Seeing the wash hanging on a clothesline makes me feel good. It has long been an obsession of mine. I don’t know where it came from–I’ve hardly ever done it myself. I do remember a children’s book, We Help Mommy, illustrated by Eloise Wilkins, where the mother is hanging the family’s wash on the line, while the little girl pins up her doll’s wash.
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I helped my grandmother hang clothes on the clothesline when I was quite small, and I loved feeling useful, as well as being with her in such an intimate way. The clothes smelled so fresh, like sunlight itself, when we took them down. To this day, when I smell that smell I think of my grandmother, and the innocent little girl I was when I was with her.
Wonderful memories, Marielle. Thank you. I will remember this: clothes smelling like sunlight.
I have a clothesline that is mounted on my little upstairs balcony. It’s the only chore I truly love, hanging the sheets. And sleeping on them is the best.
Nice, Patricia. Remember Pam’s clothes hanging on the line in Creede? I have photos somewhere. The more I try to figure out why I’m so drawn to clothes on a clothesline, the more I think it has something to do with a blurring of, or a doing away with, the line between inside and outside.
To my memory I have not thought in many, many years about hanging clothes with my dear grandmother Lillie in Hurtsboro, Alabama probably 50 years ago and my memories are not unlike Marielle’s comment.
It’s nice to know that memory was tucked away. And I believe you when you say you haven’t thought of it in a long, long time b/c that’s a story I’ve never heard : )
If you’ve got the space, I recommend putting one up – it transforms laundry into something else – both the doing of it and the lingering scent of your clothes and yes, sheets! And it also makes sense. We hang our laundry long into the cold – until the clothes freeze. (something I hear you should do with jeans – ha!)
Tricia, I agree–it makes sense. Now, when it gets colder, I will visualize your crackling clothes and sheets : )