My sheets are pinned to the backyard clothes line now, flipping in the breeze. Today I’m celebrating the end of our torrid Florida summer by hanging our sheets outside in the fresh fall air. Very old-fashioned and very retro. I guess I’m an Urban Mama!

Sheets blowing in sync with frond on banana tree in background

Sheets blowing in sync with frond on banana tree in background

We live in the city, and I have a clothes drier, but today I am savoring the slow, sweet, luxury of sheets line dried fastened with wooden clothes pins, the kind with metal springs. No extra electricity, no pain for the sheets twirling endlessly in a hot, round drum.

When I was born, there were no automatic washers and driers. Most housewives back then used electric washers with wringers, not washboards. But clothes were dried by solar and wind power. A “new baby” card sent to Daddy from my Great Uncle Fritz attests to the line drying of diapers, the gauzy cloth variety fastened with medium-sized safety pins. But, trust me, my dad never hung a diaper or any other article of clothing on the line.

BabyCardFint
 
Card to my Dad Ray from his Uncle Fritz

Card to my Dad Ray from his Uncle Fritz

What are your childhood memories of doing the laundry? 
What unusual ways of drying clothes do you know about or practice now?
Your comments are welcome. I always respond!