Even though I haven’t reported what’s going on, I’ve had a busy week. I no more than got my house cleaned up than we got several more inches of heavy rain, so heavy that it came in the quilt shop and I had wet carpet to deal with. This cupboard had to be pulled out so the floor could dry. All of this because I had Rick take down the gutter because it was so hard to get at to clean! So now I will have to cut down the shrubs that made it impossible to get a ladder close to the building in order to clean the gutters and have the gutters installed again. Ugh! And it’s all my fault!
See what I mean?
It’s also time to pick the hydrangeas – nearly past time, some are already brown but that’s ok – look how many there are on the tree.
Last week I had a baptism dinner, a dental appointment, a cancer screening and friends from Bainbridge Island, WA stopped for a visit so it was a busy week. And then there was 9-11 and all those memories. We were opening a camp that morning and 4 of our campers flew out of Logan Airport in Boston. They were forced to land in Detroit where they rented a car and drove to Iowa. Roy and Connie’s cousin was Tom Burnett who was on Flight 93 and was one of the 5 guys who attacked the hijackers. I remember Diane Sawyer and Charlie Gibson reporting on Good Morning America as it all played out. Where were you on 9-11?
I was working that that day. Doctor came in told us about it, we went to TV there it was! We are like Europe now. Later that night I celebrated my birthday.
I was watching Good Morning America, having phone coffee with my sister and we were chatting about the morning news and events when they showed a live clip of the first tower being hit and while watching the second jet few into the other building. It was a devastating shock and yet difficult to look away. I was an hour late to work that morning and once I got to the office we turned on turned on the office television and continued to watch throughout the day.
At the Spencer Fair. There was total silence and no talking or music. Just total silence. I think everyone was in shock.
I hear People say that 9-11 only affected those of us on the east coast so I am comforted to know we all felt its wrath. It’s a somber day for us but also one of gratitude as our son is a fireman locally and risks his life saving others, but also because our daughter was flying that morning at 8:30 am to NYC for a meeting so you can imagine the fear I had as I was working in a lab not knowing where she was in the sky and trying to remain calm for the patients. A travel agent in our building tried to locate her flight but by then all planes were ordered to land and no data on the flights grounded. We finally heard that her plane turned around in NYC when the pilot saw all the smoke and landed back at Rochester even with the airport in a lockdown so she came back to us. She lost 4 coworkers that day and left that company for a different job not wanting to fly again. We were together yesterday and today is her birthday so we count our blessings.
Mary – 9-11 is my Birthday and I will never forget that day. I was in the kitchen with the TV on and saw it all. I cryed and went to Church and cryed some more. Not because it was my Birthday but what they had done to our country. We were to go out with our friends that night and I didn’t think I could go. They talked me into it and I was OK. Then I spent the next several weeks glued to the TV. Then I few to Washington the 3rd week in Oct. for a Cross Stitch Retreat and drove by the Pentagon. My Daughter and I made the trip together. I just knew there was going to be good security. Nancy
I was in our state capital in Des Moines for a meeting and all the state buildings were shut down immediately. Very scary driving home because all the gas stations had huge lines of cars in fear that there wouldn’t be any more gas. By the way, I made your tomato/lettuce/onion salad and it was very, very good. I love how clean and fresh it tasted. Thanks very much for sharing that recipe!!
I was one of the 4 on my way to Country Threads. Every 9/11 I relive every moment of that day in my mind . call Diane faithfully every 9/11. So thankful we were on our way to garner Iowa.
We were going to celebrate our 52nd wedding anniversary that day, then we turned on the TV’s and that was the end of that for the day. Our church was host to the Presbytery that day and we helped with that and did do it, but it was very prayerful and somber.
9-11 was at work at psych hospital No TVs but relatives in NYC used my work 800 phone number to call with updates For hours my Aunt thought her husband was lost at Twin Towers but he had changed appointments and was working in his midtown office with the door shit and no one in the office knew he was there Took him hours to get home to Brooklyn but he was one of the lucky ones
I was walking on my treadmill with the television on for company so saw it all. After awhile I couldn’t bear to watch any more but I also couldn’t pull myself away from the television. So I went outside to do yard work. I could not get over the dead silence. There were NO planes in the air. We would hear small planes fly overhead from time to time departing from or landing at a small airport near by. Not that day though. It was surreal.
That silence was surreal and unsettling
Sorry word should read shut OMGosh I’m sorry about that
glued to the TV all morning
This is always a difficult time for us. We were preparing for my Mother’s funeral
Mass when we got the first call on that morning. we had prayers for all that morning.
I dropped my son off at a homeschooler’s activity and with my daughter (it was her 11th birthday) headed to a homeschooler’s house where I was to speak to a small group about homeschooling, writing my book, and be available to answer questions. The lady whose home it was said she’d bake a birthday cake for my daughter; there were to be several young children in attendance, as well. When we arrived, the TV was on, the mothers who had arrived were glued to the screen and the unfolding events, no cake had been baked and after a few replays of the airplanes flying into the towers, I suggested that with all the young children, maybe we should take a walk (the home was located in a beautiful rural area with blueberry fields and trails) to get the children away from the horror. My “talk” became informal conversation, the children had a ball and I believe it was one of my more successful interactions with potential homeschoolers.
