Laundry

Wicker laundry basket has been around forever~ I seem to remember it all the way back at Headacher, know definitely that it was at the other homes we lived it. I remember it snuggled as part of a set at the base of the stairs at the house on Mino drive... I don't know who has the other one, but this is my treasure!

The handle is broken, but it is still sound and useable, currently it lives in my closet, keeps my dirty clothes safe until wash day. When I was small, we didn't have a washer or dryer, and we would take trips with heaps of laundry to the laundromat in the shopping center. It was on the end by the Lighthouse Deli, next to a dry cleaners. I loved going to the laundromat with mum- I was good at finding stray coins and we almost always made it over to the tiny Westwood branch of the library. I liked the way it smelled- clean and warm- the dry cleaners next door though smelt of plastic and dust, not nearly so nice.

I didn't have my own washer or dryer for many years. I would take Grendel in his baby carrier to the laundry in Boone, time it right to meet with friends there and we would watch cartoons on the tv. (None of us could afford cable, we all liked Ren and Stimpy). Later on the island, Grendel and I would go down to the island laundry (Frankie's) on Sundays. Frankie was an old fellow who lived in the laundry (literally. He lived in a room off the main room, had a cot and a hot plate, a tv and a big fridge in the main laundry) Frankie and his friends were always awake, always getting busted for playing video poker, always had Milwaukee's Best. None of them were allowed to drive anymore, and they had a fleet of motor scooters and golf carts to use for beer runs. They had no riches, but they had friendship, a place to hang out and lived on an island. Life could be worse.