On a recent morning we saw a most beautiful sight as we sere driving home from the grocery store . . . snowy white laundry, hanging for three clotheslines, in somebody’s backyard.

"Ha, ha," I said. "I’m not the only one who prefers air drying. Could we stop for a minute?"

My ever-loving gave me a weird look, pulled close to the curb, turned off the motor and said, "Enjoy!"

"Oh, they must have a baby. There’s a whole line of diapers. Doesn’t that bring back memories of when our brood wore cloth diapers? I must have washed thousands of them through the years. Remember how I’d boil them once a week to keep them nice and white? And each sock is hung separately. She must be a good housekeeper. My mother always said you can tell a good housekeeper by the way the laundry is hung on the line."

"I’m very please to have all that information. Now can we move on?"

As we drove away, my thoughts wandered back to wash day when our children were young. I remember pushing my Maytag wringer washer up to the kitchen sink, filling the tub with a hose attached to the faucet and then guiding each piece of clothing through the wringer into a large tub of rinsing water. It took hours to complete the job. After the washing was finished, the water had to be drained from the tub, and the washer . . . bucket by bucket.

One day, I took a load of clothes outside to the clothesline and left two of my girls, ages 2 and 4, inside. While I was busy hanging the clothes, they were busy, too. They opened up the valve and let the water run out of the washer all over the kitchen floor! Memories, memories.

People who lived in upstairs apartments in the city had "pulley lines." The pulley was attached to the house on one end and to a pole on the other end. You had to open your window and reach out to hang your clothes. It was a sight to behold on Mondays. Clothes blowing and flapping in the wind, like huge birds. It was a great idea, and I never heard anyone complain. We were all stay-at-home mothers then, and that was our life. No time to get bored, to become couch potatoes.

The autumn days are ideal for sightseeing, right here in town. After we drop Kate off at school, we like to ride around to see what’s happening. The city is alive with new projects. Gateway Mall is unrecognizable at the moment. It’s exciting to see new buildings growing right before our eyes.

The swings and slides in the parks look forlorn without laughing children, but it’s a pleasant place to relax for us oldsters.

We rode by the 28^th Street Drive-In one morning and have decided to go there Saturday evening to see if we enjoy it as much as we did when the children were young.

We’d load the car with popcorn, cold drinks, pajamas, blankets and five children. They’d play in the playground before the movie started and then settle down to watch. In no time, the youngest would fall asleep and the others soon followed. The car reeked of citronella to ward off the mosquitoes. None of us seemed to mind. It was a good, inexpensive outing for the family.

This is the season to remember and be grateful for the simple pleasures of life. To be aware of what’s available just for the "looking". Open your eyes and see!

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Thank you for taking time out of your day to communicate with us!

Having found your address on the internet, I hope you can help me find a store in my area that sells your products.

I have two approx. 50 foot pulley lines off my back deck and have used your great pulley separators [Everlast® 60] for the past few years. Late last year, I lost one in the ground cover under the deck and before I had a chance to find it, it snowed. This Spring I lost the other one in the same ground cover. Back to Spags in Shrewsbury I went, only to find they now only stocked wooden and plastic separators and I have been totally frustrated ever since. The lines jump the wheels and snag the lines so as to render them inoperable with my clothes flapping in the breeze!

One day recently while cleaning up the back yard, I went under the deck and told my husband I wasn’t coming out without the separators! An hour or more later, I had cleaned out the leaves and came out with my sanity intact – two black separators in my hands! While I realize that with all that is going on in the world, two pulley separators are pretty minor. But as anyone with a pulley line will tell you, being able to quickly pull the line in/out smoothly eliminates one time-consuming frustration in one’s hectic life. So, help! – I want a couple more – where do I find them??

Please advise me as to what is necessary to order/obtain 3 more of your Everlast® 60 clothesline hangers/spacers. Do you also make pulleys for pulley-lines and the end of line adjusters? … Do you have any suppliers near Springfield?

Our son-in-law (Coldspring, NY) obtained our pulleys and two of your Everlast® 60 hangers/spacers. We want to put in an additional pulley-line, but, around here, they look at you, sort of funny, and ask, "What’s a pulley-line?"

Our son-in-law also sent us 3 other, white, genuine made in Hong Kong hangers/spacers, but they are nowhere near as strong as you Everlast® 60!!! One broke & the wife threw it away. A second one broke, a few days ago, but I super-glued it & then beefed up the sides of both the remaining white hangers/spacers with J.B. Weld. Your Everlast® 60s have superior design with the thickness & the single wheel! Two wheels are inferior (RE: Hong Kong version) & the lower wheel rolls up on your clothes! I’ll be anxiously awaiting your reply!

Please send me two of your "clothes-line spreader" [Everlast® 60.]  I currently own two that were bought in Home Depot which, unfortunately, do not carry them anymore. Since the purchase of these spreaders that were made by your company, I have bought another brand (which Home Depot now carries instead of the product made by Penn Plastics) which in no time both ends broke off.

Please forgive my lamentations, but I have been all-over looking for these spreaders for the longest time. I finally decided to take a good look at the product and that’s where I got the name of the manufacturer and then obtained the number from information. I was informed of a chain store that carries them, Lowe’s. Unfortunately, they are not in my immediate area. It will be greatly appreciated if you could send me the spreaders.

This letter is to follow up with my phone conversation with you last week regarding you black line separator product [Everlast® 60.] I was so elated after speaking with you and learning you were still making this fine product … I used to be able to purchase these at Audette’s hardware, the Aubuchon dealer in Winthrop Maine but for the past year or so they have not stocked the product nor has anyone else in my area which is a shame.

I find your product to be a very durable product that in my opinion outranks its competition by far. I absolutely love the 3 of your product that I already have and would greatly appreciate some more as I use this product on a daily basis. I have been getting by with some white ones I purchased at Audette’s also but they don’t come close to the quality of your fine product. The white ones break very easily and get tangled in the lines often.

We found you by obtaining you company’s name off the side of one of these then searching the internet for your company. I am most delighted that this method served to be a success for me and my family.

In closing I am so elated that I was able to make contact with you and am looking forward to receiving some more of your great invention.