Clothes Line Saga

As you might have noticed, from time to time, I like to put aside some photos and possibly revisit a couple of older ones which make up a theme of sorts. This is one of those time.


The blog post title is one of Nobel Prize winner, Bob Dylan's pieces. And the quotes beneath each of the following photos are all from that song.

This is a ceramic dish I saw at the Art Gallery of Peterborough, and it's what gave me the idea of a clothesline/laundry theme. Thomas Aitken designs the ceramics and Kate Hyde does the whimsical art. I hope you enjoy my version of laundry day.

Don't worry - I won't ask you to fold.

After a while we took in the clothes

Nobody said very much

Just some old wild shirts and a couple pairs of pants

Which nobody wanted to touch

Laundry drying in the fresh country air. As you can see the sun was setting and so it needed to come in before too much longer - though it probably stayed there until morning.

Mama come in and picked up a book

An' papa asked her what it was

Someone else asked "what do you care?"

Papa said "well, just because"

A bench outside of a laundromat here in Peterborough. I've posted this image before but at that time, I opted to display it in black and white.

Then they started to take back their clothes

Hang 'em on the line

It was January the thirtieth

And everybody was feelin' fine

I see this clothesline full of items regularly when I walk down to the lake. It seems like most days are laundry day at their house.

The next day, everybody got up

Seein' if the clothes were dry

The dogs were barking, a neighbor passed

Mama, of course, she said "hi"

These colourful towels belonged to Liz and Ron - my seasonal neighbours just down the road when I lived up on the lake. They're lovely, kind people. This photo was taken in May of 2015. I think they were just settling in for the summer.

"Have you heard the news?" he said with a grin

"the vice president's gone mad"

"Where?" "downtown" "when?" "last night"

"Hmm, say, that's too bad"

Colourful clothespins dancing in the wind.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it" said the neighbor

"It's just something we're gonna have to forget"

"Yes, I guess so" said ma

Then she asked me if the clothes was still wet

Another clothesline by the lake. And yes, the towels were probably still wet.

I reached up, touched my shirt

And the neighbor said "are those clothes yours?"

I said "some of them, not all of them"

He said "ya always help out around here with the chores?"

This was in a public picnic area in a park near a walking path on the shores of Lake Ontario in Ajax.

I said "sometimes, not all of the time"

Then my neighbor blew his nose

Just as papa yelled outside

"Mama wants you to come back in the house and bring them clothes"

Peterborough showed support with over 7000 bras which adorned the walls of a local radio station for the 6th annual Bras Around the Building fundraiser. The campaign raised over $16,500 for breast cancer research this year. After the bras were all laundered, Seeds of Hope donated them to relief efforts in Haiti and Honduras.

Well, I just do what I'm told

So I did it, of course

I went back in the house and mama met me

And then I shut all the doors

See? I told you I wasn't going to ask you to fold. It's all done