Showing posts with label 9-11. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 9-11. Show all posts

Sunday, September 10, 2023

In Remembrance of 9-11


The Pueblo, Colorado, a 9-11 Memorial is located along the historic Arkansas Riverwalk, in front of the Center For American Values, which is dedicated to the delivery of high-quality civics-based education for our nation's youth (K-12) and houses one of the largest Medal of Honor Portraits of Valor.  You can read more about this center in a blog post I wrote in 2013 on this link and my post about the historic Arkansas Riverwalk in Pueblo, Colorado on this link.



A piece of steel from one of the World Trade Center buildings is part of the Pueblo, Colorado, memorial and is facing toward New York City.

It's hard to fathom that 22 years have passed since the terrorist attack on the United States that took place on September 11, 2001. At that time, my husband and I were residing in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, where we had a clear view of the top of World Trade Center Building 2 from the front of our home. My husband worked in building 7 of the World Trade Center complex, and we frequented that area of NYC often. Our daughter was studying in college in NYC, while our son was living in Washington, DC for his college education and subsequent work. The memories of that day are still vivid in our minds. 

I have written many posts about 9-11 since I began my blog--many, many memories and photos that I took in New York and also my reflections about the day after we moved to Colorado in 2013. You can find all those posts under this link for the posts with the 9-11 label--keep scrolling for more after each post--there are 17 posts in total.

We will never forget!



 All 50 states of the United States have memorials to the Terrorist 9-11, as well as many countries around the world.  You can see many of them on this link on the 9-11 Living Memorial Website.

In the Colorado neighborhood in which I now live we have a memorial to Jason Dahl, the pilot of Flight 93, the flight the passengers bravely fought the terrorists that took over the plane and it crashed that day in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.  
Jason Dahl lived here --just a few blocks from where I now live--and the community erected this stone that has an eagle figure and the words: "'May he soar with the eagles."  In the photo collage above you can see that memorial on the right and on the left is his name on one of the two 9-11 Memorial Fountains, in NYC, that now stand where each World Trade Center Tower once stood. As another memorial, there is a scholarship that has been established in Jason Dahl's memory to help young aviators achieve their dreams,

 


The 9-11 Living Memorial Project was launched in 2006. The Living Memorial Digital Archive Project is an online collection of photographs that chronicles the 2,977 lives lost on 9/11 and the 6 individuals and an unborn child that died in the 1993 bombing and also documents stories of responders and survivors. Today, the 9/11 Living Memorial is an extensive online collection of over 87,000 photographs that will expand over time. Through their partnership with the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York City, the 9/11 Living Memorial is now a core component of their "In Memoriam" exhibition, which commemorates the lives lost in the attacks and provides visitors with the opportunity to learn about the men, women, and children who died.  There are also survivor stories as part of the website. Please take some time to read some of the stories today if you can. 





Is there a 9-11 Memorial where you live? I'd love to learn about it in your comments below.

To all our friends, neighbors, and work associates that we lost on  9-11...

       We will never forget!





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Monday, September 13, 2021

Summer's End


"Summer's lease hath all too short a date." ~ William Shakespeare

The wild grass is high and has gone to seed, the light is shorter and more golden, the mornings and evenings are cooler.  The end of summer is nigh. 



"We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever"  ~ Carl Sagan

June, July, and August have passed so quickly! The weather was uncomfortably hot this year--we broke weather records for heat. Denver is currently tied for its 4th-hottest summer in recorded history (1872-present). The National Weather Service (NWS) defines summer from June 1 to August 31. We had five days of 100 degrees or higher, forty-six days of 90 degrees or higher, and five days either tied or broke the record high temperature. The weather felt even more oppressive this summer due to the high ozone from the heat and Western wildfire smoke in our atmosphere for many days.  I was happy that we invested in two Hepa air purifiers this year which ran almost constantly.

"If you don't like the weather in Colorado wait 15 minutes--
it will change." ~ Common Folklore

Speaking of weather....no, this isn't snowing...it is hail that fell during a recent afternoon thunderstorm!  We were out shopping and as we drove back into our community we began to see patches of white on the ground, even though the temperature was hot.  When we got home we saw that hail knocked off some of the tree leaves and battered a few of our flowers but thankfully no other damage was done.  As you can see from the close-up, in the photo collage above, the hail was about the size of a dime and a nickel.  Happily, it wasn't any bigger as at times Colorado has golf ball to softball size hail that is very damaging.



"Happily we bask in this warm September sun, which illuminates all creatures." ~ Henry David Thoreau

My garden is fading but I hope our figs will ripen in these last weeks of warm sun.  My roses formed rose hips and I'm drying the sunflower head to save for the birds to eat in winter. The last of summer to savor and anticipation of autumn's beauty to look forward to! Autumn is my favorite season--what is yours?



"Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be..." ~ Robert Browning

Our son's in-laws celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in a fun way this month. They rented a private suite at Coors Field in Denver for a Colorado Rockies game for the entire family to attend.  It was catered with delicious food and we all had a fun time watching the game and all the festivities. We wish them many, many, more years of wedded bliss!




September 11th is always a sad day for us.  I have written many past blog posts about this day and our experiences that day as we lived in New York City at the time and my husband worked in #7 World Trade Center. We knew many who perished that tragic day.  On this 20th anniversary of the event, the memories are still sharp and the desire that good will prevail over evil is still my hope even more than ever.


“If we learn nothing else from this tragedy, we learn
that life is short and there is no time for hate.”
~ Sandy Dahl, wife of Flight 93 pilot Jason Dahl

The pilot of United Airlines Flight 93, Jason Dahl, lived in our Colorado community at the time. His flight was the plane that the brave passengers brought down in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, to prevent further destruction in Washington DC. Our community put up a memorial of a flying eagle and the plaque above in his memory after 9-11.  Every year on 9-11 many gather at his memorial to pay tribute to him and all the others who perished that tragic day with a moment of silence. 

 A beautiful rainbow appeared in the sky this year during the memorial gathering. Another sign of hope! It is up to all of us to make the world a better place--spread kindness and defeat hate!

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Saturday, September 17, 2016

Autumn is in the Air!


Thank you, everyone, for reading my last blog post about my reflections on the fifteenth anniversary of  9-11-01. After all these years it is still a difficult day to remember with many emotions and much sadness.  Our community in Littleton had a candlelight memorial service for a former resident, Jason Dahl, who was the pilot of the hijacked United Flight 93 that was brought down that day in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.  At the ceremony friends and neighbors talked about their fond memories of Captain Dahl, and one of the recipients of this year's Jason Dahl Aviation Scholarship, awarded in Jason Dahl's memory, spoke about his dream to become a pilot one day. As the program ended all in attendance sang "God Bless America." It was a very touching and heartfelt ceremony.


As the days pass deeper into September, and the sun lies lower in the horizon, with days growing shorter and evening temperatures getting cooler, the aspen trees in Colorado begin to turn from green to shades of gold and orange. Autumn is definitely in the air!  It is my favorite season, and I'm looking forward to enjoying it as much as possible.


The aspen color changes occur in the higher elevations of Colorado first...


..... and then slowly descend down to the lower elevations.  So it is possible to enjoy autumn now, and well into October

Please click on to enlarge

Our summer was unusually warm on the Front Range of Colorado this year, with many days over ninety degrees, so I'm looking forward to cooler temperatures, and yes, even snow! I will miss seeing the delightful hummingbirds that liked to visit a blue salvia plant in my backyard many times a day. I'll also miss the young fawn who was born in my next door neighbor's yard in early summer and who visited us frequently while his mother looked for food. These last days of summer brought cheerful little sparrows who sat on my lavender bushes  and enjoyed eating the flower seeds of the lavender plants. Every season brings its precious moments of beauty!


This is the perfect time of the year to take a long drive to enjoy the scenery.


Our grandchildren have been back in school for almost a month, and weekend soccer games and fall festivals have begun. 


Soon we will be picking out a pumpkin at the pumpkin farm and decorating for Halloween with the grands, rituals that bring back many happy memories from my childhood, as well as my children's childhood.


I'll share Colorado autumn photos in the next few months, and I will also be sharing the wonderful trip my husband and I took to see Glacier National Park in Montana in August. I finally finished downloading and editing almost 2,000 photos that I took on that trip! It was a spectacular park to visit and our drive through Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, on our way to and from the park was also wondrous in its own way.


There is so much beauty in the world and the western states of the USA really have a special charm of their own.

 Enjoy life and enjoy the changing season! 


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Sunday, September 11, 2016

Reflections on the 15th Anniversary of 9-11-01


It is the fifteenth anniversary of 9-11-01 but it still feels to me like it happened yesterday.


I'm sure most people who were connected in some way to the actual event will never forget it.  Some are connected intimately by the loss of a loved one that day, and we know and have met many in that sad position over the years. Others have had their lives disrupted in other ways that may seem less significant, but non-the-less have been life altering and traumatic, and the pain for them also never goes away.

An American flag from the World Trade Center site hanging in the 9-11 Memorial Museum

I've written many blog posts about 9-11-01 before this one--click here to read that posts from the latest to the earliest.  From the very well done 9-11-01 Memorial and Museum, to the beautiful and touching Memorial Waterfalls inscribed with all the names of the victims, to the Angels Circle in Staten Island, NY--a very heartfelt memorial to the local residents that perished, and the many other memorials--some homespun, others official throughout the boroughs of New York City. The pillar found that became known as the World Trade Center Cross, to St Paul's Church -the Little Chapel that Stood, that meant so much to the recovery workers in the aftermath, to the FDNY Memorial that is on the wall of the 1010 firehouse that stood across the street from World Trade Center Tower 2, at 124 Liberty Street.  


