30 November 2010

More old stuff from my mom's garage, and a little digression for good measure

Even though the comments look kinda paltry around here, I do get in-person comments fairly often about the blog. Usualy 3-4 times a week. Mostly because I ask my sister "Did you read my blog post about that thing?" and she says "Uh-huh. It was good." I count that.

When Languishing was a paper thing, a zine you could hold in your hands (that would not appear properly on your iPod or iPad or iPoodle [great. now I want an iPoodle]), I LOVED getting comments from random people: I'd be introduced to someone, we'd chat a bit, and somehow it would come out that "Holy crap! You're the one who puts Languishing together? I've read every issue!" No lie. That happened to me. Twice. It was fantastic. When that happens now, though, I tend to get shy. The blog, somehow, feels more exposing. Maybe it's because there're more pictures of me and mine, or because it's more frequent (at it's height, paper Languishing came out just 6 times a year), or because I have met two or three people in the last 10 years that I hope to never see or hear from again, and being online reduces my invisibility to them (though at least one of them is still institutionalized, I'm pretty sure). (Do they have the interweb in institutional settings? I suppose it depends...). At any rate, in the end, I love hearing the words "I read about that on your blog..." Even if you  think I'm a doofus, I'm glad to know you're reading.

Whew. I said all that to tell you that I got a compliment on a recent post today, and so I'm going to post more pictures of old crap from my mom's garage. See, if you hated that post and didn't tell me, I have only the compliment to go on. You can change the content of the internet if you just tell me what you like and what you don't like. In the end, this is your fault.

The titles are properly capitalized after each photo.


Chain and Metal Sheets
 Calumet Baking Powder, et al
I love the greenish tint of the mason jars and the orange-brown of the tall bottle.
 Garden Stakes, Fishing Net, Handsaw, Leaves.
I adore how human hands cause wear on tools. The flash here obscures some of that, but I also like how my family just hangs all kinds of stuff from the same nail.
 Another shot of the bottles, in different light, with a different camera, from a different angle. I like the milk jar in the back. I call this one Still Life with Water Stains.
The brown glass bottle reads "Juicy Orange Brand" Orange Flavored Beverage Base. And as you can see, it has no pulp. The rock (or hunk of cement, I'm not sure) I had hoped was a skull: my father had a habit of bringing home animal bones, especially during spring plowing. Part of the joy of my May birthday was I got many a deer jaw as a gift. I call this one Hunting Knife.

There you have it, gentle readers. A second round of photos from one little garage in the heart of the Red River Valley.

4 comments:

ilene said...

I do love these shots! I love old stuff too!

Jean Hendrickson said...

Great pictures Jen! It is hard to believe that little garage is filled with so many interesting things.

Charlotte said...

I totally would have stolen that big brown bottle from my mom long ago!

Jenn said...

Blogs need Facebook "LIKE" buttons!