The Process

The process of fall house cleaning has been an institution from generation to generation.

I recall there was a powder product to use, diluted with water, specifically for cleaning wallpapered walls and ceilings.  Yes . . . my grandparent’s ceilings were wallpapered.  I actually witnessed the day when my great grandmother, Christine, had my grandmother Laura, Alma, Laura’s sister snag the next generation to wallpaper the dining room ceiling.  That next generation included my mom, Lena.

Christine spoke no English, but then all that were present for that day spoke fluid German.  Laura and Alma were the portion of the assembly line that had the dining room table stretched to the max and that was where the lengths of paper were cut and smeared with wallpaper paste.  It was such a muted design, there was no design to match.

The men had brought in saw horses with lengths of lumber, two wide, to go on top of for my aunts Esther, Corinne and Dorothy to take a width of papers that Lena and Janet handed to them.  It was a technique of many feet of wet folded paper by the width of the room.  It was applied with brushes and damp rags as the first woman applied and fit it to the ceiling as the other two held the width of paper and slowly moved the length of the lumber underfoot unfolding and handling it as the full length was achieved all the while using the special brushes and rags to take out air bubbles.  One length at a time over the day’s efforts.  The aunts trading out being up on the lumber.

Elvera was old enough and had the job to keep the floor picked up of scraps.  My cousin Shirley and I were too small for anything and stayed out of the way.

Of course there were coffee breaks out in the summer kitchen that was west of the house.  The men folk did not go hungry.

It got done in a day and it was the year of 2025 that that dining room was included in a remodel where my cousin Dan is living as it is now his home.

As I started out, I come from generations of family that never blinked an eye in keeping a home tidy, tidy.

With that i will take my leave. ♥