4-5-09...FAMILY IN 1948Here is my family in 1948. Norman was only a few months old. This is the only family picture we ever had made at a studio by professionals. That was 60 years ago when things were simple and sweet. I remember Mama's dress. It was green. Daddy bought it in Oklahoma where he worked in the coal mines. He came home on weekends and always brought Norman and I something. This time Mama got a new dress also. Daddy wore khaki shirts and pants in a light brown color. My dress was yellow with green trim. Norman also had on yellow.
I cherish this picture. It is a part of my life that I will never forget. When I look at it I see love abounding, unconditional, and wonderful.
Clydene (THOMAS) Overbey
4-4-09...HAIR WASHING DAYWashing your hair might not seem a big deal to you. Well let me tell you about how Mama washed my hair when I was growing up. You just might relate to it. It was a major production.
No water in the house was the first thing that made it difficult, but that wasn't the worse thing.
In the first place my hair was long enough to sit on before it was ever cut the first time. Then it was very curly and frizzy. Mama often said that there were tangles in it that she could never get out. I looked like a walking brier patch going down the road.
The water was drawn from a well. We had a water bucket and I remember it took two buckets full to wash my hair. Water was put in a tea kettle and it wasn't an afternoon tea party kettle. It held about half a bucket of water and had a long spout and and a bail handle. This was warmed on the stove to the right temp. to pour through my hair. That was put in a dishpan. Then a second tea kettle of water was warmed, and a second dishpan was placed on the table beside the other one. Are you following me? Hope so.
Now the fun part came. Well fun was not the word I would really use here. More like a rat drowning. I had to bend my head over the empty dishpan while Mama poured the water over my hair to wet it. Very quickly another tea kettle of water was put on the stove to warm.
Mama poured Halo shampoo in my wet hair and started scrubbing with her long fingers. Oh my gosh. I just knew she was scalping me. Soapy water was running down on my face and neck and in my nose. I knew better but I would always reach up to swipe my face and just sling water everywhere. "Be still Clydene, all the water is going in the floor" Mama would say. "Mama you are drowning me" I would whine. Now I had a wash rag to hold over my eyes to keep soap outta them but it got soaked and dripping. Water ran down my back and off my toes.
When Mama was sure my hair had been scrubbed enough she'd check the teakettle of water on the stove. If it was warm then she'd pour this over my hair slowly and run her fingers through until that was gone. Then I had to bend over the second dishpan of water and she would rinse some more using a glass to dip the water and pour over my hair. She made sure my hair squeaked when she ran her fingers through it and pronounced it clean.
Then came the two towels that it took to dry my hair, and the combing that tried to finish scalping me. I couldn't move till the water in the floor was all mopped up and the floor was dry. Didn't want us tracking the water through the rest of the house don't ya know.
Mama carried the dishpans out and dumped them in the garden then. She scrubbed the dishpans out because they were used to wash dishes.
Now guys, when I washed my hair this morning I got my ring hung in the curls and pulled my hair. This set off a chain reaction of slinging water all over and yelping OH! Even got soap in my eyes in the process. That is what got me thinking of the days Mama washed my hair.
I didn't really know how much work it was then for Mama to wash my hair. God Bless Her!!!!! YEP!
