My mother hung her laundry outdoors on clotheslines to dry and I have a multitude of memories: garments blowing in the wind undulating across the ravine toward the distant train with its haunting whistle; that same scene, in southern Ontario, in the winter – my mother tussling with a frozen sheet and her astonishment – and mine! – at having it break in two in her arms as she tried to fold it; later years, a clothesline strung through trees on the side of a lake in the Muskokas, catching the view magnificently at the expense of the sun and the breeze; later still, drying racks in the breezeway to protect from the rain but make use of the wind.
Clotheslines have been a part of my life ever since: the scent of the outdoors in clothes and linens and towels; the crisp feel of sheets and towels and blouses blown dry by the wind; the satisfying experience of hanging out each garment, one by one, delighting in the texture, colour; weight of wet – light of dry; smiling at the memory of weather cold enough to snap a sheet…..
Across the years I’ve owned several portable clothes dryers in wood and plastic-coated metal and they serve for indoor drying or on deck drying when the weather is not optimistic for the length of time it takes to dry clothing on a clothesline. Then I saw a stainless steel dryer in a hardware store, hanging high on a wall, and stopped and stared. I’d never seen one before. I love stainless steel! A salesclerk fetched it down for me to look at. I admired it mightily but the forty or so dollar price tag prevented a spontaneous purchase.
It stuck in my mind. I went back a month or so later to see if perhaps it had gone on sale. It had sold. (I did not ask if it had gone on sale.) A new shipment was expected whenever it arrived. Candid salesmen are a bit rare; I enjoyed this response!
A few weeks later the shipment had arrived but the plain, simple, stainless steel dryer now had ugly black plastic added to it here and there for some reason.
Well, the sight of the pictured drying rack at a garage sale shortly thereafter had me again in a stop and stare and reach out and claim. When I realized it telescoped – oh my goodness! The asking price was $5. I did not barter.
Here it is on the deck on a typical Victoria winter day when Nature juggles sun and showers in a random time frame and a prudent housewife homemaker allows for laundry trekking . It is in its partially-extended state to accommodate a set of bamboo/cotton towels which I discovered at a half-price sale at the Bay. I’ve knit dishcloths with bamboo yarn and been pleased so was interested to try out towels, particularly in a blend with cotton as I found the pure bamboo a bit too relaxed.
The towels are proving to be as good as the saleslady – and a woman who has had some for a year – claimed. They are soft and absorbent but not slippery- slick ; they have a nice light feel to them. And they dried very nicely on that lovely rack with a few back and forth trips.