Beautiful as always, Miss Vixyy *hugs and smiles* An ingenious and ingeniously simple way of getting around a complicated problem. I like it.

And I especially like the "High Flight" reference in the last paragraph. I'm quite atheist, but it's such an exquisitely-turned poem that I can't help but love it.

*hug*

I happen to love that poem as well...

*hugs...

thanks so much Seht... you don't see wires on wings so much anymore, but back then the wings really were rickety and there was no such thing as gorilla glue.

V.

*smiles* I don't remember those days, but I am familiar with the old designs. The old biplanes, and even triplanes, kept taut with wires and prayers. Oh yes, I know them well. *hugs tightly*

Thank you for writing, Miss Vixyy. *hug*

And I just found these, from back in the heady days before 24-hour television broadcasting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzQYd_INSOg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTms_G1yYPc (same as above, but in colour)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mQTPL6pbIk

There seems to be quite a number of these, as though this was the official sign-off for an entire network...

OMG I remember watching those of the television!

V.

*smiles and hugs* Happy memories, Miss Vixyy.

hehehe who have you been talking to? A friends of Dad said you tuned Jenny by the sound of the wires... He would have known he had a Jenny in his hanger and a Stearman and a small Gulfstream.

it's just how my mind works Fem... I did know a fellow who owned a Stearman once and he told me it was a real trick to tune the wings. His favorite game was to take it out over lake Michigan and at 10,000 ft. toss a roll of toilet paper out and then seeing how many times he could cut through it as the trail descended...

V.

HEHE I've done that in a 150 many moons ago too. It was more fun doing it in the Super Cub

*hugs* * sings with the plucked wires*

*sings along too...

V.

exactly so...

V.

*gives him the look...

you are without a doubt one of the best writers I know. I have never ceased in my delight of your other world stories... I so love those folks who are pretty close in nature to my own.

now write a prompt!

*hugs...

V.

Ah,the sound of music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KK-9C2edHOA

Bunners

good old Jack Benny... they don't make them like that anymore - where they had to be actually entertaining.

*hugs da bunny...

V.

I wonder sometimes at how much knowledge is lost without ever knowing it. Right now some folks are lamenting how few people know how to properly maintain and run a steam locomotive, or hand-build a wooden sailing ship. Technologies change and knowledge changes. Old technologies fade away and so does the knowledge that goes with them. Anyone remember the series of steps to load a program on a Commodore 64? Even relatively new technologies disappear after they've been replaced and all the knowledge that went with them disappears, too.

I think of it as evolution of knowledge. The fun part is finding those dinosaurs of information that spend their weekends lavishing their Model T with attention or learning to be a blacksmith the old fashioned way simply because they *like* the old ways and the old knowledge.

Nice piece, Ms. V. Fun and educational. Ignition on, fuel mixture to rich, CONTACT! *hugs*

What, no spark advance?

Proud to be a dinosaur, me. What frustrates me is that innovations in technology often move us backwards, not forwards. Example: driver controls in modern cars that are all pushbuttons and touchscreens; the ergonomics are so poor that you have to take your eyes off the road to make even basic changes, and that's dangerous. On older vehicles you got big analogue touchy-feely knobs - so much safer!

total agreement! and they had no cell phones as a distraction!

V.

I'll never understand how you can hold a phone conversation - even with a hands-free kit - while driving safely. I have a friend who has the unfortunate habit of phoning me for long chats while I'm at the office and he's driving long-distance. Scares the living daylights out of me.

500 years ago any given technological advancement could take generations to make its way through the population. Now the population demands advancements without ever fully understanding or utilizing what they currently have. We've spoiled ourselves silly.

Of course I'm communicating to an individual who lives across an ocean with a method that takes only moments and happens in real time, thus allowing me to expand my understanding of the world in ways that were inconceivable only 50 years ago. It's not all bad, but it ain't all good, either.

ooooo... I heard the engine starting. Oh yes, be sure to swing the prop in a way that will move your body away from it so you won't be struck accidentally.

By the way - my great grandfather was a blacksmith, and my great great something grandfather was a steamboat captain. I do believe some knowledge is passed down genetically.

V.

Another wonderful tale, Vixyy. Irrerevent and quirky, hilarious and inventive and knowledgeable... absolutely wonderful stuff.

I love how you marry up flight, music and religion in this piece. I always thought it odd that they used piano wire for rigging biplanes, but I'd never have thought of developing that notion as imaginatively as you've done here. The right tool for the job; in this case that tool just happens to be a musical one. These day they'd probably use some soulless high-tech strain guage, and no chance of touching the face of God at all.

*smiles very big and gives him a hug...

actually, I love google as a referencing tool. I had a general knowledge of the expression and simply pursued it. A book/magazine from the 1920's telling how they had wisely gone to piano wire as it was thinner and lighter and easier to use than flexible cable. Now days they would use a tensiometer to get an exact amount of tension - but - in those days of learning as you go, the right tension simply gave the right note.

The rest comes from how I feel. I am in love with life which is so simple in its very requirements. We are the ones who make things complicated.

V.

Oh yes...couldn't agree more.

Idle thought: how did Rex tune his guitar?

(Anhedral beats a hasty retreat, flapping off into the sunset...)

He had perfect propeller pitch, of course!

But of course! Dem good 'ole fixed-pitch props...

*laughs so hard at Marm's explanation...

V.

So Rex's last name is Opporknockitty?

Opporwhat?

V.

Well, Opporknockitty tunes but once!

drum tap and symbol pish...

*chuckles...

V.

I'm just catching up on my reading and this reminds me of tuning the spokes on my motorcycle...striking the spokes with the spoke wrench and tightening/loosening them to get the tension even. It also reminds me of tuning the rig on my sailboat. A lot of the diehard racers I sailed with used tension gauges. I always did it by feel, and checking the mast deflection when tugging on the shrouds, particularly the lowers. Doing it that way just felt more natural to me....and the Summerbelle agreed with me. LOL

ooooo... what kind of sail boat?

V.

Geez, I apologize for taking so long to respond to your question, but the last 30 days have been, well, hectic. I (we) finally have a lull for a bit after the 4th but it goes to hell about the middle of August. To answer your question, see my DeviantArt account. I also posted another poem on FA and gave you a nice review on Amazon about Tabor. Enjoy!

ooooo... why thank you so very much!!!

V.