John's Journal

Ten specials at Giant Foods for the week ending October 11:

1. Fresh California Strawberries, 2 one-pound containers for $4
2. Orbit Gum 3 Pack, Buy 1 Get 1 Free
3. Swanson Hungry-Man Dinners, all varieties (except pot pies and Salisbury steak) 2 for $5
4. 6' Inflatable Animated Cauldron, $39.99
5. Nabisco Oreo Sandwich Cookies, all varieties (except Oreo Dunkers) $2.99
6. Boneless Pork Sirloin Chops, $1.99 per pound
7. Yuengling 12 Pack, all varieties $7.99
8. Coke 2 Liter, 10 for $10
9. Kraft Velveeta and Shells, $2.39
10. Yoplait Yogurt, all varieties 20 for $10

Today's list is for marinwood, who requested frozen TV dinners. Is there any other kind? Actually, Swanson -- which created the TV Dinner and trademarked the name -- stopped calling their frozen entrees TV dinners in the 60s, but the name had already become genericized.

Oh, and in case you're wonder what a "6' Inflatable Animated Cauldron" looks like, here it is. It's animated in the sense that it rotates at the base.

Possibly the best headline ever to appear in the New York Times:

'The Desert Has Lost Its Favorite Rose': Death Comes to the Whiskers Family

Read the article here.

I mentioned last week that I was fascinated by the many Roman and Neolithic sites found scattered across the British Isles. Well, here's why: the photo above shows everything that remains of a West Virginia mining community called Vindex, which had people living in it as recently as the 1960s. Less than fifty years later, all that's left is a set of concrete steps in the middle of a forest. With preservation like that, you can understand why I might find the relatvely well-preserved ruins of ancient Britain so fascinating.

That photo comes from an interesting article in last week's Washington Post about the efforts of local historians to at least preserve the memory of abandoned mining communities like Vindex. Check it out.