Laundry Day

5 Asma 164 B.E. - August 24, 2007

When I was growing up my Grandma Newland did laundry once a week. Laundry day for her was on Saturday. She did "the washing," as she called it, for all of us mom, her and Grandpa, and four grandchildren. Every week she'd go to the laundry room, which my Grandfather had built, and wash the cloths. Grandma would do a load, then hang it out while the next load was washing. For most of that time she used a washing machine that had a wringer attached to get the water out of the cloths before rinsing or hanging them out.

For me, laundry day is every day. I have an automatic washer and dryer. I wash the cloths and then put them in the dryer. In fact, right now I'm drying a load of sheets. When they're done, then I'll go put another load into the washer. I suppose I could put a load in while I'm drying, but the washer would be finished before the cloths in the dryer are dry. Besides my washing machine isn't level and in the spin cycle it moves.

What this means is that I have to move the machine back into position before starting another load. Alternately, I can lean on the machine in the spin cycle and keep it from moving. I've started doing the later lately. It's a lot easier on my back if I do it this way, then move the washer back into position. Yes, I know there is a way to take care of that. I'll do that as soon as I can, in the mean time this is how it's being done.

There are only two people in this house hold, myself and my mother. I do laundry every day. If I skip a day I get behind on the laundry. As it is I'm going to have to go into the linen closet and straighten it up. Mom when into the hospital in March and the linen closet hasn't been straight since. We've got lots of sheets and pillow cases, I just didn't get anything put back into the shelves properly. I think the only solution is to take everything out (sheets, pillow cases and towels) and put them all back in again.

I enjoy doing laundry. I even enjoy standing at the washing machine during the spin cycle. The vibration of the washer is very relaxing. I can stand and meditate on a scripture verse or review a prayer I'm memorizing while the cloths are spinning. It's a very spiritual experience.