the washing line

A while ago, Janet from Muppinstuff wrote this post about her washing line. She also keeps a really great blog about washing-related matters here at Mrs Washalot. Doing the washing and hanging it out on the line is one of my favourite domestic duties. Actually, it is the only one I like doing. Most others I resist until I really have to do them. (If i didn't have a washing machine, and had to wash clothes the old-fashioned way, I might feel differently.)

I suppose it's something to do with being outside first thing in the morning, either by myself, or with the children playing with their trains and trucks underfoot. And the smell of wet fabric. And the birds singing and insects buzzing and the neighbour's cat hanging around, watching.

I like to hang the clothes on the washing line in order of who wears what, and hopefully that's not too wierd. It feels like an aesthetic decision even though we can't see our washing line from the house, it's tucked around the back, in a corner. There's something about a line-up of small boy's clothing though, or a row of Tom's work shirts, that I like. As if the empty clothes can conjure up the person.

I used to help Mum out with the washing, but I'm not sure I enjoyed it so much as a child. There was a lot to do- I was the eldest of five children, so the amount of clothing and nappies and towels and bedding and then Dad's farm gear meant she would do more than one load a day. She had one clothesline near the house, and then another long piece of rope tied between two trees in the orchard, as a back-up measure. One of my earliest memories is of her with a big plastic washing basket in the grass by that line.

Anna, a friend of ours, wrote this article about young parents when she was working for the lovely Staple Magazine (sadly no longer published.) A polaroid camera was sent around the country for each interviewee to use to take pictures of their family which were then published with the writing. Tom photographed me in front of the washing line in our first little house- it was up on a hill behind, with wild grass and dandelions underfoot because it was too steep to mow. I spent a lot of time up there when Arlo was new, just hanging around the washing line.

   

Comments

[Jessicah]

I like doing the washing too- but we don't do a load every day as no small children in our lives. As a child we had a line at our height so I could hang up the flannels and hankies and dolls clothes when they needed a wash. Probably more a way to keep me busy than anything else!

[Fiona]

The polaroid shot of you two looks so dreamy. Lovely.

[Helen]

How funny! I clearly remember that reading that article, but it was before I knew you...

Wasn't Staple so great? I have their feijoa article on my studio wall.

xx Helen

[Miriam]

Ah, the washing line. I seem to spend an awful lot of time there too. Ours usually includes a motley assortment of Playcentre towels, dress-up clothes, grotty old rags, and aprons. Your "who wears what" pegging doesn't seem weird to me at all. I have to hang like-items of clothes together - all the pants side by side, all the towels together, and all the t-shirts pegged together (to save on pegs since I'm a lazy laundress and usually have one day a week with the line completely full!)

[esther]

I admit washing lines have something a bit romantic about them and freshly washed stuff does smell pretty good but the actual mechanics of getting it all done drives me nuts! The worst part is I always seem to skin my knuckles getting things out of the machine. Lucky for me I have a partner who doesn't mind doing it!

[Kehrtraud]

I love my washing line too! Each year I wait for spring so I can dra ma wash outdoors. My machine is doing he work overnight and in the morning I hang the wash. I never want a dryer. Clothes are smelling better and tender to from the wind.
Greetings from the other side of teh world
Gertraud

[rachael]

Funny, it's my favourite (actually the only one I don't despise) domestic duty as well. I've become less neurotic about it as the children have got older. I used to have a twirly washng line and I'd have special places for everything. I never would make clothes share pegs and I tried to colour coordinate the pegs (with the clothes and each other). At a playcentre meeting once we did an ice breaker - how do you hang your washing out? Well I was surprised to find how many people really enjoyed the task and funny little habits attached to it.

So not weird at all. you're n good company m'dear.

xx

[kerenpeta]

HEY!
I have that polaroid photo. I love it. Its on my wall. I never did understand what staple magazine was, but loved the photo!

[caireen]

Loved your washing post, so serene... no-one here hangs their washing on the shared green, but I after this looked out - and the one washing pole there has gone!! Saw the robin on it only a short time ago. Ah,... where one washing post disappears, another one is written...
I like to hang the clothes horse by type (of clothing) and/or by colour. Am told I "do it all wrong" but I feel it has order, whereas he goes for the "freshly thrown" casual look. My neighbour has a pulley you can hear her winching it up to the ceiling - a feature in old Scottish flats!

[Carolyn]

I love the washing line too. I stick to the system I remember mum using: knickers on the inner lines, surrounded by clothes getting progressively larger, finishing with towels and sheets on the outside (of the Hill's hoist). I guess I like my undies to have some privacy.

[Dawn]

That is a really nice memory of your mom and I'm sure that peaceful time is where you get your "love" of the line. It is kinda crazy what decides to stick in the noggin as a memory and then is picked up by different sense like smell and sound. I like the way you described the experience in the second paragraph. Very peaceful, like something from a novel.

[Kehrtraud]

Two years ago I visited my son in San Francisco. There was awashing machine and a dryer. But I found a rope, fixed it on the walls and hang the wash. While we were out, the houselord arrived and took off the wash. "It's not allowed", he explained, "police will come and we have to pay, when you hang your wash."
Then we toured with a Motorhome around. When ever you found people hanging out their towels on a camping-place, you could be sure, they were Europeans. The Americans put even after taking a shower their towels into the dryer.

[Janet]

I have to hang everyone's washing in different sections of the line too, and like to hang t-shirts in a line together for the random colour effect. Funny how we all have our foibles like that.

That polaroid is gorgeous, so dreamy.

Eventhough I was shocked at the amount of washing one little baby caused, I am very sentimental about nappies on the line.

[heidi]

such a cool post melissa. i love it! i am beginning to think i may need a wash line.

[kirsten]

i don't know what it is about line-drying - but i love it! glad i'm not alone.

my favorite is lines of nappies.

[Sharonnz]

There is nothing like Washing Line Zen...I so get this.

[Kates]

I'd love to read the article. I loved STAPLE, such a great magazine.

[Taimarie]

What a lovely post. I love my laundry line too. We share it with the other folks on our property and I love the look of the different families laundry, some stripy and girly, some little boy-ish... I love that you organize your washing, the thought of conjuring up the person whose laundry you are washing is very sweet.

[Tash]

Hanging out the washing is one of my favourite "chores" - it's a time for me to be out in the garden, an excuse to just think about things - and invariably means a good spell of weather! Ironically I don't mind ironing much either - but putting it away? Can't stand that bit!

Did you know there are places in America forbidding the use of washing-lines because they are seen as 'unsightly'? Insane!

[amisha]

i loved this post so much. that photo of you is so sweet and dreamy... the polaroid perfect for the washing line moment.
we don't have much outdoor space for a line right now and that is my excuse, though i think of my relatives in india in their tiny apartments, all the washing out on the balcony. my grandmother has a pulley system on her balconies to bring the washing up and down... great fun! :)
e's job as a child was to hang laundry on the line as well. they did lines in the summer but in the winter it was too cold... the clothes would freeze! but in the summer clotheslines it was.
xo