Stories Collected While Living in France
After many years of penning this blog, I have come to know many of you and if you have been following me and reading the comments you probably know each other too.
During Christmas, many of you shared your home’s Christmas decor which gave us another glimpse of you. I enjoyed that so much that I want to continue putting forth ways for us to connect. If you have a personal story that you would want to share please send it to me at
coreyamaro@aol.com
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Shared Stories number 9
Judy Busch
♥️
What a wonderful memory ❤️
In my childhood neighborhood the moms hung out the wash.My mom was very particular about how it was hung and I think that was because the neighbors could see it. Then my mother ironed everything! Even the sheets and underwear. And did a careful ironing of my dad’s work shirts. She had a mangle in the cellar for the big things.
I always hang my laundry out now, but the neighbors can’t see into our yard. My mother would probably go out and rehang it if she were here.
What a lovely story to read on a quiet Sunday! Thank you for lending us your dear memories!
I love this memory and the photographs it evokes in my mind. I can feel the sun and smell the scent of her heavy wicker basket.
In 1989, my husband and I bought an old farmhouse in East Union, Maine. The previous owners had lived in it for 50 years and it had never been modernized with a washing machine hook up. Mrs. Payson used an old wringer washing machine to do her laundry in the “summer kitchen,” which was nothing more than a tiny room with a sink and faucet and a window from which the water from the machine would drain to a side yard. My husband and I were poor as church mice at the time, making it a miracle that we ever were approved for a mortgage. For two years, I washed my son’s diapers in that old wringer machine. NOTE TO SELF: Do NOT put rubber pants through the wringer—POP!!!!
Lovely story, I hang my clothes out on the line but we don’t have snow. I remember hanging nappies out on our rotary clothes line (Australia) & the wind would whip line around & I would be whacked in the face.🤨
I remember watching the clouds when it looked like rain.
My Mum had a fire copper & wringer. The laundry was separate to the house & one day Mum forgote to check & the laundry caught on fire..🤔
I love this essay! The best essays evoked memories in the reader and this one certainly does that. My mother had 8 kids and an old wringer washer! There is nothing better than a set of sheets just off the line.
I love this. It took me back to my childhood.I hung my clothes out fresh out of college, just as my mother always did. I no longer have a clothesline, but maybe that would be a good birthday present!♥️😊 Thank you for sharing!
Carol
Judy Busch !!!!! So miss you !!!!
Bonjour à tous,
This touching memory is enhanced by the almost obsolete tools used to transcribe it; paper, pen, cursive. I often wonder what future generations will miss by not ever seeing our handwriting.
While growing up in the 1960’s, we too had a clothesline and a wringer washer in Los Angeles. Mother also managed to raise chickens, tend to an organic garden, compost kitchen waste and even kept a goat. Not your typical big city life.
Fast forward many years while we were enjoying a long-term rental on the Rivera, I recall hanging the sheets on the clothesline, something I had not done in decades. At that moment I realized this is what made my mother tick, what gave her joy; being connected to simple chores and caring for loved ones.
Maybe we’re all washer women at heart, touching the “tissue”/fabric that wraps our family in love. Whether it be the baby blanket the princess dress or favorite pair of jeans, caring for clothing is caring for those we love.
Our clothesline is out the back window of our flat in Nice; I’m grateful I’ve joined legion of ladies who love others with this simple chore.
Bonne journée à tous,
Ella
I used to keep a clothesline on my upper deck. The sheets smelled so full of sunshine. I even like the rough texture of the towels better to dry with, sort of like an exfoliater. But my husband complained about how in the way it was and I eventually gave it up. I have one out in the backyard. It’s sort of a carousel on a heavy stand. I think I will put my sheets out again. Judy really brought home to me memories of my grandmother hanging out the men’s workclothes and the sheets. It’s a lovely tradition.
Your story brought back many memories of wringer washers, clotheslines and family.
Thank you for sharing your story.
Judy
Back in the late 40s, my mother’s washer was in my dad‘s workshop. I remember it well especially in the winter time. I had very long hair and we would always tie it up when we did the laundry. God forbid it should get caught in the wringer, so I was very aware of that. My 10 petticoats did not go in the wash machine, I did them all by hand and starched and hung them in a particular order. I’d help mom put the stretch bars and dad‘s work pants, khakis they were and awful to iron. One thing I do remember, we always put our undies in the middle because they were like five neighbors that could be checking them out.
I was lucky to have a city grandma and a ranch grandma. City grandma had an indoor washer which was automatic, probably the first one ever made…. Ranch grandma had a grey beast on the back porch. She had an uppity sister who lived with her for a time and she did her laundry for her, I lost it the day she was hanging out her undies … they were huge fancy bloomers and the breeze made them billow. You can’t imagine how I got scolded, such memories you have brought back today. Thanks for the post.
I can picture the sheets billowing in the breeze and smell the freshness of clothes just brought in from the outdoors. Thank you for sharing 💜
Such a lovely memory to share with us. Thank you.
Thank you for bringing alive and sharing this special memory.
Dear Ms. Busch,
I so enjoyed your story as I too help my grandfather carry up the clothes from the basement to our back yard. And the fragrance of those dried clotes; you are so right, wonderful.
When the weather was rainy, we would have them on lines in the basement and my brother Jack and I would sometimes roller skate in and out of those lines of clothes. Such fun memories. Thanks for sharing
Judy, on my recent 3-month visit to Terceira, the apartment I rented had a washer in the kitchen, but no dryer. There were 3 short lines strung under an overhang outside the kitchen door and I always put my underwear on the back row against a wall. A Cuban family lived upstairs and they would walk by my clothesline going up and down the stairs. I didn’t want the husband to see my not very sexy undies. It was a challenge each time I washed to get things to dry under that overhang. Not enough sun and breeze. And then choosing a day without too many clouds which could lead to sudden rain showers. It became a guessing game and I did think of your story of helping our Avo neatly hanging the laundry. Thankfully the apartment owner brought me fresh sheets and towels every Saturday.
Thanks for this memory. I had never thought about hanging laundry connecting us to family in the past, but it definitely does just that. I think of them each Friday when I hang my sheets out to dry.
oh! I love that!! Beautiful! I can smell the freshness!
Love this story so much! ❤️
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