I try to do what I can. For example my friend Louie the window washer guy. He has a tough gig in the winter. A bunch of stores don't wash their windows in the winter. They figure they are just gonna get fucked up with rain and snow so why bother. Not the boutiques so much but some of the other joints that might go for it in the spring, summer and fall. So Louie is feeling it and needs odd jobs to get by and pay his rent. And to eat. So I throw him whatever work I can. Shoveling the snow. Washing the windows. Cleaning out the cellar. But he knows that if he is up against it he can come to me for a double sawbuck or something to tide him over. All most of us can do is take care of our own little patch. And when we help others we do it on the down low. So to speak. Nobody should look for kudo's or praise. That is not what it is about. Guys like Louie are proud and want to work for anything they get. So you are well advised to do that. This is really not charity. It is just a chance to earn. Others just appreciate a helping hand. If you can extend it then it is very much appreciated.
I don't criticize what anybody else does because times are really hard right now. We only can do the best that we can.
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If I really squeezed the eagle I could get a week out of a double sawbuck not that many years ago. Today I was in the supermarket and bought 2 plum tomatoes, 2 bosc pears (ah, bosc), 2 yellow onions and one of my guilty pleasures, a can of Hormel all beef chili. Nothing, right? Cost: a Lincoln and a Washington. How long before the pitchforks?
I worked part-time in college at a grocery store in Madison when I was student there 1978-83. The shop was tiny and owned by a Sicilian and his Armenian wife. They both were first generation immigrants and had generous hearts, though they were strict employers. The shop was right downtown in the student district (Madison is unique in the Midwest in that the University is integral with the commercial aspects). Anyways, during that time there was a homeless guy around named Art. He was a big burly white guy but had brownest skin because he spent entire days outside year round. He never panhandled but instead washed windows up and down State St, the main drag connecting the Capitol Building and the campus. Althouse used to blog about State State all the time--that's where most of her early cafe posts originated.
All the shop owners knew about Art and they helped him get by, sorta like the guy you're describing, Troop. I got along with him just fine. He must have been 20 years older than me. We were allowed to give him lunch meats and other food stuffs but we were told to watch him around the beer and and especially the little flavor bottles (vanilla, anise, etc.). These flavors are mostly alcohol and they had a high volatility, especially at night after the liquor stores closed. I intercepted a lot of losers trying to snitch those little things, but I never saw Art even try. He was a hopeless alcoholic but he always only drank beer (wrapped in brown paper of course) and he always bought his beer with cash. I worked there as a cashier full-time one semester when I missed the registration deadline because I overstayed in Italy in the summer the '79. Anyways, Art was well known. We never got to know each other (he was a pretty silent guy like the Chief Broom character in Kesey's novel).
Art was taunted mercilessly by some students. I only saw verbal abuse: "Hey you fat slob-get a fuckin' job." One enterprising student even made a T-shirt which said:
"What Is Art? Art Is A Window Washer"
They got pretty popular and somebody even spray painted the slogan on the Humanities building. I read that the guy who did the shirts actually gave Art a cut of the profits but I doubt that was true.
One morning, I came to work and learned that Art had passed away on the street the night before in front of our store. Sure enough, outside were Art's squeegee and pail which I snagged and put in the store for safekeeping.
Sadly, I learned more about Art after he died than before he was alive. Turns out he been a veteran (Korea or Vietnam--I'm not sure) and he grew up in the same town I did. There's a photo of him here
Thanks for sharing that story, CL, you wrote it well.
If he was 42 when he died it would seem that he was born in 1940, which would make him too young to have fought in the Korean war.
Ricpic - pears in winter? In New York state? Those alone should have cost about twenty bucks. You got off cheap, bubba.
Thanks Sixty--I tried do the math too to figure which war. He could have served been between wars like a couple uncles of mine and like Elvis did--cold warriors.
I might have messed up the description of Chuck and Rose, the owners. By first generation immigrant, I meant that their parents had immigrated here so they were actually first generation Americans.
More importantly, I bought a boneless pork loin roast which I want to skewer and rotisserie cook on the gas grill (maybe mesquite smoke too). What kind of sauce or rub can I coat this with while or before it's cooking?
A close friend grew up in this little town. There used to be a private grocer up on Main Street, and when my friend was a kid, he was playing around outside the door of the market. One of the bums in town was sitting nearby. My friend went in and asked the owner if he could please have an apple. The grocer said of course he could, so my friend took one and went outside and gave it to the bum. The grocery owner was pissed off, but my friend pointed out that the apple was his to do with what he pleased.
When you do it unto the least of these, you do it unto Me. Yep. People like Art are tests for us...the ones that matter most.
chickelit, You have a good heart.
What kind of sauce or rub can I coat this with while or before it's cooking
I HIGHLY recommend that you do this rub/marinade. The pork will be so juicy and tender!!!.
Crispy salt crusted pork roast. Scroll past all the bull crap I wrote to the recipe. I use this on a boston butt roast but it has also worked well on a pork loin in the oven. It would probably work just as well on a rotisserie. Just wipe off the marinade before cooking.
Oh...and since your roast is smaller, don't marinate it for as long as the recipe in mine calls for. It will be too salty. Trust me...I learned this the hard way.
Thanks DBQ! I just printed it out and will try it tomorrow!
It's marinating right now. It's a tiny roast compared to to yours--only 2 lbs or so.
I like do all the larger meats on the rotisserie. I've done the Thanksgiving turkey that way for years. And whole chickens too- I just shove a couple lemons inside and slice them and let it go.
BTW DBQ, "Foyle's War" was an excellent suggestion.
The salt crust recipe turned out really well, DBQ! Thanks again!
Yay.... I was hoping that you would have a success and not a salty roast. Glad you liked Foyles War. We really enjoy it and since going to the Roku, Amazon Prime, Netflix route our entertainment level has really risen.
If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend House of Cards on Netflix with Kevin Spacey. Excellent.
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