1935 - 1952 - 2024
Not always, but mostly over the past soon fourteen years I've been writing and posting my +Time blog, I've avoided connecting this morning's blogpost to yesterday's blogpost. This morning is a little different.
Yesterday I'd written a long blogpost, and pressed Publish as usual, and then moved from Blogger to Facebook and on FB posted my usual link to the blogpost. Later, I went back and corrected a spelling or spacing error and pressed Publish for the correction. When I did that, somehow (it has happened a few Times in the past, and can be quite frustrating because it means I was careless), I cut out all but the first part of the blogpost.
I didn't discover that until later, when I just went back and took the blogpost down altogether.
But here's the thing! Nearly always, I attach a picture to my blogpost. Not always but usually, it's related to something about the blogpost itself. All my life I've loved cars, and yesterday's blogpost pictured the above 1952 Chevrolet, related to my closing line in the blogpost, quoting Frank Sinatra, "When I was seventeen, it was a very good year." The relationship was/is that, born in 1935, in 1952 I turned seventeen. That significance was lost when the last three-quarters of the blogpost disappeared into the mist!
But I love the car anyway! So, again!
It's a 1952 Chevrolet StyleLine DeLuxe four door sedan, in original 1952 model year green. How do I know? It's part of me, tucked away indelibly in my brain along with jillions of other facts about the cars that were on the roads my growing up years. The car may look ugly to you, but it's beautiful to me!
With only a slight difference around the taillights, the 1951 and 1952 year model Chevrolet cars were identical, so how do I know it's a 1952?
(I know you must surely be as interested in this as Bubba is), well, the 1951 year model American cars were perfect. But by the Time the 1952 year models were in production, there was a severe shortage of materials nationally because of the Korean War demand for materials for war production. Among the shortages was metals, iron, and the material used to put shiny chrome on car bumpers. As a result, the bumpers (and other shiny chrome work) on the 1952 year model cars was skimpy, and soon rusted. The 1952 Chevrolet shown here quite severely manifests that issue.
Which issue, by the way, manifested throughout the industry, in all or nearly all 1952 American cars.
Again by the way, that year the wartime materials shortage was so severe that some 1952 year model cars arrived with a wooden board for its front bumper instead of a chromed metal front bumper.
Nowadays, of course, all those car parts are plastic.
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What am I working on at home these days? My last Confirmation Class session is this coming Sunday morning, so I'm thinking about that, and this Time I'll make sure to have enough handouts just in case. What do I plan? One, to do a quick "Bible study" with them, of the day's gospel reading from John. After all, if you're going to learn about the Episcopal Church, there's nothing more important than experiencing something about our approach to the Bible. The other thing I plan is to open the floor for questions and discussion about the handout I gave them last Sunday, about the organization, governance, and beliefs of - - Holy Nativity parish, our Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast, The Episcopal Church, and the Anglican Communion.
And also, the following Sunday, April 28, there's a baptism and it's my last turn in the pulpit, so I'm thinking about what to say that morning.
Me, I'm bright, shiny, and happy to be alive this Thursday morning, April 18th, heading hopefully for my 89th birthday in September. My friends, life IS short!
RSF&PTL
T88&c
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