Clothesline Controversy

As spring pushes forth its greens and yellows, I'm usually found basking in the sunlight on my front porch, dreaming and scheming for this year's gardening thrust.

Though it's not a gardening thrust. per se, I've really been wanting to get a clothesline for our home.
I just had no idea they were so controversial.

While doing my research into which clothesline might be best for our yard, I encountered several interesting conversations.
Mary, my next door neighbor, cautioned me to make sure I had our clothesline out of view of the road. Apparently our community association dictates that clotheslines cannot be hung within view from the road.
I did not know we HAD a community association. No one handed me a booklet of by-laws when we moved in. No one has knocked on my door to collect dues. This phantom community association is concerned about clothesline viewage, but leaves our neighborhood sign to decay into rot and ruin... huh.
I did a little on-line shopping and discovered that there are a plethora of designs and styles for clotheslines. The standard T-shape, which strings line between two stationary cross-shaped poles. The Umbrella style clothesline, which uses a single central pole from which all the supports can by "opened up and out", just like you would with your umbrella. There's the retractable pulley system, which attaches to one wall, then to a pole out in the yard, and you can pulley your clothes in toward you and never have to leave your bathroom window (or something like that.)
There's the Versaline Disappearing clothesline, which simply folds flat to your wall when you're done. So good to have when you live in a 6th floor flat in Amsterdam and don't even own an electric clothes dryer.
I finally decided on a Roman shade design. Hubby and I mounted the retractable end onto our back shed, then sunk a sleeve for the connector pole out in the grass. When I'm ready to hang out clothing, I just plop the connector pole in the sleeve, grab the handle of the Roman shade clothesline and walk it out to the connector pole to hook it in.
When the clothes are dry, the entire thing disassembles and you'd never even know we had a clothesline. I hope the phantom community association approves.

Here's something else I read about clotheslines- to many people they represent poverty. Welfare, dirty, slums, ghetto. Dirt poor. There's a movie producer I read about who even says that she purposely adds clotheslines to her movies that have a theme of poverty. That's the first thing on her to-do list for those movies. String up a clothesline.

Clotheslines = All that is bad in the world.

To many other people, clotheslines are cozy, homey, fresh. Good. Earth-friendly. They represent good stewardship. They harness the free gifts of God through nature- wind, air and sunshine. I found a man who runs an I Love Clotheslines Fan Site.

Clotheslines = All that is good in the world.


So... I don't know if I should tell you this.
I got a clothesline.

But keep it under your hat, ok?