Rainy Day Random Thoughts

 

Hi, Linda Tillis here! It has been raining today, off and on, but sometimes very hard. Rain does several wonderful things for us. But, for me, it causes my mind to wander. When that happens, it is often surprising. 

Have you ever read a historical romance and the couple had quick, amazing sex?

Well, let me tell you that did not happen!  Amazing, quite possibly, quick not so much.  Do you have any idea what it took for a woman to get into and out of those many items of clothing they wore? Just saying…

 Oh, and let’s talk about bathing! Just how attractive can that man be after all day spent working in the fields, or competing in those jousts?  Hauling water, even cold water, was quite a chore. And unless he was a “little” person, it took at least fifty gallons of water to fill a good-sized tub.  Unless you had a house full of servants, you know who got to haul all that water? That’s right, the little woman of the house. And he’s going to expect her to have enough energy left for sex? I think not.

 And if we’re hauling water, what about dishes?  Nowadays you load that dishwasher and push that button and walk away.

Can you imagine washing dishes in the old days without a bottle of Dawn?  I don’t remember what my grandmother used (and that was only sixty years ago) but I do remember there being bubbles.  In the really old days, think Saxons and Norsemen, they used vinegar and sand to scrub and polish their armor, so it stands to reason they would have used it to clean any cookware.

I could use a couple of new, light-weight summer blouses.  I might run to Walmart or Target and check out what they have to offer. Not so two-hundred years ago.  Most items were made from linen.  Linen is made from flax fibers. The flax was grown, soaked in water, stripped into fibers, the longest of which can be up to twenty centimeters long. Those fibers are then spun into yarn and eventually woven into fabric. If you wanted a new blouse this Spring, you had better have been working your behind off last year!

 The next time you read a historical novel pay attention to some of these little details and see if the author has given enough thought to just what the everyday life of a woman entailed.

 It has quit raining now. I can hear the thunder becoming distant. Time for me to gather my wandering mind and decide what’s for supper.  Any suggestions? Tell me what you are having.

Thanks for stopping by!

Linda Tillis for Pen Dames