Corvettes Of Course...

September: A Time To Prepare

If you love hot weather, then you are sorry it's September.  You're sorry that life without heavy clothes will be over soon.  You regret that putting on the warm sweaters at night and taking that last Corvette ride of the day is chilly business.

It's one of those inevitable seasonal facts: The sun in September is a friend whose visits to the neighborhood have grown shorter and more aloof.  No longer does the Corvette sit in the driveway teasing for a ride after supper.  No longer does the fire weed bush burn at lunchtime and refuse to change color at night.

It's a colder fire that burns in the sunset these days as if someone in the southern hemisphere has changed the position of the evening sunset.  The nights are short, the shadows long.  What were endless days, have become short bursts of warmth into which we cram last gasps of easy living.

As the chill increases, we ransack closet corners where sweaters have languished in seasonal exile.  We drape blankets over the back of the davenport, comforters on the foot of the bed.

We prepare.

The dog has taken to curling on the carpet.  She's abandoned linoleum.  It feels cold -- not cool -- in the night.  The cat naps in the early morning sun, absorbing its very warmth.  Her fur a shade thicker than yesterday, her muscles limbering as she acknowledges the solar charge with an occasional scratch.

And then there's us.

We must think of taking the 'Vette off the road in another couple of months, caulk the windows, put away lawn furniture, the list goes on and on.  The essence of September is in getting ready.

In New York, seasonal change rules our life.  It has been a rainy summer for weather.  With the Corvette getting such good gas mileage, many used the sports car as their main mode of transportation.

Waste no more days, my Corvette friend.  Soon nights will come and we will burrow under warm blankets.  It will be your only defense against a season of chill.

Wait for high noon these fall weekends when your engine and you finally warms.  Tend to the matter of enjoying your sports car every chance you get for the time of hard ground will come soon.  Soon, but not today.  Today is warm.  There's still time, time to prepare.

A Corvette Wave To You,

Donna Turner

It's August -- Everyone is Content

If I were a Corvette, I would freeze this moment in time.  I would speak to the great gods at Chevrolet and say, "Stop the world spinning right now.  I am happy with my sports car."

I would even go as far as to compare this sleek car to nature: have you seen the glossy deer, munching calmly through summer?  Come August there are no skinny deer ribs in these parts -- not when summer brings rain that keeps everything tropically lush.  There are no skinny ribs on us, either.  The wet, cool summer has meant activity indoors, i.e. nice restaurants and an ice cream now and then.

Occasionally, for varieties sake, the sun has appeared.  It's then we can take in a car show, a road rally or just a nice drive in the country.  It's been cool here this summer and all the deer like it.  Deer ears and tails are not twitching to shake away the bugs of a hot summer.  As for us, the convertibles haven't had their tops down too often, but Corvette people accept that New York summers can be fickle.

At Turner Automotive, things certainly look harmonious this summer.  Bill Turner and the business were recently featured in the Daily Messenger paper ( http://www.mpnnow.com/sports/x631626464/A-different-kind-of-country-club ).  The article related to readers how very much Bill loves automobiles. It was a tribute covering the many years of his life's history. It's fascinating, how one man can love cars and people so deeply.  Bill being the quiet, unassuming man he is says little, but now carries on his day with a renewed sense of pride.

In August, deer run quickly when car lights appear.  Their sleek forms disappear toward quieter, brushier places.  They know the woods.  In much the same way, we Corvette enthusiasts look forward to this month.  Sure summer is dashing past us, another season is whizzing by.  Yet, as each ride fades, we gather a new Corvette experience and are reborn both to the familiar road ahead, as well as to the new terrain left to be explored.

A Corvette wave to each of you,

Donna Turner

Corvettes And Summer Rain

 If you were a barn swallow then these are fine days, wonderful days of thunderstorms and sweet rain.  July has done its job, having run the first lap in a hot, humid weather pattern.  August will take the baton without breaking stride, then speed safety toward September.

If you're a Corvette lover like me you're running the relay, too.  Because you're reading this essay you are all summer runners, charged with sunlight that spatters the highways of New York State.  You are drawn toward a distant finish line, a line between seasons where frost kills our season of Corvette fun with reminders that the cold weather is around the corner.

You may drive your Corvette toward a winner's circle you may not see, you only feel it is here.  Summer tells you to have as much fun in your sports car and give a Corvette wave to fellow travelers out seeking some fun, too.

