The Cape Cod Clothesline

~The Cape Cod Clothesline.

~A fixture on Old Cape Cod. As common as the much adored outdoor shower. A Cape Cod clothes line has a particular style. It's, shall we say, rather crude. Usually two posts, each with a "T" formation on the top and two lengths of rope spanning from one end to the other. A 'must have' on the Cape where wet beach towels and swim suits are a constant. The routine consists of coming back from the beach, hopping into the outdoor shower, rinsing one's self and swim suit off and heading to the clothes line.

~Somehow, we inherit several beach towels here each year. No one owns up to possession which never ceases to amaze me. A good beach towel is not cheap! But we have quite a collection that are unclaimed. I just wash them and put them in the beach towel pile in the shed with the others.

~On occasion, the clothes line is used like any other clothes line. I love to dry our sheets outdoors and if I'm not in a hurry on the day I change the beds, the sheets get to blow in the breeze...love the sweet smell of cotton dried outdoors. I've also used our clothes line to feature aprons for our apronsgonewild.etsy.com online shop. Looks sort of old fashioned, don't you think?

~Hubby has a thing about drying clothes outside. He thinks it's silly when there is a perfectly good electric dryer ready and waiting. He also doesn't like the way it looks. Isn't that a hoot? There are soooooo many things that we disagree on mainly because I don't like the way something looks. But this one is his pet peeve. Odd. Go figure.

~Right now the clothes line is mainly bare. But soon, it will be loaded with towels and swim suits and running gear. We have several runners in the family and their clothes are dripping wet when they get back from a jog. They go right on the line for a bit until they can be brought in to wash.

~I don't think I could live without our clothes line. I love to air out the many quilts we have on all the beds. And it's the perfect place to hang something white that needs natural bleaching from the sun. It's a very serviceable object, indeed.

~So I say....happy air drying and happy summer!

~Oh...and while I'm at it, I couldn't miss the chance to show you the job I did on our slate path to the back shed. I actually cut out all the grass around the stones with a steak knife! It had grown so heavy that it was covering almost all of the steps. You could hardly see them. Now, there's a clear pathway.

~Be sure to check us out at www.apronsgonewild.etsy.com

YARD SALE SATURDAY

~It is said that a test of a person's character is how they deal with adversity (or lost luggage). Well...I'd like to add that it's how they deal with a massive rain storm in the middle of a yard sale. That's what happened this weekend when our youngest daughter, who lives just around the corner from us, attempted to have a yard sale on her front lawn.
~An awful lot of work goes into properly preparing for a good yard sale. Everything should be priced. Buyers don't like having to ask "how much" each and every thing is. Stuff should be clean and well displayed. It's better to put furniture pieces right out on the lawn rather than ask folks to come inside. All this and more had been done over a two week period. She was well prepared.

~I got up early this Saturday morning to bop over to help only to find that she already had everything out and ready to go by 6:30am. I was impressed. While she showered, I had my coffee and sat relaxed on the front lawn waiting for customers. Several nice folks stopped by around 8am and we sold a few things. But then I heard it...the long, low rumble of thunder.
Hmm...Should we panic? Would it just pass overhead? How much risk was it to just leave everything out?
~Instinct sent me back home to grab some tarps. By the time I returned, the raindrops were starting to fall. We hurriedly covered everything and hoped for the best. But this thunder storm was not to be denied. I swear I've never seen such a downpour. The ground quickly filled up with deep puddles. The bottoms of the wood bunk beds were sitting in water. The dust ruffle on the upholstered armless chair was wet two inches up from the bottom. The tarps began to blow off and all the clothing and stuffed animals began to get soaked. What to do? What to do?
~We began bringing it all inside. However, most of it was already soaked. Books, CDs, games, throw pillows, quilts, dresses, shirts, sweatshirts. All of it soaked. The living room became a storage locker. Not only was stuff piled all over but it was all wet. It was cause for tears.
~But...no tears were shed. Just a lot of talk about a disaster. I think if it had been my effort over the past two weeks, I would have just sat down and cried. But not our daughter. She worked even harder and succeeded in getting all of it indoors and off the lawn. I was impressed.
~Later, after we had dried almost everything off, she said..."I guess I'll just have it next weekend."

~Huh? What? You're going to go through this all over again? Hmm...Well...I guess, maybe. In any event, she definitely passed the character test this morning!