Today is Labor Day in the United States — a day in which we are supposed to honor the labor movement and the contributions made by labor in the development of our nation. Like other holidays, it has long shifted to represent the last three-day weekend of summer.
Take a look at the featured photo. I tool that inside the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is a state in which county governments are more active than in many states. Connecticut, for example has no active county government structure. The photo is the Allegheny County Death Chart — “Each red cross stands for a man killed at work.” The calendar is from 1906. Labor Day had been an official holiday for over twenty years at the time that chart was still being filled in.
Having been retired for almost five years, I no longer labor for wages. Instead, I live off the benefits accrued from having labored for over 50 years. That number includes some very low-wage part-time jobs I had while growing up, but physically, those jobs were harder than the “career” I had for 42 years. I know, it sounds like I walked up hill, both ways, every day.
I did not.
I was fortunate to have had the jobs I had. In all those years, other than some years when I was in college, I was never without a job. I was laid off once, for a two months before moving to Connecticut, but my severance package covered the period between the job I lost and my next job — I was lucky.
While I don’t consider it labor, I get up early (5:15 am) each day to write. I sleep in until 6:15 on weekends and I will sleep in today. My work-in-progress can go a day without my attention. I was fortunate that Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge called for squares and rectangles this week. It gave me an opportunity to share the Death Chart. That let’s me remember the people who fought for better working conditions than those that existed in 1906. It also lets me think about the people who labor today and how their labor helps me. There are too many jobs to mention, but I appreciate all of them.
The topic this week is Square or Rectangles. Please feel free to use either new or archived photos for this challenge. Use your imagination and see what you can come up with. Be creative and have fun with this challenge.
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge
The photos in the gallery are from the archives. I hope those of you in the U.S. enjoy this day. I hope everyone else has a wonderful beginning to a new week.
The products of my current labor.
All five of my current books are now available in audio book form thanks to Amazon KDP’s Virtual Voice process. The voice is AI generated, but I can honestly say, it’s pretty darn good. The audio books are reasonably priced (all below $7 US) and, if you already own the Kindle version and want to add an audio version, you can do that for $1.99. There is a five-minute sample on the book page for each book. If you’re interested, click on any of the Dreamer’s Alliance book links below the image or on the link below for my latest book.
No Facilities 
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