Several weeks ago I wrote about Randall Butisingh, one of the worlds’ oldest bloggers at 95 years old.

At the time, I didn’t realize what a spring chicken Randall was.

We now pay our respects to Olive Riley, born 1899. The 108-year-old Australian woman passed away over the weekend.

From recounting life through two world wars to sharing her thoughts on Washing Day…

You 21st century people live a different life than the one I lived as a youngster in the early 1900s. Take Washing Day, for instance. These days you just toss your dirty clothes into a washing machine, press a few switches, and it’s done.

I remember scratching around to find a few pieces of wood to fire the copper for Mum. Sometimes I’d find a broken wooden fruit box that I’d split with a tommyhawk. Sometimes I’d gather some twigs and dead branches, and use them for firewood.

When the water in the copper began to boil, Mum would add a cupful of soap chips, and throw in a cube of Reckitt’s Blue wrapped in a muslin bag to whiten the clothes. Then she put in all the dirty clothes, first rubbing out the stains with a bar of Sunlight soap. She used a corrugated washing board for that.

Olive will be missed.

Originally posted on July 17, 2008 @ 10:08 am