Back to Work

It's been a couple weeks again since I last posted.  As happens in late summer around here, the weather has been swinging rapidly between hot/humid and cold/windy; when that happens, I live in perpetual flare-up and spend lots of time in bed.  I think we're finally done with summer, though, and hopefully I'll acclimate quickly to the steadily cooling temps.  This is my very favorite time of year, and I'm looking forward to being able to work and play outside without having to deal with millions of insects.

Last weekend was the 10th anniversary of 9/11.  How could so much time have passed so quickly?!  Tony came up to visit for a couple of days and while he was here he helped us raise the old flag pole that had been broken off about a foot above ground (probably by a snowplow).  Thank God he was here--this was one of those projects I had thought would only take an hour or two; turned out the pole is made of cast iron and was a royal pain in the ass to drill and to set upright! 

Tony makes sure the pole is plumb

He got it done, though, and we were able to fly the flag at half-mast on Sunday.



Our flag flies for Patriot Day

 It was nice to see Tony again--we really miss having him drop by every afternoon on his way home from work.  We also miss having him come running when something scary is going on.  Thanks for making the trip, bro!

Over the weekend I watched some of the television programming related to the 9/11 memorial, parts of which opened on Sunday.  At first, I was annoyed to hear they were building another World Trade Center, but when I found out it was going up on the periphery of Ground Zero I felt better.  The actual site of the original twin towers is being left untouched, a very big deal when you consider that the business community considers this to be some of the most valuable real estate on the planet.  The "footprint" of each tower has been turned into a waterfall memorial, with the names of each person who died in the attacks engraved into the surrounding walls.  In between is a memorial museum and they are building a new transit station that has been oriented in such a way that on every September 11th at 10:38 a.m. (the time the second tower collapsed) a shaft of sunlight will shine down the middle of the station.  Very cool.  Also, very American--business as usual on one hand, respect for the fallen and a fitting tribute on the other.  It would be nice if the corporate community would operate with that kind of empathy on a regular basis.  We can always hope for that, I suppose.  While we're at it, let's hope and pray that a day will come when innocent people don't have to pay the price for the religious intolerance, xenophobic arrogance and plain old greed of a few.  That's just my humble opinion, of course...