My favorite time for a ride is around 8:00 pm when the sun is slowly setting or even watching the western skyline build toward gray then charcoal.  On these nights raindrops, countable at first splat on the windshield and car roof.  Time to pull over, have a cup of coffee and talk about the day.  Rain is relished on these rides of just talking.  In a Corvette two seater, it brings an atmosphere of coziness.

Each ride makes one feel the essence of summer.  Memories stored for those cold winter days when Corvette people wait for another summer.

In August, if it rains when you're out for a ride enjoy the soft hiatus, a time to admire each other for their gifts, stare at the green fields soon ready to harvest.  There is, as a rainstorm subsides, a moment to hope we can do all of this again another day of 2008.

A Corvette Wave To You,

Donna

Beware - The Days of Summer

Between misty dawn and eternal sunsets, lies a trap for Corvette compulsives.

A Corvette compulsive is one who is driven to be in or near Corvettes, for as long as daylight allows.  Some of these people are gardeners and golfers; others are hedge clippers and sidewalk trimmers; still others boat, fish or camp outdoors.

Compulsives are controlled in December by days that end in darkness at 5:00 pm.  Early sunsets force an arbitrary halt to skiing, ice fishing and winter walks before exhaustion ensues.

Not so in July, when fifteen hour days demand that sports car fanatics temper excess with restraint.  Most of them - myself included - fail miserably.  There's simply too much freedom, especially on weekends.  The reins of the summer season are too loose!

Give us fifteen hours of sunshine, and we react like sweet-toothed kids on a mountain of Mars bars.  We see winter as a thirty mile per-hour zone and Summer as an open highway where speed limits are mere suggestions.

Face it.  We go totally over-board.  Even with the gas crunch, we rise at dawn to read a map on where to travel for the day.  Just a look in the garage at the Corvette, with the sun roof off, makes us glad we got up.

After breakfast, we tackle household chores.  Once finished, pack lunch and some goodies.  Always a thermos of coffee and we're off for the day.

A breeze has picked up.  Its rhythm surges and falls.  The sky is azure blue and the clouds like mountains of whipped cream.

Three blinks of an eye and its noon.  My favorite ride is to the city pier in Canandaigua.  For over 50 years we've had the same experience.  It is familiar and our psyche needs that. We stroll on the sidewalk along the pier to watch boats and people.  Complaints from life's earthly cares; I have none at this moment in time.

After a ride around the lake, we reassure each other that "life is good."

Returning home at evening we sit on our porch and wait for darkness to fall.  And wait. And wait.  It takes forever; the days of July to get dark.

Ever slowly the sky turns from blue to pink to purple.  Mars, Saturn and fireflies glitter.  Crickets rub wings and make music.  A final wood thrush still its fluted song.

Finally, we crawl into bed and crash, exhausted.  What if we lived in Alaska, we ponder.  That midnight sun would probably do us in.

A Corvette wave to each of you these days of July,

Donna

What My Journals Tell Me

On my shelf and under the bed, sit many journals from years past.  These are testimonials to the sun’s rising and setting during the year’s revolutions.  The oldest testament is dated 1991.  The most recent, is in progress, which means journals have been written for the past 17 years.

 

Last night, when the house was quiet and the darkness cool, I read these books from years past.  Opening each to early June, I read of summer across the years.  What struck me was that nature and our lives are ever changing, yet ever-constant.  Ten years ago, one journal states, Corvette sales were slower than usual and we had a difficult health issue going on in our family. Yet notes also reveal the Adirondacks were as beautiful as ever.

 

A decade later, the health issue resolved (so far so good) and Corvette sales are steady, once again.  We’re having difficulty going to our mountain retreat though, and I’ve only just read that lakes and streams are down in water level.

 

Grieve not, for the displaced years all have a mixture of happy and sad.  In our 36 years in the automobile business we’ve learned, Corvettes don’t die they just relocate. And in June, Corvettes and sun loving people alike come alive in my decade old journal, as well as in our real time lives.  That paradigm continues to be constant.  For in the end we are all Corvette lovers and as such become “birds of the same persuasion.”

