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This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here. Saturday, August 27, 2005 I went to the store and bought an apple and a banana and a carrot and a dog and . . . a violin? No kidding. I stopped in at Walmart the other night, driving home very late from a day of inspections in Richmond, to get some lunch meat and cheese for Clarence's lunches. I ended up with thirty pounds of peaches too, but since they were on sale for twenty cents a pound less than the already good price of a week before, I felt justified in buying them. I paid for my purchases, headed for the door, and was totally blindsided by the musical instrument display.Walmart has been stocking guitars for quite a while, mixed in with telescopes and kits for making your own beer. Some stores even sell a limited variety of band instruments--clarinets, trumpets, flutes--and recently I've been noticing folk instruments like lap harps and dulcimers. But violins? Well, "Appalachian fiddles," at any rate. Never mind what it's called, I wanted one. I grabbed one of the boxes, wheeled around to go back through the checkout, and grinned all the way back home. I hadn't touched a violin since childhood, but I've been thinking recently that I really would like to have one again, and since my brother made my old violin into a lamp, it wasn't available any more.And then, with great regret, I took my fiddle back the next day to Walmart. Basically, I got what I paid for. The bridge was a flimsy piece of balsa that wouldn't have survived long. The tuning pegs wouldn't stay where they were adjusted, but worst of all, the bow could not be tightened enough to draw properly. I think the instrument would have had a decent tone if it could have been played at all, but I wasn't going to spend any more money trying to find out. Replacing the bridge and the bow would have cost enough extra to make a cheap music store violin a better deal.So I took it back, and had to accept a shopping card in lieu of an actual refund. I ended up with a ladder, a new pressure canning pot and the 22-quart stainless steel stock pot that I've been eyeing for a while and just hadn't gotten up the nerve to buy. More my speed than musical instruments right now, anyway.But I still yearn for a fiddle. One of the grocery stores I inspected had, with the total incongruity you often find in country store inventories, a large selection of stringed instruments. I need to go back through my files and figure out where it was, and pay them a visit again. posted by Liz @ 8:22 AM | The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email toliz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 Feedjit Live Blog Stats
No kidding. I stopped in at Walmart the other night, driving home very late from a day of inspections in Richmond, to get some lunch meat and cheese for Clarence's lunches. I ended up with thirty pounds of peaches too, but since they were on sale for twenty cents a pound less than the already good price of a week before, I felt justified in buying them. I paid for my purchases, headed for the door, and was totally blindsided by the musical instrument display.Walmart has been stocking guitars for quite a while, mixed in with telescopes and kits for making your own beer. Some stores even sell a limited variety of band instruments--clarinets, trumpets, flutes--and recently I've been noticing folk instruments like lap harps and dulcimers. But violins? Well, "Appalachian fiddles," at any rate. Never mind what it's called, I wanted one. I grabbed one of the boxes, wheeled around to go back through the checkout, and grinned all the way back home. I hadn't touched a violin since childhood, but I've been thinking recently that I really would like to have one again, and since my brother made my old violin into a lamp, it wasn't available any more.And then, with great regret, I took my fiddle back the next day to Walmart. Basically, I got what I paid for. The bridge was a flimsy piece of balsa that wouldn't have survived long. The tuning pegs wouldn't stay where they were adjusted, but worst of all, the bow could not be tightened enough to draw properly. I think the instrument would have had a decent tone if it could have been played at all, but I wasn't going to spend any more money trying to find out. Replacing the bridge and the bow would have cost enough extra to make a cheap music store violin a better deal.So I took it back, and had to accept a shopping card in lieu of an actual refund. I ended up with a ladder, a new pressure canning pot and the 22-quart stainless steel stock pot that I've been eyeing for a while and just hadn't gotten up the nerve to buy. More my speed than musical instruments right now, anyway.But I still yearn for a fiddle. One of the grocery stores I inspected had, with the total incongruity you often find in country store inventories, a large selection of stringed instruments. I need to go back through my files and figure out where it was, and pay them a visit again.
The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section
RSS Feed
PERSONAL
WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'
"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart.
THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME
Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3
KNITTING BLOGS
Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits
FINISHED PROJECTS
SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE
POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES
BOOKS I'M READING
How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising
ARCHIVES
February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002
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