the line before putting another load in the washer. If she had only two loads of clothes, then she would iron her sheets (yes, Grandma ironed her sheets) and put them away in a dresser drawer. Grandma always kept her sheets in dresser drawer. I know some people put their sheet on the top shelf of a closet, but Grandma Mary put her sheets and her pillow cases in dresser drawers.

When automatic washers came out, Grandpa bought her an automatic washer. Grandpa always got her anything she wanted or he thought she might want. They were married fifty years, I don't know if it were fifty long year or fifty short years because Grandpa never used those terms when referring to their marriage. I miss Grandpa and Grandma. I miss my mother, too. It's odd that I don't think of my father in terms of missing him anymore.

Mom and Dad were divorced when I was young, so I don't have a lot of memories about him. I think he took me to the Kay County State Fair once because I have memories of him holding me on the pony of a marry-go-round. I also remember him carrying me on his shoulder, but those are the only memories I have of my father. I wish I had more. Maybe I do miss Daddy after all.

I learned about my father's death over the internet and that is a lousy way to learn about a family members' death. I didn't get to say good-bye to Daddy, I'll always regret that I didn't get to say good by to him. Oh well, regrets are a part of living. They are some of the tests and difficulties I face in my everyday life. I think I will write another Tear Soup poem and dedicate it to Daddy.

While I'm at it I should also write a poem like that to both Grandma and Grandpa. I don't remember much about my father's mother. I remember she was a heavy set lady who wore a flour sack apron. She always made her aprons out of flour sack material, I guess because she was a farm wife. She was Grandpa John's second wife. I don't know much about his first wife, but I think she must have died before her children were completely grown because he and Grandma Belva were had his kids and their kids.

It's getting hard to type, so maybe I should consider doing this exercise of a morning instead of an afternoon. I think the problem today resulted from folding clothes. I hope I can do laundry next week instead of waiting two weeks to do it. I should do another two or three loads this weekend, but I don't think I will. I'll have to see how many more loads I actually have. Once I put the clean clothes away and repack the laundry bags then I will see how many loads I have.

I ran out of laundry detergent today, so I may have to put off doing laundry until I get...