References

Green, T. (1968). Work, Leisure, and the American Schools. New York:, Random House

Webster, M. (2011). Ambience. Retrieved October 28^th 2011 from:http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ambience

Links to the comments that I made on other's blogs

http://clairepo1.blogspot.com/2011/10/more-affordances.html?showComment=1319757211027#c7618061233672040005

http://ybarker.blogspot.com/2011/10/service-in-church.html?showComment=1319758602525#c552212412290695696

http://patrinapo1.blogspot.com/2011/09/participation-in-occupation-ii-wecome.html?showComment=1319760035818#c3241787577444366482

Ambience

Ambience is a feeling or mood associated with a particular place, person or thing (Webster, 2011). To me the result of completing the task of laundry creates an ambience. It is the good feeling and moods of people that having clean laundry creates that encourages me, among other things, to do the laundry in the first place. The nature of doing laundry itself is that of labour. It is a job or a task that must be done. We need clean clothes therefore someone has to wash them. The folding and sorting of washing is not so essential, however there is a need created in that it makes it easier to find things and keeps everything neat and tidy. Labour "seeks not to add to life, but merely to sustain it - from which it follows that labor is endless. Once done, it is always  undone. Indeed,  labor can be said to be activity  that is done in order to be undone (Green, 1968)".

There is not a lot of feeling created around doing the laundry but rather the finished product of having clean laundry is more important. The task is done for a purpose – that the family have clean clothes and then can go about their lives appropriately. The feelings and emotions created by clean clothes are not normally noticed. The time that it is noticed is when the laundry is not done. This can create arguments and bad feeling, when someone doesn’t have the correct clothes to wear that day, or someone has run out of clean socks. It creates bad feeling amongst everyone involved.

Affordances - Spirituality

Sometimes, when I am really stressed I like doing the washing. It is a boring, repetitive task, but it is one that, at times looks like a mountain, but a mountain I can tackle. Once completed I always feel a sense of accomplishment and it is the sense of satisfaction of having everything finished and tidy that gets me started in the first place.

It can also be a task that allows me to zone out. When I am stressed or have problem to work through, taking on a task such at the laundry can be quite therapeutic. The task gives me something to do with my hands while I am thinking and calms me down. I can develop the solution to a problem I may have while not consciously thinking about it. I think I wrote most of my blogs in my head while I was folding washing. The time allowed me to sort out what I wanted to say and then to sit down later at my computer and write it all down.

It is also a good time to day dream. I can feel that I am not wasting time as I am actually doing something constructive, but it is also timeout, to cruise for a few moments before the hustle and bustle of life comes back again. I usually fold washing on my own. The kids like to help but they are too little and end up making more of a mess so I usually do it while they are entertained elsewhere. It is my alone time.

Practical considerations

Laundry requires a few practical considerations. To begin with a washing machine is essential. At least in my house it is. While I was on maternity leave a couple of months ago I decided to renovate our kitchen and laundry and I discovered exactly how essential a washing machine is and how much laundry two parents, a nanny, 2 toddlers and a newborn baby can make. Without a machine for about 6 weeks, I took loads to the local Laundromat, and at $4 per load at the Laundromat, many loads to friend’s houses to borrow their machines. I did briefly consider washing stuff by hand, but with no water plumbed downstairs we were already washing the dishes in the bathtub upstairs, washing clothes by hand too was a little too much!

The other most important tool to me is pegs. It was sunny today, and I thought for the first time in ages I would hang the washing outside to dry. I carried the washing basket outside to the line, to discover that I had no pegs. A simple thing, but one I hadn’t thought of. Last summer I had 2 ice-cream containers full, but they have been used for many other things. Laundry pegs are found in all sorts of places in our house. In the kitchen they are commonly used for sealing the top of packets in place of a twisty-tie. They have also been seen clamping piles of receipts and papers together and I am sure that if someone upturned the toy box there would be a large amount in there. And occasionally they can be even be used for attaching clothes to a clothes horse upstairs.

Affordances – History

As I sit and fold the washing I think how this is something that is done, everyday, often without really thinking too deeply about it. I fold the few cloth nappies I have. Usually I just use disposables, but sometimes, when I run out, or its nice and sunny and my two little boys wear nothing but a nappy a cloth one is nice. The nappies on my laundry pile are modern, fitted nappies, with waterproof outer layers and soft inner padding. It reminds me of sitting on the floor as a child and folding my little brother’s nappies. His were quite different. The big old square white ones with the red line on one edge. Its funny, as a 5year old I knew how to fold those and now I have my own children in nappies I have absolutely no idea how to fold one. It makes me wonder what brilliant new, easy-to-use inventions will be around for when my children have children.

I used to enjoy helping with my brother’s nappies. There always seemed to be millions of them, all the same to be soaked, washed, hung and folded. One whole line would be taken up with them, big white uniform squares blowing in the wind. And once folded, there was a mountainous stack that Mum would put away in the drawers to be used later.

Affordances - Aesthetics

I sit in the middle of the hall and fold the washing. It is easiest there because it is where I dumped it earlier and just outside the bedrooms where I will take it to put it on the shelves where it belongs. On the surface – the folding of laundry appears an unthankful task. In a matter of hours or days, these lovingly washed, folded and sorted garments will be worn, dirty and rumpled, thrown on the floor waiting to be washed and folded once again. This activity however has deeper reasoning than that. The clothes we wear have a great effect on how we feel for the day. I know that my daughter will be happy if she can wear her ‘Dora’ dress so I make sure that it is clean for her. My daughter loves her ‘Dora’ dress, would wear it every day if I let her and it obviously makes her feel good. In the same way I need something decent to wear to meetings and to see clients. It’s not exactly a uniform but I feel obliged to wear the appropriate attire. I fold my jeans and put them aside to look forward to slobbing around on the weekend.

I pull my husband’s work pants out of the pile. These disgusting things cost more than my nicest shoes, yet they have holes ripped in the knees, through the thick commercial double layer and have a large black stain down one leg. They are covered in adhesive and other muck, which I fear causes irreversible damage to my washing machine, but they are dutifully folded and placed on his pile. His clothes are chosen for the day based on need. They protect him from tools and other hazards on the building site and they have to be tough and strong. They have a slight chemical odour, even after washing, but no one will notice once hes at work, surrounded by others all dressed in the same vein.