In Praise Of The Smaller Sized Pimento Stuffed Olive Jar And Other Superfluous Beauty

Woman in Cannery LOC 1920s US Food and Drug Administration

“The Nothing is spreading," groaned the first. 

"It's growing and growing, there's more of it every day, 

if it's possible to speak of more nothing. 

All the others fled from Howling Forest in time, but we didn't want to leave our home. 

The Nothing caught us in our sleep and this is what it did to us."

"Is it very painful?" Atreyu asked.

"No," said the second bark troll, the one with the hole in his chest.

"You don't feel a thing. There's just something missing.

And once it gets hold of you, something more is missing every day.

Soon there won't be anything left of us.”

― Michael Ende, The Neverending Story

I waited for over a month for the small size jar of the spanish palmento green olives to come back in stock at Food Lion. It is the cheaper per ounce green olive jar. I would glance over quickly looking for the vase shaped glass for months. When we finished off the jar this week, the loveliness of the jar hit me. The wider base that tapers to a smaller top, the decorative stripes, and the bottom has the slightest shade of green tint. I couldn't throw it away. I'm a highly visual person. This sensitivity could be a sign of peri-menopause. Or, maybe my people from the Old World of the 1980s remember the days of beauty and design everywhere. I don't like how generic everything in daily life has become. 

1960s Atomic Starburst jelly jar and generic green olive jar.

The tiniest hint of sea green bottom.

I come from people that saved pretty jars. My people kept and reused these jars. I grew up drinking from old jelly glasses covered with atomic starbursts, Garfield, or the Smurfs. There was beauty and color everywhere from galaxy bowling alley carpets to Christmas paper towels. This week while washing out this pretty jar to save, I realized that I don't see pretty jars anymore. I don't see shapes or colors. Everything is a cylinder. Everything is one color. Even our billing statements are becoming colorless or one color. Companies are getting rid of multicolored logos due to costs. Even our plain checks from the bank are no longer blue background but gray. Colors cost money, and money is all anyone thinks about in the New World. 

In the Old World of the 80s and the 90s, there were colors everywhere. People thought it was worth the extra money to spend on whimsy, pattern, and designs on everything. It was delightful. For example, the Taco Bell shown below was similar to the one I went to in high school. Actually, mine had additional colors in a Southwestern vibe-- peach, teal, and pink. Today's stripped down purple Taco Bell makes me sad. My people thought 10 colors for the fast food restaurant decor was worth the extra money. We were color ballers!

Taco Bell employees at the Barksdale Base Exchange recover from a busy lunch rush. 2011

Taco bell restaurant at 3502 W. 16th Street in Indianapolis, Indiana. May 2018. 

 Taco Bell Opens in WA. 2021

My people also loved shapes. We loved shapes in everything. I am sharing this in case these too will be replaced with a generic cylinder. Shapes cost money and the New World doesn't think shapes are worth it. The New World wants everything on a utilitarian flat screen. Everything is about the bottom line. I looked around my kitchen and found only a handful of shapes and textures. They stick out in my fridge and pantry. These are what remain from the past. These are artifacts of the Old World. I remember when everything had design. Do you remember the yellow mustard in a barrel shaped bottle? I think we took it for granted. 

David Holding Mustard Wikkicommons

On the left, two old glass juice bottles with pebbled texture and form. Today's plastic fake on right.

New lime juice, no longer in green plastic lime shaped. Now plastic wrapped label.
Front and back detail of honey bear. The hair on the back is precious. The detail. 

Two beautiful jars that will hold yard flowers. One from my childhood and one from today. So rare.

Olive Jar with Crape Myrtle buds & hydrangea. Frosted face lotion bottle with hydrangea.

Found mini liquor bottle with blanket flowers. Jelly jar with Crape myrtle & Lime Light cutting.

Where I come from, beauty was abundant. Beauty had value and was worth the extra money. That is why I praise this lovely olive jar, a jar with a little beauty and form. Both are rare qualities today. Anything beyond the absolute minimum is to be honored especially in a world of bean counting, bare bones, private equity slop. Do you remember?

Thank you for reading, and God bless you.

Paul Cézanne - Still Life with Flowers in an Olive Jar 1880

In Praise Of The Brother Printer

Portrait of Jean Miélot, The Scribe at Work. 1456. Jean Le Tavernier

A printer consists of three main parts: 

the case, the jammed paper tray 

and the blinking red light.

                                   

                            -DAVE BARRY

Today, I want to share with you a printer that made our life so much easier. I have hated every printer I've ever known. In the offices of my workplaces, I dealt with huge machines that jammed up all day. In my home, our personal HP ink jet printer went through ink cartridges like an old chain smoker. We were always running out of ink. I think we got 20 pages per ink cartridge. And even though we weren't heavy printers, it would always run out of ink during the most important and time sensitive moments. In those hectic deadline situations, our HP printer always failed. The fifth page would be nothing but faded lines. We would rush to Walmart and pay $25.00 on a new ink cartridge. During Covid, we bought a DIY ink refill kit to save money on HP ink.  One morning before an important appointment, I went to print a document. Of course, I had to refill the ink. My hands were black with ink, and the pages came out smeared with ink globs. I was trying not to get ink on my clothes before our appointment. And that, my dear readers, is when I lost it. Having a bad printer made everything chaotic.  

