The friday night bath

The Friday Night Bath
Copyright Andrea Heyser 2009

All of the lucky people who live in cities probably never think about their bath, getting one is as easy as taking a drink of water. They heat their bath room with a flip of a switch, fire a scented candle, turn on some sweet music and then turn on the water. It flows hot and steamy from a polished faucet, bubbling and musical, and you just climb in. The water flows across your body, warming every little area, the candle light shimmers about every wave and you are cleansed.

Ah yes, this is truly city life with hedonistic wants, and few real needs.

On the mountain taking a bath is no quick affair. There is nothing hedonistic about it and it is taken out of raw need. Because it is so time consuming the bath is taken only on Friday and that day is like a celebration, a time of change and a little excitement.

First in the morning the wood must be gathered and chopped and because the fire in the stove must go all day, lots of wood must be collected. As I am the weakest one in the family I often wondered why this task fell to me. But it was my life and I had to deal with it. So before breakfast I ran down the hill looking for oak branches dry and crisp to take home to cut. It seems like each day the branches were further away from the cabin and it takes longer to get them home. But one by one they are found and taken home where they had to be cut up into suitable sizes for the wood stove.

During breakfast the stove is covered with pots and teakettles of all sizes for the laundry as it is a foolish person who cleans his body and leaves his sheet dirty especially when most sheets have been used by dogs as well as people and by kittens for those who have a kitten to love them. Joanne's bed frequently had a dead mouse or two in it as her kitten tried to feed her at night and Joanne swears she did not eat any of them.

It takes hours to wash sheets and heat more water for the next person, but eventually the job is done. We heat water all day and wash all day until finally the sheets are washed and again placed on each bed. Then comes bath time.

Since it gets cold later in the day we have to build a fire in the fire place, this uses wood that has been cut by some one else, usually father. The bath ritual takes place in front of the fire place in full view of the observers. The wood stove is glowing red from all the use and finally the water is hot. Next we haul in a tub, a laundry tub actually, it is too small and scratchy on the bottom and it overflows easily if one moves too much, but it is our life and again we have to deal.

The first bather, usually the cleanest one, takes off her clothes while shouting for everyone not to look, and climbs in. The fireplace is only about four feet away, it crackles and glows and feels so cosy warm. The least dirty one then washes while being encouraged to get out as soon as possible as others are waiting. If the water is not too dirty, then someone else climbs in and then finally the tub is dragged out to the porch where it is emptied and refilled.

More wood is put into the stove and fireplace and the ritual continues until all are satisfied. Going to bed that night is so good, the kittens purr, the coyotes howl and all is well.

Now, there is a simpler way to bathe at the cabin, that is to use the little wood stand just below the spring. Here you stand naked for all to see and let spring water pour down your body leaving behind muscles in total rigor mortise. There is no joy in the heart of the person bathing in this manner and I believe that his life will be short.

I tend to be a bit more romantic that the others in my family and I decided to bath at midnight in the moon light in the creek.There were a few complications I had not thought of and I don't think I will ever do that again.

Once in Yellowstone my sister and I found a volcanic pool in the forest and no one was around. This was my chance to have a romantic bath!. I can't remember if Joanne joined me, but I took off my clothes and climbed into this beautiful pool, with little benches of stone around it and blue water and a perfect temperature. It was a delightful moment for me and for a few others that passed by, but when I climbed out some things were missing. I failed to notice the water was soft and slimy, perhaps a tad acidic. The dirt was gone, a little skin and a lot of hair had dissolved.

Still, all in all it was great.

Bathing on the mountain takes a little getting used to, but I would not trade it for anything except to have the tub all to my self.