Saturday

"I ♡ LA" (Freeway Art)

There is a bougainvillea plant growing down over a wall along the 101 Freeway as it goes through Hollywood; the plant has been trimmed into a heart shape and someone has painted a blue "I" and "LA" on either side of it.  Every time I drive past it I think I should take a picture of it!  Yesterday, I asked my daughter to take a picture as we passed by it.  It just makes me smile every time I see it!  

Last night, I forgot to wear a dust mask when I cleaned Dancer's litter box and I started to wheeze a little.  I took my rescue inhaler and daughter turned on the air purifier, as well, which helped.  

I slept in, this morning.  I guess I was tired after the busy week.

Once I was up, I did two loads of laundry.  Doing laundry always makes me feel like I am being productive!  I don't know why!  It's not as if I am washing each item by hand, myself!  All I do is put the items in the washing machine, add the laundry detergent, and press a couple of buttons!  The machine does all the work and yet, saying I did the laundry makes me feel like I was very productive!  LOL.  Two loads of laundry washed and dried and my items folded and put away; daughter's items were put into a laundry basket for her to fold and put away, whenever she gets around to it!

******** Childhood reminiscing break*******

When I was a child, we had a "dhobi" (washerman/laundryman) who did our laundry.  He would come to our house, once a week, and collect all the laundry that were in the laundry baskets.  He would separate all the items into piles - all the shirts in one pile, all the dresses in one pile, all the bed sheets in one pile, and so forth.  Then, he would spread one of the bed sheets on the middle of the floor. My mother had a sort of log book in which she had drawn columns with all the items of clothing and household linens written in the headings.  Once the dirty laundry had been separated into piles, she would sit with the log book in hand and read the name of the item on top of the column, "Shirts" (for example).  The dhobi would count all the shirts in the pile, give my mother the total count and dump all the shirts on the sheet that was spread on the floor; my mother would write down the number of shirts under that column and move on to the next column.  Eventually, all the items would be counted and the big sheet would be tied up to make a bundle (sometimes more than one bundle) which the dhobi would take with him to launder (by hand, in communal laundry areas).

The following week, he would being the items, washed, dried, starched (that was a very important part of laundering those days), and ironed.  Then, my mother would go over the numbers to make sure that the same number of items were brought back - dhobi would call out the number of shirts, etc., and my mother would cross off the numbers in each column.  Occasionally, an item would be missing and there would be a big discussion about that!  LOL.  After that, the new week's laundry would be sorted and counted.

As I got older, taking count of the laundry became one of my jobs and I enjoyed doing it!  I remember on one of my visits back to Sri Lanka, when our dhobi came to see us.  I had ironed a sari to wear to a family gathering; dhobi was very dissatisfied with my ironing and insisted on ironing the sari for me, telling me I didn't know how to iron properly!  LOL.

************ Resuming regular blogging ************

Aunt C called in the afternoon and we had a long chat.  She and N are both grieving for the cat.  Later, friend A called to thank me for the chutney and the zucchini.  

I watched some TV in the evening; news, mostly, but also one or two cooking shows.  While I watched TV, I started on a new sewing project, embroidering a cushion cover.  It was something the ladies at the library's knitting group had given me, back when I used to attend it.  It has a design of a basket of fruit preprinted on it and they gave me some yarn, in a very limited range of colors, to use.  The lady who gave it to me had said she'd give me additional colors, the next week, but, I am not sure if I didn't attend the following week or if she forgot.  But, I never received any additional colors.    Since I am not planning to take up crewel work, I don't want to buy more yarn, so I will simply sew with what I have on hand!

Knitting Group Gift

I also walked around the garden, a bit, and picked a handful of green beans and a zucchini that M had missed, yesterday.  

Daughter and I had leftovers for brunch, today.  In the afternoon, I cut up a mango for a snack.  We planned to eat more leftovers for dinner.  But, that was before neighbor S called in the evening:

Dinner Compliments of S, her Mother, and her Daughter!

S's mother made the grape leaf dolmades, stuffed cabbage rolls, and stuffed bell pepper.  S's daughter prepared the rice.  S also included some chocolate covered almonds for dessert!  My daughter loves dolmades, so I accepted S's offer with a grateful heart.  What a blessing!

After dinner, I ran the dishwasher and called friend R to check on her.

Today, I am grateful for:

- Neighbor S providing us with dinner
- Working appliances (washer, dryer, air purifier, dishwasher, fans, etc.)
- Memories of my childhood
- The generosity of the ladies at the library knitting group
- Phone calls with family and friends

Today's joyful activities included sewing and picking vegetables from the garden.

Plans for tomorrow include more sewing and relaxing.  

How was your Saturday?  What are your plans for Sunday?