Monday Memories -- the little house

I love children’s literature, The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder being one of my favorites in that genre. Mrs. Elizabeth Roberts, my third grade school teacher read the series aloud to us. And then, because third and fourth grades were combined in our country school, she reread them to us my fourth grade year, too. I have read and reread them several times since (the last time being two summers ago).

Ma’s mantra, “All’s well that end’s well,” pops in my head occasionally as well as Pa saying it’s all fair in the end, the rich get their ice in the summer and the poor get their ice in the winter. “Details. Details. Details.” I often say to our kids, remembering when Ma told Laura that she must be Mary’s eyes when Mary went blind. Mrs. Roberts said that is why Laura was such a good writer; she learned to describe details to Mary.

The self-sufficient way the Ingalls’ lived inspired me to bottle and preserve more than jam and fruit. Once when I needed to make hard tack I knew I could because Ma did. Ma made Pa a mock apple pie with slices of green pumpkin sprinkled heavy with cinnamon. And I think it was Ma that taught me to substitute winter squash for pumpkin in pie. We serve creamed potatoes and peas for the 4th of July, because that is what Ma did. The sheer enormity of food served in Farmer Boy makes me look like a nibbler and a stingy cook.

And then there was the house cleaning. Remember airing out the mattresses and filling them with fresh dry grass? Remember how good it felt to wash all the bedding after The Long Winter? Remember when Father and Mother Wilder went on a trip and left the kids home alone for a week? Eliza organized Alice, Royal, and Almanzo into doing the spring cleaning. They beat the rugs, washed the walls, and polished the parlor stove. That was when Almanzo got mad at Eliza for being bossy and threw the brush with black polish at her. Eliza ducked and it splat on the wall. Almanzo was certain a whipping was in his future, but Eliza proved she was a good sister by replacing the soiled wallpaper.  Mother Wilder was never the wiser.

The Little House illustrations by Garth Williams:

Several times last week I thought about the deep-cleaning that went on in The Little House books because we had some cleaning going on in our little house.

A few weeks ago Cali called saying, “Ray’s going to be hunting in Alaska in a few weeks. How about if I come over and help you do all those little things you haven’t been able to get done – things like touch-up painting and fall housecleaning.”

Last Tuesday when I came home from school Cali was ready to begin. She is a workhorse. No project intimidates her. What started as a little touch-up painting soon ended with the room changing from red and tan to a bright, cheery yellow – complete with some new baseboards and a painted closet. What started as a little spot cleaning turned into shampooing all the carpets. While I thought a few bags to Goodwill would be enough, we filled the back of the pick-up. Wall-washing was the smallest of the chores and taking apart and moving the bed the next smallest. What we didn’t get done (there are only so many hours in a week after all) is carefully itemized on a list that Cali drafted. She promised that she will be checking up on me to make sure I finish it.

I like Cali being the ma and me being the Laura. I think we should play this game more often.  I would never have tackled in one week what she did.  She gave me courage and determination.  Cali is thorough, efficient, willing to serve . . . and I only wanted to throw a brush at her once and that was when she said I couldn’t go to bed until the room was finished.

The Payne House illustrations:

Cali and Grace painting Ande's-now-turned-Grace's bedroom

Our living room with nary a spot on the walls or carpet

the dining room without a cobweb or flyspeck

"Can I pleeeeease go to bed now?"

I love our clean little house.