My sister shared this view from her West Village apartment window tonight 9/11. The moon and the memorial tribute beams of light. You’d have to be in NJ to see both streams.
And in Pittsburgh photographed 9/10/2024
Honoring the Fallen-
In front of Soldiers and Sailors Memorial are 7,053 dog tags hanging between the lamp posts -304 are flags representing individual service members from Pennsylvania.
Cj was born sixty years ago today.
March 2, 1964.
She was a wonderful teacher, an excellent mother, a beloved sister, an inspired writer and a good friend.
Unfortunately she passed May 23, 2018.
To see more photos, poetry and memories click this link which takes you to the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project Poe Art Page from 2011.
She taught in the Pittsburgh Public Schools and was fluent in ASL. I remember her signing with such fluid skill and feeling at a concert in East Liberty as the choir sang “Go Tell It on the Mountain”. In addition to being a fellow of the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project she was a Madwoman Poet at Carlow University
“Unwritten” Play this song Cj click link
Cj used to motivate us to get writing during the WPWP Summer Writing Institute for Teachers at the U of Pittsburgh by playing this song.
Missing you Cj.
Have you seen a “ghost bike” in your neighborhood? Here’s one in ours.
A list of 630 ghost bikes in 210 locations at the website linked in the following quotation.
I’ve driven by it many times but this morning I turned the corner and photographed it. Read the plaque. A ghost bike is a visible reminder to share the road with cyclists and drive more carefully.
William Theisen, a cyclist killed when struck by a car at Stanton Avenue and North St. Clair Street in Highland Park, is memorialized with this ghost bike.
In February 2020, I had seen a ghost bike in Gainesville, Florida while visiting friends. I was a passenger in the car so was able to take the photo as we drive by. Unfortunately I don’t know the name of the cyclist who is memorialized.
Originally posted April 2011
“Still Standing”. The Seagrave Truck made in Clintonville, Wisconsin has an amazing story on the Ten House website. On the side of the building is the Bronze 9/11 Memorial Wall. The garage door was open part way.
You see the new One World Trade Center rising high out of the construction site.
There must be a hundred cranes.
Mary said someone from Hawaii must have been there-
a dozen leis dangling from the tripod that held a wreath.
Lots of people from all over the world, taking photos.
It started to rain.
Added Sept 10, 2023“…Joseph Petrovics be engaged as sculptor, and, after some hesitation owing to the enormity of the task of bringing together all of the disparate views as to how to best immortalize the heroes of that day, he agreed to take on the task. Petrovics modeled in plasticine the model designed by Joseph A. Oddi, a delineator, who sketched his preliminary vision drawing upon recollections of firefighters meeting in Chief Meyers’s office. Full-scale models were made in plasticene. Negative models were made from the clay and used to make positive casts. They in turn were pressed into a mixture called “French sand” which created a mold in which the bronze could be cast at the Bidi-Makky Art Foundry in Brooklyn. The 7,000-pound bronze was moved in three parts to Manhattan on May 19.”
A day to reflect and remember, with gratitude. “Memorial Day is an American holiday, observed on the last Monday of May, honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military”
Twenty four notes. Taps.
(General Daniel Butterfield- July 1862)
2010 Archives -Muskingum County World War II/Korean War Memorial Zanesville, Ohio
To read the poem In Flanders Fields written by Lt Col. John McCrae, M.D., hailing from Canadian Army WWI click here and see the original copy handwritten in a page of notepaper.
Remembering Paul Robert Van Sickle.
A loving husband, father of three, and a proud grandfather. A brother, a teacher, a gifted musician, gardener, and woodworker.
And our beloved cousin.
We’ve just returned home after celebrating Paul’s life during a Memorial Service at Trinity Episcopal Church in Lenox, Massachusetts last Saturday the 20th. Paul would have loved all the music- the singing, the playing of the organ. It was beautiful. Poignant.
The cousins drove in from Vermont, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. After the service we gathered together at his home to share stories and memories.
I felt moved as I entered Paul’s workshop, behind his home, and inhaled the scent of wood. He could repair things, too. See his tools all lined up? His grandfather’s toolbox on the bench. There’s a wooden toy box in my home that Paul crafted for my son, Mark.
Paul was a master musician, organist and vocalist. He had a beautiful singing voice. I remember his playing our family piano when he’d visit our home. J.S.Bach was a favorite composer.
Paul’s favorite cookies were my mom’s recipe for Sour Cream Cookies. His wife Susan baked them for the family gathering after the service. My mother baked them for a Paul in the sixties when he’d visit our home. That kitchen was in Morris Plains, New Jersey and he’d visit when he was on leave from the US Army -Ft. Dix, New Jersey.
It’s hard to sum up a life in a few words. Paul was a blog follower and told me one time I was a little heavy on the photos showing decay. You know those abandoned buildings and discarded furniture pieces, the garbage I post? 😂 We’re going to miss his laughter, his kindness, his generous heart- full of love for all of us.
Here’s a link to his obituary in the Berkshire Edge.
Hymn of Promise Author: Natalie Sleeth (1986). pianist Evan Alperone sung by Tim Silva
From the archives. November 2017