I’m not sure if Plato envisioned some idealized form for what a load of laundry should look like, but most of the laundry I oversee fall into one of five categories: adult whites, adult colors, kid whites, kid colors, and linens.

I’m not super strict about enforcing these categories — I don’t go all Rain Man if I find a black sock among the white tee shirts — but these categories have been in use long enough that I was struck by how unusual a particular load of laundry looked when I was pulling it from the dryer. There were adult and kids clothes present. Colors and whites. And a hat!

Then I remembered. This load of laundry was the result of a full-family sandbox-and-sprinkler fest in the back yard. This photo shows the aftermath. Everyone came inside covered in sand and soaking wet. Everybody’s clothes went straight into the washer.

Here’s a link to a passage from Don Quixote where the good Don engages in a fight with a windmill.

My favorite line—though there are several very good lines here—is “…if you are afraid, away with you out of here and betake yourself to prayer, while I engage them in fierce and unequal combat.”