The Somnolent Effect of a Kienzle Mechanical Tick

 

I continue to affirm my wife, Sherry Borglum, as gift-giver Extraordinaire!

Knowing my interest in watches, contemporary, luxury, utilitarian, vintage, she is always finding the most excellent of choices.

   This one is a German made Kienzle from the 1960s. This is a wind-up stem watch. It has this cool-cream color face with a sweeping second hand in a circle at the six o’clock position. But the feature most important is that it produces the mechanical tick as the seconds sweep around.

And, oh the fun of winding the stem with my index finger and thumb!

   My first watch was given to me at Christmas in 1963 when I was nine years old. It was a Timex. That watch also produced the mechanical tick to which I would listen late at night as it lulled me off to sleep.

   Later, in 1970, for my birthday I received a Hamilton watch which also would tick mechanically and drift me off to sleep.

After those gifts of watches, succeeding watches, with batteries, merely gave a soft ping which left me unimpressed and awake, disappointingly.

   Over the decades I had forgotten the somnolent effect of a mechanical tick. I will once again make use of that feature as I try to sleep.

Thank you Sherry, I’m all wound up!

Pastel Blue

 

New cover photo by Donna Hemmig

August 9, 2020

Early AM

Thanks, Donna

A soft pastel-blue incomplete sphere

 teases the imagination and nudges inspiration to

 complete the circle and mentally color in the emptiness

with the cognitive crayon of fulfillment.

Moving the Church into the 21st Century

 

 

    For decades church attendance has been declining. While there are some exceptions, generally speaking, in-person/in sanctuary attendance is becoming an experience of the past.

   The current Covid 19 situation has caused many churches to cease operation and also has caused many people to stay home from church.

   Many churches offer online streaming services, some have radio broadcasts. I am anticipating that by the time there is a vaccine for this Covid 19 many folk who previously had good habit and routine of physical attendance at church will have lost that habit and will remain at home on Sundays.

   I further anticipate that churches that can pivot from a physical presence worship experience to an online service will be the churches that will survive long-term into the 21st Century.

This is not anything to feel bewildered about.

Regarding corporate shareholders...

“Globally, a significant majority of meetings have fewer than 100 attendees, and in many markets the attendance level is declining. Smaller companies may see only a handful of attendees, if any.” (see source 1 at bottom) Yet the shareholders who do not attend in person remain shareholders in full with right to vote by proxy. They are not less of a shareholder because they are not physically present.

Viewership of sports on television is measured in the millions whereas an arena or stadium holds less than 100,000 in attendance. (See source 2)

And, in 2019 the Beatles album ranked number 3 on Billboard though they have not provided a concert for over fifty years. (source 3)

One is not less a fan just because they have not been in person at a sporting event or a concert.

Likewise, one can be fully Christian, enjoy a meaningful experience, and be inspired by an online service. It is definitely the church that can make the pivot from physical focus to online that will do well as time goes on.

Even the idea of church membership or affiliation may move outside of the physical sanctuary. The church that can extend its affiliation structure will gain new relationships.

 

During 1969-1970 my grandmother would listen to a Christian broadcast on radio station WCMR in Dunlap Indiana. I could tell that she was fully engaged spiritually with that broadcast. Having left her home church of Cedar Hill Baptist church in Lafollette Tennessee and arriving here, she could not find a physical church in which she felt comfortable. But that radio program was fully and totally the experience that fed her spiritually.

 

There is nothing lacking in an online service or a radio service.

As time goes on and younger generations feel less of a need for a 20th century, physical building experience, we have opportunities to reach far many more people than ever our buildings could hold.

   Churches that are willing to let go of the 20th century model for church stand the better chance of stepping into the 21st century church opportunity.

 

 Sources

 

1.

(https://configio.blob.core.windows.net/media/em_ICSACanada/Attachments/Document%20Library/CGQ/Summer/The_future_of_shareholder_meetings.pdf)

 

2.

 (https://www.statista.com/statistics/619023/number-tv-viewers-sporting-events-usa/)

 

3.

https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/chart-beat/8532282/the-beatles-abbey-road-returns-billboard-200-chart-top-3

Enjoy Volcano Pizza Easy Shopping Place

Pizza is a favorite food of mine. It is second in favorability rank only to pinto beans with onions and corn bread.

I was introduced to pizza in Detroit, age nine, by the neighborhood kids. We lived on Bessemore Street. The pizza place, I don’t remember the name, was on Gratiot Avenue. We would walk the three or four blocks to a store building which appeared to be fifty years old. The globe light fixtures suspended from the ceiling five feet. The floor tile was sufficiently aged that it had many cracked and missing pieces. I still remember the scrape of the wooden pizza peel as the worker thrusts the pizza into the oven.

   My friends and I would joke, converse about our favorite TV shows such as “Batman” and "Man from Uncle” while the workers also exchanged more adult versions of such discussion.

Yes, pizza is more than just food for me. It carries the memories of youth.

Having moved from Detroit to Dunlap Indiana the next favorite pizza place was the Pizza Shack on US 33 in beautiful downtown Dunlap. In 1969 it was located next door to a Burger Dairy store. My friend R. Keith Hunter and I would periodically walk there after school at Concord Junior High and order a pizza and then go next door to purchase soft drinks at Burger Dairy.

In those days crossing US33 was manageable as there were only three lanes, the center being a turn lane. The traffic, well before Concord Mall, was much lighter.

Anyway…much thanks to Bill and Ruth Ann Owen for making such great pizzas at the Pizza Shack.

Also in 1969 there was Miller’s Pizza in Goshen at intersection of Pike and 2nd. It was a healthy bicycle ride from Dunlap, but worth it.

Yes, since 1964, my Detroit friends and I eating pizza while watching Election night results, pizza has been a favorite food as well as a cultural companion.

   Even during the season of Covid 19 pizza will not surrender!

Last night I purchased pizza at Volcano’s at Easy Shopping Place. The cardboard container claims “legendary since 1957!”

   I encourage you to enjoy pizza from Volcano’s…call ahead with your order (574-295-8606). Someone comes out to your car to handle the transaction. Only employees are allowed in the building itself.

It is great pizza!