Thursday, February 6, 2014

Confessions from 1952


It’s day two of the latest big snowfall.
We had about a foot yesterday and while we were happy being bugs in our rugs last night, we received another three inches. I’m sitting here at the computer waiting to greet my favorite treadmill at the YMCA. The reason I’m not climbing sleepily into my car the way I do most mornings is that my spouse is walking up and down the driveway with the snowblower while I wait, warm in the house.

As progressive as we are in other ways, we are firmly planted in the past when it comes to tasks around the house. Usually this drives me nuts. Okay, yes, my husband does his own laundry and knows how to change a bed, but how can you not know how to make coffee??

One stumbling block is that I’m not named Martha for nothing. We have several homemade quilts to testify to the appropriateness of my parent’s choice. Not only do I regularly turn out a good meal each night, but I enjoy doing it.

Another obstacle is that my husband really does do all those manly things around the house without thinking twice. He keeps track of car maintenance, can split a log as well as any backwoodsman, and knows his way around a hammer.

It doesn’t help that in the household he grew up in, the men ate and rose from the table without a backward glance while the women’s work continued at the sink.

But I can see out of the window that it’s time to hop into my clean car in the garage – no scraping for me – and back right over the cleared driveway so that I can get some exercise at the gym. 

8 comments:

  1. This is funny! Wish I could write like you! That last picture looks like a giant cake with white frosting!

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  2. Replies
    1. At the moment things do seem to be tilting in my favor, don't they?

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  3. I hate to tell you this - but theres a nasty article out there that says men shouldnt shovel or snowblow snow after age 50 - something about their heart giving out...however instead of showing the article to my man, we just upped the life insurance policy instead...and that Martha - ever since the divorce thing and the prison term, that girl is one tough cookie - if you are like Martha, I bow down in awe.... ;D

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  4. Whoops. Well as long as I keep the phone handy and an eye out the window is it okay?
    And I was actually referencing Saint Martha, who as one of the duller biblical characters, has as her symbols the broom, keys, and ladle. Her area is anything domestic.

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  5. Fortunately, we received only a dusting of snow... so far. If it snows even an inch down here, everything grinds to a halt. I had to make a run to the grocery this afternoon and, from the crowds therein, we must have more than a dusting of snow in the forecast. The ice that accumulated on Tuesday is, for the most part, still there. Roads are clear except for icy patches; I keep a close eye on those when I'm driving.

    Your snow-covered table is pretty... like a cake, as another comment already stated.

    Stay safe.

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  6. Looks like the weather we are having in Michigan! Stay warm, Laura

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  7. As I look out of my window at more rain, ditches flooded and people looking genuinely fed up, I long to see snow! Thank you for giving me that lift. I know that it is cold and a real pain to clear up (you have a gem of a hubby there!) but compared with water bubbling through floors in some parts of this country, I think I would rather have the white stuff. Keep safe and warm xx

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