In England, when I was a child, there was a weekly festival, 'The Festival of the Whites', otherwise known as Wash Day!
WHITER THAN WHITE!
Monday was Wash Day! Without fail!
White washing was a Holy Grail!
Rissoles for lunch, always, on Monday,
Made from the roasted meat from Sunday.
No time to cook the usual feast;
The burden must not be increased!
Mothers, with such restricted lives,
Made a fetish of being wives,
And sparkling laundry was the aim.
One-Up-Man-Ship the only game!
The purpose of her mighty labours
Was to out-do her next-door-neighbours!
Remember Blue-Bags on laundry day?
Blue-Bags to take away the grey?
How the whites were soaked awhile,
Until they made our mothers smile;
Until sheets hanging on the line,
Fluttered, dazzlingly divine;
Till we saw Mother's spirits soar
For her's were whiter than her's next-door!
Blue-Bags to the rescue every time,
For shoddy laundry was a crime.
Blue-Bags set our mothers free
To see life as it ought to be;
Not as something dull and flawed,
But WHITE to make neighbours over-awed!
Maybe all of us use tricks,
To give our little egos kicks.
Could we but make our dreams come true
By doctoring our lives with blue!
6 comments:
Oh yes, Monday's were always wash day. When we had three small ones so close together, I had a lot of diapers to hang out. They were always nice, white and sparkly. LOL Is that even a word.
A gentleman that lived several doors down from us, ran a small barber shop in a side room of his home, with separate entrance. I had an uncle that got his hair cut there, and the barber was always telling him, that Patty hangs out the whitest wash. I guess some men did look at wash on the lines. LOL
The picture is enough to banish anybody's washday blues!
That brings back memories! My mother always did the laundry on Monday and hung everything out on the line. Then, Tuesday was ironing day, and that's where I came in. :(
that is a lovely painting!
How clever you are!
Well captured.... the theme of One-up-WoMan-ship :))))
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