In so many ways, rural life has been life being, off the radar of the economists and politicians who believe it is too small, remote and inefficient to thrive in the global economy. Jobs are fleeing rural communities, farms are closing, and everywhere, there are the talismans of a simpler, more coherent, difficult yet harmonious life. I always look for clothespins, and I so rarely found them. I found these on a beautiful old farmhouse clothesline. I wish the house were for sale.

O