Wednesday, May 27, 2009

back to the old house part 3

my family didnt have a dryer until i was in 8th grade. a clothes dryer. we had a clothes line. it was about 6 feet tall, with 4 concentric smaller squares of rope. we put the wet clothes up with clothes pins.

in the winter, when it was snowing outside, we had to dry the clothes on a rack situated over the heater that was built into the floor between the two bedrooms. it was in a 3 foot deep rectangular hole in the floor, and had an orange glowing light that i always thought was a flame.

our clothes were always stiff and crispy, because we obviously didnt have dryer sheets.

my mom didnt buy white bread. i think the first time i had wonder bread i was about 19. i wasnt allowed "fun" cereals with marshmallows. the craziest cereal i was allowed was Trix. Trix was much better when i was colored balls, as opposed to the fruit shapes. the odd thing was, i was allowed to drink as much soda as i wanted.

we had a compost pile. im pretty sure my mom still does, and she has a nice garden with tomatoes, corn, plenty of herbs... she cans fruits. i was taught how to make jelly at a young age. im pretty sure my mom has made her own soap, lotion and cleaning products for years. she was featured in her local newspaper for organic cleaning methods. there is a story she wrote HERE and another story about her HERE.

maybe i should listen to my mom more.

2 comments:

  1. I just got back from Italy and bought a drying rack for my clothes. Everyone in Italy is energy-conscious and they all hang their clothes to dry. I don't even think they HAVE dryers there, except at laundromats. I want a clothesline SO BAD but we live in a townhouse & share a backyard, so I don't want all my neighbors seeing my undies out to dry! At least on the drying rack I can hide some stuff on the inner racks. It's glorious. Your mom is awesome.

    ReplyDelete