Tuesday, November 15, 2005

The Fragrance of Laundry



Have you ever noticed the fragrance of laundry? I love burying my nose is freshly dried sheets and towels, especially when they have been dried outside on a clothesline. Arizona winters in the desert have especially made me appreciate the smell of 'fresh linen'. It only takes a few hours on the clothesline for sheets, towels, jeans, and tops to be completely dry and delightfully fragrant! Winters in the our northern climate to not promote drying clothes on the line, as they simply will not dry in a day! There is too much moisture in the air, even on a sunny day. But during the summer months I dry many things outside on my porch clothesline. Cottons, linens, silks, and such get special care and dry quickly in the summer sun. They enter our closets smelling fresh, clean, and fragrant. It's a fragrance that the clothes dryer simply cannot duplicate, even with an abundance of smelly softener sheets. A friend recently gave me a beautiful little candle called "fresh linen". Surprisingly, it duplicates the fragrance of fresh, clothesline dried clothes very well. When lit on winter days, it carries me back to the warm summer sunshine and I look forward with anticipation to clothesline days ahead.

2 comments:

  1. I had to chuckle when I saw this post as I just put up a picture of my laundry drying on the line on my blog. In winter we freeze dry our clothes and in summer they dry very fast on our wind generated solar clothes dryer ! We only have a clothes line, no dryer to use for a back up, poses a challange at times but worth it.

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  2. I love clotheslines! When we are in Arizona, that's how we dry all our laundry. At home, I try to carry on the process, but in the winter months it just doesn't work. I can leave my laundry out for three days and it remains damp and wet the entire time! A nice, foldling laundry rack set in front of the wood stove does help me experience some of the benefits of naturally dried clothes!

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