Remembering the Pain and Sorrow...

Yesterday's many celebrations, concerts, gatherings, and public memories of 9/11, had tears flowing.

9/11 was such a horrible day in our country's history and almost 3,000 innocent people lost their lives in tragic ways.

 Lives in the USA, including mine, were changed forever.

On that day, two planes, hijacked by Islamic terrorists, flew into  into the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center in Manhattan, N.Y. Another plane flew into the Pentagon and a fourth plane was diverted by passengers and crashed in Pennsylvania. 

The mayhem filled American hearts with disbelief, fear, and shock.

The planes were powerful and caused huge destruction.  

Hundreds of families lost loved ones that day and thousands of lives were forever altered. 

Some children never got to really know their parents who died. 

The Metropolitan Opera, condcted by Yannick Nezet-Segin, performed Verdi's Requiem and it was shown on PBS Friday night, in memory of all the people who lost their lives.

The voices in the choir presented a  heart-wrenching hour and a half of fabulous music.

Oh, those voices just filled hearts and souls with glorious music. 

The entire day, with untold memories revealed, made it virtually impossible to not cry.

So those of us left behind go forward and try to live the best lives we possibly can.

Hopefully, we can do our part to spread love, rather than hatred, and seek peace in place of chaos.

We can also always remember 9/11 and forever grieve so many innocent lives that were lost because of hatred. 

Birthday Month

A very dear friend in Arizona surprised me one year when she told me she celebrated every single day of her birthday month.

She would do small things to make herself happy, even if it was as little as taking a mini nap or going out to several birthday celebration lunches with friends.

Ever since then, I decided to do that, too, and it was been sooooo much fun.

A very dear friend invited me to her apartment for my very first birthday month celebration dinner.

She decorated an adorable marble cake with blueberries and raspberries.  

She also added chocolate ice cream!  Decadent.

A delicious dinner of salmon, green beans and lima beans, corn on the cob, and salad was also thoroughly enjoyed!  

My friend also handed me a wrapped box that included truly splendid earrings that were sooo exactly my style.

  Yowsers. Wearring those earrings will make me feel like  Queen Elizabeth!

The best part of the night, for me, besides the delicious dinner and earrings, was spending precious time with my dear friend.

Life whizzes by and it's imperative to nurture friendships for the treasures they are.

Onto the rest of sweet September!

Autumn Arrivals

Now that Labor Day has come and gone, it's time to continue bringing out the autumn decorations.

Little by little, the kitchen rack is filling with harbingers of fall.

Some of them are welcoming events in October, too, so it's a little too early to show the whole rack. 

Some people may wonder why anyone should decorate at all for autumn in the winter of one's life.

Why?  Because it brings joy to the decorator!

That's the first reason.  And just maybe, it will also bring a smile or two the the face of visitors, even if they are few and far between.

Whenever we can make a person smile, we should do it because life goes by in a jiffy.

So welcome to the little vagabonds that are hopping up onto the knick knack rack this week.  

Here's to a great week for you, too!

Wishing You a Peaceful Sunday

 

Sunday used to be a day to stuff in as much as humanly possible.

Those were the days when the kids were little, when I had part-time job responsibilities, when I was living life with a husband, cooking, cleaning, shopping, and so on.

Often, many of these fell on Sunday.

Today is different.  Life is lived alone.

Friends are still incredibly precious as are sisters, cousins, and so on.

However, there is no longer any need to squeeze every second of every single hour to get things done.

Oh, there is still a long "to do" list in the notebook.

But today, the mindset has changed.

Everything is done leisurely. There is no rushing.

If some of the "to do" list things get done, wonderful.

If they do not, there is always tomorrow.

If they don't get done at all,  I am still alive.

It's a much more peaceful existence, despite missing my beloved late husband  and the kids who are now adults with wonderful spouses and kids, and lives, of their own.

I hope you have a peaceful, leisurely Sunday, doing anything you want!

Touches of Autumn Around the Apartment

Autumn decorating around the apartment has begun.

A fall tablecloth has replaced the white one for summer.

The white cover on the couch has also been taken off and folded for storage.

Auburn and green pillows on the couch have been switched from the former pinks.

Very colorful, pretty faux flowers have been placed in vases around the living room.  

A lovely fall scene, cut from a calendar, is on a holder on the kitchen counter.

Yup.  It's starting to look like autumn around here.

 However, outside the apartment, a begonia plant is still filled with dozens of pink flowers and pink petunia plant still sits in all her splendorous glory.

The lounge chair's pink afghan, against its back, now has a green hand-crocheted one.

Here's hoping your weekend, dear reader, will be wonderful.