Don't you ever wish?

Deb Gove over at Greenport Wines and Spirits publishes a pretty spiffy blog (http://www.northforkwines.blogspot.com) and we stumbled on this entry and thought we would pass it on.

"One thinks of the darnedest things when you wake up too early to get up.  Your mind wants to zip into the day ahead but there are so many more thoughts, good and bad, to dwell on.  

We mentioned this to one of our customers who dropped in just to say hello after his daily trip to the post office across the street.  We said that he was looking in good health and all that courtesy greeting stuff and he replied "I wish" and that got us talking.  He finally came up with the idea that what Greenport could use was a wishing well, like the one in Old Chinatown in Los Angeles or that sit out in front of countless restaurants gathering pennies.

We thought about it some and talked about it for the rest of the day, off and on. I mean, Greenport is "on the water" and wishing wells came about because people thought water was "sacred" in some way - it is absolutely necessary for life and all that.  Besides it would collect pennies like crazy.

A little reading on the subject gave us the information that it wasn't just a matter of tossing a coin in the fountain (substitute for a well if you don't have one of those handy), but it was "how it landed" that decided if you get your wish.  Seriously.  Only the spirit in the well or water or fountain knew what was the proper landing and if you notice songs like "Three coins in a fountain" popular decades ago, it is tossing in coins in lots of three that gives you the best chance - three for religious reasons and in math probability it is almost completely unlikely that all three of anything will land "same side up" so you were "covered" in a matter of speaking.

Kids love wishing wells and want to toss money in before they knew or know what the deal is or was and what adult hasn't thought "I wish I...." and followed that with so many "primal car scream" remembrances that we might as well chuck a big solid gold bar in the water and leave it at that; part offering and part hope.

Well (pun), back to sleep. Wish I could get a full night straight. I'm going to talk to the mayor about a well though. It would be a gold mine."