The Olden Days

What a lovely Spring day...

And, I am feeling a bit nostalgic. Thinking about the 'olden days'. Gee, I must be getting on in years to talk about things being 'olden'. What a shame we didn't take a bunch of pictures back in that time. The internet helps now with such a variety of photos and graphics and that calls to mind times of the past.

As a child I would run out, barefoot, to my Grandpa's barn to play. I loved to go up in the loft where old hay cushioned the floor and lay back and dream of what I would be someday. I'd prowl around in the side shed looking at all the tools lying unused and remember when Grandpa wasn't sick and he'd sharpen his axe on a grindstone like this one.

I crawled up on the seat of the rusty hayrake and promptly tumbled off slicing open the corner of my mouth. I wasn't rushed to the doctor like Moms do now if their little ones get a cut. It was treated at home and for a couple weeks I could not open my mouth wide enough to eat so my aunt spooned soup and thin oatmeal down my throat until I could eat again. I still carry the scar.

We were present for all our meals, seating ourselves around the long dining table. And, you didn't eat until Grandpa said grace. Both my grandparents drank coffee and I remember my grandmother always had hers in a special cup, one I think that had belonged to her mother. I own it today.

I recall wash day, an entire day set aside to get all the dirty clothes clean. A big roaring fire was built around a washpot and water was heated. The whites were thrown in and stirred in the hot water. They were then put in the washtub and scrubbed on a ribbed washboard. Talk about hot, hard work!!! Now we just throw everything into the washing machine, go back later, take them out and toss them into the dryer. Wow, how times have changed.

Then, there was the clothes line.... The wet clothes were clothespinned to the line to dry. If there wasn't enough room on the line, the items sometimes were spread on nearby bushes or fences. It didn't matter.

My Momma, when she was a little girl went to a country school. All the grades were in one room. I wonder about the tower on the top of that school. Did they have a bell in there? Did my Momma run to class when she heard that bell ringing? I'll never know.

Here's a picture of a car like my Dad had before I was born. I love it!

I played with my paperdolls. I wonder if girls these days would even know what a paperdoll was if they saw one. I colored in coloring books.. little kids nowadays know how to use the computer or a cellphone, even as young as a year and a half. My great-grandson calls people on his mom's phone... he isn't even 2 yet.

Yep, it sure is good to look back, see where we've been and how simple life was then. Gee, I wonder what our tomorrow's hold?