My mother, who worked full-time outside the home, totally identified with one of those cartoons - the Roadrunner. Since she was so busy all week, Saturday was her day to run the roads, getting all of her shopping and errands done. Unlike me, she didn't have a Walmart by the house to stop in at every other day. And back then in New Orleans, we had Blue Laws, so most stores were closed on Sundays.
Besides sleeping late and cartoons, I remember the smells of the Saturdays mornings of my childhood. I remember the wonderful smell of the dryer vent. My mother did tons of laundry on Saturdays, and when she did use the dryer, the vented smell of the fabric softener smelled so fresh and wonderful to me. We also had a clothesline and she would hang all the sheets and towels on it. The smell of sunshine in those linens was so wonderful - as I would pull the sheets off the line, I would have to sniff them as I put them in the laundry basket.
Another great smell was that of fresh cut grass. A lot of times, my mother would also mow the lawn on Saturday mornings. Even if she had done it on Friday evening, the smell of the grass was still quite pungent...in a good way.
Most Saturdays, my mother took my blind father to the barbershop so that he could visit with friends. He would spend the morning there. Around noon, my mother would go get him and bring him home, and then cook a big breakfast - or actually brunch, I guess - for the three of us. There were usually fried eggs, bacon and toast of biscuits. Back then, you could find calves' brains in the grocery store. My mother would cook them, mixing them with beaten eggs to make a kind of scrambled eggs and brains mixture. Yeah - I know what you're thinking - "GROSS!!" But I grew up eating them - and I loved them! I can almost taste them now.
Saturday nights were always hamburger nights. Either my mother would cook burgers and fries - deep fried, of course - or in later years, we would go pick them up at Burger King or Wendy's. And there were wonderful TV shows on Saturday nights back then. And Saturday night was another great night to stay up late.
Thinking back to the Saturdays of my childhood, they all seem like springtime - warm, sunny, crystal clear, and relaxed.
Saturdays today? Hectic - always running all over creation to bring kids here or there, to buy this or that. And unlike my mother, I never say, "Beep, beep!" Yes, I'm still doing laundry on Saturdays - but the smells just aren't the same.... With the cartoons of today, I don't care if I ever see another one again. We might still have burgers and fries on Saturday, but the joy of eating them in front of good TV shows is gone. Staying up late doesn't do it for me anymore either - I would be happy to go to bed at a time that would have made me protest back then.
Maybe I should place a classified ad - "Lost: The Saturdays of my youth. Please return them - they are sadly missed."
Just got around to reading this today. It's a Saturday and pouring rain outside. I like that kind of day, too! Hope the power stays on long enough to get this posted. Your imagery of the clothes on the line brought a lot of memories to me, too!
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