Green Energy
I didn't really get to talk to my wife much during that day. A call early "Did you see what happened in New York?" Another "Do you know if they're closing the schools?"
An uncharacteristic call to my buddy and hiking partner working near Philly. Usually we communicated by email during the day. Never by phone. Backpacking plans on hold for now. Discussing how in the world someone could get control of those planes. "Well," I said "all they would have to do is fly them, guide them, right? They wouldn't need to know how to land them."
Late in the afternoon they reached my cousin's fiance. There had been some mix up with her reservations at the last minute and she actually had to stay at a different hotel about a mile from The Trade Center. She was getting ready to head to the conference there when events began to unfold. Cell traffic in and out of New York was jammed almost immediately so she had been unable to let anyone know.
My aunt reached my uncle while he was on the D.C. beltway on his way to his appointment. He doesn't usually have the radio on when driving so as soon as she told him what had happened he cancelled his sales call and drove straight home to Allentown.
My older daughters said they watched some of it on TV in school but not much.
I have been to many Civil War and Revolutionary battlefields. Memorials and cemeteries and so on.
I have never been to Ground Zero.
But I have another cousin who lives a stone's throw from Shanksville, as she did on that day.
Not long after 9/11 I became godfather to her youngest daughter. On the drive home we stopped in Shanksville.
A clear day like 9/11 was. A couple dozen cars in a makeshift parking area. Makeshift memorial board with pictures taped and thumb-tacked on. A chain link fence to keep folks back.
And, despite the small crowd, absolute silence except for the wind.
It was, and still is, the most hallowed, and humbling, place I've ever visited.
- United Flight 93 Shanksville, Pa. 10:03 A.m.
Reports are coming in on the internet and radio and now TV set up in dispatch. Several planes in the air still. One headed toward Camp David. One hit Camp David. One headed toward the White House or Capitol. The Capitol is on fire. Etc. My boss tells...
- It Was A Beautiful Morning Of Mile High Blue Skies. . .
It was a beautiful fall day, wasn't it? That's what everyone says. The crisp air that morning. Clear mile high blue skies.I was still dealing with Lyme disease and my course of doxycycline so maybe I didn't appreciate the day as much as usual....
- United Flight 93 Shanksville, Pa. 10:03 A.m.
Reports are coming in on the internet and radio and now TV set up in dispatch. Several planes in the air still. One headed toward Camp David. One hit Camp David. One headed toward the White House or Capitol. The Capitol is on fire. Etc. My boss tells...
- An Ugly Thing Happened On The Way To Indiana
My uncle's sister died of cancer this week. His other sister has but two or three days before she succumbs to the same. (been a tough week around here) Knowing they were both in failing health he and my aunt drove from Eastern Pa. to Indiana to see...
- Mumbai Hits Home
My cousin works for a REALLY BIG American Corp. that does a substatntial amount of business in Mumbai and he has spent many months there. When the attacks hit yesterday I recognized the hotel he stays at from his pictures and it's name. My first action...
Green Energy
I didn't really get to talk to my wife much during that day. A call early "Did you see what happened in New York?" Another "Do you know if they're closing the schools?"
An uncharacteristic call to my buddy and hiking partner working near Philly. Usually we communicated by email during the day. Never by phone. Backpacking plans on hold for now. Discussing how in the world someone could get control of those planes. "Well," I said "all they would have to do is fly them, guide them, right? They wouldn't need to know how to land them."
Late in the afternoon they reached my cousin's fiance. There had been some mix up with her reservations at the last minute and she actually had to stay at a different hotel about a mile from The Trade Center. She was getting ready to head to the conference there when events began to unfold. Cell traffic in and out of New York was jammed almost immediately so she had been unable to let anyone know.
My aunt reached my uncle while he was on the D.C. beltway on his way to his appointment. He doesn't usually have the radio on when driving so as soon as she told him what had happened he cancelled his sales call and drove straight home to Allentown.
My older daughters said they watched some of it on TV in school but not much.
I have been to many Civil War and Revolutionary battlefields. Memorials and cemeteries and so on.
I have never been to Ground Zero.
But I have another cousin who lives a stone's throw from Shanksville, as she did on that day.
Not long after 9/11 I became godfather to her youngest daughter. On the drive home we stopped in Shanksville.
A clear day like 9/11 was. A couple dozen cars in a makeshift parking area. Makeshift memorial board with pictures taped and thumb-tacked on. A chain link fence to keep folks back.
And, despite the small crowd, absolute silence except for the wind.
It was, and still is, the most hallowed, and humbling, place I've ever visited.
- United Flight 93 Shanksville, Pa. 10:03 A.m.
Reports are coming in on the internet and radio and now TV set up in dispatch. Several planes in the air still. One headed toward Camp David. One hit Camp David. One headed toward the White House or Capitol. The Capitol is on fire. Etc. My boss tells...
- It Was A Beautiful Morning Of Mile High Blue Skies. . .
It was a beautiful fall day, wasn't it? That's what everyone says. The crisp air that morning. Clear mile high blue skies.I was still dealing with Lyme disease and my course of doxycycline so maybe I didn't appreciate the day as much as usual....
- United Flight 93 Shanksville, Pa. 10:03 A.m.
Reports are coming in on the internet and radio and now TV set up in dispatch. Several planes in the air still. One headed toward Camp David. One hit Camp David. One headed toward the White House or Capitol. The Capitol is on fire. Etc. My boss tells...
- An Ugly Thing Happened On The Way To Indiana
My uncle's sister died of cancer this week. His other sister has but two or three days before she succumbs to the same. (been a tough week around here) Knowing they were both in failing health he and my aunt drove from Eastern Pa. to Indiana to see...
- Mumbai Hits Home
My cousin works for a REALLY BIG American Corp. that does a substatntial amount of business in Mumbai and he has spent many months there. When the attacks hit yesterday I recognized the hotel he stays at from his pictures and it's name. My first action...