Clotheslines

I love hanging clothes out on the clothesline. I know some people will think I’m a really sick person, but I love how they blow in the wind and how the clothes smell when you bring them in. When I was growing up, I remember that I could hardly wait until I was tall enough to actually hang the clothes that my mother washed out on the clotheslines. I remember there were steel poles that were in the shape of a cross cemented into the ground with metal wires (that didn’t rust), and there were either three or four rows of these metal wires running to three of the cross poles. I remember playing on the cross poles and using them as chin up bars. My sister would climb up and sit on the cross bar (I was always afraid of heights). I remember when it was time for my sister and I to hang the clothes out, and my mother would send us out with the clothespin basket that was made out of a flower sack with a wire running through the top and bent just right to fit over the metal line where it would glide along the metal line until you got to the end, then you’d have to carry it to the next line. She would also send us out with a wet rag to clean the lines off with before hanging any of the clean clothes. I remember the smell of the laundry detergent and the smell of the air outside. It really didn’t take very long for them to dry, especially in the summer time, so we would go out and check the clothes to see if they were dry enough to bring in and then take them down as they were. Then back into the house to fold or iron them.

The first house that I bought had a wonderful clothesline just like my mom's, and I remember hanging my clothes out. I didn’t have a clothespin basket, but I used an apron that I would slide on with the clothespins in the pockets and wear it to hang clothes up outside. The home I live in now didn’t have a clothesline, so I made my own as there was not enough room in my backyard to put a metal clothesline up. I still hang out clothes every once in awhile, and it brings back really good memories. My clothesline is a rope, but you still get the same effect.

I was reminded of this whole story when I decided to freshen up the doilies that I found at the church store the other day. Does anyone else use a clothesline anymore?