Set free.....

I've set myself and my clothespins FREE!
For a year now, I have been using a clothespin bag that I lovingly made for myself and for a couple new brides. I thought then, "They're cute and they're useful," all the while knowing deep within my soul that MY new clothespin bag would put me in bondage.

"How?" you ask.

Well, let me begin at the beginning. I grew up with clothespins that had to be always returned to the clothespin bag after each wash day. They were always nice and smooth and tan (not tattered and gray and weathered). So I knew how the whole clothes line routine should go. But then I got married and my mother-in-love did not use a clothespin bag. Oh no. She left her pins on the line year round. How barbarian! But how liberating! I tried it, and I loved it. It was nice not always taking each and every pin off the line every time I hung out the laundry which was daily, especially when the children were small and there were seven of us to wash for. It was nice to hang the childrens' swimsuits right on the line after they ran through the sprinkler or hang the towel that dried the dog or to quick-dry the tea towels after doing dishes. No need to go find the bag of pins in the laundry room for little jobs like that.

Through the years, my clothespins have weathered gray and are a bit snaggly and some of them have a wee bit of lichen growing on them. But I love them and they just seemed far to wild and unrefined to be cloistered up into a bag for a year only come out for an airing once in awhile and only during daylight hours. These pins were used to bouncing on the line in all weathers -- sun, rain, hail, snow and wind and they had opportunity to be out in the late hours of the night under moonlight. How did I think I could ever get used to such regiment after all this freedom?

So for me and my clothespins, today was our Independence Day! Freedom to live on the edge of domesticity! The revolt was stoked by the large quantity of smelly barn-type laundry that required immediate attention. There were lots and lots jeans, t-shirts and socks which makes a great deal of pinning for the Laundress. And since there were so many loads, that meant when some things were dry, they needed to come off promptly and efficiently so as to make room for the next loads. Do you see how much pinning and unpinning and bagging this makes? Total fiddle-faddle in my lazy homemaker opinion.

So.........


The wild and gnarly clothespin

Today I have given up trying to be cute and fussy and proper about my clothesline and it's pins. It's back to the old ways. Ahhhh.....freedom.