Happiness is....

....a new cellar door.  When A built the patio last summer, the old cellar door had to come off.  We think it was original to the house.  Because of the location and size, we had to have a door custom built.  We kind of dilly dallied about doing it, then finally got on it this summer.  It took a while to be built, etc.  So, we went through the summer with the old door just laying on top of the opening, weighted down by some patio blocks.  Until Irene was coming, then A fashioned some serious supports and a tarp so the basement wouldn't get flooded - well at least not by rain coming through the door.  It came in other places.  Anyway, the new door was installed yesterday.  It looks so nice!  It's waterproof.  I'm a happy camper.

10 years on, it continues to be important that we remember, that we tell the next generation what happened that day.  In the years to come, we need to tell those who were not yet born then or were too young to remember that our nation was attacked, but not defeated, that good men and women were killed, innocent men and women, heroes.  Even on that horrible day, when it was clear that the chance of survival was low, good men and women rushed in to save others, rushed in despite the risk to themselves, rushed in to their deaths.  Strangers bonded together to survive, to help others survive.  We need to tell them that it is the American nature not to give in, but rather to survive, to go on and rebuild.  It's not just about reliving the horror of the day, it's remembering how we responded.
I've posted this tribute before.  This tribute that was published in Pensions & Investments magazine on 10/15/2001 in an ad from Progress Investment Management Company.  From the day I first read it, it has resonated with me.  I have it hanging on my wall in my office, along with editorial artwork that shows the Statue of Liberty amidst the smoke, still standing tall.  That's an image that will always stay with me and which I think represents that day and our country's response.  They did their worst, yet she stood tall, unbowed, as did our nation.

Tribute

Some things can not be adequately expressed, yet cry desperately to be told
told to those you know and love
to those you meet in passing
told to the children of today
and to those who are yet unborn
You need to tell them what you saw that day
And make them see....
the ones who fought with hand and axe
and took the stairs by twos,
who looked into the face of death
and stayed its hand,
if only for a moment,
with a calm ferocity of spirit
the ones in uniform and those without
who vanished in the coming of a madman's dream
the fatherless...the motherless...the childless who remain to mourn them
Tell them of the great heart of a great people
And let them ask, and let them hear your answers.
To our friends and colleagues at the New York City Fire Department
To the men and women of the Police Department and emergency medical services
To all who have sacrificed and those who will.
We will tell your stories.
We will remember.

Happiness is....and looking for help from knitting friends and others

....almost done with one pretty shawl, thinking about the next.  And I need help picking the next one!First, the almost done one.  This is wollmeise yarn - so nice, beautiful color.  The pattern is Batik.  It's a bottom up, so it was slow going with long rows at first, now it is flying off the needles.
Then, the skeined yarn is my next one up.  It's squooshy sock yarn from fiberphile.  The colorway is Sakura - it's creamy, pink, peach and tinges of beige.  I want to knit a scarf that I will wear to a friend's wedding the end of the month on a beach in the Dominican Republic.  So, I'm trying to find something that fits the color and fits the idea of just a light cover if needed on the beach.  I'm posting a few of the top contenders.  Would love to hear opinions, suggestions!

Kindergarten dreams

School is starting all over the place today.  I should be sending a little one off to kindergarten.  How much fun it would have been buying a little backpack, school supplies, school clothes! I'll bet I would have been weepy watching my baby go off to school.  But those are just dreams that will never be fulfilled now.  It's easier 5 years later, but I don't know that I'll ever not think of how old our child would have been, what milestones they would have hit.  I know I'm not alone in this.  Every person who has miscarried, suffered a stillbirth or lost a child after birth goes through the same thing.  It really does get easier with time, but the feelings of loss, the hole in your heart never completely goes away.

Friday Photos just a day late

It's been a while since I posted photos, so I thought I might catch up some.  We survived Irene just fine.  Luckily we never lost power.  We did get water in the basement, no surprise there, so I spent a fair amount of time Sunday with the wet vac.  The garden survived pretty well, the dinner plate dahlia plant was the only one that really got beat up.  So, here are some photos, the roses are pre-Irene, everything else is post.  Note the bee in the 4th picture.  I love the mums.  A did that.  After the driveway was done, he thought that area would make a nice little planter box - and it does.  He picked out the plants and did all the work.  And then, of course, there's Boomer doing what he does best, sleeping in the sun.  He did very well during the first part of the hurricane, but Sunday afternoon when there was no rain but the wind was really whipping, he seemed agitated.  He was like a little kid wanting to be next to me all afternoon.  Until A came home of course.  Then I was just that other person who hangs out at the house.  :)