A Trip Along Memory Lane

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #38 A Trip Along Memory Lane #1 Carpe Diem Special



How happy! Bathing in the tub full to overflowing 

The above one line poem by Sumitaku Kenshin (1961-1987) really sent me down memory lane.  Until I was a teenager my family lived on a farm.  The year Sumitaku Kenshin was born, my family moved "in town".  That move brought us into a new age, indoor plumbing.  Until that time there was a galvanized tub for baths and a path for other bodily necessities. Baths were taken on the screened in back porch during the summer months.  There would be 3 to 4 inches of water in the tub.  Water drawn from the well just outside the house.  Some of the water would be heated in the teakettle on the stove in the kitchen.  Youngest child would bath first.  Then up through the ages of the children.  Daddy was always the last.  In the same 3 to 4 inches of water.  Once baths were done, the tub was overturned and the porch scrubbed.  Cause water was is precious.

Whistling teakettle happily signals Saturday bath time. 

©  petra domina

Thanks to Chèvrefeuille for daily prompts on

CARPE DIEM HAIKU KAI 


That is the porch behind my uncle.  The well was just to the left out of the frame.



Comments

  1. ForestbatherJune 24, 2018 at 8:01 PM

    Poignant and full of emotions behind succint words. Another piece in best style.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JaniceJune 25, 2018 at 2:07 PM

      As always, you are generous to me. Peace to you, Hamish.

      Delete
  2. CedarwindJune 24, 2018 at 8:48 PM

    I enjoyed reading about your bathing memories...linking your move to town with the year of Kenshin’s birth. Water is valued so much more when it isn’t freely running out of a tap!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JaniceJune 25, 2018 at 2:13 PM

      Life in rural communities was different in the 1950's here in the States. The rural electrification administration brought lights to the communities in the 1940's and 1950's. By the end of 1960's 'city water' would come to many of those same communities. In 1969 my husband and I built a home about 7 miles from the nearest town/village. We had water piped to our home by that water project. That first home is now surrounded by houses for most of those 7 miles.

      Delete
  3. kaykualaJune 26, 2018 at 6:12 AM

    Water is a prized commodity in certain communities that one just wonders how to cope under such trying times!

    Hank

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JaniceJune 26, 2018 at 3:03 PM

      Yes, it should be prized in all communities. Many of our aquifers are depleting with all the population shifts. Add to that the ongoing drought conditions and there is no recharge. And yet I still leave my water running during showers instead of sailor showers. Thanks for stopping by, Hank.

      Janice

      Delete
  4. ChèvrefeuilleJune 28, 2018 at 12:50 PM

    Excellent haibun with a beautiful one-line haiku.

    ReplyDelete

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