I have an affair with laundry.
We meet almost every day.
We are down and dirty. We toss and tumble.
Then we lay out to dry.
Fresh as sunshine, clean as air.
We return to the places we are expected. Ready to squander.
lather. rinse. repeat.
"My heart is all a flutter,
like the washing on the line"
~Nathalia Crane~
when you sleep with me,
your linens have been kissed by sunshine
and danced in the wind
~Deb~
your linens have been kissed by sunshine
and danced in the wind
~Deb~
I know I am home
when I have a line to hang laundry
~Deb~
My one and only favorite chore is laundry. Seems like instant gratification to transform a pile of dirty clothes into a piece of art...folded nice and neatly, ready to rumple and crumple again.
Also the nostalgic component of wooden clothespins on a string, holding the laundry against the wind, basking in the sunshine, and breathing new life into each thread.
You know what I am talking about.
You know you love the scent of this post.
Tell me about your memories or current thoughts
about your own laundry lust.
Is it a love/hate relationship?
I am hosting a Bella Grace Magazine give-away in celebration of their new blog "Grace Notes"
If you have not held a copy of this beautiful magazine/book
in your hand...
DO.THIS.
You will receive a copy Issue #7 from me
I will select a lucky winner
from comments below...
Winner announced April 21
return that day to see if
you are the lucky winner
OR leave your email with comment
18 comments:
I remember having a clotheline in our backyard when I was growing up. It was metal poles, three lines strung between. Mama would hang the sheets over those lines and that was my favorite day ... it created an instant hideaway, fluttering and floating around me.
In our former, home we had a clothesline but it was only used in emergencies, when the dryer broke ... I think I was overwhelmed with doing laundry for eleven people. Now there is less laundry ... and no sunshine for a clothesline. There are fifteen trees in our small backyard. It isn't even dappled shade ... it's just shade. And leaves and sap.
So no clotheline for me now. I enjoy doing laundry now though. Clean sheets on the bed, stacks of folded towels on top of the dryer - waiting to be carried upstairs, basket of stray socks ... always stray socks.
Oh sweet Deb, love you and your beautiful posts, photos, magic! Laundry may be my favorite chore, so gratifying and when I have folded and stacked each item I secretly steal a whiff and know that the love and sunshine will embrace my family when they don their clothes!
Oh I just love this article! So fun to read and look at!! I too love clotheslines...just pure magic!
GypsyinFlight@gmail.com
There is just something so humble & honest about laundry line photos. Love them all Deb. Laundry is a zen practice.
I would absolutely love a chance to win a copy, Deb!❤️��
I have always loved a clothes line reminds me of long ago when life was less crazy. Funny how you made the time to get them on the line. Windows open, breeze blowing, clothes flapping in the wind. Whites were whiter, sheets were crisp, and the smell was so incredibly fresh!
I believe it is part of a child's DNA to run through the clothes, at least it was mine knowing if caught my momma would yell "Rebecca Jean stop playing in the clothes", but yet you just can't squash the urge! It has the same feel of freedom youth as frolicking on the beach, hair flying in the wind, or twirling barefoot in the st augustine grass.
Clothes are still my favorite chore to do maybe because you take a heaping mess and make them as close to new again as possible. They smell so yummy! I recently ask my husband to put up some clothes lines and he not being raised in the same environment as I said WHAT your kidding, right? I let it slide, but I believe this has woke the magical laundry fairy within me up again! I want to feel the sunshine on my back, hear the familiar sound of the sheets on a windy day, have beans on the stove, cornbread, fried potatoes w/onion, and sweet tea. I will then lay down to rest my much older bones once again on some sun dried white crisp sheets.
I will make this happen!!!
Once, long ago, while hanging laundry, a pleasant feeling came over me. It felt like a connection to my ancestors. Something in the way the sun was shining down, the repetitions, motions, and patterns of the task, and a feeling of closeness to women of old. It felt as though all was right with the world and I was doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing. It was joyous. Still today, I love hanging the laundry.
It's me Rebecca above!!!
Two vivid clothesline memories: First hanging my sisyrt's diapers in the Texas sunshine. Sincve I was e;even years old then, it was one of the ways I helped my Mother.
Then - nine years later, hanging the dioapers of my infant daughter, Deb. She was a January baby, and occasionally the diapers froze when hung in the cold air. Then thawed out while drying in the sun.
Maybe that's why she is marked with a love for laundry - and clotheslines!
Lyn (aka Deb's mom)
You are right, I loved
the smell of this post!
I discreetly string my
clothesline across our
deck in the summertime,
because suburbanites
do not always "get" its
loveliness like we do! Just
sheets and towels, though,
so not to offend anyone's
sensibilities with things like,
gasp, underwear!
Visiting from the BG Blog
Hop....I'm writing for April
22nd 💜
xo Suzanne
I used to loathe the mountain of laundry that would seem to accumulate each week...but now I choose to look at it differently. I pause when folding clothes and sorting into stacks for each family member. I notice the sizes of my small boys clothes and how they compare to that of his older brother. I know how fleeting time is and I cherish each moment like a little prayer as I fold a little sleeve under the other. I steal a glimpse at the lush mountainside as I hang pieces outside to dry amidst the sunshine and fresh air. I approach it all now as a moving meditation ... wouldn't go so far as to say I love to do the laundry...but I appreciate the simple practice of peace, order, and contemplation that it offers. Each fold, a small blessing, a chance to find gratitude.
I too remember the laundry clothes line...my mother was lucky to get a "modern" clothesline..the kind that was on a single pole and had 4 sides with multiple lines on each side and you could move it around and around...which is what I would do .thrilled the clothesline around and around while letting the various pieces roll over my headand face as they passed me ..the smell .the sunshine..the breeze...then all at one I'm doing my own laundry and I don't have a line to hang only a wooden clothes rack..which is a vintage piece..it extends up to about 5 ft...thankful for that contraption but all in all its not my secret love..nope not laundry at all!!!....jpingeswar@att.net
Your photoe are beautiful!!! I love the smell of fresh laundry hung on the line. There is nothing like it. Laundry isn't my favorite thing to do but my boyfriend is the speediest at it - he sets a timer and everything. My favorite part of laundry today is folding - my cat joins me plays in the fresh laundry and after it is all folded she prefers that we don't put it away, at least not at first. She prefers to sleep next to it - I think she loves the smell.
Oh the lovely smell of sheets dried on the line! Love love! And I do love the process of the laundry - Most days : )
Oh my goodness, does this ever bring back memories ... I grew up watching my mom hang clothes on the line - it stretched from our front porch, across the yard, to the garage. Thank you for elevating this task from the mundane to the sublime. I adore your photo of the clothes line attached to the palm tree - love.
Lovely photos. Great composition and love how you transformed something ordinary (although a gesture of love) into something extra-ordinary. I loved fresh sheets from the clothesline from my childhood. Not a gift I have offered to my kids... Maybe I will! Visiting from blog hop (http://ordinarycreative.com).
Deb,
What a joyful, beautiful way to describe laundry. And your pics... So dreamy! I'm beginning to have good thoughts about laundry now ������
Adwoa
love these images
and they make me long for spring!
nothing like the
smell of sheets
that have dried on the
clothesline.
<3
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