Laundry

Posted on 09. Aug, 2010 by Lori Burnett in Architectural, Blog, Travel

My fascination with laundry dates back to my childhood when I would admiringly watch my next door neighbour perform her daily task of hanging loads of freshly washed clothes out to dry. She would begin by coming out onto the raised balcony through the screen door off the kitchen and drawing in the line until it reached the knotted end. She would then begin to attach items one by one, from the smallest of socks to the largest of sheets, to the line which was wound around a pulley and secured at one end to the outer wall of her house and the other to a telephone pole at the far end of her yard. She would use spring loaded wooden clothespins, one, two or more at a time depending on the width of each item to attach each to the line. When she could no longer stretch her body out far enough, she would lean outwardly and with a hand over hand motion reel the line out far enough to make room for the next set of items. It was the constant and automatic motion of draping, pegging, reeling, and the sound that accompanied it, that mesmerized me; the orderliness of the task and the delight I took in seeing the job completed and the perfectly organized row of clean wet clothes hanging out to be dried by the warmth of the sun and the air’s cool breeze.