Doing the Washing

Fidál (Grace), 14 Asma (Names), 165 B.E. – Tuesday, September 2, 2008 about 3:42 AM Pacific Time

That's what my Grandmother Newland called washing laundry. She did "The Washing" once a week for six or seven people. I'm still attempting to figure out what her secret was because I do laundry everyday. However, grandma did it only once a week on either Thursday, Friday, or Saturday depending on the weekend plans.

For years Grandma used a wringer washing machine. That was an electric washing machine with a wringer attached to squeeze the water out of the cloths before putting them into the rinse tubs. The first electric washing machines didn't have spin or rinse cycles. The only thing those machines did was wash the cloths. They used an agitator (I think that was what it was called) to wash the cloths. After the cloths were washed, then the cloths were put through a wring to get the excess water out before putting them into the first rinse tub.

After the first rinse, she would put the cloths through the wringer again and then into the second rinse tub. Grandma always used two rinses and in one of those rinses, she put "bluing". The bluing has something to do with making the white cloths whiter or something like that. All right, it was in the last centaury and I was only in grade school at the time. I would still like to know ho she did laundry for six or seven people once a week and we do laundry everyday for only two people.

Eventually grandpa bought her an automatic washer with two rinse cycles. He never bought her an automatic dryer though. If grandma had wanted a cloths dyer, he would have gotten one for her. However, grandma liked hanging her cloths outside on the cloths line. Sometimes I wish I had a cloths line to hang my cloths on while they dry. I remember the scent and the feel of cloths taken right off the line and folded. This memory always brings a smile to my face.