The news that clotheslines are back as an environmentally conscious way to dry clothes is both good and bad.
Clotheslines have been glorified as an emblem of the good old days, especially in country and Western songs where Mom sings Amazing Grace while pinning socks. (Not my mom.) But in the real world they are a mixed blessing.
Sure, nothing beats the fragrant aura of sheets dried amidst pastoral breezes--but how about towels, assuming they even dry? Do they go in the linen closet--or in the garage as emergency sandpaper?
Raise your hand if you've hung wash in the climes like Phoenix or Vegas and found your royal blue shirt converted into a robin's egg blue shirt in about two hours? What does sun like this do to a women's complexion?
And how about 98 percent humidity environments like New Orleans where nothing every really "dries," matches don't always light and rice cakes collapse instead of crunch? No electric shocks when you shake hands there!
Just as clothes dried outside adopt fresh air odors, so do clothes dried in musty basements, the more common scenario. And that's not counting clothes that actually fall on the floor and beg rewashing.
But assuming no rain, humidity or bleaching sun, there are still problems with hanging your wash outside.
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