Went to Leaders Class. K up to supper & Mable and Bertha Smith and Miss from Fulton came up and I home at 8. Sat out on the porch. Let the furnace fire go out.
W. Fine Warm
R. 11
I wonder how warm it was for sitting on the porch. It's supposed to be close to 80 degrees here this weekend so I suppose it could be that nice.
His furnace was probably a coal furnace and you can read some interesting stories about heating with coal here if you are so inclined.
This past summer while at the casino with my grandma and her partner Bob they regaled us with stories about heating with coal and having the ice man come and deliver ice. Bob, at one time, was an ice man with his own truck. To be honest I "knew" they were of a generation who did those things but I never gave it much thought. I'd never thought through the logistics of having someone deliver ice, where it went, how it melted and how different it must have been when people delivered things from ice to coal to milk right to your home. The constant stream of people. Embarrasment for those who couldn't pay that week and the sometimes welcome distraction of another adult face during the day. Seriously, some days I could deal with a milk or ice delivery. Heck, sometimes I open the door to our walking mailman just to say hello.
But I digress. This conversation happened in the restaurant of a sparkly new casino and I was struck by the difference and the path that their lives had taken in 85+ years. What a crazy world it must feel like to them sometimes. Am I going to feel like that someday?
Apparently I feel like that already.
7 comments:
I remember clearly the first time I was told that people used to deliver coal to your house. I was 6 or so, and we were at my great grandma's house smack in the middle of Amish country, Ohio. My brother and I were helping her put something away in the basement and asked about the wooden "corral" looking thing. She said it was where the coal was stored and showed us the metal door. We were shocked and thought for sure that she was joking!
Love the new layout, by the way!!!!
Very "spring"!!
I wonder about that all the time - what must people who are in their 80's think of all this 2010-ish stuff.
I am like that already too - I think about all the stuff Connor will have and not think twice about that didn't even exist when I was a kind - cell phone, internet, texting, non-atari video games.... It is amazing to just think about it.
Thanks Meredith!
One of my favorite thoughts to ponder in that area is the fact that Larua Ingalls traveled across the country in a covered wagon and by the end of her life, not only owned an automobile but FLEW in an airplane.
Krista-My dad who is 64 also remembers his family heating with coal.
Actually, I don't know why this is all so shocking to me. Some people do still heat with coal. However, that is not my experience in this neck of the woods!
My grandfather's family had a dairy farm in NH and my mother grew up on the farm and helped her dad deliver milk on Saturdays and during school vacations. She loved it -- much preferred that to staying home and helping her mother clean the house! Another job that my mom (who is only 63) had growing up was egg candling! Can you imagine not that long ago, having the job of holding an egg up to a flame to see what was inside?
I have to stop and think just how much my parents have seen in their 80 plus years. My mother, for most of you who've never met her, totally embraces the hip and now! Thankfully she knows her limits and doesn't try dressing like a 20 year old although she adores they style!
Um Kristin,
Your 80 year old mom may not dress like a 20 year old but she DOES, in fact, dress like a 35 year old. Your mom is the hottest 80 year old woman I've ever seen and I mean that with only a hint of humor. I hope I look like that when I'm 80!!!
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