In Praise of the Clothesline

I have been able to hang clothes outside since late March. It is a wonderful thing. The clothes seem cleaner and smell better after they dry on the line. The time I spend outside hanging the clothes, even if I have to wear gloves, is quiet and my own. I love the weather awareness the laundry line gives me; I know, for example, our prevailing wind is different from the "norm" around here. I think there's something about being tucked close to Buffalo Mountain the must give the wind a quick twist. We DO get northern breezes, but our wind is primarily out of the south and southwest. I know how humid it is by how many loads I can dry in a day- my record on this line is 4.

Also, the laundry on the line means winter is mostly over or hasn't quite settled in.