washing | organised castle

Generally our winter months are drier and mostly sunny but we have had a couple of weeks of quite cool, wet weather. This has meant that we have not generated much solar power from our panels and have also had to turn the booster on the solar hot water on every couple of days. I also used the drier once or twice to finish drying clothes. They would at least partially dry on the airer indoors.

However, today is a return to the winter weather that I love. Sunny with a cold breeze – perfect weather in my opinion.

I am making the most of this sunny corner of the verandah in the early morning. The portable clothes airer which was indoors has been wheeled out to finish drying the clothes in sun and wind. The hanging frame with pegs has socks, underwear and plastic bags hanging out to dry as well as 2 woollen sweaters on hangers out to air. The doormat was washed the other day and is draped over the railing to dry.

I have a rotary clothesline in the backyard which I rarely use and my everyday clothesline is at the other end of the verandah under cover. That is great for wet weather and also in the summer to help prevent the clothes from fading but at this time of the year I definitely follow the sun.

Meanwhile, the solar panels are generating power which is being exported to the grid as we are using very little power here at the moment. The only things that are turned on are the computer, refrigerator, small freezer and the bedside clock radio. The hot water is heating up thanks to the solar hot water system.

The sun is beginning to stream in the windows and warm the house, the winter vegetables are thriving because of it and the chickens are out in the yard searching for their breakfast in the sunshine. And all of this for free!

We all know that “a stitch in time saves nine” and, being competent with the use of a sewing machine I regularly repair and refashion clothing and linen. However, from time to time I actually repair something else.

Last week we had a day of high wind and my clothes hanger blew down from the large hook under the verandah. When I picked it up I found that one of the spring-loaded pegs was missing.

It was in pieces – 2 on the floor of the verandah and one piece had blown over the edge. I collected up the bits and set to work to see if I could resurrect it.

With the aid of a small screwdriver to stretch the metal ring I got it back together.

Then it was a simple matter of re-attaching the peg to the metal clip.

It is now as good as new. I have seen these type of things for sale in Australia, however, I bought this one in Japan when we were there in 2009. It is just another example of how the Japanese have adapted to their limited space in so many ways. I find it very useful as I can hang it in a variety of places to catch whatever sun or breeze there is and it is a simple matter to bring it inside to dry things in front of the fire.