REALLY GETTING WEIRD

Do we take for granted the comforts of our modern homes, forgetting what little comforts families from the past endured? Yet, I imagine they thought they were living in the best of times, after all they had stoves. This is evident from the pipes sticking up from the rooftops.

 

 

Indoor plumbing had not invented yet, so the stroll to the outhouse was a daily journey. In the winter the stroll was more challenging, with a couple of feet of snow on the ground, so they used the "thunder bucket," especially during the freezing nights.

The only thing I can remember about Grandma Norman's house in Portola, California, was having to get up during the night, and walking to the little house outside. Man, it was cold, but I was only a spoiled little kid from the coast, and didn't know the ends and outs of these things.

Wood burning stoves were used for not only heating, but also cooking. Imagine how difficult it would be to prepare a hot meal in the summer? Because there was no electricity, there were no fans to move the air around inside the house. The heat must have been unbearable. The families must have baked their own bread also. The stoves were also used to heat water for washing clothes, cleaning dishes, and bathing. I think that if I lived then, I would have somehow rigged up an outdoor kitchen/bath for doing these things.

                                                                                       
This old church is one my favorite buildings.
I'll bet there was some good meetings in this place!












I really enjoy driving through the countryside, and taking pictures of these old farmhouses. Somehow these structures seem to reach out to me, in some sort of ghostly fashion, as if those who built and lived in them, want to tell their stories. Now this is really getting weird, I know, but really, the more we contemplate the past, the more we understand what is really important to ourselves.