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Location: Chicago, Illinois, United States

Monday, November 14, 2011

Post Revisited (11/09) - On buying drywall screws

The hardware store has a distinct lovely smell. Each aisle contains the potential of labor, the potential accomplishment of building or repairing, of cleaning or lighting or moving electricity from one place to another, hopefully avoiding the body as conductor or conduit and the taste of pennies. There is metal and wood and rubber and plastic. There is paint and paint thinner and solvents and solutions to any problem with a practical solution.

I wander, not knowing anything, imagining chain jewelry and chain weapons measured from spools, hats made of orange funnels, music in a drill bit, laughter from a ball cock. With knowledge and the right tools, any wish can be granted. In a hardware store, a man becomes a child, and a child with the right knowledge becomes a man, small but vast, knowing the absurd humor of any man who describes with his hands that he wants a pipe cut "this long."

4 Comments:

Blogger sybil law said...

Haha- excellent. :)

11:35 AM  
Blogger Pearl said...

You whimsical thing you. :-) Love it.

Pearl

3:36 PM  
Blogger Rassles said...

Oh, giggles and sighs. I love hardware stores. I love going around and collecting things that I would potentially use to make something and then putting them all back because I cannot afford to just build things willy-nilly. Sometimes I just wander. Home Depot smells best, but they have the most annoying employees. I'm an Ace Hardware girl through and through, but none of the Ace Hardwares around here have lumber sections and half the reason to even go to a hardware store is the smell of the wood, and Menards has those delicious jars of pretzels by the registers but it feels like a grocery store.

3:29 PM  
Blogger JMH said...

sybil - thanks, I appreciate it.

Pearl - thanks, I like Hometime a lot. I don't have cable.

Rassles - Rassles! Let's go to Clark & Devon Hardware together with a budget of $50. I'll treat. I'm serious. Let me know by email.

12:11 AM  

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