It is peek week Friday and this means it is cleaning day.
There are many years of blog posts on my blog and there are topics never read because they are far back in the post. Sometimes I will touch back on certain topics, sometimes I need reminders to help me get back on track.
Today I am writing a new post on a old subject.
In the past many women kept to schedules during the week. It was known that Monday was wash day and women would be hanging out their laundry to dry on Monday. It was a day to talk to one another across the fences and if someone did not have out their wash that day, others would take notice and someone would go to see if something was wrong with that neighbor.
The usual weekly schedule was changed a few times through the years but the common one was.
Monday - wash day
Tuesday - Ironing
Wednesday - Mending
Thursday - Shopping
Friday - Cleaning
Saturday - Baking
Sunday - Church
On Monday wash day I would notice if something was different at my neighbor Naomi's house. When I saw her laundry on the line, I knew she was up and about that day.
In the past people were very good about looking after one another.
If someone was sick, or had a new baby, if they had surgery or a death in the family, others would know because they called on each other which means they would stop in to make a short visit with one another. If they found a need, they would tell others and quickly the women would go into action and bring a meal.
This was the normal way of doing things, each woman had a certain food item they were known for and once the word was spread, they knew what the others would bring so it was easy to organize. Depending on the situation or if there was just one or two people at the house they would share part of their meal. This was still being done when my children were young then over time I guess we were the ones to let this slip away as more of us went to work. This was a mistake.
I have told about Fannie Bell's egg custard pie many times. Fannie Bell was my mothers friend known for her egg custard pies and if there was a need for a meal somewhere there would be a egg custard pie from Fanny Bell. The Barganier family was known for their Brunswick stew, my mother was known for her pound cake, Sarah was known for her chicken and dumplings. A vegetable normally would be butter beans or country peas. Within a very short time they would be there with a solid meal. They worked together as a community.
All we have to do is to have that one thing that we can make in a short amount of time that only needs a few ingredients or no ingredients, maybe just a vegetable. My daughters family loves my cooked carrots, I could just cook some carrots. This would work well as long as we had a few others contributing.
As we moved through time a bit, and less people in the community, ladies moved on to casseroles. An easy to prepare casserole is always a good thing to take to a family if you are the only one taking food or an addition if someone else takes food.
If there is a death in a family you have a little more time to prepare a meal. A friend "Nell" brought us a Italian cream cake when Charles Father died in the early 1990's. That cake was a labor of love and we have never forgotten.
Today, I am usually the only one to take food to someone so it is normally a casserole or soup.
It takes only one person to start back an old tradition.
Since Thursday was shopping day, there would need to be something prepared ahead for this day since they would be away from home. I do see this in some of my old diaries. I think that it would be a good day for leftovers.
Changing the subjects now. Current things here at home.
New solar light on the house.
I did not know the facial boards on the house needed cleaning until I took this picture. One thing about my blog is that it keeps me on my toes because when I take photos I often say to myself, I need to clean that!
We recently had the city to remove a security light from the back road side of our house. The inside of our house was too bright at night from that light and it had been like this for years. When they changed the bulb last time they put in a bulb that had a harsh brightness and moving shadows when the wind blew. The city thought it strange for us to have it removed and the lady said they had never had anyone to ask to have it removed, they always want one.
Jess
The first night after it was removed, we walked outside and the first thing we noticed, is that this was the first time in years that we could see the stars from our backyard. I think the wildlife in their nests will be happy and rest better.
I was very emotion the next morning because, I watched the first dawn without a light and it was beautiful and wonderful.
There were two reasons that we had the light removed. One was it was too bright and the other is we realized that having that monthly cost removed from our electric bill would save us enough money to pay for our annual car tags.
We put solar lights on the house (photo above) and they activate when we want them too.
I wrote a post this morning after watering the garden, it was flowing well and I was typing along and I forgot to save and backed up too far and lost it. I wrote what I could remember that I wrote as best I could.
Do any of you have memories of how people took care of one another the way they did long ago?
Do you have a dish or casserole that you are good at that you could take to a neighbor?
That is about it for this post, see you tomorrow. Grandma Donna
