THE CLOTHES DRYER...MODERN ART? - Part Deux

Okay! Will someone please remind me why I don't use my perfectly good clothes dryer?  Yes, it is small…about half the size of my dryer in the States, (which may be an overstatement of it’s actual size.)  It’s so small that three large towels max it out to capacity.  In fact, it’s so small…How small is it you say?  It’s so small, that if it was any smaller, Barbie would be using it to dry Ken’s boxers!  It is because of its size that Australian’s typically hang them on the wall above their washers!  Can you believe it?  A clothes dryer hanging on the wall, gathering dust (because it’s rarely used) like some piece of modern art…like a sculpture designed by Michelangelo himself!

So...I have a question that I'd like to throw out into the cosmic universe... “Why do I continue to hang my clothes out to dry now that we are heading into winter and the weather has decidedly changed to cool, damp and rainy?" Believe it or not, but the change in weather doesn’t stop Aussies from hanging out their clothing to dry. They just watch the weather reports on television a little more closely to determine the best day to do laundry. In fact, the weatherman often will describe a sunny day in winter by saying, “Today would be a great day to put the laundry out.” Can you believe it?  Getting laundry advice from the weatherman!





In the winter, timing is everything!

Today started out a bit chilly and overcast with some drizzles, reminding me a lot of my home in Oregon, but the drizzles had stopped (unlike Oregon) so I decided to hang the laundry out to dry...this is where I went wrong!  What on earth makes me believe that I can dry my wet laundry outside on a day that’s reminiscent of a rainy day at the beach back home? Of course, I didn’t have any good explanation for this so I shrugged my shoulders and dismissed it with the old, “When in Rome do as the Romans do” cliché, in hopes that would improve my attitude about doing something that made no logical sense.  So, instead of throwing my damp clothes into a dryer, I boldly turned my face to the wind, reached into my laundry basket, sunshine on my back, as I squeezed the clothes pins one at a time, to hold each piece of laundry snugly into place until the basket was empty.

Once I had completed my task, I headed back into my warm, dry house and found myself to be a bit prideful for such an accomplishment. Not only did this dryer-using, never-hung-laundry-out-to-dry-American bravely face the elements successfully hanging my load of laundry in true Aussie fashion, but I managed to do so between storm clouds! You see? With a bit of meticulous planning you can take advantage of the sun breaks and hopefully find your clothes dry before the next burst of rain.

At that point, I peered through the window, admiring my laundry hanging beautifully on the line as it soaked up the bright sunshine and fresh air of the day when all of the sudden…oh, oh…something I hadn’t planned on… “Nooooo!” I cried, as I watched a bird land on my freshly washed laundry and before I could run outside to shoo it away…you guessed it…the stupid bird pooped on my laundry!!!!  Okay, that is something my mother never taught me in “Laundry 101” classes growing up.  It made me start praying for the rain that I had been so determined to avoid a few minutes earlier in hopes it would undo what the bird had just done!

Like I said…timing is everything!  I’m sure that’s what the bird thought!