Remembering 9.11.01

    

     

#112

09.11.10

     

Intro - the XX

     

I was a third-year resident seeing outpatients at the Ankle and Foot Medical Center of the Delaware Valley in Philadelphia, PA.  In between patients I heard someone in the waiting room talking about a plane that crashed in to one of the World Trade Center buildings in New York City.  A few of us pulled up the story on CNN.com while one of the staff got coverage on a radio station.  I remember feeling so sad.

     

Then we saw and heard that a second plane had deliberately crashed in to the other tower, and sadness was replaced with confusion and fear.  Other planes were not responding to air traffic control, and thought to be targeting additional sites, including Washington, D.C.  I quickly telephoned my mother in Utah to make sure none of my brothers or sister were traveling.  I didn't inquire about my father because I usually know when and where he is traveling.  What a wave of relief I felt when she said my siblings were all at their homes, but then mentioned "But dad is in Washington D.C.  Why?"  

     

Fear, confusion, and panic.  

     

He was staying at the Marriott next to the White House, which was a suspected target.

   

By then the Pentagon had been hit, and I felt such fear that I simply couldn't think straight.  I left the clinic and got in to my car; I was going to drive in to D.C. and personally get him out.  I stopped off to pick up T from her work and take her home - she was on the 13th floor of a large building off Rittenhouse Square in downtown Philadelphia, and prepared to leave for D.C.  All the roads leading in to D.C. were blocked, and I felt visceral helplessness.  Then my mother phoned and had received word from my father.  He had literally walked out of the city for several hours until he found a car rental agency, rented their last car, and began the slow drive West, to the safety of Home.

    

I am very mindful today of those who didn't make it home safely that day, and I grieve for their families.

    

  

This series of photos was taken on July 4, 2010 in South Jordan, Utah at my father-in-law's home.  He's the taller man in this photo, the other man is one of his neighbors, and that's my Q with them.  The flag was lowered to half staff in honor of my mother-in-law who had passed away just one week prior.  The lowered flag also feels appropriate on this occasion while remembering the events of 09.11.01.  

   

CCE

   

Hey, Man... Nice Pumpkin

      

     

#111

09.09.10

   

Pumpkin - Tricky (featuring Alison Goldfrapp)

   

{Note:  The next several blog entries will feature photos taken with the iPhone camera at the Alaska State Fair this past Friday, September 3, 2010.  It was just my Co-pilot Q and I that night, and we had a great time.}

    

This photo was ultimately inevitable.  No discussion of the "Alaska Fair" is complete without mentioning insanely large vegetables.  Some years that means monster cabbage, but this year it was mega pumpkins.  This particular pumpkin happens to be an Alaskan state record, weighing in at a healthy 1101 pounds.  It was grown by Dale Marshall, in case you want to reserve your pumpkin for Halloween 2011.  

 

He happened to be standing near it when Q and I were there, and I heard some guy wearing a trucker cap and a t-shirt with a silk-screen print of a wolf howling at the moon say to Dale "Hey, man... nice pumpkin."

  

Mark the date, and write this down:

"Hey, man... nice pumpkin."

  

Deep stuff; and eloquently delivered.

  

Alright, I admit it... the pic of the pumpkin isn't outrageously cool, and my lame (but true) story to go along with it isn't much better.  And that, dear reader, is why I have introduced music into this otherwise pathetic blog.  Tricky shall save this day!

  

I have been a big fan of Tricky since he and Massive Attack pushed the boundaries of possible soundscapes in my mind.  I find him to be a fascinatingly unique individual, and his music is ultra-textured and "groovy", for lack of a better word.  It's the only trip-hop I ever care to hear, unless someone else comes along and does it as well as he does (or better?  Is that possible?).  

This particular song is extra cool because it features the gilded voice of Alison Goldfrapp accompanying Tricky's slo-mo rap.  I love her Goldfrapp recordings, too, and will make it a point to feature some of her stuff here soon.  I think this track was recorded before her solo career started; so for all I know, Tricky discovered her.  This song is supposedly a criticism of the pretentious arrogance of Billy Corgan, the main man for the Smashing Pumpkins.  It comes off Tricky's debut solo album Maxinquaye, named for his mother Maxine Quaye who committed suicide when he was a wee lad in England.

     

CCE