random thread, for all that you can't find an appropriate thread for.

[Meadow]

Found out who my great grandfather and great great grandfather are on my father's side last night.

[TA]

Just thought I would save this.

[Meadow]

^ that's special

[lutra]

Sliding door to the garden completely open, blackbird singing his creative song, 'clumsy' bumblebees flying about, fresh green things appearing above soil and two dunnocks flirting. Oh, dunnock is now singing too. Nice, very high pitched 'waterfally' song he does.

A point in writing this? Nup, none..

["couldbecousin"]

Sliding door to the garden completely open, blackbird singing his creative song, 'clumsy' bumblebees flying about, fresh green things appearing above soil and two dunnocks flirting. Oh, dunnock is now singing too. Nice, very high pitched 'waterfally' song he does.

A point in writing this? Nup, none..

 It gives me a really pleasing picture in my head, so thank you. 

[lutra]

You're welcome. It was just silly ol' me noticing Spring things. *wipes away tear from cheek*


Going to photograph some stuff in the garden in a sec.. maybe I'll post some of the probably boring pictures here later on. (no big promise though.. bet they're going to be too lame)

['andersom']

I found a Black Redstart enjoying my garden this morning.

Haven't seen one in this village before, in all the 20 years that I live here.

He looked nice.

['andersom']

First Sunday in May often has been the day of the invasion of the ants in this household.

They come in at the front door, go all the way through the house, to find something they like in the kitchen at the back of my house. There are ants nests at the back of my house too, but, those are well behaved ants. They don't invade my territory.

This morning, I thought May was coming soon this year. First ants have been located in the hallway. Time for the boiling water treatment.

[BruceCM]

Oh, the joys of living !

[Charlotte Quin]

The accompanying picture to this ad has never been so true. I just HAD to screencap it

[skyblue1]

Mom's Clothesline...
I remember...

1. Hang socks by the toes not the top.
2. Hang pants by the legs not the waistband.

Remember??

You have to be a certain age to appreciate this.
I can hear my mother now.......

THE BASIC RULES FOR CLOTHESLINES:
(if you don't know what clotheslines are, better skip this)

1. You had to wash the clothes line before hanging any clothes - walk the entire lengths of each line with a damp cloth around the lines.

2. You had to hang the clothes in a certain order, and always hang "whites" with "whites," and hang them first.

3. You never hung a shirt by the shoulders - always by the tail!.
What would the neighbors think?

4. Wash day on a Monday! Never hang clothes on the weekend, or Sunday, for Heaven's sake!

5. Hang the sheets and towels on the outside lines so you could hide your "unmentionables" in the middle (perverts & busybodies, y'know!)

6. It didn't matter if it was sub zero weather ... clothes would "freeze-dry."

7. Always gather the clothes pins when taking down dry clothes! Pins left on the lines were "tacky!"

8. If you were efficient, you would line the clothes up so that each item did not need two clothes pins, but shared one of the clothes pins with the next washed item.

9. Clothes off of the line before dinner time, neatly folded in the clothes basket, and ready to be ironed.

10. IRONED?! Well, that's a whole other subject!
A 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 line;
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.
 

 

['andersom']

 

Sensitivity issues make me always hang socks by the top, not by the toes.
Hanging trousers from the waistband makes that often ironing is not necessary. Hanging them from the pipes does make ironing  a must.

Lines cleaning, yes, that cloth used for that would get really dirty. Clothes pegs had to go inside, because on the line, in the weather, they'd become mouldy, and dark with fungus.

Not hanging a shirt by the shoulders is an ironing wisdom. It's a bugger to get the shoulders right, when they have been hanged wrong.

I'm on the spectrum. I need to hang my washing sorted. Or my head will spin. That that makes me appear old-fashioned, so be it. It just has to look good.

Sheets on the outside, I still do that most of the times. They dry the fastest that way. And I love my sheets back on the bed in the evening.

I do wash every day of the week I want though. Not doing the white washing first on Monday, and then the dark washing after that, in the same water, but, cooled down, as it used to be, way, way back.


Unmentionables, about 60 years back, consisted of cloth sanitary towels too. Nosy neighbours could find out by watching the washing line whether someone was overdue with her period. Washing lines were priceless to get gossip going.

I do feel really old now though, reading the post above, because,.....

I remember the clothesline of my Grandmother, she did have the line where you didn't use clothes pegs. You had to hang the washing by twisting open a rope, and then let the twist get back into the rope, with a tip of the washing squeezed in between.

[renaeden]

We are lucky here with the amount of sunlight we get that we rarely use the dryer. I don't like to use the dryer because it uses a lot of electricity. We don't leave the pegs out on the line because otherwise they become dry and brittle and then break when used.

I agree with the way hyke hangs out her washing. It is the same for me. Although when I lived with GA I used to hang all our underwear on an inside rack and it would dry there fairly quickly (within a day). I used to hate folding fitted sheets so I would roll them up instead.

['andersom']

I don't own a dryer. On wet days, I hang my washing in the attic, and aim a fan at it. Works really well, and, uses less electricity than a dryer would.

I now use hanging washing racks mostly. So, I can start with hanging my washing outside, and quickly race it, with rack and all, inside, if the weather changes.

Just love the scent of washing that has dried outside.

[Queen Victoria]

If you're inquisitive enough, you learn something new every day.

Sweden's culture minister was feeling the heat Wednesday after a weekend art exhibit in which she cut up a cake baked into the shape of a cartoonishly stereotyped African woman.

A group representing Swedes of African descent has called for Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth to resign over that it called a racist caricature. But Liljeroth defended her participation, saying the cake was designed to "challenge the traditional image of racism."

"While the symbolism in the piece is despicable, it is unfortunate and highly regrettable that the presentation has been interpreted as an expression of racism by some," Liljeroth said in a statement issued by her office. "The artistic intent was the exact opposite."

The artist who designed the cake, Makode Linde, is of African descent himself and said the piece was aimed at condemning the practice of female genital mutilation. Pictures from the Sunday exhibition showed Liljeroth slicing into the cake from the "genitals" and feeding it to Linde, who told CNN he made himself the head of the figure and screamed in pain when it was cut.

"I didn't intend for anyone to feel singled out or embarrassed," he said. "But we're talking about female genital mutilation -- is there any comfortable or cozy way to talk about it?"

Liljeroth was scheduled to meet with representatives of the National Association for Afro-Swedes, which has demanded she should step down, on Wednesday evening. The group said it hoped to ensure "that similar events don't happen again."

"To participate at a racist manifestation portrayed as art is definitely crossing the line," Kitimbwa Sabuni, the group's spokesman, said in a written statement. He said the minister's appearance shows she either supported what the group called a racist event "or that she has an extremely bad sense of questions of racism."

"No matter what, the Afro-Swedes no longer have confidence for her as culture minister and demand that she assumes her responsibility and resigns," Sabuni said.

The event took place at Stockholm's Museum of Modern Art, which was marking World Art Day on Sunday. The museum was closed by a bomb threat Tuesday afternoon, but reopened Wednesday after no explosives were found, spokeswoman Kristin Ek said.