I've often come in contact with unexpected memorials to 9-11-01 in my travels, and when I moved to Colorado from New York City I was shocked to find that I now lived in the same community that Jason Dahl, the pilot from United Flight 93, that was hijacked by terrorists and most likely aiming to destroy the US Capital, but was brought down in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, by the hero passengers. This memorial stand near the neighborhood where the Dahl family lived. A scholarship in Jason Dahl's memory was established to help students achieve their dreams of becoming a pilot.  
This evening I will be attending a candlelight vigil in memory of Jason Dahl at his memorial, and we will also hold in memory all who perished that horrific day.


The repository for the unknown remains of those who perished on the WTC site on 9-11-01 in the 9-11 Memorial Museum.


It has been fifteen years, and the 9-11 Memorial has preserved for all time what was, and what remains, and the new World Trade Center is open and functioning as a testament to rebuilding and that life goes on. We shall never forget, but as with all mourning, time allows us to move forward and honor those who were lost by living life and cherishing the good.  The city, the nation and the world came together after 9-11-01 to help, to show solidarity and to aid in recovery, and it is good to remember those feelings in a time now, in a world where so much discord prevails.   It is up to each and every one of us to make the world a better place.  We all have that responsibility. Hate only leads to more hate. Let us honor those innocent lives who were lost with love.



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Sunday, September 6, 2015

The National 9-11 Memorial Museum



When I visited New York City this summer to attend some family functions, a few of the places I wanted to see that were not yet open when I lived there was the One World Trade Center Observatory (click here to see that post), and the 9-11 Memorial Museum. I have written a 9-11 blog post every year since my blog began in 2007, as it was a day I will always remember and an anniversary I feel should remain as a solemn tribute to those lost. The museum commemorates the September 11 terrorist attacks of 2001, in which 2,507 civilians, 343 firefighters, 72 law enforcement officers, 55 military personnel were killed, and also the World Trade Center bombing of 1993, which killed six civilians. (All photos and photo collages in this post will enlarge for easier viewing if clicked on.)


The 9-11 Memorial Museum is located at the World Trade Center site, the former location of the Twin Towers, which were destroyed by the terrorist attacks. There are Memorial Waterfalls in the approximate footprints of the destroyed towers, and the names of those that perished in the towers are inscribed around the waterfalls (click here to see a post about the Memorial Waterfalls).  The Museum opened on May 21, 2014, and has been visited by millions of people so far. My husband and I spent six hours in the museum, as we wanted to read every placard, listen to all the recordings, watch all of the videos, and spend time looking at all the artifacts.  I would suggest if you want to visit the museum someday that you purchase your admission ticket(s) online,  and visit early in the day.

All photos in this collage taken of photos inside the 9-11 museum

The Twin Towers were a large part of the New York City skyline, and over 50,000 people came to work in their 12 million square feet of office space, including my husband who worked in 7 World Trade Center. Many New Yorkers watched the towers being built in the late 1960s and early 1970s, never dreaming they would see them destroyed that fateful day in 2001.  I know there are still people who cannot bear to return to Lower Manhattan because of the traumatic memories of that day, and I respect their feelings.  I also know there were many, many controversies about the museum during the years of its construction and opening. The tragic events of 9-11, and its aftermath, left heartaches and turmoil for the families involved and many of them could not agree on how the tragedy should be displayed and memorialized.
Although I spent much of my visit to the 9-11 Museum in tears, I was very grateful I visited it.  There will soon be a generation of adults who were not yet born when these events happened, and I believe the museum will be a future reminder of what was, and what was lost, and the innocent victims who went to work one day and never returned home.  We must never forget!

Most of the 9-11 Museum is 70 feet below ground, and the first objects one sees as you ride down the escalators are two tridents that remained standing from the Twin Towers.


The story and timeline of the events of 9-11 are explained in placards and the sights of bent and shredded steel that once comprised the towers shows the impact of their destruction.

There are many exhibits to see, videos to watch, and voices to hear of people involved in the events. A portion of the museum does not allow photography, which I did not realize at first until a young visitor told me so.

Some of the building artifacts recovered--the brass World Trade Center buildings signs, a portion of the antenna that was on tower two, an elevator motor, one of the fire engines destroyed as the building fell.

The large slurry wall that holds back the Hudson River and the last standing column.



