Scott, Bounty, Viva, Brawny, etc., you get the idea. When did paper towels replace hand towels and aprons in the kitchen and elsewhere in the house?

As a child, I do not remember paper towels in the home. Mama used a dish towel to dry the dishes and she kept another cloth towel on the rod by the sink to dry her hands.  She used the dish cloth to wipe down the table after each meal. If her hands were just damp from a rinsing in the sink, she dried them on her apron. Old, ripped up sheets, worn out bath towels, and thread bare tee-shirts were used to clean up larger messes. All of these were washed weekly and hung on the clothesline to dry.

It was not until the mid 1960’s that I remember buying rolls of paper towels.  Even then the sheets were not used for every little clean up. Sometime in the last half century, the paper towel became an essential in almost every American home or work place.

Do you still use handkerchiefs, dish towels and dish clothes, wash clothes, hand towels, aprons, or worn out clothes for cleaning?  When did American become a disposable society?    

Backroads Of Virginia Reception

Guests entered the floral decorated Pamplin Depot Community Room to the sounds of chamber music as they ventured into the “Backroads of Virginia” acrylics by local artist Diane Hindenlang last Saturday evening.

Diane spoke about how she loved Virginia and the paintings that moved her.  She asked the musicians to perform an a cappella number for her.  The quartet put down their violins, viola, and cello and sang first one number and then another when “again” rang from the seats.  “Beth, Benjamin, Caleb, and Mariam Thompson added to the beauty of Diane’s paintings by filling the community room with music.,” comments PALS member Regina Schwabe.

About 40 guests mingled with the artist and musicians, enjoying refreshments and conversation.  Several of the paintings will soon have new homes as a result of sales.

Diane commented, “Last night overwhelmed me! Such beautiful, kind people. God bless everyone who made it happen.”