You're up at the crack of dawn and a laundry load is ready (gratitude for "delayed wash cycle") and you start another. And now you're working on the second clothesline, the one for the sheets.
It's a denim day, air you take deep down into the lungs like a heroin addict who can't get enough of a hit. It's so early there's no traffic and you can hear a gathering of loons around the bay, calling to each other. The sun, the enormous sun, blesses all around you with shards of golden light. You think to yourself: that dinner with the former husband went really well, really, really well last night, a good Newfoundland dinner. A lovely gathering around your table. And you peg up the clothes and what the hell throw on a final load of laundry and think of the day ahead: make soup and bread and stock the new batch of fresh yogurt in the fridge and welcome new PGs at 6 when they arrive and maybe feed them some of that homey goodness. Just what you yourself would want after a six hour road trip.
And everything else recedes for that moment, Syria, the death of close friends, bills to be paid, repairs to be made, editing to be done.
And deep down you know life couldn't get better than this.
And you smile.
What the hell is it about clotheslines anyway?
You wish you could just bottle it up and sell it as your granny would say.
Lovely blog....
ReplyDeleteThank you anon :)
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Hanging clothes outside on a beautiful day defines simplicity. I worry that I need to move from my house...the house is a money pit, and at this time of my life I should "simplify". But, being outside in the yard, hanging clothes, pulling weeds, watching the birds and the butterflies, provides a lovely passtime. It is a sacred place to me that I would miss. The simple things are the most beautiful. You have a simple, eloquent way of saying this with every post. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteOh Charlene I hope you can hang on to your house. Simplicity is everything, just taking care of/nurturing/making from scratch is one the best feelings.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words :)
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I have a clothesline and one of my greatest pleasures is hanging out clothes on a sunny day when there's a breeze. I can't explain why.
ReplyDeleteMe neither Diane, it puts the world to rights for some reason and pulls me into the moment, I took them all in a few hours ago and want to bury myself in the sea/pine/grass smell of them all :)
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Delightful! Today is another hot and humid day in downtown Toronto. I also hung laundry. It will be dry as a crisp of bacon in no time. My morning glories are exploding all over the place! I appreciate the clean blue air you sent via e-mail. It did interrupt my troubling mind over both Syria and the coming election. Have a good Labour Day weekend. AND...Thank you for your blog! Lori
ReplyDeleteThank you Lori - I lived in Toronto for years before making the big jump out here to the edge of the Atlantic. I loved Toronto and all it had to offer too, including my splendid clothesline there hanging over the vegetable patch, lol.
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Yes, there's something very satisfying about hanging clothes on the clothes line and that wonderful sweet freshness when they're dry.
ReplyDeleteGlad your dinner with the former husband went so well.
It must be good for an adult child to see her parents get along enough to do this.
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Oh how I miss hanging clothes on my clothesline.
ReplyDeleteA lifetime habit and just seems to bring about peace.
The line I have now is on a slope and just not comfortable
with this balance problem :(
Soon several old trees by the cottage are being cut down
and I do believe I can have a new line closer for me.
I now hang on a big rack on deck, everything dries but not
like the clothesline :)
Will be sharing soon
a scary trip to ER last Wednesday.
All fine, just same issues surfacing
but the fever I felt uncomfortable with...
Oh Ernestine I do hope you're OK What a scare for you. Oh this wearying of the bones is not for sissies.
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I have a clothesline in the back yard, stretching from the porch to the fence. This summer though any clothes that dried would have smelled like I dried them over a campfire.....the smoke has been so bad visibility was less than a few blocks. The forest fires.....
ReplyDeleteOver in Seattle at present, helping deal with an unfortunate family situation. Hope things are well with you, m'dear.
Smoke would not enhance the experience no. I hope all is well w you and you're getting things sorted.
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Oops. Accidentally posted this in your comments box about Syria. Here it is again where it should be:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-company-bottling-air-from-canadian-rockies-and-selling-it-worldwide-1.3206226
So now you can feel comfy bottling clothesline atmosphere and selling it :)
Gosh SB I must cram all this goodness in a bottle onto Etsy, lol.
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I hang clothes either on an outside line or in my house on a enclosed porch to the north. It is very spiritual for me and one I enjoy and feel a sense of belonging to another age of womanhood. I have some of my mother in laws and my own mother's clothespins. So special to me.
ReplyDeleteHi Judi, I too have some antique clothespins, the ones that were carved without a spring. I love them. I often wonder who took the time to whittle those beauties :)
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We have far too much air pollution here to hang clothes out to dry. They would be dirtier after drying than before washing.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of air, though, it has been lovely enough in the mornings to open the windows these past couple of weeks. in the 60s. We've cooled the house down to 72 before closing up. Today I threw open the windows when I got up at 6:30 and then realized I was smelling burned vegetation. Don't know if the winds have shifted and the forest fire smoke is coming our way or if an empty field has caught fire and sent its stinky plumes this way. I had to close all the windows.
Oh that's really hard on you, your house and your lung. I do hope this awful fire season ends soon :)
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I was hanging my clothes on the line,
ReplyDeleteWithout a worry going through my mind,
Delightful indeed,
It’s something I need,
And now I’m feeling just fine. :)
Lovely bit of poetry there Chris. One of my cards features a clothesline and it's on second printing so everyone seems to love it :)
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I am an absolute sucker for washing on the line, washing out on the hawthorn hedges when I was young... xxx
ReplyDeleteYes, me too in my Granny's house, we would pile everything on to the hawthorns as it had built in grippers with those long thorns? And the smell - I'll never forget it.
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Everyday bliss reminds us that we are among the lucky ones.
ReplyDeleteso very true Hattie, I have to pinch myself in such moments.
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A propos of nothing, have you read
ReplyDeleteDoctor Olds of Twillingate: Portrait of an American Surgeon in Newfoundland / Saunders.
SB:
DeleteNo I haven't do you recommend?
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There is nothing quite like the scent of sun dried clothes when brought in. A close second is the scent of the earth when you have brought the clothes in and it starts to rain!
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