Life with an artist is nothing if not colorful and surprising. I never had a clothesline in any home in my life until Maria got the bug last year and put one up in the back yard. I am grateful for it. The clothes smell fresh in a way I do not recall before and feel good. There is something timeless and ritualistic about seeing clothes flapping on a clothesline, seeing the sun light up the fabric, reeling the clothes in and back.

But as importantly, there is color and light. Artists wear colorful things and buy colorful fabrics. I am not colorful, really, I wear blue shirts and jeans, chinos sometimes, white underwear.

But the clothesline has added some grace and beauty to our home and it is magical in the morning when the clothes are on the line, it reminds me that we are awfully quick to abandon beautiful and healthy things because we think technology can make our lives easier. Technology is expensive, sometimes wasteful, and often leeches the color out of our lives.

I love the technology that helps you to read these words, but am happy to have rediscovered the color and feeling that comes from a simple thing like a clothesline. It is easier and kinder to Mother Earth.