Line Drying

I grew up in a house without a dryer. My mother hung out our clothes year 'round. Fortunately there were only 3 of us in the family so that meant less laundry. In the summer, they flapped in the sun and breeze. In the winter, they froze on the line and we had the frozen things in our laundry room and sometimes draped over a drying rack in the kitchen. We had a wood stove in our large kitchen and my parents kept it well fed so the room was usually around 75 so they dried quickly (stiff as a board).

I just love clothes dried on the line - crisp sheets and stiff towels. I hate towels dried in the dryer as they are limp and not as absorbant (IMO). I lived summers at the CT shore and nothing beat the sight of beach towels and bathing suits hung out on the line to dry after a fun day on the beach.

I hang out sheets, towels, jeans and stuff that doesn't need to go in the dryer on my clothesline as soon as the weather warms up and do so into November. I don't like taking in frozen clothes so I'm not a dieheart like my mother was. As I said, I love the smell and feel of line dried things. Another bonus is that I save electricity. I also can do a load at 11:00 PM, hang it out and go to bed. The next day after work, I just bring it in. If I had to rely on the dryer, I wouldn't be able to wash that late at night and go to bed. There are a few negatives though. You can't hang wash out when it's rainging, might rain or is overcast and muggy. Sometimes a bird goes on a item so it has to be rewashed. Every now and then I have to flick a bug off an item before bringing it inside. I look on these inconveniences as Mother Nature.

Now if I had the thingamagig, I could have taken a picture of clothes on the line and put it here. Use your imagination. My backyard has a big perennial garden so picture the clothesline and the multi-colored perennial bed.

Now I'm off to take jerseys out of the dryer as they don't do well drying on the line.