Clotheslines and Tattoos

Don't you just hate the thought of ironing all these aprons? I remember a time when I didn't have a dryer and clotheslines were a necessity. Funny thing is that I continue to use my clothesline even though I do have a very nice washer and dryer... because I LOVE the fragrance of fresh, air dried linens. How about you? I have always liked clotheslines and enjoy taking pictures of them.

This cottage shop photo with a local street fair admirer was taken with my Nikon D200. Barefoot Books-LadyD is linking with Blue Monday.

Are you familiar with the Clothesline Poem?

A CLOTHESLINE POEM

A clothesline was a news

forecast

To neighbors passing by,

There were no secrets you could

keep

When clothes were hung to dry.

It also was a friendly link

For

neighbors always knew,

If company had stopped on by

To spend a night or

two.

For then you'd see the "fancy sheets"

And towels upon the

lines;

You'd see the "company table cloths"

With intricate

designs.

The line announced a baby's birth

From folks who lived inside

-

As brand new infant clothes were hung,

So carefully with

pride!

The ages of the children could

So readily be known

By

watching how the sizes changed,

You'd know how much they'd grown!

It

also told when illness struck,

As extra sheets were hung;

Then

nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too,

Haphazardly were strung.

It also

said, "Gone on vacation now"

When lines hung limp and bare.

It told,

"We're back!" when full lines sagged,

With not an inch to spare!

New

folks in town were scorned upon

If wash was dingy and gray,

As neighbors

carefully raised their brows,

And looked the other way.

But

clotheslines now are of the past,

For dryers make work much less.

Now what

goes on inside a home

Is anybody's guess!

I really miss that way of

life.

It was a friendly sign.

When neighbors knew each other

best

By what hung on the line.

~Marilyn K. Walker ~

Poem Credit

 Cute video by Peter Weatherall, children's song Clothesline. 

Street Fair Art: Tattoos

Wherever I go roaming about with my camera, I'm always seeing quite a display of colorful body art. I spotted Willie Wonka on this man's leg and the floral sleeve design on the woman above is so pretty. I myself don't have a tattoo but I often thought the Grecian Key design would have been nice...

Wikipedia says:


A tattoo is a form of body modification, made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. The first written reference to the word, "tattoo" (or Samoan "Tatau") appears in the journal of Joseph Banks (24 February 1743 – 19 June 1820), the naturalist aboard Captain Cook's ship the HMS Endeavour: "I shall now mention the way they mark themselves indelibly, each of them is so marked by their humor or disposition".
The word "tattoo" was brought to Europe by the explorer James Cook, when he returned in 1771 from his first voyage to Tahiti and New Zealand. In his narrative of the voyage, he refers to an operation called "tattaw". Before this it had been described as scarring, painting, or staining.

Tattoo information,  read more.

Photos for Mandarin Orange Monday








“You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me.” — C. S. Lewis