Sunday, July 18, 2021

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?


12 comments:

  1. Love the I❤️LA photo - a local landmark for the SPSH maybe?

    You are spoiled for choice with all your food supplies. How lovely, and so generous, of S. It looks delicious.

    I know what you mean about feeling productive after doing a load of laundry. I feel the same but it really is the simplest task with automatic washing machines isn't it. I loved reading your description of the weekly routine with the dhobi and I did laugh that her wasn't impressed with your standard of ironing of the sari. Thanks for sharing the memory.

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    1. It's a great sign, isn't it? I had something else in mind for a local landmark and daughter took two photos for me (since I was driving). I want to see if I can get a clearer picture of one of them before I post them.

      It was lovely of S to share dinner with us, wasn't it? She is a very generous person.

      I did two more loads of laundry, today. Bed sheets and quilts, etc. :)

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  2. Wow! That food! What a beautiful stuffed pepper with the top on and the grape leaves and stuffed cabbage. Can you tell how much I love those things?lol
    It's 6:30 in the morning and I would eat a plate of that with my tea for my breakfast :)

    I really enjoyed your laundry story. I had never heard of a dhobi before.

    The bougainvillea heart leading onto the freeway is wonderful.

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    1. That would make a substantial breakfast, too, wouldn't it? :D

      According to one of my friends, very few people use the services of a dhobi, these days. Life has changed since I was a child.

      I love that freeway sign. :)

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  3. I love the bougainvillea heart on the wall, it's so pretty! I always feel productive getting laundry done too, it's my favorite of all household chores. Great childhood memories Bless. That dinner S brought over looks delicious! Have a nice Sunday. :)

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    1. I love that heart sign! Originally, it was only the bougainvillea plants (apparently there are 2 plants), but, then, someone added the I and the LA.

      Thank you, Martha. Hope you're having a great Sunday, yourself. :)

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  4. The heart is beautiful. I expect it makes many people smile as they drive by.
    I am fascinating by the dhobi. Doing all that laundry by hand would have been backbreaking work.
    I'm looking forward to seeing your embroidery. X

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    1. I know the heart makes me smile every time I drive by! :)

      Yes, doing laundry by hand is not easy! There was also some social stigma associated with the work, but, I know our dhobi took great pride in his work.

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  5. I forgot to mention the embroidery you're starting.
    That's a really pretty image. It's a shame you don't have a few more colors but the colors you have appear to be variegated (especially the green/blue one) so that will go a long way in achieving variety.
    Do you have any sock weight fingering yarn in your yarn stash you could use as well?
    I'm really looking forward to seeing how this progresses.

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    1. Thank you, Debra. I think I unraveled the blue/green yarn to take the strand of blue yarn for another project, but, the remaining green yarn is a mixture of light green and darker green. I will look in my yarn stash to see if I have anything I can use (the stash has been rather depleted after making that granny square blanket I crocheted, last year). :)

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  6. There is a nice productive feel to getting a load of laundry done, but I don't always put it away as soon as I should after it is dry! At least the dhobi must have found satisfaction in all that hard work, being able to make a living, and he was obviously an expert in ironing (which I am not but at least I try. I notice it is no longer deemed to be necessary among some of the busy younger set).

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    1. It does feel good to get the laundry done, doesn't it? I like to get it put away as soon as possible, because if I don't, then, it tends to sit in the basket for longer than I like admitting to! :D I'm afraid I rarely iron, these days!

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