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There is something so authentic about hanging laundry out to dry on a clothes line...
The Italians have a way with laundry and they seem to create wonderful photographic opportunities for those of us who have a desire to capture the simplicity of their lifestyle and their certain customs on film. When I was studying in Cortona, Italy, I lived in a monastery which had been converted into a make-shift dormitory for all of us students. There were no washers and dryers for us to use, so we scrubbed our clothes outside in a large galvanized bucket with an old-fashioned washboard.
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Then we would hang everything out to dry on the clothes lines in the walled garden…
or in the sanctuary courtyard...
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Under Where?
...and other spots we could find.
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After a few months of living there, I happened to become good friends with the Italian women and their little children, because I could speak the Italian language and communicate with them conversationally on a regular basis. They loved it and occasionally they would take my laundry and wash it with all of the monastery linens in the machines!
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I love the fresh scent of crisp cotton sheets that have been blowing in the breeze and dried by the sun. I actually have a clothes line in my back yard! And…I do hang my linens out to dry.
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Now it is time for me to do some of my own laundry. Stay clean and don’t air your “dirty laundry” out to dry!
Ciao for now my friends.
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P.S. Some of these photographs are now available in my Etsy shop.