The Laundry Line

You know how I love a good clothesline!  I think I can attribute that fascination to the lack of anything resembling that kind of local color at home!  We live in one of those homogenized white bread HOA neighborhoods (which are very hard to escape in the Phoenix area) where clotheslines are strictly forbidden.

A rather boring world where petty people obsess and pick because a neighbor has pesky relatives who dare to visit for five days with their land yacht R.V. parked around the corner.  Or they worry that the neighbor's son will once again come home for Christmas in his small company van with Freddy Couples on the back, park it on the driveway, and just ruin their holiday. God forbid!

Supposedly, the atmosphere gets even more tense in some of these active adult communities where retired people have all that extra time to narc on the neighbors.  A friend lives in one where the patrol passes every few hours and residents are fined if they get caught with their pants down garage doors up! 

The ideal neighborhood  is evidently one with no visible signs of life, so a big part of my soul yearns for a world where people just let all their wet laundry hang out! 

Ahhhhh.  I feel so much better!  (Actually, I won't let the bastards get me down.)

Back to the clotheslines!  I didn't get a lot of laundry photos considering we were on Isla for a month.  I think the authorities may have circulated a flier (or maybe one of those guys in a golfcart announced it by loudspeaker?) to beware of a middle-aged gringa snapping clothesline photos of underwear.  It seemed every time I'd spot a good one, the owner would pop a head out and look at me like WHAT is that woman doing?  And then I'd scurry on down the street obsessing about the one that got away.

That happened a lot this trip!  Maybe it's time for me to switch islands for awhile?

I took a great photo of embroidered dresses at this orange house on Hidalgo back in 2009.  The residents have gotten much sportier since with athletic tops and bottoms. Notice the paper maiche ball drying on the concrete bench?

Love the pastel clothes at a pink and green casa! 

Vendors hung clotheslines by the zocalo in early December to sell the traditional children's outfits in advance of Virgin of Guadalupe Day.

A blue door and a clothesline!

This is cheating.  I was peaking into a shop and the owner urged me to take some photos.

Someone hung their clothes out front of this tienda.

For some reason, this is one of my favorites.  (Probably because there were few open windows or doors where the residents could peak out and catch me!)  The light was just right.  Love the pink vinca flowers down below along with the coordinating little pink skirt and top on the line.

Another clothesline of Guadalupe t-shirts for sale!

Maybe it's time for me to hang my own clothesline out in the front courtyard.  That could cause a few strokes!  Or better yet, maybe I'll plant a pink toilet in my front landscaping and fill it with purple petunias!   

They've thrown down the towel.  Maybe I should accept the challenge!  HA!