I was out in the yard and I saw Maria’s vintage hankies drying on the line and blowing in the wind, a pretty site for me, they will soon be funky and stylish scarves around the neck’s of women and their daughters and grand-daughters. The UPS man came in with a package, and looked at the line and he said, “wow, I’ve never seen a clothesline like that! Are they underpants?” I explained these were vintage, sometimes antique handkerchiefs, artfully designed and put together as scarves.

My wife makes them, I said. Cool, he said, still puzzled, but does she hand the wash out there on the line? “I don’t see any socks or underpants,” he said, “when my wife puts clothes out, there are socks and underpants.” I wondered for a second if he was putting me on, if he had perhaps been reading the blog and was hoping to taunt or bait me, but UPS drivers generally don’t do that, I think the company frowns on it.

Well, I said, my wife is an artist, and she is often cleaning and washing her art, but I don’t think I’ve seen any socks on the clothesline, lately or ever. She doesn’t believe in that, I said, she doesn’t wear socks much or believe in them, and she doubts that anybody needs clean socks every single day. She puts some in the washer once in awhile, every now and then. Not this week, yet.

“Oh,” said the UPS man, “really? I need you to sign for this package, it’s from Apple.” He left rather quickly and I thought he cast me a pitying glance. Well, I mumbled to Red, this is creativity. It blooms all around and she’s probably right, I don’t need clean socks every single day. The UPS guy waved to me as he pulled out of the driveway, and I waved back. Socks on the line? Really?