Bathing

BATHING..
While showering this morning, I had an inexplicable flash back to when I was growing up in Hillsdale, Michigan. I reflected on that tine in the 1920’s when we took a bath just once a week - on Saturday night. We had just one bathroom for the six of us, but I didn’t mind because I didn’t know any better. This routine worked better in the winter than in summer - as you would surmise. I never talked to my Mother about it, but I would guess that the custom came about because of all the labor- intensive work that was involved. Our water heater in the basement was coal-fired. My Dad would take light some kindling and newspaper to get the chunks of coal burning. So, the bath took some pre-planning in order to have some warm water. Too, we wore the same clothes all week. My Mom would wash these dirty clothes on Monday. I never knew what a shower was until I went in the Service!
Washing was an all-day operation. The water would have to be heated, and manually hosed into the washing machine. After the washing, she would put them through a wringer, attached to the washer, into another tub with the rinse water (Note: This is where the old expression “Don’t get your breasts caught in the wringer” came from!). Then, Mom would swing the “ringer” around 90 degrees, and wring the rinse water out, and the clothes would go into a laundry basket. The basket would be carried outside in the summer, and the clothes pinned on the clothesline to dry. In the winter, the clothes were hung on overhead -rope lines in the basement. At the end of the day the clothes were taken down from the line and put in a basket for ironing on Tuesday.
Back to my shower - after an 80 year time warp! I wipe the shower tiles afterwards - first with a sponge, while I am still in the tub, and then with the bath towel after I have dried myself. I spend as much time on this operation as I do showering! Still, mildew collects on the tile grout!
In September, 1999 Maggie and Steve invited us over to Maui to share Mollie’s and Ken’s beautiful home in Hana - “Kulapono” (Hawaiian for “Fine Gold”), with them for a few days. It was certainly nice of the Feingold’s to let us use their home, and we really appreciated it. We had a wonderful visit in Hana - but that is another blog.
Maggie and Steve were living in Montecito at the time. They spent a couple of days at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel on Waikiki Beach before heading to Maui. We went over to Hawaii, a few days early, and visited our long-time friends, Barbara and Don, in Hilo. We met Maggie and Steve, afterwards, at the house in Hana.
I mention this because Mollie had a sign in our bathroom, “Please wipe down the tile after showering”. I felt right at home!
I never thought that a “shower” could end up as a Blog!