There are some great tourism ads for Newfoundland and Labrador, including one which features a clothesline. I have written before about my wife Ruth falling in love with the clothesline while we lived in outport Newfoundland years ago. Monday was laundry day and all along the harbour the clothes were hung out in an orderly fashion.Until recently this scene was illegal in many Ontario communities. Developers and municipal officials in these places had some goofy notion that underwear on a clothesline might offend the sensibilities of neighbours and lower property values.
As of today it is illegal to prohibit the use of clotheslines. Why the reversal of opinion? About six percent of electricity in this province is used by clothes dryers in our homes. Six percent!
Now the winds that blew over the waters of creation can legally dry your clothes. I bet you had no idea how biblically faithful the clothesline could be.
I'm not sure this will fit in the 'blog' but will try. I heard this years ago and loved it..I am a clothesline fan!
ReplyDeleteThe clothesline
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 on the line
You'd see the company table clothes
With intricate design.
The line announced a baby's birth
To 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 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 gray,
As neighbors raised their brows,
And looked disgustedly away.
But clotheslines now are of the past
For dryers make work 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!
~ Author Unknown ~
My clothes are on the line today!! I am thrilled to have a new line and am trying to use it every chance I get!
ReplyDeleteThanks Lynn for that poem! Maybe now neighbours will talk over the fence and become friendly once again and we will actually get to 'know' our neighbours!! :)
Just maybe it's the secret to 'peace'!
ReplyDeleteWe had a good chuckle at the poem, which is actually quite accurate. I think I mentioned before that when we were in Newfoundland and expecting our firstborn the word got around that the joyous event had occurred. In fact Ruth was just washing some second-hand baby clothes and the birth was still weeks away.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lynn, and we will be looking out our window Nancy to see what's on the line!