Friday, July 9, 2010

Something I Remember

In my last post I showed pictures of clothes on the line.

It brought 3 comments from women in my age bracket.

I've wondered - what is it about clothes hanging in the sun - drying?  And we remember.  We like it.

Also Linda told, in a comment, how she remembers her Mother's wringer washing machine and how she helped her.

I remember doing that, too.


I stood behind the machine as mother threaded each very wet item from the water through the wringer and I would catch it and get it into the laundry basket.  And from there the clothes went to the clothes line.  I don't think Mother really needed me to help, but I know I loved helping her do that.  I was so very young and had not yet started school.

Here is a much older version, but this shows the clothes going through the wringer, squeezing out the water.


I don't remember what year Mother got a newer machine that would spin the water out of her clothes.
She didn't get a clothes drier until after I was married.  I married in 1979.  My grandmother, Ella, never got a drier and I don't think she ever had anything but a wringer washing machine.  Ella died in 1990.  She may have had a newer machine, but I don't remember it.  I know that in 1968 she still had her wringer machine because I was in the 11th grade, working with other girls, decorating for our Jr. Sr. Prom.  We were going to dye lengths of cheese cloth a pale blue and drape them in the ceiling for a sky effect.   Someone expressed how helpful it would be if we had one of those "old" wringer washing machines and we could use it to dye the cheese cloth and squeeze out the water.  Well, to their surprise, I  had a grandmother who was still using hers.

It was a long time before Mother got a dishwasher - a really long time.  Even now, I can wash and rinse dishes by hand much quicker and more willingly than I can load and unload a dishwasher.  I am the world's worst about unloading a dishwasher.

3 comments:

linda said...

That second washer looks just like the one mom had. It sat on the back porch, which had a roof over it. Now, with your nice memories, bringing me some nice memories, i can almost smell the soap. Ivory? Hmmmm...i think so.

Laura Forman said...

i have never seen a wringer washer...that's pretty neat! i don't have a dryer over her nor a disherwasher...so I can relate :) we don't hang our clothes outside but we have a clothes line inside that we have two lines on and we bring one down and hang hangers on it and then put it back up near the ceiling...ever seen one of those? I should take a picture for you....maybe I will do a blog post...thanks for sharing :)

Rose said...

boy! do we go way back. I remember my mother having a wringer washing machine. I got too close to it and my blouse somehow got stuck in the wringer. i was ok.