We had stayed in Sioux Falls the night before on our way to Iowa. I came up the stairs and asked why there were so many sirens in time to see the 2nd tower fall. When we found out we could get gas, we went on to Iowa and Country Threads. The article the ladies wrote about their trip to Country Threads from the east coast was so interesting. The very worst things bring out the very best in people.
Water…it had just started raining hard when I looked out the window and saw the pipe taking the water from the eaves at the base of the house had blown off it’s connection. Shortly I had water running in the basement window….. Everything is dry, but things aren’t all put back yet. Oh, we got a different pipe the next day.
I was at home and my husband called me from work to turn the TV on. I couldn’t believe it. I felt so many emotions: fear, anger, heartbroken, pain for all those who were lost and their families. It was a horrible experience and totally unexpected.
I was processing calls for the hearing & speech impaired from the east coast. Shedding many many tears and fighting to keep my composure. Calls going to phones that just rang and rang……
I was teaching and was pulled out of my reading teacher mode and posted on duty in the rotunda of the school. We were on lock down, of course, after a few mothers came racing, literally they could have competed in the Boston Marathon, racing down the school halls screaming at the top of their lungs…” my baby, my baby, I have to see my baby!” ” I’m taking my children home, nobody’s safe in this world! ” ” Help me, help me I don’t know what to do! Where’s my child, I need my child!” A dozen parents created so much fear in the building, children peacefully returning to their classrooms from gym, art, music classes were crying at the sight of this commotion, these parents totally out of control…it was the strangest experience of my 34 years of teaching. And here I was, grateful that my two sons were in the capable hands of their teachers, it never occurred to me to think of being with my own when so many I didn’t know were in such terrorizing situations.
For the rest of the day, no one was admitted into the school, or allowed to leave. We had a long peaceful, quieter than usual day of teaching. The teachers of older children were given a sort of script of information to share with children, minimal details, younger children were given much less, and we hoped the school bus stories wouldn’t scare them on the ride home.
It’s hard to believe our kindergarteners would now be 20 years old, and our fifth grades, 26! Oh, my!
Hi Mary, I was with our daughter and first grandchild– only 8days old. We watched th Today show and saw the towerburning, then the second plane hit. I had a substitute teacher and the teachers were told to turn off the tv’s.Mostof them left their tv’s on–it was our students’ Pearl Harbor. I was proud of my sub for letting my juniors and seniors watch. Our son lives near the Cleveland airport and we feared Flight 93 would crash there. It was heart wrenching to hear those phone calls from Flight 93. That memorial is worth the trip to PA. So many memories.
This morning there was a blind man on the news. He was on the 78th floor (of one of the towers) with his faithful/helper dog. The dog led him and others along the stairwell to safety down to the street level. The dog stayed calm through it all (even when the bldg was in a leaning position with smoke) I thought the story amazing. It is a sadness felt all across our Country. There are so many stories to be told. Mary, I thought of you and the many dogs you raise and care for. We love NYC. A newsman on tv mentioned he now celebrates his birthday a day before or after as the timing is no longer right for him. Our (then) teen granddaughter called us. We had taken her on an earlier trip to New York when the towers were standing. We have since taken the next 2 grands to then Ground Zero. Our church had moments of silence yesterday during the morning service. Bless All.
I was teaching 3rd grade when one of the teaching assistants called me to the door. She briefly explained what had happened, stayed with my students as I went to the library to view what was on the news. It was a day we carried on as normal as possible so as not to alarm the students.
On that infamous day of 9/11/01, I happened to be watching the Today Show and saw the whole attack unfold before my eyes. My youngest daughter, Debbie, was the first of my four children to call me to find out what was going on. She was working for an accounting firm located two blocks from Interstate 271, east of Cleveland, and said she had heard that I 271 had been closed down in both directions because “something had happened”. She asked me if I had heard anything about it. Later, we learned that it was done as a precaution, because the control tower at the Cleveland Airport had been in communication with the airplane that eventually turned around and crashed in PA. Next, my girlfriend called to tell me that her daughter, Jennifer, who worked in downtown Cleveland, was coming home, because many of the businesses downtown were closing for the day. There was a huge traffic jam in the entire downtown area with everyone trying to get home at one time. It took Jennifer over an hour just to get out of the parking garage. What a mess it was for a while. For the rest of that day and for many days afterward, we, along with many, many others, watched the events after the attack unfold. I, for one, will never forget.
