Country Pleasures

We used to have a clothesline -- but it involved negotiating a steep path with a heavy basket of wet laundry and eventually I used it less and less, opting for the ease of the electric clothes dryer. Now, with rising awareness of our carbon footprint (and rising electric bills), it's time to reconsider. Our lovely new solar powered, retractable clothes dryer is conveniently located a few steps from the washer.

I'd forgotten the pleasure of composing a sort of ad hoc color display, the gorgeous smell of sun-dried sheets and towels, the housewifely pleasure of pegging out the wash, just like the mom on the old Lassie TV show (Luke, don't forget we have that Grange meeting to go to tonight.)

Yes, there are down sides -- the stiff-as-a-board towels (think of them as exfoliating agents), the sudden thunderstorms, the not-quite-dry-at-the-end-of-the-day jeans. I'm not getting rid of my electric dryer -- I'm relegating it to backup status.

A homely pleasure, like dogs in pickup trucks or fresh-gathered eggs, the clothesline reminds me of the way things ought to be.