I have been doing the “Lena” fall housecleaning: no corner untouched, mattress pads laundered, quilts aired, windows polished, and curtains freshened and back in place. So . . . what could possibly be left? It was the dusting of any and every hard surface within the home. Yes, Kevin, that included the top of the refrigerator. In years past, it was only fitting that Kevin would check up on me as he grew to be tall enough to check that area out. It may be the last of the deep cleaning, but it is like the frosting on the cake. The frosting makes for the cake to be complete and having the dusting done seems to make the home gleam.
Dennis pitched in and the process went along at a good clip. We both did comment that our older furniture had more spindles and turns milled than newer pieces. Will any of the housecleaning last for more than several days or a week? No! We will just start all over again, but . . . I will know that it is new dirt and not the old dirt of summer. Yeah, you either get it or you don’t. The young fellow that checks our furnace before winter did made a comment that he remembered his grandma always doing deep cleaning in the spring and fall, but his young wife has no idea what deep cleaning is, let alone actual cleaning. Brandon is just way too funny.
If this rocking chair could only tell all it has experienced
and witnessed in its 77 years.
I had the pleasure of dusting and polishing the rocking chair that had been my Mom and Dad’s. A glider is what they called that certain type, and I might add, I call it a spindle glider rocker. So many spindles and so little space between them, it is time consuming. I think that is fitting as it gives me time to think back to decades that have long gone. Mom and Dad purchased this rocking chair with money received as wedding gifts. It was $3.50, purchased from Montgomery Wards. My parents were married in 1937.
I do recall as clear as yesterday a time when we lived five miles northwest of Winthrop. Michael was just a toddler and loved the spindle rocker. He was too small to get up into it, but it was his spot to be rocked until he would nod off. The folks were butchering a pork or beef, or perhaps both. The large kitchen was a buzz with activity. Mom was too busy to rock Michael, and it was for sure time for a nap. Mom tied Michael into the rocker with a white dishtowel woven through the back spindles. It was my job to stand beside the rocker and keep the rocking chair going until the nap took over Michael. That memory came from the back, back corner of my gray matter. Ironically, it was Michael, as an adult, who sat with the rocker extended as far back as possible and broke one of the supports in the glider, an aspect of the rocker. Now there is a physical repair that will forever remind me of “that Michael.”
Sometime in the 1960s, it was the fad to antique furniture. The piece of furniture would be painted with a base color, and upon that drying, a darker stain type of product would be swiped over that base paint allowing it to resemble a wood grain. Yup, Mom did up the spindle rocker that would have made anyone proud . . . anyone, that is, who was into covering up beautiful wood.
In the early 1980s, I did find older pieces of furniture that were beautiful under layers of paint. I offered Mom and Dad that I would refinish the spindle rocker. What would happen to antiqued furniture was that the stain that made the wood grain appearance would wear, and all that would be visible was the base coat of painted. Naturally, the arms of the spindle rocker were showing a lot of paint that resembled mustard. Not very attractive. The stripping process was a labor of love.
When time came for Mom to move into an apartment in Hutchinson as a widow, there were pieces of furniture that needed to be sorted. Mom honored my labor of love and the rocking chair has had a very special place in our home since that time. I may grunt a bit as I stoop and bend to reach all the areas that are behind the spindles, but I love taking care of this piece of family history. I hope it will be a long time before my furnishing will need to be sorted.
