Remebering 9/11

As it's the 9th Anniversary of the 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, I've been thinking about the effect it has had on our world.

There are no words to describe what kind of event that was.  "Tragedy" "Horror" "Terrible" None of these words are able to convey the enormity of the event.  And, that's a good thing.  If we had the words to talk about it, we'd be living in a world where it was commonplace.  For anyone who's interested in the academics of how we discuss extraordinary events, Gail Jefferson's article, At First I Thought: A Normalising Device for Extraordinary Events, is a fascinating read.  And, even though it's an academic article, it's not an esoteric read.  The language is very down to earth and readable.

Tragic as that day was, there was some good that came out of it.  The individual stories of heroism, strength and fortitude.  The stories of those who sacrificed themselves on the 4th plane, refusing to be the tool of those who would do evil.  The stories of those who risked everything to help as many people escape the towers, many of whom did not make it themselves.  And, of course, the marvelous miracles of those who helped and did escape.  To you, whether you've dedicated your lives to helping others as emergency response personnel, or whether you're the average joe who stepped up on that anything-but-average day, I thank you.  I thank you for not being human - for being super-human and doing what needed to be done.  Some of those acts were extraordinarily dangerous.  Others were quiet.  All were heroic.

The Great Drive -- Or, The Long Way Home (Pt 3)

So, on the 10th, we got through North Carolina, Tennessee, and we were in Kentucky, when I finally got a hold of my family to wish Mom a Happy Mother's Day. Lois was up visiting, and I was telling them about not feeling well, and we started comparing symptoms. We've got the same thing! And I found out where I got it! One of our other friends had it, and was round for 3 days at Lois' house. Both of us caught it from her, as did the husband of another friend. He went to the doctor, and was told, sorry. It's a virus. You'll just have to let it run its course. So, since I felt fine, if not able to swallow comfortably, we decided to revert to our original plan, which was going to be a heck of a lot more fun. So we headed northeast from Kentucky, skirting past Cincinnati, OH, stopping for the night about halfway between Cincinnati and Cleveland (better?!? I got told off by him for spelling it wrong earlier) for the night. Oh. My. Word. I've never had such a miserable excuse for air conditioning! It was constantly going on and off, really noisy and didn't ever really cool the room. I was up every 2 hours. It was horrible.

On the 11th we got up and drove the rest of the way to Niagara Falls, Ontario (through Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York). We decided to stop off there and see the falls on the 12th. I got up this morning and felt pretty rough. Much worse than I have done. But, at least had slept much better. So, dragged my feet and finally got out the door around noon. I felt miserable, though. Really poorly. Sitting in the restaurant waiting for lunch to arrive we were discussing the possibility of just heading straight home, possibly even today. I got a hold of Lois, and we re-compared notes on our symptoms. Seems like I do, in fact, have the same thing. It's just miserable. And, since I felt quite a lot better after lunch, we decided we'd see how I feel in the morning. If I'm really miserable, we can just pack it in and go home. If not, I can still get to my appointment on Thursday. I've also got an appointment with Grandma's doctor for Friday afternoon.

We also found a health food store that sells essential oils. Thyme and tea tree oils are both natural anti-viral/anti-bacterials, so I'd wanted to get some. They get absorbed directly into your skin, so if you put it straight over the lymph node, it gets to work in the most important spot! (You ought to mix thyme with something else, like grape seed oil -- my favourite -- or olive oil, because other wise the thyme is likely to feel a bit like it's burning your skin.) They also recommended this cool stuff called Lymphdiarral. It's specifically designed to drain the lymph system and reduce swelling in both acute and chronic lymph problems due to infection or injury. Well, that pretty well made my day! I've been using it all day, and I can feel a reduction in the swelling. I'm hoping I wake up and it's much better tomorrow.

We also walked around the Falls for a bit. Really pretty. But let's be honest . . . how long can you stand and look at a river? We spent about half an hour, then came back to the hotel. Just taking things easy today.

Just a couple of seconds of the roar of the water falling over the side.


We've got this really sweet little Australian Rosella Parakeet (a real parakeet, not a budgie that we just call a parakeet!) who lives in our hotel. Her name's Paris (since the Hampton chain is owned by Hilton. . .) She's a doll. Click on the video to see a short bit of her. You can hear her chirp. It's very sweet.

