Daily Notes- July 21st- Might Rain. Certainly humid with heat.

 Read this cover to cover.  Even has recipes in the back.  I am making a list of the items needed for "proper" washing and "stain" removal.  I am NOT going to machine wash my wool blazer- even with the explicit instructions.......but if Goodwill has a bargain wool blazer under $5- I will experiment on it.

If and when I return to Goodwill.  I still don't think "inside" Goodwill is safe.  Grocery, library, bank. That's enough exposure for me.

So much of the book reminded me of the days in the deep deep basement of the duplex we shared with my grandparents.  My father's parents.  My mother was an orphan.  She had 7 brothers and sisters but she and her youngest sister had been sent off to an orphanage by the six older siblings. They found taking care of the youngest ones- "too much" I guess.  The family re-united when the youngest two had graduated from high school and had jobs.  Sweet, huh???  Explains my mother.  Doesn't forgive, but explains.

But back to my grandmother's basement.  The zinc wash sinks.  The wringer washer.  The clothes lines. I have a favorite picture of myself in a handmade coat with clothes pins on the flap.  A long line of pins.  I am guessing I was "helping".  I was somewhere between 2 and 3 years old.  Laundry Love.

Later I spent every weekend in another basement far away from my grandmother.  Ironing.  Ironing.  I think if I could have been sent to an orphanage my mother would have packed me off.  Would have felt I deserved it.

And I needlessly wonder why I am never really content or happy.  But, oddly, I love ironing.