A Nostalgic Jar

Canning treasured garden good was very popular when I was a child.  We always took a day or two in the late summer to can tomatoes so that we would have enough for the winter ahead.  Canned tomatoes were added to stews, soups, and sauces. 

Canning jars seem to have made a reappearance in the past decade, but not necessarily for canning food.  They are painted white on the inside and used for vases and shelf arrangements.  They hold mini collections of anything seasonal and are placed in a prominent display location in offices or homes.  There has even been a resurgence of the aqua Ball jars that were a mainstay in my grandmother's root cellar fifty years ago.  As with many treasures from the past......if only we had known......  That probably explains the continued popularity of "The Antiques Road Show!" 

Although I carved the jar relief print several years ago, it continues to be, just like the old canning jars, a go-to for displaying bits and pieces of images that are meant to convey a captured thought, concept or thing.  For example, the first one has captured the Jolly Roger to suggest that the essence inside the jar is pure poison.  The one above has captured a spider, however, it is one of the descendants of Charlotte becuase it can weave words in the structure of the web. 

I love the beetles above scurrying about on the textured, burlap surface, but find them to be much more appealing when contained inside the jar below. 

Perhaps this use of the jar goes back to catching fireflies on a warm summer night....get a dozen in the jar and it was like holding a fairy captive.  Of course it wouldn't be long before we would release them all.  With the increase in pesticides and massive spraying of fields, roadsides, ponds, swamps and forests, it is very unusual to see fireflies now.  The community that my mother used to live in had a ban on all spraying.  It continues to be one of the rare places where fireflies cruise the dusky skies of summer and signal to a potential mate.  I just have to drive through that neighborhood if I am in the area in summer in the hopes of catching a glimpse of these endangered glowbugs!