After most of a lifetime, living at least a thousand, or two, or more miles from New York, it is now in PA a little beyond reality that NYC is just a couple hours away. Pat, a good friend of Marge's and now of mine, got on a bus with me for a day tour of the 9/11 Memorial Museum in Manhattan. You who followed the rigors of my not-to-be-forgotten Greyhound Bus ride to "Dezz Moinzz" some summers ago, probably wonder at my mental condition to get on another bus. This time, in contrast to that lengthy torture, it was on a half-million-dollar luxury coach. We got a front seat and relaxed the whole way there and back.

The police had a high-profile presence throughout the visit.

On a short wait for a group gathering...

Pat.

Architecture. Yes, the experience was heavily about architecture...

...and, heavy with what happened there...

Mangled architecture morphed into sculpture.

Names of all are inscribed around the entire perimeter.

Everyone whose life was lost on 9/11 is inscribed on this ceramic piece.

Seeing North America's Ground Zero monument to that day in 2001, I remain struck by current, tragic war zones and attacks pictured in ever-present news from other continents and I am overwhelmed by what men, women, children, elderly, all experience day upon day upon day--and by the restless violence of our own land that has striven to govern itself for nearly two-and-a-half centuries and again and again and again must exert a will to make it justly operate for all its citizens.

Jonathan Winters again, "Can't we all just get along?"

Can't we all just...

In a short while today, the moon will glide between our planet and the sun to make a rapidly traveling shadow across our continent. Then, later in the day, it will be over. The sun will shine as usual. We will continue with our day. Okay, enough. I am in tears.

_____________

I hope the following lifts your spirits as it helps lift mine.

Aidan constructed an amplifier for his iPhone. It works! Ingredients: iPhone (of course), two plastic glasses, cardboard tube of toilet paper roll, duct tape, knife, one young man.

Keoni keeps in touch from Colorado and, besides all the interesting people he is in contact with including admired musicians, he also gets a hike in here and there. He met some Mountain Goats...

Colorado Mountain Goats!

From a visit to Missouri Botanical Gardens, Sandy sent these pix of glass sculpture by Craig Mitchell Smith. At night...

By day...

I didn't at first see the top images are figures until I sent the photo to a larger screen than my iPhone.

And, not least, Chihuly...

Then, there were the soccer games...

Another evening, Marge was tending to the pond...

...when the sunset lit up all the sky...

...and the earth glowed.