Laundry is a photograph by Patricia Januszkiewicz which was uploaded on February 7th, 2013.
Laundry
Article by Connie Schultz, published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on... more
Title
Laundry
Artist
Patricia Januszkiewicz
Medium
Photograph
Description
Article by Connie Schultz, published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on
October 18, 2009:
My mom was an early environmentalist, and she didn't even know it.
One of my fondest childhood memories involves my mother and the clothesline that stretched across our back yard.
Twice a week, she'd grab her bucket full of clothespins and lug a wicker basket full of wet clothes up the basement stairs and out into the sunshine. Only on winter's coldest days would she use the electric dryer.
Often, I helped, handing her one soggy item after another so she could peg faster. Then she'd hook the line with the wired pole and hoist it high into the air to keep the sheets off the ground.
Many hours of my youth were spent perched on a branch in the nearby apple tree, reading books high above the sails of those billowing sheets.
Oh, the fragrance of those sun-dried clothes. Talk about a memory that hinges deep sighs to your smile.
There's an eco-friendly movement underfoot to get more Americans to hang clothes outside to dry. As with any attempt to save the environment, there are opponents. In this case, they tend to be people who move to exurbia to escape all they claim is wrong with modern America but then oppose this throwback to the good ol' days.
The New York Times reported last week that clothesline bans are most prevalent among this country's 60 million community and homeowner associations, whose collective mission revolves around mandatory blandness.
Most of them forbid outdoor clotheslines. Many won't even allow residents to throw a wet beach towel over a railing.
A clothesline devalues property values, they say. Makes it look like you have neighbors who are too poor to own dryers.
There also appears to be an obsession with other people's underwear. One article after another quotes indignant Americans huffing and puffing over the possible horror of seeing grandma's waist-highs flapping in the breeze.
The Times reported that Colorado, Hawaii, Maine and Vermont passed laws last year to allow outdoor clotheslines. Florida and Utah already had such laws, and Maryland, North Carolina, Oregon and Virginia are considering them.
Here's why: Dryers suck up a lot of the country's electricity.
The Department of Energy reported in 2001 that electric clothes dryers account for nearly 6 percent of total electricity use in American homes. This does not even count electricity to power gas-heated dryers.
When you consider that all indoor and outdoor lighting constitutes only 8.8 percent of our collective total usage, you get an idea of just how much energy we're using to do what the sun does for free.
Next May, filmmaker Steven Lake will release a pro-clothesline documentary titled, "Drying for Freedom." In the meantime, Project Laundry List's Web site (laundrylist.org) offers stats and helpful tips to persuade more Americans to hoist up their own laundry:
Snap the clothes before hanging to minimize wrinkles. In frigid weather, hang the clothes inside to humidify the heated air. Pop stiff jeans and towels in the dryer for just a few minutes and set to "air."
Goodness, I'm starting to sound like quite the happy homemaker. Which brings me to one of the questions answered by Project Laundry List:
"Can feminists hang their clothes?"
Why, what better way to unwind after a long day of emasculating the menfolk?
Oh, how I enjoy those stereotypes.
The Web site quotes author Kathleen Norris:
"Laundry, liturgy and women's work all serve to ground us in the world, and they need not grind us down. Our daily tasks, whether we perceive them as drudgery or essential, life-supporting work, do not define who we are as women or as human beings."
Now, I love Norris' work, and I really appreciate her mystical take on all of our womanly tending. In this feminist's home, there's only one rule for any interloper who thinks he's going to touch the laundry: Step Away From the Piles.
Like so many other feminists, I wash, I dry, I fluff and I iron.
Radical, I know.
Blame my mother.
Uploaded
February 7th, 2013
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Comments (25)
Hanne Lore Koehler
Magnificent capture, Patricia!!! What a beautiful composition! Can't beat the smell of laundry dried in fresh air! V21/F
Cheri Randolph
Patricia, I really appreciate your focus on this subject, which is perfectly composed and captured. I still dry all my laundry this way, and don't understand why it isn't a more widespread practice here in the U.S. voted
Patricia Januszkiewicz replied:
Thank you so much, Cheri! very appreciative of your visit and comments .... patricia
Patricia Januszkiewicz
Thank you so much Randy for featuring "Laundry" in your group Wisconsin Flowers and Scenery ... an honor .... patricia
Julie Magers Soulen
I love how the laundry is billowing in the wind and the beautiful colors. Nice work! v
Patricia Januszkiewicz replied:
Thank you, Julie! so glad you like this ... very appreciative of your comments ... patricia
Randy Rosenberger
Lovely composition, Patricia! Love the beautiful blooms along with the clothes line and the greenery and the colorful incline behind this beauty! Love it! f/v
Patricia Januszkiewicz replied:
Thank you so much Randy! your comments are always special for me ... patricia
Sue Smith
Love this one, Patricia! Those clothes must have dried very quickly with that nice breeze. v/f
Patricia Januszkiewicz replied:
Thank you, Sue! always appreciative of your visits and comments .. patricia
Gwyn Newcombe
Your thoughts both written and photographed move me. Beautifully done Patricia! v/f
Patricia Januszkiewicz replied:
Thank you so much Gwyn! so glad you like this image ... I was so thrilled to have come across it ... appreciate the v/f .... patricia
Glenn McCarthy Art and Photography
Don't see Laundry done that way too often in these parts,,, except at my Fathers home. He still refuses to get a dryer! v4
Patricia Januszkiewicz replied:
Thank you, Glenn! appreciate your comments and the vote .... patricia
Patricia Januszkiewicz
Thank you Sandra for the feature in your group Memories and Nostalgia! patricia
Deborah Smith
I love this image- fresh air and flowers! v
Patricia Januszkiewicz replied:
Thank you, Deborah! love your comment "fresh air and flowers" ... nice way to think about this image .... patricia
Joan Carroll
reminds me when i was a kid! now the HOA doesn't allow clothes lines, isn't that wild!? v
Patricia Januszkiewicz replied:
Thank you, Joan! yes, amazing that clothes lines are being banned ... appreciate your visit and vote .... patricia
Sharon Burger
this has a nice homey feel Patricia,I see why you were tempted to take this great shot..
Patricia Januszkiewicz replied:
Thank you so much, Sharon! It is a strange thing as to what scenes we are drawn to ... had to stop the car and go back to get this image ... perhaps meant so much because of childhood memories .. patricia