Clothes Pegs

When I was a kid in Maués, on the banks of a tributary of the Amazon, the washerwomen draped everything to dry on the bushes that lined the white sand beaches. 

In NE Brazil, as an adult, my neighbours used their barbed wire fences to secure the washing. Here, my Cigano neighbours just drape the washing over wires strung between trees or road signs.

So, not too surprised to discover that clothes pegs as we know them were only invented in 1853 by a Vermonter, David M Smith, and then improved by another Vermonter, Solon E Moore in 1887, with a "coiled fulcrum of wire". Even the dolly peg was only patented in 1809 by Jérémie Victor Opdebec.

If you're interested, here is a fascinating Economist article about it all, including the fact that there are now red plastic pegs, called Peggy, which will inform your smartphone when the washing is dry or when it's going to rain.

Gratefuls:
- being able to dry my washing on the line (apparently there are places in America where washing lines are prohibited!)
- being able, also, to air our quilts and pillows outside
- fresh, sun dried bedding to sleep in tonight