Whiteley Creek Homestead

LIFE AT THE END OF A DIRT ROAD IN CENTRAL MINNESOTA

organically grown triticale in our field
canoeing in our wetlands
raspberries growing wild on our property
our back porch fieldstone fireplace

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hanging out laundry

I do love laundry flapping in the breeze. A rope tied around two trees, a retractable line, or permanent wires stretched taut between poles. That part doesn't matter. It's the act of hanging out laundry to dry in the freshness of nature. (One of my go green postage stamps with a drawing of  a clothesline wisely advises us to "let nature do the work.") It's recreating an era before automatic dryers. It's the cozy feeling it elicits… like oven mitt-covered hands removing a rhubarb strawberry pie or a pan of oatmeal raisin cookies from the oven on a rainy day.   

Copy of clothesline lilacs1

Growing up, we didn't own a dryer. So, it was out of neccessity that we utilized a clothesline. I vividly remember the scent of lilacs as I hung laundry outside in the springtime, as a large bush grew at each end of the poles. When we installed our clothesline, I knew it must have lilac bushes… one at each end. 

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2 responses to “hanging out laundry”

  1. wordplayhouse® Avatar
    wordplayhouse®

    Well, yes. With the lilacs and the dappled light, hanging linens out to dry would be a quite a treat. You have a beautiful place to be while you do your laundry hanging. And a sweet place of reminiscence of your childhood with those lilac bushes in place. -heather

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  2. mom Avatar
    mom

    I especially like to hang laundry outside in the early morning when it’s yet cool and the lilac’s fragrance… maybe from the overnight dew… is intensified. Freshly washed laundry drying in the freshness of the morning air. It just seems right. My mind wanders to a time nearly eleven years ago. Standing alongside a clothesline strung between two oak trees, with only flapping laundry shielding her from the neighbors view, I photographed my very pregnant daughter who awaited the birth of her first child. And now, she awaits her fourth.

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