Kudos … & Nots! by ‘The Stix Man’

Poor Foghorn Leghorn, he’s just trying to be friendly. As seniors, we will remember this cartoon character. I’m afraid that the ‘young uns’ wouldn’t know about him. He tried hard to get attention. Here is one definition of the use of Hello: Hello! Hi! How are you doing? Hello is a salutation or greeting commonly used to begin conversations or telephone calls.

KUDOS

I feel that there are many other words that reflect the word Hello. It could also be, good day, afternoon, morning, evening. It breaks the ice and gets people’s attention. Usually, you receive a nice response back. Sometimes though, you can feel like Foghorn and just get ignored, or maybe just a mumble or even an evil eye. Kudos to all those friendly responses.

Now, this leads me to a very nice Saturday in Saugeen Shores. With this warm weather, I was outside drinking coffee at 7 o’clock and enjoying our great area. After a few cups, I suggested to my sweet wife that we go to the harbor and have breakfast. Normally we would walk down but,with the heat and humidity, we decided to drive. I might have gotten there walking but it would have been a struggle to get back home. We saw several sales on the way down but we did not stop. We did not need or have room for any more “Yard’s” or “Garage’s”.

We parked near the train station (another interesting subject) as there was a large number of vehicles on the beach, already. It was so nice with the gentle breeze. After a great breakfast at the Harbourlight, we decided to go for a walk. I had brought the sticks along. We followed the path around the harbor and on through North Shore Park. We saw the splash pad, playground. We saw boats being launched. There is even a floating dock for people to test their luck versus the fish. It was nice looking out over the water. Of course, we met several people, many with their dogs. My wife and I were saying, some form of Hello that lead us to several conversations. Some were short and others of some length of time. We learned a lot about these people and they, of us. We saw walkers, joggers, runners and others on bicycles. Also, there were dogs, some of which were using the dog water access area, and we love to give them attention although it makes our pup jealous when we get home.

We found that we had to mostly initiate the “Hello”. That’s fine. We can do that. Kudos to these people for spending their time with us. Kudos for the beautiful area and attractions that have been added. There is even a telephone call station along the path but no phone in it. I’m not sure my grandkids would even know what it is for?

After doing a few things at home, including some amends with our pooch, my wife went to enjoy one of our great beaches. I stayed in the AC and watched our only Canadian pro ball team, the Blue Jays.

Later that the afternoon, we headed off to the Sauble Speedway to take in the local racing. You might say that it is outside of Saugeen Shores but there are drivers from Saugeen Shores and we were there, cheering them on. I’m sure they could hear us. There are several sponsors from Saugeen Shores, also. Our local Canadian Tire store (Mowbray’s) is a part sponsor of a late model class car, #8, driven by Jason Parker. He sometimes has his car on display at their store. It might be a few days before the next display. Along with some other cars, it got modified and towed off to the pits.

We try to go to the races a couple of times a season as we find it an enjoyable time out. It makes it more interesting when we have some local people involved. Of course, we say “hello” to those around us and this leads to some conversations. We also go early and have our supper there. Their onion rings are good. Plus, we get closer parking for me. There were several crashes but thank goodness, there were no injuries. Safety is important there. Kudos to them. Come on out!!!

I can not use the word perfect here but we had a great day. The good weather helps. It was hot at the races. We got to smile and laugh a lot and we used Hello a lot and had some real nice conversations from it. Try it!!! Kudos to you.

& NOTs 😪

Not much in the NOT column, which is good. During our walk after breakfast we encountered a few things, that we felt needed corrected. I noticed these a lot, having bad vision and my balance problem and using my sticks. Along the path was a cut-off pipe, sticking up in middle of the walkway. It was marked with fluorescent orange paint. I know it has been like this for weeks. I hope it does not stay like that for the summer.

The path then took us through the boat launching and parking area. With the vehicle movement and quantity of vehicles, this can be a safety danger to all, including children going between our beach and our park that includes the splash pad and a playground. Remember, The Chantry Chinook Classic Salmon Derby happens July 28th until Aug. 12th and this area will get even busier. When we got to the park, we found that the little walk bridge had a dropped down lip at each end. It is a real tripping hazard. The paved walkway had a lot of holes and cracks in it. These spots were again marked with the orange paint but still a hazard for me.

Now, in some fairness to our town, I see that on June 18th Council meeting, the council approved in principle, work to be done or replacement of the North Shore Park path. Also, it appears that the path will be re-routed around the boat launch area. Kudos to the town for looking to do this. But, not as they are not planning on this starting until the fall.

At the races, it seems hard for some people to realize that they are not to be standing by the fence. Some people find it hard to be in the smoking area to have their cigarettes. Kudos to the announcer & staff for staying on top of this.

I have a few comments about some other ‘Nots’.

Earlier in the week, while walking on the boardwalk at the Port Elgin Main Beach, I noticed a cigarette disposal station. It contained cardboard sheets. These sheets had instructions on how to change the sheet into a cone, fill with sand, extinguish the cigarette and then dump the sand and dispose of the cigarette. The instructions then tell you to take this ashtray with you. This station is a great idea. The problem that I saw was that not everyone took the ashtray with them. At that time, I picked up about 10 sheets and deposited them in the garbage can, less than 50 feet away. So smokers, please don’t litter. Fellow adults, as we see this or other trash, please pickup and put in the garbage containers. We have those younger eyes watching and I hope some of it will rub off on them.

Is anybody wanting to work in the Toronto area? I hear that they need people to build wagons. There is such a demand for these wagons as so many people are jumping on the Bandwagon, expecting the Maple Leafs winning the Stanley Cup. I even heard that there will be no pro hockey this winter as the Cup will go right to the Leafs in September. Right!!!!

I should wrap this up for now but want to finish with a TRUE occurrence.

Last week, after supper when I was out for a walk, I came up to a nice sweet lady, waiting to cross hwy. 21. She was on a bicycle pulling a caboose, that had two young children in it. After a Hello, I said to her that her bike looked pretty new and that it didn’t even have dirt on its tires. She informed me that she had it for a while but had not ridden it a lot as she had been pregnant and had these two young kids. I looked her seriously in the eye and said “I think that you should have ridden the bike more”. We both burst into laughter and with a “good evening”, we crossed the highway and continued on our separate ways, smiling away.

It seems that I have gone a long ways from Mr Leghorn, who started this writing off. He was an attention getter and I hope he did a good job. It was about the smiling and saying some form of Hello. The Hello on our out ‘n’ about, broke a lot of ice and started several conversations. It brought about smiles and laughter. Great medicine. Try it.

So until the next time, remember “SISS”

Keep”Smiling In Saugeen Shores”

See you out n’ about and say “Hello”.

“The Stix Man”