The public is invited to the Wellsville Fire Hall on September 12th at 930am for a solemn remembrance
By Chuck Wiser, I write the words to share what my eyes see and my heart feels
I will get to the Grapes of Wrambling story elsewhere, but I want to start out with a wrembrance of Tuesday 9-11-2021. I wrecall that day well, as do most people that were old enough to have experienced it. I was still actively teaching at Alfred State College at the time and the live news of the tragic event spread like wild fire through the Engineering Technology building classrooms and the entire campus. We all tuned in to national news sources to try and follow what was happening. Please forgive me for seemingly downplaying the word remembrance, but it is my personal honor to share my writings with that “letter combination.” My words come from my heart no matter how frivolous it may seem.
This coming Saturday, September 12th, the Genesee Valley Chorus (GVC) will be honored to be a small part of a memorial service to be held at the Wellsville Fire Department in the morning as we lead the community in song. I’m not exactly sure of the time but we will do our part at around 9:30 AM or so. The official announcement (with my AI corrections, of which there were many) is noted as;
“The Wellsville Fire Department’s 25th Anniversary Remembrance — which includes the 9/11 memorial service — will be held on Saturday, September 12, 2026 from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at the Wellsville Fire Department Headquarters, 40 S Main St, Wellsville, NY.
This event will honor the 2,976 people who lost their lives in the September 11, 2001 attacks, including Wellsville resident Cathy Salter.”
On a 2nd note, regarding the Genesee Valley Chorus; the chorus will be holding their annual picnic on Sunday, September 13th at the pavilion behind Trinity Lutheran Church. This event will present an opportunity for community members that might be interested in joining GVC for the next musical season, which will commence activities on September 15th at Grace United Church on North Main Street in Wellsville. If interested, please contact any current GVC member.
The picture of the now mostly defoliated plant shown herein displays the “Mini Purple Grape Tomatoes” which are overwhelmingly abundant. I’ve mentioned previously, I believe, that this plant was purchased online by my wife and is in my opinion the best thing she has ever purchased in her online shopping history. Their name is self-explanatory. They are small, about the size of a large grape; They are purplish (if I let them ripen completely); and despite not looking it, they are a tomato. They are GREEEAAAAAT as Toni the Tiger would have said it.
The only problem with them, isn’t them at all, but my forgetting to “tighten my lips,” when biting into one. They are so “juicy” that it sprays out between my lips if I’m not careful. They are tasty! At any one time we have a dish of them in the fridge with 10 to 15 that I pick as I walk by the plant. I’ve even caught my wife picking one to eat as she too passes by them on her way by it to water her other “potted” plants.
Into the second page of my Wrambling now, and I will get to my list of topics for today.
I will start my Grammar Groans with the word Afford, which would seem to be a prefix for the word Afforded, but it doesn’t show up that way in my Google Grammar Groping’s. Afford indicates that you can accept the expense either literally or figuratively. Afforded means that you, or someone, were given an opportunity offer, as in; “He was afforded the right to vote.” BTW…when you get a chance to vote, please give serious consideration to doing so.
It is getting more, and more, difficult to avoid discussing politics in my Wramblings. But, you don’t read my writings to be preached at, nor swayed politically. BUT Vote when you can.
The saga of my account hacking continues to haunt us (me namely as I have to deal with it). Having been hacked several months ago the closing, oprning new, and blocking or restricting accounts continues to be a nightmare and a headache. I wake in the middle of the night, or pre-dawn hours with it on my mind.
I do not write about this activity to seek pity or understanding but mostly as a warning to others to be diligent about what you sign up for, and/or, where your money or more importantly your account information is shared to or from. Nearly everyone that I talk to about this admits that they too had the same problem with hacking. Hackers are professionals and are very good at seemingly innocent or safe business ventures. My latest experiences, just resolved over the past couple of days had to do with the banking accounts and loan payments that were set up to go into, or out of, my account which was established during my career as an Alfred State College “professor.” Having frozen or blocked various accounts overlapped to Servu, where in I had taken out vehicle purchase arrangements. A problem that had been going on for several payment cycles had not been brought to my attention and more or less “festered” over a few months to the point where some payments, such as home and auto insurance payments had not been made.
