National Day of …….

Get The Clothespins

It’s National Hanging out day. The title got me. I expected to have to explain spending time doing nothing with a friend. Instead, I get to remember how my mother taught me how to hang out the laundry.

We had two clothes lines in our back yard when I was growing up. One ran from the barn to the back of the house and the other from the back of the house to the corner of the side porch. Underwear was always hung on the latter one so it couldn’t be seen from the street or the parking lot next door. Underwear was still unmentionables in the ’50’s and ’60’s. The other line was for sheets, towels, and regular clothing. That line also got more sunshine. Sheets hung in the sun and breeze felt and smelled good when you put them back on the bed, but they were stiff.

I can say if I hung laundry like the picture shows I would have been reprimanded. We had a clothespin bag you could hang over the line by its hook and push it along as you took out a pin. If hanging wash cloths, you would secure the corner of two wash cloths under one pin, pull the cloth our straight, then add another. If all the wash hung in one layer it would dry faster. I liked the snap clothespins better than the push on type. You youngsters might have to google images of clothespins to see the difference.

My sisters still have clothes lines. They live on “back” roads outside of their respective towns. I live in the city suburbs and have heard the town frowns on clothes hanging out. I have some neighbors that do it, all over the age of 75. I have succumbed to the easy way of laundry, the clean wet clothes and sheets go right into the dryer that sits next to the washer. They don’t smell fresh when they are dry, just hot. And no, I don’t use scented dryer sheets like you might suggest because I’m not into chemical fake smells. Some parts of me are pretty fussy.

When my son was an infant I used cloth diapers (Jeez, I’m old!) and we didn’t have a dryer. I would hang those diapers out in the wind, freezing temperatures and standing in the snow. He was born in February. When I would take them inside they would be frozen stiff, but when they thawed out, naturally, I would shake them, smell the freshness, and fold them with love. It was a good time in my life. Pampers or Huggies were available in the early ’70’s, but were only used on vacation or for the babysitter. How times have changed.

When I go for a drive and see laundry hanging out, I admire the person that took the time to do it and remember my younger years.

04/19/2017 1

Taken for Granted

stIt’s National Lineman Appreciation Day. After the recent windstorm in western New York and other states to the west of us, this day means a little more. Turning a light on, or the TV, and knowing they are going to work shouldn’t be taken for granted, though I know I am guilty of just that. We expect our power to work at all times, thinking little of how it actually gets to our homes.

“Regardless of the source, the electricity has to be transported by employing transformers and other equipment. Due to the dangerous conditions power poses, safety is of utmost importance for both the lineman and the consumer. When mother nature destroys what our linemen have built up, they are on call to build it back up again as quickly as possible. Even when there is no crisis, they work under dangerous conditions on a daily basis. Whether they are working in trenches, near water or on high towers, the risks are extreme.” (borrowed from the National Day of Calendar)

The windstorm I mentioned above was predicted to have 50 mph winds, but we had gusts over 95 mph which did more damage than expected. Lineman came to help “get the power back on” from many different states and Canada in 20 degree weather. We owe them a big thank you. It was pointed out on the news that they couldn’t work until the downed trees were moved out of their way, which they weren’t allowed to do. For some homes it was a three to five-day wait. And believe me, when the lights came back on, and the heat, people were mighty thankful. We were lucky, our power didn’t go out.

Last week a cat in our local area climbed a power pole and was sitting on top amongst all the wires. The owner called the power company to come rescue her pet and was told it was too dangerous to attempt. That should give a good indication of how dangerous a job these people do. After three days, the cat came down on his own, in the secrecy and quiet of night. It was quite the news story.

Here I sit in front of my computer thinking about the electricity that runs it. I appreciate the linemen that keep my power on.

04/18/2017 0

Write It Yourself

Today is National Haiku Poetry Day. Haiku poetry is a form of Japanese poetry that is non-rhyming and normally consists of 3 lines with a syllable pattern of 5-7-5. Haiku poems are usually inspired by an element of nature, a season, a moment of beauty or an individual experience or event. Sensory language is used to capture a feeling or image. A famous example follows.

From Haiku: This Other World
Richard Wright (1908-1960)

                        Whitecaps on the bay:
                       A broken signboard banging
                       In the April wind.

As soon as I read those three lines I could feel the wind blowing, hear the sign banging against a building and see the churning waters in the bay. I almost went to get a sweater.

Now I’ll try a couple;

Easter dinner ham

Baskets full of chocolate

Children run and laugh

Daffodils yellow

Green leaves bursting forth on trees

Rain blowing sideways

Not quite the same quality of Mr. Wright, but you get the picture. It isn’t difficult. The key is to activate the five senses and stick with the syllable count. You try it.

