For those of us who remember clotheslines..

[AlmostThere]

THE CLOTHESLINE: A POEM

A clothesline was a news forecast
To neighbors passing by.
There were no secrets you could keep
When clothes were hung to dry.

It also was a friendly link
For neighbors always knew
If company had stopped on by
To spend a night or two.

For then you'd see the "fancy sheets"
And towels upon the line;
You'd see the "company table cloths"
With intricate designs.

The line announced a baby's birth
From folks who lived inside -
As brand new infant clothes were hung,
So carefully with pride!

The ages of the children could
So readily be known
By watching how the sizes changed,
You'd know how much they'd grown!

It also told when illness struck,
As extra sheets were hung;
Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too,
Haphazardly were strung.

It also said, "Gone on vacation now"
When lines hung limp and bare.
It told, "We're back!" when full lines sagged
With not an inch to spare!

New folks in town were scorned upon
If wash was dingy and gray,
As neighbors carefully raised their brows,
And looked the other way .. . ..

But clotheslines now are of the past,
For dryers make work much less.
Now what goes on inside a home
Is anybody's guess!

I really miss that way of life.
It was a friendly sign
When neighbors knew each other best
By what hung on the line!

[Bethers]

Very true. When I was in PA and saw all the Amish and Mennonites with their clothes out, I realized their lines didn't say as much - with the standard clothes, etc. But it did remind me of an era gone by for most of us.

[Redetotry]

Loved it, thank you. Brought back some good memories for me too. My daddy and the neighbor lady always raced to see who could get their wash out first on Mondays.

[Cedar518]

As a kid I remember running through the wet clothes on the line on a hot summer day.... felt so cool. Probably i pulled some off by mistake and get them dirty again, but all I remember is the fun and the "cool"... And as a young mother back in the early 1960s I remember hanging up the diapers. No disposables for me. "Speed hanging" was all in how you took them out of washer and placed them into the basket. I could pick up two at a time and hang overlapping corners with one snap clothes pin.

To this day I still use snap clothes pins for a lot of household things. Especially on bread bags, etc. in frige. Today here would be an excellent Monday to dry clothes,.... sunny, and with a little breeze!

[Nasoosie]

Did you write that poem I LOVE it! If you wrote it, you should consider publishing it! Thanks for posting it.

[AlmostThere]

No, I can't take credit for writing the poem. My DIL got it from her Mom this morning in an email and she shared it with me. I'm glad you all are enjoying it as much as I did.

[WickedLady]

Ahhhh, the smell of sheets hung in the sun to dry. Can't beat it.

[soisew]

Remember clothes lines I do
from just today when I too

hung out to dry a weeks worth of undies
and sheets from our trip still awaiting these fun days

we get high wind gust so better use lots of pins
to keep them from taking a high spin

so, remember clothes lines we do
use them in our dry climate so

much better than wasting time
and energy saving a dime

Mom & I share our line
unlike city neighbors who might whine

who may disgust the use for an old time chore
no one here to digress more

the old way?
ah, just our everyday....

[dpf]

Remember them? I still have one and love it. Nothing is better than crawling into a bed with fresh sheets off the clothes line. I love to hang out rugs and jeans on the line and nothing seems to bleach out dingy whites better than sunshine. I must be a blast from the past...but I love my clothesline...especially the $$$ it saves from not using the dryer.

[Nasoosie]

I, too, hang out clothes all summer long! Nothing, no combination of 'Mountain fresh' or 'Springtime beautiful' or Fresh-Air Super', can ever compare to the real thing!

Like Cedar, when my daughter was a baby, I lived in an old log cabin on the other side of the mountain, used cloth diapers washed in a wringer washing maching, and learned the 'skill' of arranging them so I could hang them out in a flash! Ahhh.....those were happy times for me. My bathtub was the brook I walked to, pushing Mandy in her mosquito-net covered baby carriage. (Winter I had another arrangement!) I could bathe and wash my hair while she babbled at the overhanging tree leaves that quivered in the breezes.

[rvgrammy1953]

Still use a clothes line every chance I get....summer campground in PA still allows us to use them.... Saves me quarters....

You can imagine my Mom's clothes line as she washed for 6 kids, Dad, and herself.....As we were Stair-step kids...all born within 8 years, she did alot of diapers.....I can still see them and all the white sheets on the line and all the rest of the clothes.......winters, they got freeze dried....stiff as a board.....but made the house smell good when brought in to thaw and finish drying.....

[Sparkle]

When we are at the Kaibab Lodge my friend Gwen, who describes her boobs as magnificent....hangs her clothes on a line. She discretely loops her bra's over the line. While she is working I rearrange them and do a line of bra's with a clothes peg for each strap. The guys who work there pass very slowly.

[retiredhappy]

I really do miss the smell of sheets dried outside in the sun.

[Pooker]

Yup! Yup! Yup! One of the first things we "planted" in this yard was a clothesline! Mostly, I just hang sheets and pillowcases - love the outdoorsy smell. I don't hang the whole wash because I remember a time before dryers when clothes were rough, stiff, and wrinkled and we had to iron just about everything!

Okay, fess up - how many of you still iron? I don't mean touching up those nice, linen slacks or your favorite 100% cotton blouse - but everyday stuff!

I'll confess first: When I was first married, back in the stone age, we lived in a little cottage with a window enclosed little front porch. You know the cartons washers are packed in? Well, I had one on the porch full of ironing all the time! When DH needed a dress shirt I'd rummage around and pull one out and iron it usually just before flying out the door to work!

[Cedar518]

Iron?......

very rarely. Usually only in the summer when i have more cottons/linens. In the winter I never iron!