Vintage Backyard Clotheslines and Lawnmowers

My backyard clothesline has been finally put to good use this summer.  After an interminable cold rainy season, I once again am able to enjoy hanging the laundry out in the fresh air and sunshine.  Nothing, I mean nothing, compares to the exquisitely poignant scent of air-dried laundry.  Especially sheets!  Slipping into a bed with freshly air-dried linens is a heady experience.

Because I didn’t grow up with air-dried laundry (my mother embraced the dryer wholeheartedly), this poignant olfactory memory must be part of the collective unconsciousness.  It runs deep.  And it is such a basic, simple thing to do: just hang your sheets out on the line; bring in when dry; put sheets on bed; enjoy!

I am especially grateful this summer for the wise purchase I made of an electric lawnmower.  My backyard had been growing wild for over a year, and my push-reel lawnmower just didn’t cut it (literally).  My nice neighbor cut the wild 3 foot carnage with his powerful riding lawn mower.  Well, scalped, really.  It was nice to see the dirt.  Since the purchase of said electric lawnmower, it’s been great to keep up with the mowing.  Electric lawnmowers are a most fabulous invention.

I love this vintage 1946 ad for Pepperell Sheets.  The painting by Ric Howard shows a slice of vintage Americana that is just wonderful.  Hanging laundry, gardening, lawn mowing, mailman, kids playing, dogs, auto repair, and shopping are the everyday activities depicted in this great painting.  Some things, hopefully, never change.

~Marilyn Huttunen