Where Were You on 9/11/2001?

Twenty five years ago I’d driven 548 miles from Pittsburgh to Rockford, Illinois on September 10th. My sister flew home to New York City from Chicago that same day. We couldn’t plan an overlap although I’d asked if she could wait and fly back the 11th. So I was asleep in my father’s room at the Wesley Willows Assisted Living as he was in the hospital with surgery from a broken foot. My cousin Christopher called on my dad’s phone. The old desk phone kind. Time is Central, an hour earlier than NY. He informed me that the World Trade Center had been attacked. It was only when I got to the hospital in my father’s room and the televisions were on everywhere. It took time to comprehend the magnitude of destruction and loss of human life.

My sister Mary photographed this 9/11 Cross a Symbol of Hope. It was a blog post in September 2020.

It’s “located near St. Paul’s Chapel of Trinity Church near the 9/11 memorial. This statute represents the wreckage of the twin towers forming a cross from the aftermath of 9/11. The original cross was moved in the 9/11 Museum. This cross was sculpted by Jon Krawczyk. Cardinal Egan picked him to sculpt the new cross.”

There’s a 35 page metal. book at the base with all the victims’ names inscribed

2011 blog post of FDNY Fire Engine in the Fire House across the street

My sister shared this 2024view 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.
2025 view
A white rose is placed on the name of a victim on their birthday

“I Dug Up the Iris” by Guest Poet Liane Ellison Norman

A reblog from July 27, 2010 and May 14, 2023 A tribute to a friend  

click to see Dorothy Holley Post 

https://i0.wp.com/rutheh.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/img_0119.jpg
Dorothy Holley’s Iris planted by Liane Ellison Norman 

I Dug Up the Iris

in Dorothy’s garden
to plant in the soaked

soil of mine, memorial
to her each spring

when they’ll open
complicated ruffles

and flourishes, purple
or blue with speckled

throats. They’ll rise
out of rhizomes

sprawling at soil’s
surface like the joints

of my old  hands
anchoring the tall

stalks and frilly petals.
This morning

in the brief breath
of cool I dug shallow

trenches for this legacy,
this pantry of pollens

the bees prospect,
insects with lives

beyond what the mere
gardener knows.

Liane Ellison Norman, a Madwoman in the Attic, has published two books of poetry, The Duration of Grief and Keep (www.smokeandmirrorspress.com). She has published poems in 5AM, Kestrel, North American Review, Grasslimb, Rune, Voices from the Attic anthologies and the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Her poem “What There’d Been” won the Wisteria Prize in 2006 from Paper Journey Press.

Remembering a 1966 Girl Scout Trip

Pulled over to take a quick shot from afar. The Lincoln Memorial sighting triggered a memory of something we were told on a tour. In 1966.

The National Park Service has the scoop. Just looked it up since I’m back home tonight and it’s a MYTH. (Click the bold to read other myths)

Oh man. Maybe it’s best not to revisit old memories. I remember being told his hands spelled out A and L in American Sogn Language and was a nod to the sculptors’ deaf parents.

Throwback Thursday Zito’s Bread on Bleecker Street

My sister’s Neighborhood

Zito’s Bakery is just a memory now. That’s a bread bag my sister gave me. I took the color photograph and my sister gave the b & w postcard with Berniece Abbott photograph

I posted about Zito’s and Strawberry Rhubarb jam 11 years ago. Mary would go buy two warm loaves while kids were still asleep, camped out in her apartment.

6 Cider Mill Sweaters Oct 15, 2022

I didn’t mean to remove the background but somehow I did
Here is part of our Knitting Buddies Zoom group who met in Rhinebeck NewYork at the Duchess County Sheep and Wool Festival. It’s happening again this weekend but only Karen, Patty and Rachel are attending.
We all hail from Pittsburgh, Ohio, New Hampshire, and Florida

Rachel (on the right). Did your mom give you her Cider Mill Sweater? I gave mine to my DIL Nataliya and Randi gave hers to her mom.

Say Six Cider Mill Sweaters six times fast!

Sweet memories of a fabulous fiber filled weekend.

The pattern is by designer Jen Geigley who joined us with other Cider Mill Sweater Knitters. Karen C found the pattern in Modern Day knitting Field Guide

Knit Designer Jen Geigley seated second from left holding our friend Flat Bonnie who couldn’t make the trip in person and another Knitting Buddy Flat Gayle from Australia in the front center

Our Knitting Buddies Group started in the Pandemic matched up with knitters via The Woolly Thistle store in New Hampshire. Karen C and U are the only two charter members left. We still zoom and knit together Monday nights. And we’ve a few more members not pictured.

Decades Old Christmas Cactus Passed Down

Does anyone want to chime in with a Thanksgiving or an Easter cactus? Scroll down for info on how to identify which cactus is which.

So many wonderful comments and stories of Christmas cactuses and geraniums which endure for generations. I heard from loyal blog follower and dear friend and neighbor today. Thanks Tookie

“Dear Kindred Spirit, Reading  everything you’re posting about your mother’s Christmas cactus.  Please add me to the list of those who have and cherish my mother’s Christmas cactus.  I can remember it on her kitchen window sill when I was in grade school and on and on.  She shared part of her plant with me when we moved to our apartment in Aspinwall in the early seventies.  People fuss at me to repot it in a larger,  clay pot.  I do not, but left it tight and pot bound in the original plastic pot in which she gave it to me.  I love how we value so many of the same things!!!  

Love, Took and Jack too”

Tookie’s Christmas Cactus

“A Thanksgiving cactus (Schlumbergera truncata) is a popular, long-lived, rainforest-native houseplant known for its vibrant flowers that bloom in the fall, often at Thanksgiving. It differs from a Christmas cactus by having pointed, spiny-looking leaf-like stem segments, while Christmas cacti have rounded segments. To care for it, provide bright, indirect light, high humidity, well-draining soil, and water when the soil is dry to the touch. Bud set is triggered by short days and cooler temperatures, so starting a light-dark cycle in September.”

Info on the different types of cactus

From the Web

Happy Birthday Laura

Taken June 1966 Developed in September 1966

Throwback Thursday

8th Grade Graduation
Morris Plains Borough School – New Jersey

Yes I made the dress. It was white piqué. I didn’t remember the nose gay. I know I was fourth in line to march in as they lined us up by height for some odd reason.

It was a long time ago.

Finding Summer Visitor Reminders

Cleaning day today revealed many traces of my summer visitor who is safely returned to her family.

From the Carnegie Library Summer Extravaganza
Barbie Dress blues on the Front Porch
Scrunchie In my apron pocket
On a walk together, a sneaker peeking, finding Cosmos my grandmothers favorite flower
Crepe paper streamers from Celebration decorations
The Sign from the Lemonade stand

Water bottle and Cinderella cup
List when I was preparing for my summer visitor
Library DVDs to be returned
In the fridge
A Note Slipped Under Steves Door

Silent Sunday