It's the Little Things

It's the little things that make a day bright.

Little things like:

The mist beneath the trees as the sun rises early in the morning

A man in a jeep who waves me ahead of him into the parking garage

A woman who holds the elevator when she sees me running across the street to the parking garage

A Star Magnolia bursting from bud into bloom in one day

Happy teenagers playing with puppets

What little things made your day bright today?

Buried in a Mountain of Paper

I've been sorting paper for two days.

Magazines.

Bills.

Catalogs.

Other people's stuff that somehow ends up here.

Articles and things I've printed from online sites, thinking I'll do something with them.

What's funny about this is I religiously toss junk mail, usually without opening it. So what's here is stuff I kept on purpose. How does that happen?

I try hard to keep up with the media mountains, but I feel like I'm fighting a battle against an opponent with unlimited ammunition. I develop filing systems and feel very efficient until the files fill up and flow over. I do electronic filing, and if it wasn't for that I would never be found in the paper blitz.

I won't even talk about books. The ones stacked every place I look--except the kitchen. Only cookbooks in there. At the moment. It could change when my back is turned.

After two days of sorting, filing and tossing, the piles are gone and things look, well, neat. Mostly. For today. Tomorrow's mail will being more matter into the house, and more decisions will need to be made about what to do with it all.

But for now, there are some clear spaces on my desk, and that feels pretty good.

Old-time Downtown Hardware Store

I'd been looking for a source of old-fashioned paste wax for my wood floors. It's not available locally, so I searched online. And found that it's carried by Ace Hardware stores. Which led me to the telephone book to see where one might be located. Which led me to a store I had not visited in years.

Pile's Hardware has been a Charleston institution for years. Located on the west side, it's grown over the years as the west side itself has suffered economic and population ups and downs. Currently the west side seems to be showing some improvement although it still has many issues of crime, poverty and unemployment.

When I opened the door, I stopped in pure delight. This was no ordinary hardware store! Graniteware, stone crocks, galvanized washtubs, kerosene lamps and cast iron lined the shelves. Wood stoves and electric fireplaces were on display. In this store I could buy parts for a hand-cranked meat grinder in the aisle next to the I-Pod docking station.

Washtubs and crocks line the high shelves, while below is stacked everything else an farm kitchen might need--glass and crockery baking dishes, jar lifters, kerosene lamps, chimneys and other lamp parts, ladles and funnels, scales, popcorn poppers, strainers, and on an on.

From mops to fondue sets to oilcloth, deck sealer and paint thinner, toilets innards and nails--it all co-exists at Pile's.

As I checked out, I looked at what other customers were buying: a 5-gallon plastic bucket, a bag of salt, plumbing fittings, a 50-amp electrical box--the clerks were able to advise and assist each one. I picked up a copy of the Old Farmer's Almanac to add to my purchases.

My wax wasn't cheap, but it will be worth the money and effort to apply it. And I suppose a 25% increase in the last 15-20 years is to be expected in a petroleum based product. I bought both the paste and the liquid varieties in case we got tired of being on our knees. We'll see which we like best.

It was a good end to a busy day, and I am glad to know Pile's is still there and seems to be just as busy as ever.

We need more stores like this one--crowded, neighborhood stores with everything you need and a little more, with clerks who know their stuff, and I don't have to walk miles in a huge department store to find what I want. Pile's Hardware rates an A+ in my book for service and style.

More for Less? Better than Less for More

This is from the NPR show called Marketplace, an irreverent and usually spot-on business-and-money-show on public radio:

"Bob Moon's final note... Maybe you've noticed packages and portions getting smaller while the price has stayed the same?Those skimpy ice cream cartons, for example, that no longer give you a full half-gallon. Well, seems more consumers have been finding a better value in store-label alternatives. And the big brands have taken notice.The Wall Street Journal reports today that Heinz has increased the size of its ketchup bottles. So you'll see a bigger container for a similar price, sitting next to the private-label offering. Likewise, Frito-Lay, which plans to add 20 percent more to bags of chips, without increasing the price."

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/episodes/show_rundown.php?show_id=14 , 2.23.2009


So the food corporations finally figured out that we're not stupid? I wonder if they will also:

• stop putting things in huge, half-empty packages thinking we don't notice that either?
• quit telling us something is new and improved when it's the same product but in a new "improved" package?
• not call something "natural" when it's clearly processed (like Cheerios--how is that natural? I've never seen oats grow in circles on the stalks.)
• stop trying to convince us that fast food is healthy? We know it's not; the advertisers are the only ones deluded by the ads--if even they believe their own words.
• put some normal-looking people in the ads? but I suppose that would really kill sales. A recent news item on Hotmail showed the "three hottest faces" on this Spring's fashion runways. To me they looked like mug shots of women arrested for meth abuse. I don't mean to sound mean, but I honestly thought that's what the photos were before I read the blurb. Now I am what Alexander McCall Smith calls, in his Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, a "traditionally built woman." Which means overweight--and that is not a good thing either. But please don't hold up emaciated women who look miserable as the premium beauties of our day. (I can't find that article right off, but this one shows a model who exemplifies what I mean.)

This move by food processing companies is a step in the right direction; they have a lot more steps to take before they regain my trust in their products or their ads.