Service With a Smile a Part of Growing Up In Boom Times

This Baby Boomer blast from the past comes to us from page 88 of Chapter Twelve, "What a Gas" of Growing Up In Boom Times:


     "I worked at the Clark station in Keego Harbor. All we sold was premium gas and oil—and service. My training for the job consisted primarily of how to give good service. Good service meant smiling, being polite, always wiping windshield (front and back), and asking if customers wanted their oil checked. It also meant putting air into tires if asked--or better, if a tire looked low, suggesting it. For all this the customer paid 34.9 cents for a gallon of gas, a price which didn't go up at all until the mid-70's.

     Good service at the Clark station did have..."

Previously shared excerpts of Growing Up In Boom Times:

100 Words from Baby Boomer and Author Chris Brockman
Wild Berries and Grampas

WoW Weekly 100 Words is a book blog hop-a-long. Share a 100-word excerpt of a book you are currently reading. Just snag the hop badge and link, add it to your post on your blog, then return here to add your blog post to the linky list provided at the end of this post.

For your Information: I use The Word Count Tool to count my book excerpts.

Wild Berries and Grampas

As I read from the pages of Growing Up In Boom Times, it is difficult to choose which 100 words to share with you. I am enjoying each little morsel, with each tale tasting a bit more about my author friend, Chris Brockman. The problem is that I want you to know Chris, too, so I seem to select excerpts from his book that manage to hint at the character of the man I have come to like, to trust, and to respect within the past two years or so online at Gather.

Today, I share with you (from Chapter Three) a tidbit from Chris and his family's wild berry saga:

     "...a continuation of my own grampa's legacy.
     Last summer, while visiting Adrienne and Kevin in Western Michigan, Rowan begged me to take him blackberry picking, So, Julie, Rowan, his little brother Shay, and I explored the neighborhood bordering Lake Michigan and found a fine patch of dewberries, a close-to-the ground variety of blackberries. Rowan and Shay excitedly announced each time they picked a berry how big this one was, and it was music to my ears. We picked more than enough to renew their supply of gramps jam and the spirits of at least a couple of grampas before me."


I wish to assure you that you do not have to be of the Age of Baby Boomers to enjoy Growing Up In Boom Times. You are welcome to follow along with me each week as I share from this book or you can purchase your own copy and read along with me.

Previous WoW 100 excerpts of Growing Up In Boom Times:

1. 100 Words from Baby Boomer and Author Chris Brockman

100 Words from Baby Boomer and Author Chris Brockman

Calling all Baby Boomers, readers, and book blog hoppers! Hop along with me in the coming weeks as I read and share excerpts from author Chris Brockman's latest publication "Growing Up in Boom Times".

Today's 100 Words are a part of the Introduction of "Growing Up in Boom Times".

"...change is too often pushed on us by the large, powerful forces in our society, I also think that in our free society we individuals have the ultimate power to direct change in the direction we think is best. Younger generations have or will have an increasingly important role in deciding how our society will change. My own adult children aver that things have already changed greatly since they were children, and I can only imagine the changes my grandchildren will see. It's up to them, and it's up to you to change our lives and our world for the better."

~Chris Brockman, May 1, 2011

Are you a Baby Boomer? A Reader? Perhaps you're a book blog hopper. What are you currently reading?

Note: I use The Word Count Tool to count my book excerpts.

What genre do you read?

The Book Blogger Hop, hosted by Jennifer at Crazy-for-Books.com, connects book bloggers and readers together. It's a great way to meet and greet fellow book bloggers, authors, and readers and reviewers.

Each week a new question is offered up for us to answer in our blog post for the hop.

This week’s question (submitted by Lori):

“Many of us primarily read one genre of books, with others sprinkled in. If authors stopped writing that genre, what genre would you start reading? Or would you give up reading completely if you couldn’t read that genre anymore?”

MY RESPONSE: Being an eclectic reader, I almost didn't post to this week's question, as it didn't seem to apply ... at first. However, I decided to post, offering my initial thought and response...

I definitely do not read any one genre over another. I'm an eclectic reader and will read just about anything. However ... what I read is generally determined by my current mood and/or by requested reviews and by the books my author friends have published.

I will add that I have in the past preferred to read poetry and non-fiction. If poetry were no longer published? I'd write my own! And, I've plenty of author friends who write poetry and memoirs, so non-fiction would always be available to me to some degree in some format.

Fortunately, as an eclectic reader, I doubt I'll ever run out of reading material. Unfortunately, there's never enough time to read the many moods in print available to me!

I just finished reading "No Greater Sacrifice" and I am currently reading "That Day In September".

That Day In September, Remember

Sharing an excerpt from the chapter: The War Zone, page 33; from the book: That Day In September, written by author Artie Van Why:

     "...only standing there for a brief moment before the others and I heard the incredibly loud sound of an airplane, the second plane, as it approached the south tower. Looking up, and to my left, the plane was so big, and so close to the top of the buildings it passed. I stared at the plane not believing it would hit the tower.
     The middle floors of the tower blew outward in a massive inferno of bright orange flames and dense clouds of black smoke. Time stood still for just a second, as if we all were suspended in disbelief..."

What are you currently reading? Snag the WoW Weekly 100 Words badge and link for your blog post and hop along with us this week, sharing a 100 word excerpt from the book(s) you are currently reading. Be sure to add your post TITLE and LINK to the linky list at the end of this post.

Rushing River Rampage of No Greater Sacrifice of WoW 100 Words

My apology for being a day late with the WoW Weekly 100 Words post -- I am having Blogger issues! I still have issues, having had to restructure the blog layout, but at least I can now post.

What are you currently reading? Snag the WoW Weekly 100 Words badge and link for your blog post and hop along with us this week, sharing a 100 word excerpt from the book(s) you are currently reading. Be sure to add your post TITLE and LINK to the linky list at the end of this post.

Note: I use The Word Count Tool to count my book excerpts.

 

 

This will be my last share from the book No Greater Sacrifice by author John C. Stipa, as I am nearly to the end of this excellent title. I am now sharing 100 words of Chapter LXIII, page 339:

      Meanwhile, Renee and David hurtled through frothing madness. The stream twisted, turned, and fell from under them in roller coaster fashion. Their headlamps flickered wildly. Hitting walls left and right, they rampaged through the rapids like a cork in a flood. David worked feverishly to try to keep them on course.
     "Renee! This is crazy!"
     "What should we do?" she yelled back.
     "If we get near the wall again, see if you can---"
     Renee and David screamed as the river disappeared.

LXIV

     As Renee and David dropped into darkness, their headlamps revealed nothing but swirling spray. Renee gripped the sides...

***

Be sure to visit the previous WoW 100 excerpts of "No Greater Sacrifice" where author John C. Stipa shares a comment or two of his own:

WoW Weekly 100 Words from No Greater Sacrifice

Floating in Midair WoW 100 Words

Wine, Candlelight, and Hot Water

No Greater Sacrifice WoW 100 Words
Are we Screenwriters of our Lives?

Angel of Death Spirals Forth

 

 

Stay tuned to Ruthi Reads! for my review and giveaway of the book, No Greater Sacrifice.