 

After reading about June in my previous notebooks, I begin to yearn for a sunny paradise lost.  I read a passage further and realize one set of joys and problems are replaced by another, and I find peace. I share this message with you as June is here once again and must be lived.  And what remains ever constant is that a small two-seater, a committed driver and passenger can always enjoy the highways of summer.

 

Donna Turner

On The Road Again...

  You're alone in your garage, deep in thought of May's fresh air.  It's Saturday morning and the urge is there to take your Corvette for a spin.  There are no people, no distractions, no cell phones or supervisors watching what your eyes choose to see. Apart from outside distractions, you realize there is a new world that's transforming from winter's wrath. 

May's weather is an ecosystem that sheds one seasonal skin for another.  Shade by delicate shade the days of May grow greener, warmer, more hospitable. Snowbirds return from Florida.  Their southern exile has moved them North for a cooler temperature.  Tree branches sprout nests and your Corvette is ready for a new season of memories.

High overhead, the sky becomes a Van Gogh display with the sun warming your shoulders.  The convertible top is removed.  There is no panic here, no desperation, only joy.  You and your steering wheel have once again found each other. But first a bond must be formed.  I don't know about you, but I talk to my car.  I assure myself and my car we will use our head and follow the rules of the road. A prayer for protection sometimes works well, too.

The key ignites the engine and you are off.  Just a ride around the block turns into a drive to your favorite out of the way place.  Just the two of you; your Corvette and you.

Intrude a bit on the place where you arrive.  If it's a nature park and there are streams, turn over rocks in the shallows.  Then take a deep breath, even shed a tear.  You made it through another winter! A little lunch or coffee and already the sun is dropping imperceptibly.  Before long, night will come, peepers will sing, and you'll be back in your garage. 

It was your place to find a highway, today.  Stow the days images as a picture book in your mind and look forward to more memorable days of adventure with your Corvette in 2008.

A Corvette wave to each of you,

Donna

April Bulletin: "The Places We've Been"

 

I've thought about the places we've been these past years since I started writing ...Corvettes of Course in 1992.  I thought of you and me and my words of philosophy about life, love and the sheer privilege of owning a Corvette.  I confess, this April I'm glad I can once again share this adventure with you.

Let's hearken back, shall we? Both to recap our triumphs for this springs arrival and set the tone for our anticipated adventures in 2008.  For without you, dear reader, I would  not have found myself traveling the highways of the Finger Lakes and gaining inspiration about the next fantastic automobile ride.  Oh, the coffee we've sipped! All the while our eyes scanning the hillside of the Bristol Hills.  I can never see it enough times. Bill's favorite ride is through the Amish country of Watkins Glen. He says it's like going back in time.

On the coldest days this winter, I thought of our warm N.Y. summer days. How beautiful the blue skies and cloud formations are: enough to last me all through the year.  Somehow, though, it's the warmer days that remind me the world needs seeing and I take a ride in the Corvette, once more.  Collecting memories for winter's scrapbook when I will once more pull out the old photos and remember back.

Cherish the memories of days past, dear reader.  But, know it's time once again to move forward.  With April here we look again to Spirng and the 2008 Corvette season with you.  Until next time, I will be here with notebook in hand, spinning the wheels in my mind until I find the just the right words.

A Corvette Wave to each of you,

Donna Turner

March 2008 News Bulletin: Winter's Silver Lining

From The Desk of Donna Turner:

March may be the muddiest, moodiest month of them all, but you can't help loving what it brings.  The forecast includes blizzards, the throw of dust, dirt and brown trees and this still doesn't dampen the thrill of its coming.  For March strikes the match, lights the spark and guns the engine of your Corvette in spring.  It kindles a flame that can brighten your tired eyes.  In New York, March tells us we are not doomed to cold winter nights for all time.

We were outside dusting snow off the front row of Corvettes for the 2008 season recently, but the weather wasn't right as yet.  The sun was bright enough, brilliant in fact.  Only the warm, significant part of the ritual of spring was missing.  "Corvette Fever," I fondly call it.  When folks start to appear at Turner Automotive talking about their plans for another summer of cruising the highway, a special unknown destination that only two people can have together, this is the time.

Fortunately there are silver linings to Corvette stories and sports car enthusiasts.  They see life as a way to have fun yet own a tangible investment.  The two equal an equation of stunning results.  The end of March tells us that we are alive after having the Corvette stored all winter.  Corvette lovers belong to America and, yes, even world wide, but I always feel a sense of patriotism for it is still an all-American made automobile.