The Vesey Street stairs, which are now called the "Survivor Stairs."   They were located in the northernmost section of the World Trade Center Plaza. To reach these stairs to get away from the towers on 9-11, many survivors had to run across the plaza, dodging falling debris from the North Tower.  When my husband worked in Tower 7,  I often waited for him at the bottom of these steps so that we could go home together, so it was poignant for me to see them again in the museum.


Another poignant sight for me was this wall, that contains a quote from Virgil.



The blue squares make up a mosaic of different shades blue. They represent the beautiful blue sky that most New Yorkers remember that made up the sky on the morning of September 11, before the terrorist attacks began.  Upon closer examination, this wall, on the lower right, was a plaque that states: "Reposed behind this wall lies the remains of many who perished on the World Trade Center site on September 11, 2001."  These are the remains of those that could not be identified by today's methods.  It is a very solemn sight to see and I stopped to say a prayer.



 In this area, there are also walls filled with the photos of all the people who were lost on 9-11, and touch screens to read the story of each person.  There is a darkened room in which you can sit and hear a recording of the names of each person and memories about them from family members. My husband and I spent a lot of time here looking up the people we knew who perished that day and said a prayer for each of them.


The 9-11 Memorial Museum also contains uplifting stories about how New York City and our nation came together in unity to remember and honor those lost, and to revitalize patriotism.   Click on to enlarge the photos mosaic above to read two of them.



I was happy to see that the entire World Trade Center area was thriving again.  It was full of visitors and new construction that was in progress and already completed.  Life and progress go on, but it is also good to look back and remember. I felt that the National 9-11 Memorial Museum allowed me to do just that. It was a very powerful experience.  

The world today is full of tragic events--famine, wars, persecution, prejudice, poverty, and abuse. If only we could all work together, each and every day in our best way to make the world a better place to conquer hate and evil.  A dream perhaps, but as Mahatma Gandhi once said: "Be the change you wish to see in the world."  It is up to each and every one of us!




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Monday, May 18, 2015

True Heroes


I am so very proud of my nephew Patrick--pictured on the right in the photo collage above--who participated on Sunday, May 17th, 2015, in the first-ever "Tunnel to Towers Tower Climb."  He and another 999 participants climbed over approximately 2,000 steps to go 90 stories high in the new One World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York, that was built to replace the Twin Towers that were attacked and destroyed on 9-11-2001.  The participants were from 26 states and four countries, male and female, firefighters, military members, friends and family members of fallen first responders, among others.  My nephew was honoring his father, my brother, who was a New York City firefighter for almost 30 years. The Tunnel to Towers Foundation was formed to honor Stephen Stiller, one of the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on 9-11.  His heroic story can be read on this link.

Captain Billy Burke. photo source.

The Tower Climb was also in memory of firefighter Captain Billy Burke, who lost his life on the 27th floor of Tower One, as he was helping two trapped men, one of whom was in a wheelchair, trying to escape the burning building.  Tower Two had already collapsed and Tower One was soon going to do the same, but Capetian Burke told the other firefighters to leave, as he would stay with the men on the stairs.  His last words were: " Keep going, I'm right behind you."  Captain Burke's sister came from Florida to do the climb--you can read her story and see a video of how she trained for the climb on this link.


Building For America's Bravest video can also be watched on this link.

To participate in this event my nephew had to pay an entrance fee and he also fundraised to support the foundation "Building For America's Bravest" that builds smart homes" for catastrophically wounded soldiers, most who are double, triple and even quadruple amputees. The smart homes allow amputees to be able to live as normally as possible with their injuries. One such veteran, Army Sgt. Bryan Dilberian, a triple amputee, who lost both legs and his left arm, when he stepped on an IED in Afghanistan in 2011,  joined in the Tower Climb today, climbing up the stairs on his prostheses! You can see a short video interview with him and read his story on this link. My nephew was very inspired when he saw Bryan climbing the stairs, and when he saw him complete the task!


Patrick has made my family proud before, as he is also a brave mountain climber when he is not teaching high school language arts classes, and being a loving husband and father of two daughters. I blogged about his ascent to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro on this post.  He has since climbed Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Washington. He also entered the Tower To Tunnel race last year but a last-minute injury prevented his run.  Never-the-less, the money he raised for that event went towards the Tower to Tunnel Foundations' many wonderful charity causes.  Patrick made the 2,000 plus step Tower Climb climb in 27:28 minutes, accomplishing his goal of doing it in under 30 minutes. Patrick, you are a true hero among heroes!  We are so proud of your accomplishments!


If you would like to donate for this very worthy cause, Building For America's Bravest, you can do so on this link. These men gave so much and deserve our support to help live the rest of their lives as functionally as possible in a handicap accessible home of their own. The waiting list for such a home is so long--please consider helping these true heroes.



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