Unidentified female office worker sitting at a desk using a large computer. 1981-1990 circa

I know a product is awesome when I never have to think about it. This is the case with my Brother printer. I've had it for three years. It is the easiest printer I've ever used. It has never jammed or smeared ink. It has a paper tray that can hold 250 sheets of paper. Best of all, we are still on the first ink cartridge three years later! I found out about it from a woman who runs a money saving website called Southern Savers. She prints out a lot of coupons and did the math on the most economical printer. She stated her black and white Brother printer was the best printer. Boy was she right. Here is her old post with the Brother printer model number and ink info HERE. Listen to what she says about the Brother printer:

The Brother Printer is a black & white laser printer.  It can print 500-700 sheets with the toner it comes with and then you can replace the toner with a high yield cartridge for around $20.  The replacement will print 1700-2000 sheets!  For the cost of one inkjet replacement you have a new awesome printer!! Seriously guys, I have 2 of these and haven’t replaced the toner in either of them in the past year.

We bought a Brother HL-L2320D in July 2022 from Staples. It came with the ink cartridge that we are still using. Unfortunately, that model is no longer available now. I truly believe that any Brother laser printer would be dependable. And for the mid tech users like us, they have wireless printer models that can use wires.

When you break free from your ink jet printer trap, you can finally use your printer and not just for your updated car insurance cards while keeping your fingers crossed praying it will print. You can print fun things. In my opinion, a printer is a really fun overlooked analog tool. It's a way to take online information and make your own hard copy. Today, I use my Brother printer with abandon. I print recipes. I print out letters to my family. I print out prayers like our favorite daily Auxilium Christianorum Prayers. I print my Clemson University garden planting date guide (4 pages long) for my garden binder. I have printed a typed list in alphabetical order of all our DVD titles in our collection (easy site to alphabetize.) I even printed out our primary election sample ballot, so I can research candidates better. I print out all these extra things because printing is no longer difficult. Printing is cheap and fun. Please buy a Brother printer and break free. It might cost a little more upfront, but you'll never have to think about printing ever again. And, that my friends, is priceless. God bless you and thank you for reading!

Illuminated page "Ave Maria, gracia ple[na]",15th century. Robinet Testard

Letter R Crop Crop of folio 52r w:Heures de Charles d'Angoulême

In Praise Of Old Pickup Trucks

Pick-up truck above Calumet River Wall, 1973

City boys got pickup lines. Country boys got pickup trucks.

UNKNOWN

When boys are boys, they like to play with toys, When boys become men, they still play with toys except the toys make more noise. This sounds like a bad nursery rhyme except this fairy tale is true and tragic. Men who never grew up buy toys to drive around. Men who did grow up give up those toys and drive old pickup trucks.

A Toyota pick up truck, Sonoma, California. 2025 

A sports car is a toy. Men buy these to impress women and each other. Other men choose a Jeep which is an expensive toy they like to take off-road and flip over in remote places. Other men with Jeeps will come to his aid and assist in rescuing the Jeep. This will be a bonding experience for them. It sounds ridiculous to me.

Soap Box Derby, Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh, NC, July 30, 1940

Other men will buy pickup trucks except these shiny new trucks cost a fortune, are way too big, and drink up a lot of gas and diesel. I call these trucks "redneck limousines." Men buy these toys to pull their other toys--boats, RVs, ATV trailers, etc,

A real man is a working man. He drives an old pickup truck. It can be a compact truck like an old Toyota, or it can be a full size truck like a square body Chevy from the 70s and 80s. The main thing is that the truck is not a toy or a redneck limousine. It is the vehicle of a working man who needs to get work done. It isn't driven to impress or to play. It isn't a toy. It is a tool. Tools are what divide the men from the boys.

The working man is not a boy. He does not drive a toy. I am sad to say that the boys outnumber the men these days.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child.

1 CORINTHIANS 13:11 DOUAY-RHEIMS

Thank you for reading!

Julius Dilbeck, retired miner in his pick-up truck. Clairfield, TN 1970

In Praise Of Georgia Giant Work Boots

Good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

TERRY PRATCHETT

It took me 30 years before I ever bought myself a decent pair of work boots. Before that time, I remember my old man yelling at me for wearing "tennis shoes" for work. The old man always referred to sneakers as tennis shoes. So, I got a pair of cheap work boots from Walmart. I think they were the Texas Steer brand, but I can't swear to that. I just knew they were yellow and cheap. They weren't very durable, but they were better than sneakers. Virtually every working man I know can tell you a story about their starter boots. My starter boots weren't great, but they were good enough for digging ditches and working in the garage.

