During the day when the house is still and the mice are in school, I've been taking advantage of these gloriously sunny days by hanging the laundry outside. I have a system. I put one load into the washer machine first thing in the morning for by the time everyone is out the door, the load is finished and ready to be hung. I attach my retractable line from my detached studio to the farthest fence and lay my basket of wet clothes alongside my bowl of clothespins. I also have with me a basket of hangars because I tend to hang specific items of clothing...sounds strange, I know...but that's the way I am. There are only so many things I get to do 'my way' in this house and so many things I have to compromise or 'give into' due to sharing my living space with others (i.e family) - but the laundry is my domain. (Hey, I'll take what I can get!)So from here I hang away. Clothes are to be inside out (mine, all mine, remember?), shirts & blouses on hangars (still all mine) and laundry to be checked frequently - no crispy clothing on my watch! When I get into a groove and the sun is working with me, I can get 3 loads up & out on that one long line before I pick the girls up from school.
It is satisfying work. I love seeing clothes hanging from a line.
One of my favorite sights is the clotheslines outside of apartments in San Francisco's Chinatown. One of my favorite paintings is one my brother-in-law did of a sister-in-law's clothesline in Kauai. And one of my favorite chores, please don't let the husband see this, is doing the laundry. Now, get this straight, I don't look forward to doing the laundry nor do I favor going through others' dirty clothing but I get this strange satisfaction in separating the clothes into my 'anal'-specific piles (goes way back to childhood), drying them to perfection (either the natural way or conventional way) so that the integrity of the clothes are maintained (limited wrinkles and no shrinkage) and folding/hanging them.
While the dirty linen is much like the kitchen sink, never empty, just the sight of nearly empty baskets deems a job well done.
I usually have one day that's dedicated to laundry. It's a strategically placed day during the week. Hate to admit it but it revolves around soccer. Which means I have a few more days until it's laundry day!
