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By Chuck Wiser, I write the words to share what my eyes see and my heart feels
The title for today’s Wrambling is a hint and advance notice to save the date for the upcoming Genesee Valley Chorus (GVC) 2023 Winter Concert, December 3rd at Grace United Church in Wellsville. Later this week, or early next, I will present a formal announcement and invitation with full details.
The 2nd headline part is a reach-out to so many people and organizations for whom, and which, I am most thankful. Thanksgiving is a holiday of giving thanks. Regardless of whether you are of a religious faith or just for the many things that may have come your way over the past year, Give Thanks!
Initially I planned to embed a recorded version of my “Thanks” in the form of a song written by Dave Dunbar back in the early 80’s from a poem I wrote. I wasn’t sure if the .mov file format would work in the Sun published version so have instead added a picture file of the song cover and original poem that Dave worked from. I am thankful for the Grace United Church choir, directed by Dave Toot, for singing and sharing our song and performing it so well given the short time for learning and practicing it. I will add it later as a “stand alone” if the details can be worked out. I am thankful to those who allow me to sing, as it is now my fondest passion. Regardless of how well or how poorly I do it… Like singing in the shower, I do it for my own enjoyment.
Now that I’ve provided myself with a table of contents once again, I have a road map of what I planned to Wramble on. I doubt that I will get to every topic, and likely decide that a couple were too frivolous to bore you with but here goes.
A recent potentially catastrophic airplane incident, wherein the pilot safely landed his propellor-less aircraft on a public highway, raised the question of how or why could the propellor come off mid-flight? I’m guessing maybe human error or a mistake in some kind of maintenance mode, or equipment failure, but it brought back memories of an incident I had, when a friend was helping me change the tires on my old Datsun pickup truck back in the 70’s. While driving to Alfred the next day for my classes at Alfred State, I was going down the downside of Moline Drive, the truck suddenly started shaking and wobbling all over the road. I managed to safely pull off the road and get stopped without wrecking; clambered out of the truck and walked around it, looking for the problem. There on the side of the truck, which was worked on by my helper, it was obvious that the wheel was nearly completely off, with only one last wheel lug nut still holding it on. All the others had come completely off. That friend was a little notable for doing jobs quite quickly and sometimes in too much haste. That friend is no longer with us but is always in my heart and to him I am grateful for having been a lifetime friend, included as part of the The Family of Three, which I have mentioned before. My entire adult life was spent with “The Family of Three,” and I want the offspring and siblings of that cherished group to know how Thankful I am, initially for their parents, and now for them and their families. I am confident that they will continue, not only to grow the family, but to cherish its memory.
I have previously written about cost-cutting measures attached to our clothing or other products. Along with other changes made to the manufacture of our clothing and with other apparent “cost cutting” methods like the reduced number of belt loops, I will mention the reduction in size of the pockets. The trousers made today have all pockets reduced in size. The back pockets are especially problematic, made just barely large enough to initially slide your wallet into, but trying to pull the wallet out of your back pocket can be quite a challenge. In some cases, the corners of the wallet have to be jockeyed around or squeezed together to slip past the corners of the pocket.
Other cost cutting measures apply to shoes, slippers, and socks. I have written about this before but socks ranging from a size 6 to 12 or 10 to 15 is an unreasonable amount of variation. They are either way too tight, or way too loose. Having a size 13-1/2 foot makes it nearly impossible to get a perfect fit in either socks or shoes. I am convinced that the average size of people where these products are manufactured plays into the problem of “size discrepancy.”
I am currently seeing, all too often, an advertisement on television that makes me shudder every time I see it. Google Pixel is the advertisement if I recall correctly, and it shows a very young child being thrown into the air, and then caught, by a parent with the crux of the advertisement being to show how you can readily edit your pictures. Watching a baby or young child thrown into the air like that has always troubled me when seen live, but that Google ad perpetuates the seeing of an extremely dangerous interaction.
The Wednesdays of the “yester-years” are now Mondays. Recently, many businesses and establishments have closed or curtailed services on Mondays. We no longer have Newspapers delivered (via USPS Mail) on Mondays, and several other establishments curtail Monday services primarily to give their employees a two day “weekend”. That is not unlike business activities curtailment starting as early as 1617 in Great Britain, and which carried over to US policies when colonization here started. Several factors determined which businesses would close and for how long. Many banks and stores would close at noon on Wednesdays. Early on this was to allow shopping for necessities, as Saturday, now a day off for many, was generally an agricultural work-filled day. Giving Wednesdays off was necessary and eventually mandated. Sunday business operations came under control of what were called the “Blue Laws,” which were officially banned in 1994. In the 50’s and 60’s, Wednesday day, or half day off, practice was most commonly followed, and especially popular as Golfing day, especially by those in the medical professions.
Speaking of cost savings, the gas stations in our area are not following the trend of the rest of the country, save for California, in seeing gas prices go down. Recently, based on my observation, the average price of gasoline locally ranges from $3.69 to $3.79 in our regional area, but The New York State average, as per Gas Buddy, is $3.52/gal.
I will end this with a wish that you and yours have a very thankful, and joyous Thanksgiving. If you cannot be with your family, or someone you love, reach out and touch them with a phone call or some other messaging system.
To those who have faithfully followed my Wiser’s Wramblings or contacted me at IM.Wiserdad@gmail.com I am most grateful, and Thank You All.