When I moved to Florida, I worked at a parcel service loading trailers. They demanded that all the workers wear a pair of work boots because they shipped high dollar sneakers. Some dishonest package handlers would find a pair of expensive Air Jordans in a box, put them on their feet, and wear them out the front gate. Nobody stole work boots. Consequently, we had to wear work boots.

The boots I wore for that job were a pair of Timberlands I bought from the mall. These were not work boots but fashion boots. Needless to say, they were comfortable but disintegrated after a few months. I would tape them back together with hockey tape. Other co-workers had similar issues, and we formed the Tape Boot Club. We would see how long we could last before buying a new pair of boots. The only non-member of our club was the guy who had a pair of Red Wing boots. Those boots lasted for the entire five years I knew the guy. They looked rough at the end, but they didn't need to be taped together.

Red Wing boots are very expensive but are probably worth it. I wouldn't know because I have never owned a pair. When I moved back home to South Carolina, I needed a good pair of boots, and I found a pair at the Quality Farm and Supply store in my town. That store has since vanished, but they sold me my first pair of Georgia Giant work boots. 25 years later, I am on my third pair.

I don't think Georgia Giant boots are the greatest boot ever made. I just don't feel like spending a thousand bucks trying to find the holy grail of work boots. I needed a pair of black work boots to fit the dress code of my job, and I bought some expensive Wolverine boots. Those things crippled me. They were very uncomfortable, and I performed surgery on them to try and remedy the problem. I should have just returned them for a refund. That was significant money wasted. I found it easier to do a dye job on my Georgia Giant boots.

Georgia Giants are cheap, comfortable, and durable. For me, any pair of boots under $200 is cheap. Red Wings and Thorogoods are not under $200. They might be awesome, but my experience with the Wolverines taught me to never deviate from what you already know and love. As for Caterpillars, I am curious about them, and they are cheap boots. But why should I change?

Footwear is highly individual, so my work boots may not be for you much like the Wolverines were not for me. I just know that Georgia Giants work for me. Thank you for reading!

https://georgiaboot.com/collections/giant

***

How to Extend the Life of Your Work Boots

https://noblepeasants.blogspot.com/2018/06/how-to-extend-life-of-your-work-boots.html

In Praise Of The Humble Chef Boyardee Pizza Maker Kit

Pica's Pizzeria, 1940s. Frank Pica, Sr. outside his pizzeria in Philadelphia. Credits

When the Son of God came into the world... 

he gave power to become children of God (Jn 1:2). 

This spirit of childhood consists of simplicity, docility, purity, 

and contempt for worldly riches and grandeur.

                 - ST. JOHN BAPTIST DE LA SALLE

This is a public service announcement. I had never heard of the Chef Boyardee Pizza kit until a few months ago. After reading the reviews on Amazon, I've learned that it has a cult following from people who have eaten it since the 70s. I think this pizza is a hidden gem for homebodies and simple eaters. I was so surprised to learn that Chef Boyardee was actually a real person and a famous Italian chef. But what really shocked me is that the five dollar, dusty, red box of Traditional Chef Boyardee Pizza kit was truly delicious! You can find it on the bottom shelf in the section with the pizza sauce and packaged Boboli type pizza crusts. I've seen it at Food Lion, Walmart, IGA, and even Amazon (way too expensive.)

WARNING: Please note that

1. This kit IS NOT VEGAN. The traditional crust mix and sauce both contain dairy. 

2. I do not have sophisticated tastes. My 10 rating is probably your 6.  I think this pizza is better than any frozen pizza and much cheaper. It is more like a school lunch room pizza with a biscuit type crust that browns well. I would rather have it than a pizza from Little Caesars.   

The best part about this pizza mix is that it comes together very easily and is fool proof. It is cheaper and easier to store than boxes of frozen pizza. The pizza kit makes two pizzas. It is shelf stable. As long as you have Kraft Mozzarella cheese (the suggested brand to use) and some veggies (canned mushrooms, black olives, green peppers, and onions) you can have a hot delicious pizza at home in less than an hour. For people who live out in the country who don't want to drive to town or pay for pizza delivery, Chef Boyardee is the answer. I really hope you buy a box with a two liter of root beer and stick it in your pantry. Next time you want to have a pizza night, it's right there.

Here are some tips on how Mr. Peasant prepares the pizza. He dusts the dough and rolling pin with extra flour. He rolls out the crust thin on a greased pan. He puts on extra sauce. The biscuit crust absorbs a lot of the sauce. He spreads the sauce and the cheese right to the edges creating delicious browned edges. He sprinkles a layer of bottom cheese. Then he puts on the toppings and sprinkles more cheese on top. We have the oven set for 390 degrees, and it cooks brown and bubbly in 17 minutes. He also cuts the pizza party style into squares. 

I had no idea this pizza kit even existed, and I just had to share! God bless you and thanks for reading.