Doing the laundry
This past week has been lovely for everyone. It's the kind of weather that makes people smile, head outside, and comment on just how cracking it is. It's been not just sunny and warm but windless -- a rare weather pattern in windy Welly. It makes me think "time to do the washing".
Without a dryer, we rely on the weather to do the work. Air drying clothes here is not just for the environmentally minded, or the poor, or the thrifty. It's what everyone here does, no matter what the season. Although many people own dryers they are only used in a pinch. Even the wealthiest houses have a permanent drying rack outside the house. It's something that is now part of our routine such that even though we bought a dryer yesterday we still hung the clothes to dry.
While line drying our clothes seems like a small change, it takes the pace of our lives back a notch. There is a meditation to hanging each item of clothing on pegs, sometimes at night under the stars. Line laundry is one of the few chores that the kids readily take on. One of the girls hands me two pegs and the other a wet item of clothing. It reminds me of the British kid's book "Doing the washing" by Sarah Garland. It brings back a simpler time.
Our line
Although the meditative effect does dull a bit after 4 loads of laundry...it's already one of the NZ traits Lucas and I hope to take back with us.
I like the idea that everyone around town is wearing the same stiff, crunchy air dried clothes we are.
Without a dryer, we rely on the weather to do the work. Air drying clothes here is not just for the environmentally minded, or the poor, or the thrifty. It's what everyone here does, no matter what the season. Although many people own dryers they are only used in a pinch. Even the wealthiest houses have a permanent drying rack outside the house. It's something that is now part of our routine such that even though we bought a dryer yesterday we still hung the clothes to dry.
While line drying our clothes seems like a small change, it takes the pace of our lives back a notch. There is a meditation to hanging each item of clothing on pegs, sometimes at night under the stars. Line laundry is one of the few chores that the kids readily take on. One of the girls hands me two pegs and the other a wet item of clothing. It reminds me of the British kid's book "Doing the washing" by Sarah Garland. It brings back a simpler time.
Our line
Although the meditative effect does dull a bit after 4 loads of laundry...it's already one of the NZ traits Lucas and I hope to take back with us.
I like the idea that everyone around town is wearing the same stiff, crunchy air dried clothes we are.
I remember doing exactly that with my mother in Patagonia. Same winds I guess. Its a great way of getting the kids involved in a simple chore that does not become a chore but a bonding.
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