I was quilting with a friend when my daughter called to tell me about the twin towers and the Pentagon.My son was in the Pentagon .They were watching tv when the plane came in the building.He thought at first that it was a truck bomb , because the shock was so low.When the door was opened he saw the plane with fire shooting out of it.The water sprinklers came on.He said there was no panic.They left the building helping the walking wounded out of the building.I give thanks that my son was spared and I send
I was quilting with a friend when my daughter called to tell me about the twin towers and the Pentagon.My son was in the Pentagon .They were watching tv when the plane came in the building.He thought at first that it was a truck bomb , because the shock was so low.When the door was opened he saw the plane with fire shooting out of it.The water sprinklers came on.He said there was no panic.They left the building helping the walking wounded out of the building.I give thanks that my son was spared and I send prayers the families that lost loved ones.
I was in Paris, France – had been to Monet’s house/gardens in Givernay on a tour. There was an American woman on the phone in the gardens who was crying and talking to a crowd around her about something that had happened in New York but she didn’t know what. When we got back on the bus we asked our tour guide to turn on the radio and tell us what was happening in America. She was Spanish, listening to the radio in French and trying to translate that into English – we didn’t get much out of it except that something bad had happened but didn’t know what. My husband and his brother had gone to Versailles for the day and returned to our hotel a couple of hours before I got back. They had been watching it on TV and it was so surreal! We were supposed to fly back to Chicago the next day, but of course that didn’t happen – we had to stay another week, find another hotel because the one we had been staying at was fully booked. The French people were so kind and helpful – I still cry when I think about all the wonderful things they did out of compassion for us. You would think that having to spend another whole week in Paris would have been great, but it was not. We were so relieved to get back on American soil.
I was living in Pennsylvania and many from our county commuted to New York. I was one who would not go into the Twin Towers as I took the terrorists seriously when they had said they would finish the job. Many where I worked were terrified that more acts of terrorism would follow.
I was at home recovering from meningitis. My husband woke me when he left for work & said something was going on in NYC at the twin towers. I got up, turned on the TV & saw the 2nd plane coming toward the tower. I thought it surely isn’t going to hit the building, then watched in sheer terror when it did. Everything about that day was horrible but I think the one thing that really stays with me were all the people putting up the pictures of their loved ones asking if anyone had seen them. It was just unreal that all those people were gone.
My husband and I stood in front of the TV wondering if our oldest son was in the towers. He had flown from Denver to New York for a business meeting on that day. He was in a building across the street. It took him a long time to get back to Dnver and finally walked across the bridge to New Jersey and a private plane picked him up. A very terrifying time for us.
That is so sad about Connie and Roy’s cousin. I can’t imagine doing what he did. God bless him!
I had been laid off work that morning, called Wayne and he told me to turn on the TV. At first I didn’t believe it. Later in the day, I drove into Minneapolis and there were flags hanging from every bridge overpass or walkways. A very emotional week!!!
We were in Europe where they closed the airports for a week. We didn’t know what was going on and watched a gals tv in Italy and tried to figure it all out. Went the next day to Switzerland and got to watch it on CNN. We were also the first flight out of London to come home. Bless Connies cousin who fearlessly stepped up to the plate for the USA. There is a jewel waiting for his crown some day…. for what he did.
I remember that day so clearly. I was working in Eye Surgery at a big hospital in Wichita, KS. We were getting ready to take our first patient back to the surgical suite when one of the anesthesia staff came out of the lounge and said that a jet had just accidentally hit one of the twin towers. It hit me right away. I told her it was no accident. It was terrorism, but in my mind I was hoping I was wrong. We got started on the case. The surgeon kept us all informed of the happenings thruout the day as the nursing staff couldn’t get to any tv. The hospital was eerily quiet. I had called my hubby right after our first case began and told him to turn on the tv and not just watch it on the computer. Our Eye surgery unit was separate from the main surgery unit. Main OR shut down all elective cases and only did the emergent ones. They were preparing all the rooms for mass casualties as we did not know what to expect. We were a Level 1 trauma center. Our eye cases went fast for the day and we were on our way home by mid afternoon. My drive home was spooky. The highways were so empty. And every gas station had lines of cars waiting. When I got home I walked into the living room to find my teenage son and his friend watching cartoons and goofing around. I was too upset with that. Told them they were not going to watch cartoons while America was under attack. I turned on NBC and sat down to weep and pray with the rest of the country. The 2 boys watched it with me, cried along with me and hugged me. they had no idea all this was going on. My other son was at K-State university. He had gone to ROTC that morning and had been dressed in his uniform.. They watched what was going on. Finally, the commander told them to go back to the dorm but to not wear thier uniforms as he did not know if there were any terrorists on campus. The university shut down for a while and he drove the few hours home. Our community was heart broken but very steady thinking. They were not going to let terrorists kill thier beliefs. We will never forget that day. God Bless all the innocents and thier framilies.
I was on my way to Quilt Camp at Country Threads. I drove from Mpls to Garner with Holly Peters and, of course, there was nothing else we could talk about. I’ll never forget being the in the hay mow, worried about the ladies from Boston and then glad they made it to camp. Their stories were haunting with their plan on the tarmac next to one that was highjacked.