Yesterday was beautiful and I spent a fair amount of time on the porch until the breeze became a bit more intense and pollen flew everywhere. The rain is supposed to hold off until sometime this afternoon and right now it’s sunny.
I’ll take it.
We had a FaceTime chat with Little Z yesterday. He is obsessed with elevators and knows pretty much everything about them. He’s smart as a whip, you know, and listening to him rattle off his knowledge is pretty darned amazing.
Don and I were telling him about the elevators that were around when we were kids, the kind that had actual elevator operators. We told him all about their uniforms and the little seat that came out from the wall of the elevator so the operator could sit if needed. We talked about the J.L. Hudson department store in downtown Detroit (and department stores across the country,) where the operator would announce the departments that were on a particular floor, so you knew what floor to go to for a certain item. Don talked about the famous outdoor elevator which was on the El Cortez building in San Diego.
This morning Don sent Z lots of photos and a newsreel about the El Cortez elevator. Z loved it,
As expected, Don and I chatted about it during this morning’s second cup of coffee. Everything is so impersonal these days. No more elevator operators (you just felt safer on an elevator when they were in charge,) no more gas stations where your gas was pumped, your oil was checked, your windows were cleaned and your tires were checked. I know they still pump gas in New Jersey, but I don’t think they do the other stuff. (Correct me if I’m wrong!) Robots doing jobs that real people used to do. And we all know how frustrating it is to get any sort of customer service on the phone. I could go on and on, but it’s a very different world nowadays. And a great deal has been lost because of it.
Don is off to take some portraits today. He did that yesterday, as well. Last week he took a photo of Chris Hayes (of MSNBC) and his family and friends. He has a house in our area.
The porch is looking good. The potted flowers are filling out and growing by leaps and bounds. It’s our summertime haven.
Happy June. May we have less rain please? And Happy Anniversary to my parents, who were married on June 1, 1946. What I wouldn’t give to call them up and wish them a happy anniversary!
Happy Saturday.
Little Z is a smart kiddo for sure. I know when Tiger is interested in something he amazes me with his knowledge. Ashleigh and Irenes are back in Cali and I miss them already. I’ll be spending some time with the Grands and enjoying that. June first…wow….only a week until I’m 69 but I already feel my age here lately. Enjoy the day. We still have so much sun and no rain, wish we could trade a little with you. Hugs.
Oh, I feel my age lately! I understand. Let’s face it: Sometimes it’s just plain depressing! xoxo
Kids sure can amaze you when they find something that stimulates their imagination. Their enthusiasm is contagious and so fun. I miss those days of having little boys around the house keeping us on our toes. When you’re in the midst of it, you have no notion of what a short time it really is in their lives and yours.
We are indeed becoming an impersonal society. I see tiny kids holding cell phones or an iPad rather than interacting with their parent(s) and wonder how that will affect them as they move through each stage of their life. There will be times when they have to deal face-to-face with actual people – roommates, professors, work colleagues, etc. Will they be prepared enough? I’ll never forget when #2 son casually told me about how quiet it was in the hallways of his high school between classes. As soon as the bell rang, every kid pulled out their cell and began texting their friends elsewhere in the building. That was the first time it hit me there was a whole new world out there and I wasn’t 100 percent sure I wanted to be a part of it.
I really hate the preoccupation with cell phones. I see it at rehearsals, as well. The minute someone isn’t in a scene, or when everyone is on a break, the cell phones come out.
Kids are amazing…he certainly picked an interesting subject…elevators. Sometimes, I do miss the old days for the interesting people I used to meet in everyday interactions. I guess that’s why I don’t use self check out at the grocery…I’d miss chatting with the cashier. I remember elevator operators. But, I remember them only being in the nicer department stores of the time.
Your flowers on the porch are looking lovely. Did not realize we share an anniversary with your parents…I always thought it was good day! ;)
Well, yes, because department stores needed to be several stories high and most flagship stores in a department store chain had a lot of floors. Other, smaller dept stores used escalators. Or stairs.
