Clothes lines!

One of my Favorite things about living abroad are the clothes lines.  That's right--we don't have a dryer! In fact I am not too sure if I know anyone with a dryer... everyone has a clothes line. Ours is on the side of our house mounted to a wall much like the picture below. Other people have one in their yard. 

At first I did not know the art of hanging up clothes to dry, how to use clothes pins properly etc....so you don't get funny marks on your shirts. This picture below explains pretty well that you want the clothes pin marks on the bottom of your shirts and not the tops of your shoulders like American pictures and advertisements would have you believe. They wouldn't know because they all use dryers!

I do have a washing machine and when I pull the "wet wash" out I then "hang it on the line"--My favourite part about getting my clothes from the line is the smell of that cold morning freshness. My absolute favorite smell is when I have left the clothes on the line too long, they end up getting rained on, and then I leave them out to dry again. The post rain smell is indescribable and I get to wear it and smell it each time I wear a clothing item from that batch! 

I have memories in my head that make me smile.  I remember one really bad rain storm with lots of wind in the middle of the night. I remember waking Stan up because I was worried the clothes pins wouldn't hold our clothes on the line and I didn't want to loose all our clothes over the neighbors fence. Stan and I ran out to save our clothes in the pouring rain and wind- it was freezing but we saved our clothes :-)

According to my dad, when you hang your clothes up to dry you are less likely to develop allergies. This is because small bits of pollen etc... dry on your clothes when they are out in the wind and you  adapt to it gradually- come spring, pollen and other stuff does not surprise your body as much as someone who uses a dryer to dry their clothes. 

Clothes lines are great, I LOVE them; if I ever moved back to America I would miss my clothes line dearly. I know you are thinking--so install a clothes line, but it is not that simple. There is a whole culture around clothes lines that I would miss. You have no idea how much time I spend talking to other mums about drying clothes. If I had a clothes line in America I wouldn't have anyone to talk to it about because they would all look at me like I was a freak.

Hanging the clothes up to dry is fun too. I get all this fresh air and I have to stretch really tall (because I am short) to reach the line. It is invigorating (takes 10 minutes) and I feel better when I am done. So there you have it.... I love clothes lines!