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Meditation Soiled – Friday Fictioneers

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Welcome to the first Friday Fictioneers of the New Year.  I had a rough go of it today with some computer issues, but thanks to my wonderful brother-in-law, Chris, all is well again.  I am a happy camper.  Our Hostess par Excellence is the not-to-be-fooled-by-her-size Rochelle Wisoff-Fields.  This week she chose an intriguing photo that stumped me for a bit by Roger Bultot.  Thank you both for your part in this week’s submission.

Should you wish to participate, just click on Rochelle’s name above or, if you already get that we have 100 words, sans title, to tell a story with a beginning, middle and end based on the photo below, then click on ze Bleu Frogue.

Get ze code

Genre:  Realistic Fiction

Word Count:  Toujours 100

Meditation Soiled

With a sense of satisfaction for a job well done, Mama pinned the last of the white clothes on the clothesline.

“There!  They’ll be bleached by the sun and smell like sunshine when done.”  Of all the chores involved in keeping the house up and running, laundry was her favourite.  Most people hated doing it:  the washing, hanging, ironing, folding.  Not her.  It was a meditation, blocking out the regular chaos.

“Woooo hooooo!”  Mama watched in horror as her children chased each other between the now mud-tracked, no-longer-white whites.

She didn’t love it enough to have to do it twice!

112 thoughts on “Meditation Soiled – Friday Fictioneers”

  18. Dear Dale,

    There can be peace in the most mundane of tasks. I get my laundry completely done at least twice a year. 😉 I felt the mother’s frustration. As always, well written and true to life.

    Shalom,

    Rochelle

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dear Rochelle,

      Yes, there can be. Laundry is the one household task I have under control. Most of the time.

      Lotsa love,

      Dale

      Like

  19. Ironing is a mindless task for me that I like. My ironing board has been with me since 1959 when I was a bride. It has stickers on it from three moving companies that have moved me about over the years. I think your story goes with the dingy gray fabric in the “art installation?” .

    Liked by 2 people

    • Wow! That is impressive! I don’t mind doing it at all and used to iron Mick’s shirts for him all the time. Now, I iron on a need-to basis.

      Thank. Quite the modern “art”.

      Like

  26. My hubby thinks I’m weird, but I take some satisfaction to occasionally (usually in summer) wash laundry by hand and hang it around the apartment to dry. We don’t have access to a clothes line though I wish we did. The clothes always seem cleaner and smell better. Love your story…and I can hear my foster mom yelling at me to get out from the sheets on the line! LOL!

    Liked by 2 people

  28. I’m happy for people who find joy in mundane activities. Cleaning is not one that I aspire to get a thrill from, however there is some satisfaction in the finished product.

    P.S. – I do hope this comment is not a rerun of something I previously said on a prior post–but you never know.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Hardy har har…
      And of all the household “tasks”, the ONLY one I don’t mind doing is laundry. But man, I love me a clean house – done by another (as she hears the vacuum being passed by her new neat-freak boyfriend) 🙄

      Like

    • I absolutely agree, Keith. I always feel bad for kids obliged to sit quietly in their pristine clothes instead of out there learning about and enjoying life!

      Like

  32. I loved the ‘’… smell like sunshine” part. I admire her and hopefully her kids will appreciate her hard work too when they are old enough to really understand.
    A beautifully written slice of life, Dale.
    Happy New Year.🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  34. I liked how Mama went from musing on the meditative quality of doing laundry to regretting having to do it again! Cleaning can be therapeutic though. Especially if it involves mundane repetitive movement that allows your mind to wander.

    Liked by 2 people

  38. Fab! I love it 😊I agree with the washing being both an endless chore you don’t want to repeat more than necessary (oh but it in on repeat) and a wonderful meditation! I too saw a washing line after seeing the prompt. A lovely every day story of a mother.

    Liked by 2 people

  39. Love this, Dale. It took me back to my grandmother’s house, when I was one of those kids dirtying her fresh, clean sheets. And in those days, she did the laundry by hand! Also, I love doing laundry, too, and see folding it as a kind of meditation. But, I don’t like doing it twice either. 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  41. – Mama watched in horror – This is kind of a personal story Dale. As a girl my mom lost her thumb in an old style wringer washer machine. So what’s a little mud after all? Super story.

    Liked by 2 people

  42. Very creative and entertaining story, Dale. I have to say that I don’t like doing laundry and am very thankful that my husband does. I’m the dishwasher. I enjoy putting my headphones in, blocking out the rest of the world, then bouncing and bopping around the kitchen while doing the dishes. I do remember running amidst the laundry lines, though, when I was a kid and also driving my mother crazy!!

    Liked by 2 people

    • Ha Ha! I LOVE to cook and really miss my dishwasher (late husband) but still love to hang clothes on the line…

      Like

  48. This brings, about a sense of whimsical nostalgia! I would not want to do those again either! especially not the way my mamaw would do them in the summer time XD

    Liked by 2 people

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