Happy Anniversary, Donnamae! Congrats!
Thanks! I do remember the elevator in Edinburgh…so tiny, and kind of scary. We had to go up one person, one bag at a time. It was very slow, and quite noisy…you weren’t quite sure if you were going to reach your destination. But, our room was on the 5th floor I believe, tucked into the eaves. It was so charming…worth the scary elevator ride! ;)
Our hotel in Paris had a very tiny elevator, too. Same thing – the hotel was so charming that we loved the tiny elevator, as well.
My young nephew’s first elevator ride was when he was four. We went in, the door closed, buttons were pushed, and then the door opened. He stepped out, looked out the window (three floors up) and exclaimed “How’d we do that!!”.
Love that story!
That’s so sweet, Little Z and his extensive elevator knowledge – don’t tell him but I have a ridiculous fear of them! Only once in my whole life have I been in one alone. I can just about go in one if I am with someone and I can vaguely remember going in them as a child in old fashioned department stores. They used to have metal concertina gates and I remember peering through down the seemingly bottomless brick walled shaft until the elevator or lift as we call them appeared.
Fortunately my best friend shares the same fear – in our twenties we went on holiday to Tenerife and stayed on the 11th floor. We used to take the stairs! Couldn’t do it now! Thank goodness for escalators!
Happy Weekend
I’m not crazy about them. I know several people who are afraid of them.
I remember elevators that had concertina gates and doors – both!
Claudia, I read your sister’s blog that showed how she and her older son mounted Little Z’s elevator button panel to the wall so he can press the buttons, but he has to stand on his own. Strong interests are very motivating. I miss personalized service, and I am just barely young enough to remember riding elevators in the high-end department stores and hearing the operators calling out the floors and the merchandise sold on the particular floor. When my Mom was a high school student, she was a part-time elevator operator for the San Francisco’s Women’s Club. During the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, a few of my friends were in the elevator in their high-rise office buildings. Many of them acquired a fear of riding the elevator and would walk up double-digit number of floors daily to get to their offices. Some got over the fear, and others never did. At least the positive aspect was that they got really healthy!
Yes, that panel on the wall is such fun. I’ve got videos of him pressing the buttons. So proud of him.
Claudia,
Is makes me so sad how impersonal so many things are but your porch sure brings a smile to my face. It looks so nice.
I’m glad it makes you smile, Susan!
I LOVE this post! the pictures! the news about little Z and everything about it!
hope the weekend bodes well for you. cool breezes and lemonade on the porch? XO
No cool breezes – it’s pretty warm today. And lots of pollen!
It’s very sad how impersonal things are now days … though we also get our gas pumped for us in Oregon! Some places will still wash your windshield, if they’re not too busy.
LOVE the photo of your pansies!
I don’t mind pumping my gas, but it was nice to have someone check your oil and your windshield and your tires!
I remember visiting Oregon and chatting with some people about pumping gas. They were astounded that we actually do that and kept asking if we weren’t afraid of/ or how often/ we were engaged in “blow ups” of the gas tanks. We actually did laugh at that and asked if they did think that was a common occurrence, wouldn’t we be seeing it on the news?? I am also with Donnamae on not ever using self-check outs. And it makes me crazy when they say it is for OUR convenience. No, they have put one more person out of a job/ benefits, etc. so WE can do the job and they can increase their profits. ugh. Well THERE was a rant I didn’t plan on!!
Hope you are having a great day. How exciting for Don to do that family portrait. I am hoping they were a nice family as he seems so on air. (at least the last time I watched….) We are hearing some distant rumbles of thunder and are hoping it goes elsewhere as the HS ladies have a regional Soccer game tonite that my hubs announces. Exciting stuff in a little town!
