Washing Machine Cycles

What’s going on during that period in the middle of the washing machine cycle when the machine just seems to stop for a minute and do nothing before starting up again?

———- from Greta McKinney of Portland OR

It’s thinking. Contrary to modern arrogant human belief, washing clothes is not a simple task. There are a thousand small decisions that have to be made. Your washing machine is dedicated to only one task, and it puts considerable resources squarely to that job. It may be remembering its own childhood, its connection with its mother — a wringer washer — or its grandparents — hard rocks, of course, in a cold mountain stream.