Line Drying Clothes

[finn's mom]

I like the idea of the little cloth between the pin and the item! I'll have to cut up one of the prefolds and use it for that purpose. So far, I've had great luck with the clothes I've hung. I just can't get over how cute the baby clothes look hanging outside. They are so stinking tiny! I just got a package yesterday with some newborn sized onesies, and they are unbelievably small! I'm taking one of them to the hospital with us as an option for Clara to come home in, just in case she doesn't fit in the other thing we chose.

I have had good luck so far with pinning shirts under the arm where all the seams meet, great idea! And, several things I've hung by the tags or by the drawstrings (like David's gym shorts). I love the clothes line!

[Grace]

I got this in an email today, and it fits right in with this topic.


A POEM

A clothes line 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 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 carefully raised their brows,
And looked the other way...

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!