Wash Day

I haven't written a clothesline-related post in over a week, so I thought I better get on the ball!

Hanging out the wash really is one of my favorite things to do. I'm not militant about it--you won't find me out there knocking ice off my towels before I can fold them--but I try to do it whenever I can. I like the idea that I'm saving resources, I like the physical act of pinning the clothes neatly on the line, and I like the connection it gives me with my mom. My mom has a set of clotheslines to be envied, with sturdy posts and tons of space. One thing she never had, though, was a clothespin bag. She would just toss her pins into the basket along with the clothes. I would sit near the basket and play with clothespins in the grass while she worked. Of course, I tried my hand at it myself a time or two, on my own little clothesline.

Several years ago, my mom bought this whirligig at a yard sale. When we moved into our house, she gave it to me. I had it outside for a while, and it got a little beat up, so we took it to an old man in town who makes whirligigs and had him refurbish it. He replaced a few broken bits, and his wife repainted it using the original colors. I took my little washerwoman outside today to take this picture, but she now lives inside, in our dining room.