Laundry after the 9 Days

I have an unusual laundry set up for Israel. We actually have our laundry room in the basement, and we have a laundry chute! We just open the door of the chute and dump the laundry down and promptly forget about it. At least, that's what we did during the 9 Days.


So now the laundry room looks like this:

It also looks like SOME people have decided that various boxes, and yes, even Tonka trucks belong in the laundry. If I find those things in the washing machine, I bet you'll hear about it!!
 
Are you wondering, as I am, just how long it will take to sort out that laundry into manage-able piles about the size of a load?

 Or perhaps you wonder, as I do, exactly how many times I will be loading up my trusty washing machine this week?
 
 Or maybe you want to know who is going to hang it all to dry, shlep it back inside after, and then fold it?

 So many laundry questions to ponder...

During the rest of the year, I usually go down there every couple of days to "check" on the laundry. We have a 10 kg washing machine (Love it!) and I like to run full loads. So when I have enough for a load of laundry, in it goes, and then I hang it on my drying racks. This house did not come equipped with a clothesline, but luckily we purchased these awesome, handy-dandy folding drying racks with tons of space and stowed them on our lift.

They look a lot like this, only we actually purchased them at Ikea. (Sorry, the current Ikea catalog does not seem to include them. So, Israelis, you may be out of luck. But those of you in America can  just order them - free delivery - from Amazon , and you'll be air drying your clothes in no time, whether or not you have a clothesline!

Have I mentioned that air drying our clothes helps keep our electric bill down? I won't say manageable, because it's all relative. We started air drying clothing when we live in Florida, and got the shock of our first electric bill there in the summer. It was either give up A/C or give up the dryer. We gave up the dryer, and I don't really miss it!  Try it out, let me know  if you've considered giving up your dryer...

Lights all around

I have absolutely neglected my blog, because life just sometimes gets in the way. We are still living in the gorgeous Northern Israel, and I hung out the laundry tonight on my mirpeset with an amazing breeze (yay! the laundry will dry quickly!), and a gorgeous nighttime view of the city lights, the dark Kinneret, and the lights of the various surrounding cities and towns... absolutely stunning.
It made me stop and think about the way the lights shine, and sometimes you can catch the twinkle of lights in a single house, and sometimes it's all a jumbled big mess of lights. Here in Israel, it's so much more likely to be the lights of each house. And each house is significant. We are all part of the future of the Land, the People, the State - and I'm so grateful and happy that we have been able to come back home.

A Brand New Day

Gorgeous vistas greet me each morning outside my new home (in Teverya - Tiberias). I cannot deny the beauty of the city and the Kinneret down below, and the mountains to my North and East. We can see Tsfat, another holy city, from our Mirpeset (balcony). We can see the Hermon, at the border of this tiny, wondrous country.

Unfortunately, I haven't made the most of these morning views – generally I take it in while I hang up the laundry. But I have made a decision to make a concerted effort to allow the view to elevate my mundane morning tasks, and help me start the day with a feeling of wonder and awe. Tomorrow morning, I hope to start anew.