Snow Community News By Shirley Taylor

Circle March 19th on your calendar as the date to attend the Snow Community Potluck. They will have plenty of yummy food and conversation. We are always tickled to have new people attending. The gathering will start at 5:30 p.m.

Driving into town the other day, we spied a clothesline with sheets hanging out in the sun. We tend to take our washing machines for granted, but when I remember my mother telling the story of keeping, he brood in clean clothes, I smile and close my eyes and I’m back sitting on the floor listening to her talk about making her own soap and using it to clean her clothes. She told about bringing out her wringer washer, which was stored in our garage. It was quite a marvel for its time. There were two wooden rollers at the top of a large, round tub. The legs had rollers on them, which enabled my mom to situate it in front of the back door of the garage. We lived in the country, so the tub was filled with water that was heated on the stove. When the clothes were washed, they had to be squeezed through the rollers and dropped into the set tub. My older sister said it was fascinating to watch the wet clothes come out flat as pancakes. They were rinsed and then put through the ringers again and dropped into the laundry basket, ready for hanging. For white clothes to get pure white, they would be put into a large tub and boiled on top of the stove. I can picture Mom with a large wooden stick in her hand, stirring the boiling clothes as if she was making a gigantic stew to feed an army. All this was done while she sang cheerfully. The next part of the process was the business of starching all the shirts and dresses, the stiffer the better. Once all this had been done, everything had to be hung out to dry. Bringing the clothes into the house was not too traumatic in warm weather, but in the freezing cold, she had to deal with frozen sheets that needed to thaw before they could be folded. What a picture this recalls, the whole back room draped with damp, frozen slabs of cloth. The next steps were sprinkling and rolling. Each article of clothing had to be sprinkled with water until it was slightly damp, rolled tightly and placed in a laundry basket, ready for ironing. This was all necessary for everything to come out smooth as silk and stiff as a board. Tuesday was ironing day. It was usually a whole day affair. Of course, I couldn’t have been there without the accompaniment of my mother’s incredible soprano voice. When she sent us off to school every morning, we could sense the pride she felt as she watched her squeaky-clean kids walk out the door, knowing that her efforts were not in vain. It’s no wonder her philosophy on whether or not clothes were dirty enough to be washed was, “If it looks clean, and it smells clean, it is clean, and you can wear it again.” Not only did we keep the clothespins ready for hanging out clothes. We also make them do for toys. My sister and I played with mom’s clothespins. They made perfect “dolls” to put inside empty matchboxes. The matchboxes were also used as cars, beds of anything our imaginations could invent. And where we lived in the countryside the electrical poles used insulators that often fell to the ground. They were beautiful shades of blue and aqua, and easily converted them into fancy bowls and dishes for our playhouses. Many mud pies were made and served to our friends and our dolls. Such a simple recipe, my grandmother shared her mud pie recipe. She told us that her mother had written it down for we girls. Another great recipe (very edible) Strawberry

Shortcake. You will need at least a tub of strawberries. Since the strawberries are the star of this dessert, you’ll want to choose the best possible ones. Here are a few tips to keep in mind. Strawberries do not continue to ripen once they’re picked so choose berries that are a nice red from stem to tip. Buy local and in season. This will help ensure the berries are as ripe as possible and it saves a little money. Ripe berries should have a nice, sweet aroma. Cut strawberries can last, covered, in the fridge for 3-4 days. As much as I love a good strawberry flavor, you can easily add other fruits such as raspberries, blueberries, bananas. You usually can find the shortbread cakes in the produce section. Take the cakes and place fruit on top. Next the whipped cream goes on top. So yummy much sweeter than our mud pies.

Keep all our family and friends in your prayers. This season can bring aches and pains and be hard for some to enjoy the time as others. The crazy weather isn’t helping with the temps going from 32 one day and back to72 the very next. Please keep in mind the recycling containers in front of the Snow Community building. The funds taken from these donations are turned back into the building for the upkeep and maintenance. Any and all help with this is appreciated. Please refrain from throwing your trash in the recycle container. There is another trash can to the side of the building that you can use. Also, the Finley Community normally has a lunch on each Friday at noon. Days Finley are not open or only doing take outs will be posted on their Facebook page. Anyone wanting to add to the article please turn them in before Friday at 5 p.m. Additions can be emailed to me at: freylake123@yahoo.com or call me at 580-208-0870, Have a blessed week