Growing Up In Rural Alabama and Georgia-About That Iron Pot For Laundry.

Borrowed from Google Free Pictures


Borrowed from Googles Free pictures


Borrowed from Googles Free pictures


Borrowed from Googles free Pictures


Borrowed from Googles Free Pictures

     I know last week the post was about my grandparents and great-grandparents, during the early 1900's. Yet, some of the issues, such as no running water, outside bathrooms and no electricity carried through until the early 1960's for rural Alabama and Georgia. My sister-in-law asked the question about hot water to do the wash.  I remember going to my Aunt Jessie's house with my Mom. She'd bring our dirty laundry and they'd combine the clothes and do the washing together. The main reason for doing this was the hot water. My Aunt Jessie had one of those black cast iron pots (see top picture) and we didn't. All of us kids drew water out of the well or tracked down to the spring and brought up the water. My brother LH and my cousin Donnie "toted the water from the spring", it was a bit of a journey. I remember the crisp sunny days when we did this. I'm trying to remember if my Aunt had a wringer washer or a wringer tub washer, (see above pictures) or if they placed the clothes in the pot. I do remember the bed clothes being placed in the hot pot while Mom and Aunt Jessie took turns stirring them with a wooden pole. Talk about white sheets!  I know, eventually, they both finally got a wringer washer and my Mom always had two tubs of rinse water side by side. She'd use the washer wringer from the washer, then wring by hand from the first tub into the second tub, then use the washer wringer from the last tub so they would dry quicker. My brother hated wash days, as he had to bring the water up from the spring. I remember my baby sister Pam got her arm caught in the wringer, and everyone was running around trying to pull the electric cord and pop the wringer open.

     One of my fondest memories is going to sleep between freshly washed sheets that had dried outside in the sun. Such a clean smell  

Memoirs: First Memories

Me, my brother and our dog Poochie 1952

Not for sure about cat's name, maybe Cat.

     What were the first memories you recollect? When I told Mother mine, she said I was around two and a half when that happened. Which brings to mind that a traumatic episode (not life or death, though that might work too) sometimes sets a memory.  Mom said I was on the bottle until I was two and a half (so I was a big baby, it was my new brother's fault, lol), when I broke my bottle and she told me that was going to be my last bottle; that was my memory, jumping up on a stool, hitting the bottle on the wall and it breaking. I wonder if this is why I take things so personally? Sometimes doing that wears me out!

     Where did you first live? Who were your first friends? When I sit here thinking about this, it does bring back the memories. Also, what about the different family members versions? Does your Mom's agree with your Aunt's, if not what's the difference and why? 

     Keep in mind that I'm writing down the answers to these topics as my memoirs in Word, or if you don't like the computer, you can create yourself a journal. Just set the memories down.

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2. Borrowed from  Google Free Pictures

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Memoirs: Recreating Memories

Me , 1 year 8 months

     Rather than sharing my memoirs, I'm going to share what step or how I'm coming up with what to write. I just can't imagine anyone but me and my family being interested in my memoirs.

     What I'm doing is writing down what I remember at each age of my life, plus going through pictures and recording what I know about the picture, such as who the people were, what we were doing and when this happened.This week I'm continuing with how my parents met, where we lived and the occupation of my parents. I knew that my Dad had just returned from World War II, he was an MP stationed in the Philippines, but it surprised me that when he returned home, he drilled wells, water wells. It seems that in the middle 1940's, people were expanding their farming acreage, adding running water, which increased water demand. You would think in Alabama and Georgia it would be easy to dig wells; not so, there actually were shell rock and red soil that caused problems. He and the men he worked with, traveled across Alabama and Georgia digging wells.

     I have a question, are memoirs recreating my memories or is it okay to bring in what I learned in my research, such as where we lived and my Dad's occupation, memories that I don't have but that affected and shaped my life? I'm going to go with I'm recreating and they make what I'm writing interesting.

Col Mustard 2009