Wash Day Art

As the green movement has grown, hanging out clothes has become de rigueur. Solar dryers, some call them, but around here they are still known as clotheslines, and on the Island they never really went out of style, except possibly with the emerging trophy house crowd who live in climate-controlled homes where the windows are never thrown open to the fresh, unpolluted sea air.

That’s too bad, because there is nothing like Vineyard air for drying clothes on the line. The sheets come in sweet and fresh and crisp — no iron required. The whites are whiter, all bleached by the sun — no Clorox required.

Besides that, hanging out the wash is an act of mindful meditation, a time to pause before the rush of the day ahead, enjoying the simple task at hand.

And like a well-tended vegetable garden or a trug of freshly cut flowers, perfectly hung laundry on the line is a work of art.