I’m going to a poetry reading class tonight. The description said it was for people who don’t have time to belong to a formal book club. My ulterior motive is to meet the teacher, a lady my Veteran’s writing group would like to have speak. I’m sure it will be a beneficial evening. Maybe my Haiku will improve.

04/17/2017 1

Can You Spell?

Today is National Scrabble Day. I have a pretty good handle on the American language and most of the time can spell a word correctly, but winning at Scrabble has never been one of my strong suits.

When my children were young and we played board games, before the advent of gadgets, we liked to play Scrabble. My son is very competitive and he generally won, or got mad when he didn’t. Like I said, I’m a pretty good speller, but he would figure out a way to utilize the double and triple word score squares in very unique ways that never crossed my radar. When I would get stuck he would offer to help me because I was taking too long. He’d look at my letters and have two or three words when I couldn’t see one. It was sort of depressing, him being the kid and all.

Today, people play “Words With Friends” on their phones. When I first got a smart phone, I had planned to find some playing partners, but I was with a friend whose phone beeped every other sentence we spoke, because she had so many games going, and she admitted she rarely won. I remembered playing with my son and decided I didn’t always want to be the loser, and I had better things to do with my time, or so I convinced myself. Maybe, just maybe, I was unwilling to find out if I would lose. Whatever the reason, I have never played. Now I’m feeling like I have missed something. There is a possibility with all the writing I have done, I would be a better player, maybe I need to download the ap and find a partner. (Just not my son.)

I think it’s sad we don’t play board games like Scrabble anymore. It wasn’t really the game that was important, it was all the people time that went with it that I miss.

04/13/2017 0

Natural or Human

It’s National Big Wind Day. This day commemorates the recording of the highest natural wind gust measured on the Earth’s surface. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934, the Mount Washington Observatory recorded winds at 231 miles per hour. Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at 6,288 ft, and it is the most prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River.

I can’t imagine the wind blowing at 231 miles an hour. We recently had a wind storm in western New York state that took down lots of trees and power lines and the strongest wind gust was 101 miles an hour. Some people were without power for five days until they got all the lines back up. I think electricity and power is something we currently take for granted in our daily lives. We turn the light on and it works. We boot the computer and communicate with the world any way we choose. It has made the world a smaller place.

I live in an area where windmills have become common scenery. When they were first being erected there was a lot of discourse about whether they were a good thing or not. Some people thought they would ruin the landscape. Personally, I like to sit and watch them turn. I find it mesmerizing and peaceful. There is one I can watch from my sisters kitchen window. We have found it can be noisy and it doesn’t kill birds like people said it would. I haven’t learned about how much energy it creates and if it is performing as they expected.

Another type of wind is human natural gas. You know the type, the sound you try not to make when anyone is around. When my grandson was little, and staying the night with us, he was in one room and one of us (I won’t divulge which grandparent) was in the other room when a “big wind” was let loose. My grandson, in his childish voice exclaimed, “Wow,” as if it were a two syllable word. Now, when a loud noise happens, we emulate the way he spoke that day and marvel at the innocence of youth wishing we all still younger.

Big wind can be defined different ways. My conclusion is that the type that brings relief to the body, and the one that makes energy to run out daily lives are good ones, but too strong a wind outside, can be destructive. May you not have to deal with a destructive big wind.

04/12/2017 0

Who Needs an Excuse

It’s National No Housework Day. Do you honestly need an excuse to not do housework? I don’t. I have a neighbor whose hobby is cleaning her house. When she goes away for a week, and I get to feed the cat, her house looks like it was just staged for a real estate showing. My house, well, the clean dishes are left in the drainer, the clothes I decided not to take are strewn on a bed, my coat is still hanging on a chair and you certainly can’t see your reflection in my kitchen counter because it’s still covered with the mail from last week.

I envy people who like to clean. I didn’t get that gene. I do appreciate how my house looks when I do get around to it, and I like to have company so I am forced to clean up my piles of stuff, but to do it for no good reason. Not hardly. I’d rather go to my sewing room and accomplish something I enjoy doing.

If you are that person who has a floor that you can eat off, and you noticed a spot on it today, I want to give you permission to let it stay there for the day. Take today off from cleaning and relax. Read a book, or watch a movie you have waiting on your saved list, take a nap, call your girlfriend just to say hello, do anything but clean. That spot or mess will always be there tomorrow. Enjoy yourself. Oh, that’s right, some people enjoy cleaning. Have fun whatever you decide to do today.

04/07/2017 0

Sue Spitulnik

Writing, Sewing, Travel, and Thoughts

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