I must admit I use self-checkouts when I have just a few items. But I like to chat with the cashiers, too. Self-checkouts will never take over totally. They have problems and someone is always having to call a supervisor over to fix things. There was a CVS in Hartford that was almost all self-checkout. I found it annoying. And sure enough, someone was always having to come over and fix some error made by the machine. Live people are better!
Little Z is adorable. You are so right about robots doing the jobs. Major league baseball is considering having robots at home plate to call the balls and strikes in the future. No more umpires. it will be a sad day when and if that happens.
Marilyn
I don’t think I could watch MLB anymore if that happened!
sounds like a lovely day. hope you keep having them! :)
little z’s interest in elevators is sweet. maybe he will become an engineer, architect or inventor some day …?
happy anniversary to your parents in Heaven.
agree about how impersonal our society has become. my sister and i tried the self-check-out at a big store a couple years ago just to see how it went. it went fine, but we’ve both not used one since and would rather wait in a long line if it helps someone keep their job.
for the sake of farmers, gardeners and everyone in town for a big golf tournament, i am glad it is finally hot and sunny here today.
hope everyone is having a good day!
kathy in iowa
Thank you, Kathy!
Claudia, you are so right about how everything is more impersonal than it was before. I remember those elevators. In Lansing we had Knapp’s and Arbaughs as department stores and I remember riding those elevators with my mom as a kid. It was a big deal. And gas pumping. And baggers who carried your bags to the car. I’m sure if I was infirm I could ask the people at my neighborhood grocery (which is very small but does the trick) if they could carry them for me, but it’s not part of the service anywhere anymore. At least not here. These days (golly, that sounds old) people are so into their phones they don’t even say hello anymore when they pass by another. I noticed a few years ago when I was still working that a walk across campus had become a relatively solitary thing instead of the greetings we would share with total strangers coming toward us.
Well, I adore your pansies (mine are going great guns — the one good thing about a not warm spring) and my basement survived yesterday’s deluge although as I was driving back from Detroit in a lightning storm I wasn’t sure I would. And I hope Chris Hayes is nice because I really like him and his show and I’d like to think he was a good guy in real life too!
to jeanie …
do you have fareway grocery stores near you? staff at fareways here still carry out purchases (though i decline) … and are closed on sundays to allow their employees time to go to church, be with families and rest! :)
hope you have a good day!
kathy in iowa
Don said he was very nice!
So glad to hear some Little Z news. I know it’s dopey, because I don’t know him at all – yet I feel like I do in a small way – and have missed hearing what’s he up to. In a very non-creepy or predatory way, you understand. That’s something else that’s REALLY changed in our lives in recent years – especially since the advent of the Internet. I don’t feel comfortable just being myself with little kids anymore. I’ve always liked them, ever since I can remember. Even when I was a kid myself, I liked being with kids that were younger than me. Loved being a babysitter [most of the time – LOL]. Loved being a teacher. Loved just yakking with them or whatever. But these days, if you smile or wave at a child you don’t know, the parents [more often than not] are probably thinking you’re some kind of whacked predator. What the heck!! I was at the DMV the other day, renewing my license, and the sweetest little 3 or 4-year old boy was with his parents on the seat in front of me in the waiting area. I was smiling at him and waving a little, and inevitably thinking someone probably thinks I’m some kind of preevert [our family word for PERVERT] or weirdo. Sometimes even the little kid himself will scowl at me or turn away, because their parents have taught them to fear strangers. And I can’t even say that they’re wrong to do that. I’d probably be doing the same if I had young children now. So, that’s gone too, gone the same way of elevator operators & gas station attendants. Really sad. Oh well. My soapbox for a Sunday. Very cool about Chris Hayes – I watch him every weeknight on MSNBC. He has a very good Twitter feed too. Enjoy your Sunday – it’s starting to brighten up here in Rochester. Nice Spring day. Peace.🌤
#Resist
#ImpeachTrump
#DisBarr
I know. I’m always drawn to little kids and I can make them smile nine times out of ten. But times have changed and it makes me sad.
Thanks, Janet.