Thursday, January 6, 2011

W.A.S.H.

W. A. S. H. We Are Serious Hangers
Chapter TWO
This is from Mary Mulari --

"Thoughts about hanging sheets and towels outside in winter"

In northern Minnesota, drying sheets and towels on my clotheslines involves tramping the snow down first with my snowshoes. I also wear my Steger Mukluks because the snow can be pretty deep even after I work on it with snowshoes.



The red and white towel photo shows what happens on a really cold day. The towel is frozen to the clotheslines so after I took off the clothespins, it stayed in place until I yanked it off the line.


My clothespin bag is a piece of make-do folk art. It's pieced from a worn out Duluth New Tribune newspaper deliverer's bag. I found it at a yard sale many years ago. The nylon purple edge is a recent addition as the top was wearing out and I can't just throw out such a quaint clothespin holder.


There's no scent more heavenly than line dried sheets and towels in the winter.
They never completely dry outside so when I bring them back in the house, I drape them over the pillows on my bed and on a clothes rack near the heat vent. By the time they do dry, they've also perfumed the bedroom with a fragrance I also remember from my childhood when my mother dried these linens outdoors.

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THANKS FOR SHARING, MARY. You are hard-core!! I think we really ought to start a support group...

W. A. S. H. (We Are Serious Hangers)

2 comments:

  1. You two seriously crack me up! I now live in a neighborhood that does not allow clotheslines. We get away with a tiny line for swimsuits in the summer. But I remember my grandmother and my mother hanging the laudry in the attic in the winter. City living can make things hung outdoors gritty, I guess. Long live W.A.S.H.!

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  2. Mary and I always have the same advice for people who live in a "no hang" zone....

    MOVE

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