Full disclosure. This week’s photo adventure was pre-flighted on Facebook. I put the image up for public view a week or so ago and got so many interesting and funny comments that I thought it might be fun to share with the “Register” crowd, given that not everyone looks to Facebook as a reliable news source. Sometimes it’s a little challenging to get accurate information online, especially with all the new ways to manipulate what is posted. I can confirm that the photograph shared in this issue is completely real and superbly incriminating. I screwed up, but in so doing, managed to tickle a few interesting memories out of the viewership!
Our mother, Mae Ruth, now gone from planet Earth for 35 years (seems impossible), was a dedicated outdoor clothesline professional. And we, her children, also carried on the tradition of air drying clothing no matter the time of year. Fresh air-dried clothing had a fragrance all its own without the scent of laundry additives and the use of valuable resources consumed by a gas or electric dryer. It was a constant parade of clothes baskets with a family of six. Our clotheslines stretched from an attachment at the corner of the house the entire length of the path to the barn with a side split off line that anchored to some kind of tree in the back yard. The lines were so long they had to be supported en route, and with sacks of clothespins strategically stationed along the way. Mother sang as she hung out sheets, pillow cases, under clothing, socks, pants, towels and almost any other item that could benefit from fresh air, sunshine and light breezes. Fortunately, coal smoke from our furnace and the furnaces of others never seemed to interact with the drying process. But there was plenty in the wash cycle to remove from the clothing of my father and me as we played in the dirt.
We here in our Maine home are far less inclined to hang clothes outside, but we do, from time to time, bypass the electric dryer and try to save a little on our ever increasing electric bill. And there is the fragrance item. As many respondees commented on the Facebook post, it's the smell of air-dried items that is the hook. Bonnie Jo said “I loved when Gram would hang clothes out in the winter ... particularly the sheets. There’s undisclosed 'magic' in the freezing!” Linda said she remembered leaning a pair of frozen jeans against the wall. Stephen admitted to hanging sheets out in winter, freezing solid, but they smelled so fresh and clean when thawed.
My pants and shirt froze because we weren’t paying attention to the weather. But I couldn’t resist the scene shared above. Some might think this was a deliberate attempt to enjoy the benefits of air drying and electricity saving, but truth be told, we forgot. When I finally cleared the clothesline, the weather had shifted again during a brief uptick in temperatures. I don’t recall checking to see how they smelled but I was reminded of all those years growing up with Mother’s dedication to fresh air and sunshine. She truly believed that it made a difference and, honestly, I think she enjoyed getting out of the house to sing a song or two.