Comments on the Main Street photographs.

That's a pretty nice oil painting for $22.50, don't you think? It seemed a bit sad with that tag, not just because of the price, but because it had to specify "painting of lake and trees." Imagine being the artist and knowing the thing was not only being sold so cheap but the subject was not self-explanatory. Aren't those coats horrible? Horrible but awesome. Did the happy face crockery make you feel old and sad? Did it seem incongruous or quite fitting to find it with those other things? "Hot Burning Feet"--old ads really did exaggerate minor health problems with vivid imagery. Aren't "peds" just little low socks? "Farmers in a Changing World"--the date on that book is 1940. I wonder how many people had "The Buck Stops Here" signs on there desks? That sign must have adorned many places where the buck didn't stop. And what was the big fascination with the Discus Thrower back whenever the hell these reproductions were sold?

I felt a little bad that I took all those pictures and didn't buy anything. So maybe when you go to Mt. Horeb, you'll buy something at Main Street Antiques. If I had bought something, I would have bought this and given it to my sister, whose last name is Kresge:



It's nice to think about a time when there was no K-Mart, just a lot of S.S. Kresge stores. And it's nice to think about a time when people shopping for polish were thinking first and foremost of polishing their radios. And quite strange to think that you used to polish your furniture and your car with the same stuff.