Hand Laundry

Memorial Day is such an undemanding holiday: praying for our soldiers, sometimes a trip to the cemetary with flowers, and dinner cooked on the grill.

And of course it is the unofficial beginning of summer, right? We made it this far without the air-conditioning but now it's okay to give in, which we happily did today. Until a huge thunderstorm blew in, drove the children out of the swimming pool, and cooled things back off.


Today may be a holiday but it's still laundry day. In addition to the usual I gathered up all my fine wool sweaters for a massive hand-washing session in the kitchen. Last year I had moth damage to several woolen things, and I'm determined to prevent it this summer. Can't remember what was clean and what had been worn, so I washed everything.


I'll make notes in my calendar to air my wool things outside in a few hours of strong morning sun every three weeks through the warm weather. I just can't bring myself to load the closet with mothballs; they've got to be poisonous. Cedar and lavender and sunlight are going to be my defenses this year.