The Great Drive -- Or, The Long Way Home (Pt 2)

We drove from Savannah, GA straight on up to Asheville, NC. I'd never been to Georgia, South Carolina or North Carolina before, so we took a smaller road through part of South Carolina. It was a two-lane road that went through the centre of some very small towns. Kind of fun. And so green! And it smelled green . . . an observation that has earned me no little grief with him. *sigh* He doesn't realise that green can too be an odder!

The reason we were heading to Asheville was that my youngest cousin on my mom's side lives there. And, since this is my mom's mom that I'm traveling with, it only made sense to stop off and say hi to Daniel, and his girlfriend, Michelle. We arrived on the 8th, but we didn't bug them til the 9th. On the 9th we took Daniel out for breakfast. The most amazing waffles you've ever seen. And the Huevos Rancheros?!? Oh. My. Goodness. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. It was amazing. We dropped Daniel off for work, then we went on out to the Blue Ridge Parkway (which is also a National Park). We stopped off at the Centre for Folk Art. They were having a big special weekend highlighting various 'fiber crafts'. So there were people there spinning yarn, making bobbin lace (*wow*), crocheting, weaving beads . . . you name it, if it had to do with fibers, there was someone doing it! Amazing. And the live band was so much fun. Except, of course, I didn't have anyone to dance with! Such a waste of fabulous live Blues/Bluegrass music.

That evening we took Daniel and Michelle out for this amazing South American food. It was called 'Tomato: Cocina Latina". The food was so fresh and wonderful. I had carne asada, Daniel had paella (which is technically a Spanish dish, not South American) and Grandma and Michelle had chili relleno. Every one of us enjoyed the food. It was great. Then Daniel took us past the house he's put an offer in on. So, it looks like they're in NC to stay! Grandma, of course, was jibing them about 'when are you going to get married?!?' Apparently they've decided they will it's just a matter of Daniel getting around to asking her. Come on, boy, once you've made the decision, get with it! She's too good of a catch to mess about and let get away!

The night of the 9th, I didn't sleep well at all. I'd been fighting this horrible virus that attacks your lymph nodes, and it was making me pretty miserable. And I woke up on the 10th with more swollen nodes, so we decided to alter our original plan. I'd made an appointment in Toronto at the Curly Hair Institute to get a haircut and learn their techniques for using their product. I've been wanting to do this for years, but it just never works out. But I was kind of worried about this virus. So we decided to drive straight north and get back to Michigan that night, and I could hit the doctor's office on Monday.

The Great Drive -- Or, The Long Way Home (Pt 1)

I arrived in Orlando, Florida on the 5th. I only had about 2 hours of sleep, but that was a sacrifice I was more than willing to make, and I'd make again in a heartbeat. A very fluttery heartbeat ;-) So, as a consequence, I pretty much went straight to bed on the 5th. The 6th, Grandma and I were supposed to stop off at Sea World and play for a bit. But it was so hot, well over 90'F, that we decided it just wasn't a good idea. I suffer from heat, but she really suffers, and at 80+ years, probably not a great idea to push it. So we just drove all day. We stopped off in St Augustin, FL.

St Augustin is the oldest continuously inhabited town in the United States. The area was the first place that Ponce De Leon landed in 1513 when he was searching for the fountain of youth. Eventually a colony was established in 1539 -- 42 years before Jamestown, VA and 55 years before the Mayflower arrived. Santa Fe, NM is the only other city which competes. There's some debate as to which city is actually 'oldest', but in any case, it's a very old town (for the United States). The whole town is covered in Spanish Moss. Really pretty, slightly eerie... But one of the avenues in particular is stunning. It's listed as one of the top 10 most beautiful streets in the US. It's lined on either side by Live Oak Trees, and they're covered in Spanish Moss.

The 7th we were planning on playing tourist all day, and staying the night again in St Augustin, but not at the same hotel (which was kind of a miserable place). We got up and jumped on the tourist tram and rode around for a bit. We got off at the old Fort, which is now a National Monument, run by the the National Park System. We explored it for a while, but it was just so hot out there, we decided we'd be better off just heading out for parts less hot. So instead of staying in St Augustine, FL, we ended up staying in Savannah, GA.