Clotheslined

I have a new clothesline!  Something so simple, yet so perfect for me.  I like the smell of sheets fresh from the line, I like their crisp feel.  I like the energy conservation of saving that one dryer-load.  I like that I can see the breeze by watching the clothes sway.

It would be difficult for me to name one inanimate object that gives me as much joy as a clothesline.

Many years ago, when we had children in diapers, we chose not to buy a dryer.  The decision was a financial one:  save money by not purchasing the dryer and save money by not using the electricity to run it.  Almost every day I had a line full of diapers, drying in the sun.  Sometimes being softened by a rain shower.  Sometimes freezing before they dried.  Many days our clothes smelled like we had just returned from a camp fire because of the smoke from our chimney.  Some days, unfortunately, cows would linger along the fence row beside the clothesline and we would smell like cattle ranchers.  Mostly, though, the clothes were just fresh, and crisp, and smelled like sunshine.

My life became a little easier when we gave up our pioneer ways and bought a dryer.  Today when I hang sheets outside, it isn't a financial decision.  It might have a little to do with 'saving the planet' :), but mostly I hang the sheets outside because of one thing:

It makes me happy.