I think I have finally gotten them all straightened out, as of earlier today. I did however mention to “officers” of those financial institutions, including Community Bank and Servu Credit Union, as to why they had not reached out to me directly when something seemed as if it had gone awry. The computers, and now frighteningly AI, are both at the heart of this lack of communication. I understand that but I wonder what all of those folks at those institutions are doing that keeps them from reaching out to report and/or discuss the problems and remedies.
A recent (regular) trip to the Olean Walmart via I86 had me shaking my head in wonderment. By that I mean “wondering what he was doing?” As I drove west, I passed an SP Troop car that had a car pulled over. Just moments later the car that had been pulled over passed me and the same troop car passed by me as well. . I assumed he had or was, calling in my plate (IM.Wiser). I was going a sedate 67 or 68 mph so was not concerned. The SP car then pulled up beside me in the passing lane for a mile or two then fell back behind me. A couple of miles further down the road the trooper passed by me again and kept on going, I presume it was headed to the Olean SP office near the western Olean exit. I can understand doing a license plate check, but the rest had me puzzled. The only thought that did come to mind was that his “side by side” travel allowed him to check out my window sticker. Never a dull day on my expeditions.
It seems that the hummingbirds have now “left the house.” We had a couple of “juvi’s” here yesterday but not a single sighting today. Cardinals’ “fledglings” are our only recent aviary rewards once again. To them we are extremely and externally grateful.
Having mentioned singing and music I now have another “notable 🎶” thought. The other day I was contemplating those local directors, and fellow singers, that are no longer with us. Music has been in my life starting with hearing my Mom singing along with the radio Saturday mornings as she went about her chores, and then skipping ahead to when I played drums and harmonica with the Warner’s from Nile in the Allegany County Ridgerunners led by Tex and Harold Warner when I was but 12 years old. I knew I had some musical ability but shunned the high school music programs, now, to my chagrin. Over the past several years, starting with GVC in 1976; I have sung in the chorus, with a Barbershop chorus and quartet with the Maple City Barbershop chorus, church choir with The Grace United Church in Wellsville, and a couple of other groups. Music is in my blood and within my soul. Sadly sometimes, in my head, as I awake in the middle of the night with a song stuck in my head going back and forth to repeat the same lyric line over and over. Recently, Matthew, GVC’s current director reminded me of one of the two major “music motivators” when he asked me to explain just what motivated me to write the lyric for Dave Dunbar’s song Thank You Lord. That is an introduction, and leads into my last topic, that being music composition as it relates to “feelings” versus “meanings.”
Directing style aside, songs are composed with lyrics which I can categorize in one of two groups and they pretty much match up with what, and how, English teachers as well, teach. My grade school and high school English teachers had the most direct influence in my thinking and writing. Some will teach with background information as to what the writer was trying to evoke from the readers. By that I mean; “What did the writer mean by that particular phrase?” Was the writer being literal or figurative? The emphasis was “what the writer meant.” The second style of writing, and thus writer’s style was; “What feelings did that writer evoke? What, or how did you feel about that piece? Was it joy and gladness, was it reflection and thought, was it something to make you think and thus relate it to your own experiences.
Simply stated the differences were; “What did you think?” versus “What did you feel?”
My signature line says what my motivation is both. I write to share “what I think” and “what I feel.” My other, and most important (to me) objective, is to give the readers something to think about and then something to feel about what I said, and to also express their feelings, either to me privately or publicly, as some have.
If you have any comments, suggestions, questions, or concerns please feel free, and invited, to email me at IM.Wiserdad@gmail.com
