I know, I know – you were expecting Babs today. Well, she is Away. She will be back. In the meantime, well, it is just me. However, I’ve been accumulating little bits and pieces that just . . . tickle my funny bone. I thought you might enjoy them too. First we have this clipping from the November 28, 1935 Central Lake Torch:
For those of you from Away, I should say that our little townships did not have Official Government Buildings until somewhat recently. Back in the day, township treasurers worked out of their houses and found space to hold “office hours” where they could. So there was Harry, accepting your property tax payments at the funeral home. Still—makes you think, doesn’t it?
Next we have these photos of the shelves of an Antrim County grocery store that shall remain nameless to protect my ability to continue to buy kibble and coffee there:
Calorie-free, No Carbs
Is it just me? Or is displaying the S'Mores makings right above the Calorie Free stuff just perverse?
Torch Lake Views 
Fee
September 5, 2011
So that old chestnut about death and taxes was spot on, then?
I’ll agree on the perverse mixture in the display of food, too. Almost as odd as our local slimming club, which holds their weekly meetings in the empty shop right next door to the fish and chip shop. Talk about testing the resolve of the members!
Gerry
September 5, 2011
Ohhh . . . that would test my resolve most severely.
katherine
September 5, 2011
And it looks as though the s’more makings are right at eye level!
Gerry
September 5, 2011
Well, most people’s eye level. I actually spotted the calorie-free food first, and thought it was pretty odd just as a concept. Then I noticed the marshmallows.
Karma
September 5, 2011
Looks like good marketing to me… those items proclaiming themselves to be sugar free, gluten free, carb free and calorie free are probably also flavor free!
Gerry
September 5, 2011
I do not know and I will never know. I am harboring deep suspicions about whether they are, properly speaking, “food” at all. Of course, we must acknowledge that I am entirely too fond of food, and that I need many fewer calories. Still . . .
Carsten
September 5, 2011
I do not know those products – except for the marshmallows. Why do they try hiding them between all the unnecessary stuff?
Gerry
September 5, 2011
The better to astonish us.
Carsten
September 5, 2011
Oh! I forgot mentioning your funny clip from the paper.
Maybe the Greek economy was better if they collected the taxes at the undertakers!
Gerry
September 5, 2011
It struck me as a very efficient approach–plus it saved the cost of a Township Hall. Township Halls can be very expensive items.
Carsten
September 6, 2011
Double bonus!
Anna
September 6, 2011
LOL Well, back then and even now, for certainty death and taxes.
Grocery store shelves with products can be neat to look at and photograph. I tried to photograph the various bottles of olive oil once, surely looking the fool as people stared at me. I do like to find those out-of-the-way old grocery stores with creaking wood floors… hard to find now as most are gone in the small towns. I could eat some marshmallows about right now….. 🙂
Enjoyed the post and photos.
Gerry
September 6, 2011
Oh Anna you reminded me of trips into town in Grampa’s Cruck. The A&P in Rhinelander Wisconsin had those creaking wood floors, and smelled deliciously of fresh ground coffee. I couldn’t see much, as I was even shorter then, so I just followed my nose. Nice memory.
uphilldowndale
September 7, 2011
Calorie free food? What is the point?
Gerry
September 17, 2011
My thought exactly.
flandrumhill
September 17, 2011
Gerry, so nice to see that Nova Scotians and Newfoundlanders are not the only people who employ the term ‘those of you from Away.’
Gerry
September 17, 2011
Perhaps I was a Nova Scotian or a Newfoundlander in a previous life. It’s so hard to remember things these days. But I know I find nuggets of language that I like and I adopt them at once. (This is how I accumulate dogs, too.) What with one thing and another, I’ve acquired quite a few bits and pieces that may be anachronisms or may be — is there a word for things that are in the wrong place? Besides weeds.
flandrumhill
September 17, 2011
I’ve had no luck finding such a word, one that is to place as anachronism is to time. Dislocation is the best I could come up with.
Gerry
September 17, 2011
Dislocation sounds painful. Incongruity is the best I could do and it sounds . . . incongruous. I believe we should have a Word Challenge like the Photo Challenges beloved of Scott and Karma.