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

Keeping You Hanging - No Posts of the Week

Sorry, folks. I'm going to have to pass on the Posts of the Week again this time. Yesterday, I decided to head to Frank's for a few days, kind of at the last minute. I remembered to grab a few photos onto my flash drive but forgot all about the oollected POTW links. On the plus side, this means that I should have more than usual for you next time.

I hate to lure you over here and then offer you nothing at all, so in keeping with the previous cottage post, I've included a couple of images taken on an overcast day.

I'm not sure if I'm the only one amused by an empty clothesline but for what it's worth, I snapped a couple of shots of the idle clothespins, and one more on a different evening when the clothesline was respectfully employed. I hope you like them.

I should have a regular post for you tomorrow.

A swirl of empty clothespins adorn the otherwise naked line. All but two are in a colourful, windy blur.

It's kind of silly how they so often catch my eye but they do. I have posted images of empty clothespins before, and even turned one of those images into the current icon for the Posts of the Week.

Towels and clothes spent another day drying on the line. They may have still been hanging there when the sunset was done.

By the Shore

I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore…
I hear it in the deep heart's core.
W. B. Yeats

Earlier this month, when we planned for a few days up at the cottage, Environment Canada was being a big party pooper. Their long-range forecast warned of cool, rainy weather for the full time we hoped to be there, beginning with the three-hour drive up on the Tuesday. Thoughts of rainy fishing days and wet, empty hammocks prevailed. Gone was the hope of a campfire each evening and long walks devoid of pesky mosquitoes. We packed for all kinds of weather and card games, and went anyway.

Upon arrival, we were greeted with only stray gray wisps of cloud in an otherwise blue sky. Also greeting us were Frank's sister, her husband and their brother in law. We spent the afternoon sitting and chatting on the dock where the grand total of four raindrops touched my skin. The rest of our visit was met with mostly sunny skies, warm days and comfortable nights. I love it when meteorologists are wrong like that.

Theresa's usual menagerie accompanied her. Her kittens (found abandoned within a day or two after their birth - umbilical cords still attached) Luca and Sambuca are now a few months old and are at that incredibly cute stage where they have to play with everything - all night long. The critters, having been separated from their mother at such an early age, still have a strong sucking and kneading urge.

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When Luca is tired, he climbs up onto his blanket, then kneads and sucks it until he falls asleep. Similarly, Sambuca settles in and grabs his own tail to suck on. They're incredibly cute.

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Her big, beautiful sheep dog, Duncan was there. And so were 6 baby squirrels which Theresa is raising to maturity. Add Benny to that mix and we had quite the activity level at times.

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Of course Sugar and Spike were around in the evenings too.

By the following afternoon, Frank, Benny and I were alone at the cottage. Being the incurable romantic that Frank is, it wasn't long before he had that irresistible gleam in his eye. He sidled closer to me, cupped my chin in his hand and looked deeply into my eyes so that there was no mistaking what he wanted me to do next. "Sweetie, the worms are on the lower shelf of the back room fridge. Grab them for me, willya?" Yeah, he's hot when he's got fishin' on his mind.

Between the two of us, we grabbed the worms, rods, tackle boxes, vests, PFDs, hats, sunglasses, sunscreen, the cooler should we get lucky (by now you'll have figured out that means "if we should catch something") and various other paraphernalia which might come in handy at some point. We grabbed Benny and put him in the cottage and then headed out for a couple of hours of fishing.

The eagles' nest was empty more often than not, that week, but we did see them flying around at various times of the day.

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One drive-by with the boat proved worthwhile when we saw one of the adults perched proudly atop its nest.

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Another time we noticed him on a branch which topped a tree within clear, but distant view of the cottage.

Our fishing luck was pretty much in keeping with the rest of the summer - poor. About mid-week, one of our trips out in the boat resulted in two catches.

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This bass was one of them. It was released back into the lake immediately after the photo was taken.

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That same day, I also caught this walleye which became our lunch the next afternoon. Yum!

Some afternoons were too clear and breeze-free for fishing, so we each got some reading done out on that dock.

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Benny was happy to just lounge around nearby, but kept a watchful eye to to be sure we didn't make moves to get into the boat.

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Occasionally, he'd wander over to the edge of the dock to check out that twin JRT in the water. And yes, he fell in once or twice while going after it.

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Nearby, colourful clothespins on the line caught my eye.

Nighttime comes sooner at this time of year, and shortly after securing the boat and returning worms to the fridge, Frank would build a fire.

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He's been referred to as the Fish Whisperer, Dog Whisperer, Tree Whisperer and probably more, but after three or four nights of perfect campfires, he is also most definitely the Flame Whisperer.

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Just look at that baby burn!

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A last glance or two out on the water just before all colour disappeared from the sky. Weakening ripples gently lapped the shore.

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The night sky descends to kiss the last shades of the sun goodnight.

The small photo at the top, is of the cottage as seen from the boat on the way back from an afternoon of fishing. Please click on it to enlarge.