And Then Their Was Laundry

The Amish put us to shame when it comes to doing laundry.  Their clothes still hang outside on the line.  The farmhouse's second story window has a 100 plus foot rope clothes line.  It stretches all the way from the house on a pulley attached to the top of the barn's gable across the farmyard.  It is easy to see what day they do the washing.

 

As a girl we hung our wet laundry outside on a wire clothesline year round. When the snow was as high as an elephant's eye the pieces quickly froze. On windy days the wooden clothes pins, struggled to hold the wildy, whipping sheets and towels. The hot summer sun dried them in an instant.

After dryers became the norm, Mom wouldn't waste money on a perfectly good clothes line drying day. Eventually the electric or gas dryer won the battle. With help from the cities restrictive covenants, clotheslines became history.

Hurray to the Amish for keeping the tradition alive.