Mum's Clothesline

A sunny day with a light breeze...my Mum's idea of a perfect day to do laundry.  When we were teenagers, my sisters and girlfriends would roll our eyes at our mothers when they'd even think of wasting a perfectly good day doing housework!  We'd overhear our Mum on the phoneline with a neighbour, or calling across to another neighbour, as they each hung freshly washed sheets on their clotheslines, "it's a beautiful day to do laundry!"

At night, when we'd climb into our beds, we'd inhale the fresh, sweet scent of pillow cases and sheets that had been drying in the sunshine en plein air, and drift off to sleep, silently appreciating all that Mum had done for us that day.  Sweet dreams are made of such simple pleasures.

Iconic images of clotheslines, whether filled with brightly coloured shirts and dresses fluttering in the breeze, large white sheets hanging straight on a windless day, or frozen longjohns on a clothesline in February, always bring a wave of nostalgia, and a smile.  The clothesline is near and dear to the entire Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, where clotheslines dance like ribbons across the fields of coastal towns and villages. 

I have long wanted to do a clothesline photoshoot.  They're hard to find in both the city, and the suburbs, where bylaws prohibit them.  I envisioned a farmyard, with a cotton clothesline strung between flowering trees, and pretty coloured clothing held on with wooden clothes pegs.  Romantic, homespun, comforting, and joyful. 

I found the perfect location, in a small grove of Japanese Cherry trees...I just had to photoshop the tombstones out of the pictures.  The passing security guard stopped his car, to make sure that I wasn't a homeless person setting up camp, and realized the tea towels wouldn't have kept a squirrel dry.  It did look odd.    

  

Do you love tea towels as much as I do?  This "laundry" includes some of my favourites.  The others were in the wash!  Really!  

On the far left, the blue and white checkered tablecloth, which along with a matching yellow and white tablecloth, was bought one Sunday morning years ago, at Toronto's St. Lawrence flea market.  The tablecloths had once covered tables at a restaurant in Muskoka.  They retired from cottage country on the lakes, to my home in the biggest city in Canada.     

The beautiful peony tea towel is printed from one of April Cornell's paintings.  If you're familiar with Montreal-based Cornell Trading, you'll know of the Founder's eye for beauty, whimsy and practicality.  A tablecloth version of this, appeared in a recent issue of Victoria Magazine.   

The small, lace fringed handkerchief belonged to my Dad's Aunt, who lived and worked in a three storey brick house in Pembroke, Ontario.  She owned her own hair salon.  A buxom woman, she always had a hanky in her breast pocket.  She had hankies for Christmas, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Canada Day, and Thanksgiving.  She had plain hankies, lace hankies, polkadotted hankies, scalloped edged hankies, and embroidered hankies.  She had hankies with roses on them, hankies with violets, and hankies with forget-me-nots. 

The lovely rose covered, pink bordered tea towel is imported from England.  I did not go there.  It came to me, via the Royal Horticultural Society and a local shop.  The Society has a wonderful slogan on their label, sharing the best in Gardening (with a capital G).  Just makes me love that litle tea towel all the more.  

Remember when tea towels had tourist maps, interesting facts, poems and jokes printed on them?  You can still find a few!  The Empress Hotel tea towel on the far right, is a gift from a dear friend who dropped in for tea at the Empress in Victoria.  The tea towel has their recipe for scones printed on it...those scones are famous for a reason!  

This blogpost and photographs are in honour of my Mum, who if she could have, would have been right there in the cemetery hanging clothes on the line, laughing with her crazy rebel daughter with her Canon Rebel camera.  Or, she would have been home doing the real work of hanging clothes on the line.  It was a great day for it!

Photographs Copyright of: Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.