memorial – Ruth E. Hendricks Photography

A Ghost Bike

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.

“Ghost Bikes are small and somber memorials for bicyclists who are killed or hit on the street. A bicycle is painted all white and locked to a street sign near the crash site, accompanied by a small plaque. They serve as reminders of the tragedy that took place on an otherwise anonymous street corner, and as quiet statements in support of cyclists’ right to safe travel”

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.

September 15, 2023September 15, 2023 by Ruth Categories: bicycle, PhotographyTags: bicycle, cyclist, Gainesville FL, ghost bike, HIghland Park, memorial, neighborhood, photography, Pittsburgh PA, postaday 6 Comments

A 2011- Reblog FDNY- TEN HOUSE ACROSS THE STREET FROM WORLD TRADE CENTER

There’s a plaque on the face of the engine house with the 9/11 fallen heroes faces and names
**“Dedicated to those who fell and to those who carry on. May we never forget.”**

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.

***“Dedicated to those who fell and to those who carry on. May we never forget.”***

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.”

September 10, 2023September 10, 2023 by Ruth Categories: PhotographyTags: 9-11, firetruck, memorial, memorial wall, New York City, NYFD, One World Center, photography, postaday, travel 3 Comments

Memorial Day 2023

***National Cemetery of the Alleghenies***

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.

The Origin of Taps The Bugler’s Cry by “Jari Villanueva, a former ceremonial bugler at Arlington National Cemetery”

(General Daniel Butterfield- July 1862)

From archives Etna 2016 -watching her father play Taps

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.

Originally May 30th, groups of veterans want to return the holiday to that date and honor the fallen with more solemn reverence.(article)

May 28, 2023May 29, 2023 by Ruth Categories: PhotographyTags: In Flanders Fields, memorial, Memorisl Day, photography, postaday, soldiers, taps, USArmed Forces 13 Comments

Silent Sunday

September 11, 2022 by Ruth Categories: Photography, silent SundayTags: 9-11, memorial, New York City, NYC, photography, postaday, World Trade Center 4 Comments

Paul Robert Van Sickle 11/23/1938 – 10/25/2021

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.

Cousin Paul R. Van Sickle, photographed June 2017

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.

A sprinkle of cinnamon sugar on top, a pinch of nutmeg in the dough. A soft sugar cookie, moist from the addition of sour cream.

Here’s a photo from June 1974.
Paul and his daughter Amy at my wedding.

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

November 22, 2021 by Ruth Categories: PhotographyTags: cousin, family, garden, memorial, music, photography, piano, postaday, tribute, woodworking, workshop 26 Comments

9/11

From the archives. November 2017

September 10, 2021 by Ruth Categories: PhotographyTags: 9-11, anniversary, memorial, NYC, photography, postaday 7 Comments

Park Bench Memorial

Monday morning we went to the playground in Upper Arlington. Ohio. Charlie and his friends didn’t mind playing in the heat but I found this lovely bench in the shade. As I sat and knit on a sock, I noticed this plaque in the cement. I don’t know who Cornelia R. Pond was but her son Jim took good care of her and donated the park bench in her memory.