Wherever your Corvette has "nested" for winter, the men and the boys, the women and girls whose garage they now graced are sure to uncover another Corvette season of memories in 2008.  "Life wouldn't be right without a sports car," one customer recently told me. 

How fast and how far each of us travels this year is anyone's guess.  Bottom line is we all want to be with our Corvette, between the highways on earth and the vastness of space.

A Corvette Wave To Each Of You,
Donna

February 2008 Bulletin: Be Kind To Yourself

Roadways

"...his road calls him, lures him
West, east, south and north;
Most roads lead men homeward
his road leads him forth.

Leads him, lures him, calls him
to a salt green tossing sea;
Yet a road without earth's
road-dust
Is the right road for him to be..."

~John Mansfield, "Magic Casements"

From The Desk Of Donna M. Turner:

February is a cold, gray and stormy month here in upstate New York.  It's also the time of year many of us revisit and reassess our goals for the months to come.  The dark days often leave many feeling a sense of urgency because they haven't quite done enough to meet the goals they set at the New Year. 

Because Valentine's Day is also part of this time, this can lift the darkness and shift the theme of an otherwise forboding time of the year.  With this paradigm shift, February becomes a month for love.  For Bill, packing for Daytona Race Week, its the love of race cars that motivates him.  And for me, it's both love for one another and - most of all - learning to love myself.  Since I am slowly recovering from major surgery, I tend to have days where I travel the fine line between the themes of this month, both light and dark. 

With this said, I purposely made "love" the theme of our February news bulletin because I have found the greatest joy is in being loving and kind to myself, especially in the darkest of times. The way I look at it is, I'm the only self I've got!  Therefore, I continue to befriend myself in the same way I befriend others. In a month of polarities, I choose to move toward the light.  For example, every time I think something negative about myself, I change it and think something good. 

I share this with you, as I hope you will follow my example and make this the month to work on the person you'd like to be.

Soon my husband leaves for Florida and the Daytona Race Week.  Because he loves racing so much, I say good bye to him with mixed emotion.  He is a fan, a spectator and a support to racing. Yet, it still is difficult for him to leave us all behind.  I know I must be a support to my family and our business in his absence.  In so doing, we share different roles, different dynamics.  For both of us it will be a matter of opening our eyes and seeing the light and joy this month has to offer, yet each in our own respective places.

Yet, while he's away from me in February the enjoyment of our life together will continue in my state of mind, unleashed by my imagination.

A Corvette Wave to each of you,

Donna Turner

From The Editor's Desk

Forty-three years ago, I didn't know what I was getting into when Bill bought his first Corvette. I remember the car vividly, it was a 1957 black with silver coves and red leather interior.  My theory then was, one 'Vette would be all there was, and would surely get the Corvette bug out of his system.  This year, I've realized, my theory needs to be amended.  Thirty-seven years later, as our business Turner Automotive Corvettes continues to sell its many Corvettes, Bill and I both agree, "the cars have been good to us."

We started the business in our backyard garage in 1972.  From there, it has evolved into a piece of history of Corvette buyers and enthusiasts.  What was once just "specialty cars" the business is now, all Corvette.

What hasn't changed is Bill's personal connection to each car he buys and sells.  And in December, after celebrating our 43d wedding anniversary, we made our routine stop to the building on West Main Street to check on the showroom and cars.  Although we weren't in our original '57, I realized our marriage has been one which continues to include a Corvette love affair.  And this love affair has been the constant and the continuity of our relationship.  We are lovers of both each other and our cars, both aiming to grow and nurture the delicate life in each other and ourselves.

Too, we are like the cars.  There are many, yet we are each individual.  Each is created  by design yet formed by its own life and struggle to survive the tests of time.  In my mind, it is here the bonds of our marriage are formed.  The union is fashioned of love and of business.  Love for our family, friends, employees, customers... but moving forward and evolving with the life and entity that is our business.  It is a constant, rippling  companionship.

For us, it is both.  A life made up of loyalties, interdependencies and shared experiences.  A business woven of memories and conflicts; of triumphs and disappointments.  Yet, the web of marriage and business isn't something we achieve, it is in the day to day living.  And for us it has been about both looking outward yet always working in the same direction.