Hanging Clothes

We dried everything on the line when I was growing up.¹

Today, I'm hanging clothes out for the first time this spring. The weather is iffy, but I'm going for it. I figure if they get wet, it's rain water, the best there is...and they'll dry eventually.

Nothing stopped Grandma Fitzpatrick
from hanging clothes - not even floods!

I love it all out on the line. And I actually LIKE the stiffness line drying can put in things like sheets. At least the old-fashioned heavy cotton white ones. The ones you buy now are so limp and wimpy - they are not as heavy and don't last as long. I decided to find some and did (online) - linen, heavy weight, white, and a bit pricey. But they will be well worth it if they are as advertised.  They'll last, and we'll enjoy them while they do.

Once again, I will jump into a bed made with freshly dried sheets - not just the smell of the outdoors but the stiff crisp FEELING of them.




















¹ - We used to find twigs and worms and other bugs snuggled into the creases as we took items out of the basket and folded them. All part of the process.

Once in, the clothes that required ironing would be separated from the rest.  They were never ironed immediately but a bit later on, on another 'ironing day'.  Until then they lived in a wood bushel basket, each layer sprinkled to prep for ironing.  I loved the smell of freshly line-dried cotton, sprinkled with water, then the hissing of the iron as it glides over it. Wrinkles disappearing like magic. You get into a rhythm, it becomes meditative. It gives the mind times to relax, heal...go on vacation.