Month: November 2008

I had to get rid of my plants because Buddy was eating them and throwing up.  I’d been putting it off because I love my plants, I’ve had them for a long time, but he was eating them more and more and throwing up more and more and that can’t be good.  So I put them in the hall for any of my neighbors who might want them.  One was unwanted and so I put that in the street where someone else snapped it up.  I realized too late that I could have made that one into a hanging plant.

The problem is, a home without plants feels kinda cold.  So, I came up with two ideas. The first was easy.  Get a hanging plant.  On Monday I’m going to install a shelf above the couch and out of reach of Buddy, and on it I will put a few small potted plants.  

As I’ve posted, I volunteered to give tours of the WTC site and yesterday was my first tour.  I didn’t actually conduct a tour, until you’re ready they have you go along as the “support” person.  The support person keeps the group together, answers questions (no one asked me any) and tells a short version of their 9/11 story. I was nervous and stiff, but that’s okay.  It was my first time.

Later, at the volunteer meeting in the evening, they had a guest speaker: Dr. Sarandis Papadopoulos (aka Randy) an historian for the Naval Historical Center, and principal author of Pentagon 9/11.  He was pretty much a perfect speaker. He was smart, charming, sincere and so honest.  I asked a bunch of questions, and he couldn’t have been nicer.  Plus, I want his job. More below.

The presentation was riveting.  I knew so little about what happened at the Pentagon that day, and in-between telling that story Randy talked about life at the Pentagon, the culture, the hierarchy, who gets along with who, (I have never properly learned the who/whom thing, so if that was wrong, sorry).  It was fascinating to compare the things he said, and the problems that arose that day at the Pentagon to the problems that we had here in New York.  I take back wanting his job.  Now I want the job that pays you to study organizational culture.  Thank you Bruce and Tribute WTC Visitor Center for arranging to have Randy come speak to us.  

Also, it looks like Randy did a great job of organizing the material for this book.  Aside from reconstructing what happened he used material from a large number of oral histories that were taken two days after the event, when everything was terribly fresh and they read that way.  It was amazing.  I mean, on the one hand, it was similar to our experience, people dying and some people emerging as heroes.  But the fact that it happened at the Pentagon adds a whole new dimension that I’m not sure I can adequately explain.  They had to perform the same acts of heroism but within a strictly controlled system which both helped and hurt them.  You have to read it.

The picture above is of the graveyard in back of St. Paul’s Chapel where I volunteered during the 9/11 recovery effort. I took that shot last night after the meeting.

Getting to ride horses up Hudson Street.  I saw these guys as I was heading into Balducci’s to spend way too much money.  (My friend Chris was trying to explain to me about my bad food shopping ways.)  They’re a beautiful sight, aren’t they?  I’m not a horse person.  I took one riding lesson as a girl and said, “not for me.”  But that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate their magnificence or that incredible look in their eyes.  Okay, now I want a horse.  In addition to a chihuahua.   And a coyote.

Although I was not happy with Michelle’s choice on this night of all nights. I didn’t hate it, but it wasn’t up to the moment, and it was so visually confusing (jacket? shrug? part of the dress?) that it was distracting.  Usually I love her choices though, so I’m not concerned, and everyone else in the family looked great. The girls’ outfits were head to toe amazing.  Good God, what a beautiful family.  Look at them.

Fashion-watching-wise I’m in heaven.   Michelle Obama will fill the vacancies created by the sad deaths of Princess Diana and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy.  Two fabulous dressers who I miss to this day.  (Don’t mean to reduce them to fashion entertainment, but they had serious skills.  What can I say.)

As I said, I’m going to be ruthlessly going through my own closet and trying to determine what to keep and what to donate to charity, not that charity would even want anything of mine. I do not have serious skills.  I need Tim Gunn, but that’s not realistic.  Actually, who do I know who is good at this?  I never even thought to ask anyone to help me.  Hmmmm.

This was taken in Times Square by a guy on Echo named Mike Caffrey.  Love this shot.  (I should have been there.  Mutter.  Mutter.)