Every two weeks I do my laundry and for the majority of either one Saturday or one Sunday, that day is pretty much shot to pieces. Being tied to a washing machine and dryer is not my idea of fun, especially when there are things that I really want to do on my day off.
But if I get the opportunity to actually enjoy doing my laundry, I grab it and slog my way to the end zone. Last Saturday was one such day.
It was a beautiful day and the sun beat down. There was a cool breeze alternating from the mountain and from the town blowing through my backyard, the family was pretty much gone for the weekend, so I decided to take full advantage of the stars alignment for that day.
Right off the bat, I decided to go semi-green by hanging my laundry outside. I used to do this for many years while living in East Hartford, so I decided to take full advantage of the street's orientation to the sun. In other words, the backyard was in the east, thus the sun rose and hammered the backyard with enough sunlight to make a blade of grass sweat until it died.
So after hanging a small batch of laundry on the line, I took a seat under one of the few remaining trees in my backyard, inhale the sound of a few birds chirping and the leaves rustling in the breeze until my soul was drenched, check out scenery such as this:
and write.
Periodically, I would look up and check on the two dogs that I was babysitting that weekend to see how they were doing. Each one was laying down in the shade, chillin' out and enjoying the afternoon breeze that was blowing through the yard. After making sure that they were okay, I returned to my writing.
About twenty-five minutes after I had sat down, I got up and retrieved the next batch of laundry and repeat the process again.
After doing this three or four times, I pretty much lost track of time. I never took out my phone to check what the time was, but instead, would glance at the time whenever I would go inside to retrieve another load of laundry.
And thus, my Saturday went pretty much like a lazy summer afternoon, in which the only thing I really had to worry about was having to move the chair so that I wouldn't get a sunburn.
What did your neighbors say about your undies hanging on the line?
ReplyDeleteThat sounds absolutely lovely.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of laundry, man. I do laundry about once a week and just stick it in the machines and generally let it ride.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a nice day. I remember my mother used to hang laundry out to dry when we were kids, and how good they smelled.
ReplyDeleteBearman: I'm very fortunate to have trees on all three sides of my yard, otherwise, they would be very blinded by the whiteness of my tighty whiteys.
ReplyDeleteM: It was about the best Saturday I had in quite sometime.
Charles: It seems like a lot, but it was only one hamper.
The main reason why I didn't want to use the dryer was basically that I wanted to save on electricity. And I wanted to enjoy the outdoors as much as I possibly could.
Lynn: It was. And that fresh laundry smell was absolutely to die for. Brought back good memories of living in East Hartford.
It's funny, I was just talking to a friend about how I sometimes find things like laundry and cleaning to be quite relaxing and therapeutic... I don't know if it's the repetition (very conducive to zoning out... :)), or the fact that once it's all finished, everything is nice and clean and you're left with a sense of accomplishment. But either way, it sounds like a nice way to spend a Saturday! :)
ReplyDeleteLisa: It's not so much therapeutic as it simply allows me some much needed alone time, at least doing it this way. Doing it the normal way simply means that I get aggravated 'cause I can't really do much of anything else.
ReplyDeleteWhich sounds strange, but really it doesn't. My den is right next to the laundry room, so I get a little stressed while I'm doing it the normal way. But when I'm outside and doing it, I find that my concentration is a helluva better than if I was inside.
And after a day like that, there is nothing better than crawling into a bed made up with fresh sunshine sheets!
ReplyDeleteGranny Annie: Absolutely!
ReplyDeleteThat's a lovely way to do laundry.
ReplyDeleteAt one point there was a movement in Toronto to ban clotheslines. I guess some people didn't want their outdoor dinner parties decorated by their next-door neighbours' unmentionables fluttering in the breeze. Fortunately no by-law was ever passed to that effect. Considering the push to "go green" we should thank everyone who hangs their laundry out to dry.
The washing machine goes on every day in our house, sometimes twice. No one would have anything to wear if we left it for 2 weeks! Blimey you must all have a lot of underwear! :D
ReplyDeleteS.R.: People protest about the silliest things, don't they?
ReplyDeleteConsidering how much I'm shelling out for electricity every month, if I can save just a little bit, then I'm way ahead of the game.
Joe: I'm pretty adept at taking care of myself, so I do my laundry myself. Partially to give my wife a break and mostly to give myself a little down time.
And yes, I have just enough underwear in my drawer to last two weeks...so long as there's no accidents involve. :D
We do laundry once a week. Sometimes twice. With a baby, every two weeks would be a ton.
ReplyDeleteDavid: Oh man, I remember those days. I think that with a baby, twice a week was the norm with both of mine. Used to go through laundry detergent like it was water back then.
ReplyDeleteI think that twice a week minimum is the norm for most households nowadays, but there's always a way to make it not so dreary.