First, I need to comment on this weather. I know that some of the rest of the country is suffering through triple-digit-degree days; and some parts are suffering thunderstorms, heavy lightning and tornadoes. But we in the mid-Atlantic states have had nothing but gorgeous weather these past two weeks: comfortable temperatures and low humidity. What glorious days!

And in case you hadn’t noticed, the lightning bugs/fireflies that were mostly AWOL last summer are back in force. I don’t know why. Do these bugs have mast years where they produce a bumper crop of kids the way certain trees produce seeds? No matter. They are back to once again make late evening walks and lawns enchanted experiences. If you haven’t noticed yet, right about now (8:15 pm), sit outside, take a walk around your neighborhood, find a local park, whatever it takes and marvel in the charm and calm that descends on our places as the fireflies silently light up the night (and win the hearts of lady fireflies).

Second, an update on my buying fast. Last month I bought a clothes-drying rack. It was an inexpensive, collapsible, wood and plastic affair. The first week, the lowest dowel broke, but I taped that together. After that, the rack listed threateningly to one side, but if I balanced the load right, or leaned it against a wall, it could stand upright. Then the plastic bolts started, well, bolting. Even hardware yearns for freedom, I guess. Then this morning, the whole thing just fell apart.

Now, I could have abandoned my effort to air dry my clothes. But truth be told, I have become quite attached to those few moments of handling slightly soggy threads. It makes me slow down, take a break from work, connect to the ancients who had only one way to dry their laundry. It dissolves the barriers between the generations; makes me aware of the ancestors I will never know, and the blessings of the natural world I often forget. (Dryers don’t dry clothes, after all. They just speed up the process. Natural forces of evaporation dry clothes!)

And, to my amazement, I truly am using my dryer less often. In fact, over the past few weeks I have used it precisely three times that I can remember. (I used to use it once every day or two.) Once when I needed to launder sheets and couldn’t wait for them to air dry. A second time, during those rainy weeks so long ago now!, when things took days to dry, and a third time when we needed to soften the bath towels that dried stiff like boards. This third time was really just a partial use. I hung the towels out til they were mostly dry and then, for 10 minutes, put them in the dryer, just enough to soften them. Then I took them out and finished drying on their own, on hooks. They were sufficiently and delightfully soft.

So my addiction to a clothes rack is more or less complete. I needed to get another one. A few weeks ago, someone on Freecycle was offering a one, and I had hoped to get a second one then. But since I get the digest version of the offerings and takings instead of the individual posts, someone had read about and claimed the rack before me. Now what to do? Either I could resort to turning my living room and dining room into a clothes-draped forest, with fabric dripping (metaphorically) from every vertical surface, or I could buy a new clothes rack.

I did the latter. Got the more expensive ($20) all metal version this time. In fact, I got two, the better to dry clothes with (more air circulation). And two allow me to drape sheets across them more efficiently.

So, they go on my new purchases list. But it is all for a good cause. And they will continue to allow me to cut down on my greenhouse gas emissions. So all in all, it seems like the right move.

I wonder what will be next?