One Year Later, Ten Years Later

I'm tired of all the 9/11 talk and stories of firemen, and First Responders. I do not mean to deny their heroism, but there are other heroes, and heroines, in the aftermath of 9/11.

A year after 9/11, my son Ben and his wife Torrey had a six month old daughter, Sarah Kate. They were living in Denver then, having moved there after Ben graduated from medical school. Ben was doing his internship in the Emergency Room of Denver General.

On 9/11, Torrey was teaching 5th grade at PS 234, the elementary school next door to the World Trade Center. As happens in the first days of school after summer vacation, Torrey had the flu that day, and a substitute teacher took her class. Ben was doing a 6-week residency in Farmington, New Mexico, and driving to work when he heard about the planes flying into the Towers. He tried to call Torrey but couldn't reach her by cell phone or landline. So he called me, in California. He had to go to work; I could and did, spend the day trying to reach Torrey.

I finally found her at home, on the computer. She was OK and hadn't been at school that day.

But she spent the rest of that day and year, and really the last ten years, dealing with survivor's guilt. And she, like all the other teachers in PS234, dealt with the childrens' stories, their fears, their horrid memories of that day for the remainder of that year. The school, when it reopened two weeks later (?), opened in an old Catholic school, in the neighborhood. Three 5th grades had to meet in an old gymnasium. The class moved to a different place 3 times that year, trying to find a safe and secure place to meet.

Those children were ten years old then. Now they are twenty somethings. The memories that they wrote about that year, were the sights and sounds of the bodies falling from the sky as they were evacuated from their old school. And their relatives who died. I can't begin to understand the strength and courage that those teachers used to deal with the nightmarish lives of their kids that year. And the parents who were left.

The firemen who risked their futures working to clear debris and find remains are undoubtedly heroes. But so are the teachers, parents and children of PS234, who survived and have been dealing with the horrific memories of that day, for the last ten years. I hope they have found some measure of peace.

after Irene

Except for the empty marina, you'd never know that we had a hurricane yesterday. Irene screamed into new England, faded, and blew on up through Vermont. Here, on the coast of Maine, we had lots of wind, an inch of rain, and power outages. In Vermont, bridges are out, roads are washed out, and downtowns and homes destroyed. I never thought I'd hear the words, "The eye of hurricane is just now passing St. Johnsbury, Vermont." But I did, and Irene about drowned Vermont.

I am sorry about all that; I kind of wish we'd had some more drama as most of us were very prepared. Really though, I am happy for the sun, and the September - like weather, and hope another hurricane does not come this way soon.

"and the restless wind.........."

These are the last boats to be hauled in advance of Irene, the hurricane of August 2011. For 3 straight days, the crew plus others at Ocean Pont Marina hauled boat after boat after boat. They barely slept, I think. But today when I went to look, there were a few big boats out on moorings, but the slips were empty - even the Boat US Towboat was gone.

They hauled Priscilla on the second day. She's comfortably up against one of the big sheds, safe and sound so far. The dinghy is turned over on the wharf, but is somewhat vulnerable to the storm surge expected tonight at high tide. I expect to sleep through it; it occurs at 11 pm. But it is a bit of a worry in that it is an astronomical tide - there is no moon at all now, and will be a 10.6' tide, higher than normal and a challenge to the Post Office, Lobsterman's Wharf, and the Marina. If there is a surge also, this far up the River, it could spell trouble for things at the above places - including dinghies turned over on the wharf.

So here I am in the middle of a hurricane. Actually EBB is on the eastern side Irene, hence we've not had as much rain as Vermont has had, or the rest of the Eastern Seaboard. But we have wind, and wind gusts of up to 75 mph. And we will have surf with wave heights of between 20-30', they say on the Weather Channel. Not good for people living closer to sea level than me, but dramatic if you don't live there. This afternoon, at dead low tide, it was pretty exciting but not close in. The rocks and the seaweed kept the water away. Tomorrow at high tide at noon, it should be quite dramatic.

"And they called the wind,"...Irene?????

Altogether too much joy along with problems!

There's been altogether too much joy here in East Boothbay lately. Too many families coming together; too much wonderful weather; too many trips out to Monhegan to build fairy houses. But so be it. Take it in, breathe deeply, and enjoy. Even the garden threatens to take over.

My grandgirls came here, and then I went up to Vermont to see them again, plus all my boys and their Significant Others, for the first time in a long time. I had ex-in-laws for a visit which was good fun, too, and all my mother's family for a picnic. It's been too good.

So today, I took a friend down to Maine Med in Portland for an MRI because the local hospitals were too busy - not a good sign. There's no diagnosis yet, but she is relieved to have begun a diagnostic process.

And I heard a final story from the Shipyard Cup races. The largest yacht here, Christopher, at 154', has a keel draft of 9', but a centerboard which drops down to a draft of 31'. Thirty one feet is pretty much lowtide depth in much of Boothbay's harbors and coves, which Christopher found out. Apparently she grounded sometime during the race, was pulled off but could not get her board back up. So she had issues finding a place of rest and security. I haven't heard yet whether or not they got her board back up, and I've been speculating on how they could do it.

Divers? I'm sceptical.

I've been thinking that they should hire the crane that lifted one of the tugs finished by Washburn and Doughty after the fire in 2008. It was the crane that Howard Hughes had built to raise the Russian sub sunk off the coast of California, and is reputed to be the biggest in the world. On the other hand, the Navy is dredging the Kennebec as we write, in order to get a new destroyer out of Bath Iron Works with a draft of only 27'. So maybe they could get Christopher up the Kennebec to Bath, and raise her up on one of their giant cranes - to unstick the centerboard. Aah, the woes of boat ownership!

I will let you know what I find out. In the meantime, enjoy these last days of summer!

what a difference a year makes!

Last year, it was glory sailing. This year it is best not described. The big boats emerged out of the hazy fog, crept across the finish line and back into the Harbor. The air show at the end of the races helped, but yet I wish I'd been able to see some spinnakers flying. Still, the Shipyard Cup made everyone in Boothbay sit up, take a breather, and drive on out to the rocks on Ocean Point if they couldn't get a ride on a boat.

It's really been a grand and glorious few weeks. Priscilla's engine got fixed and I've had some great sails; the garden overfloweth; I picked a few blueberries from my canoe in New Hampshire again; and the grandaughters began a parade of family that still continues. Saturday, 27 people from my mother's family came for a picnic, and appeared to enjoy themselves! Babies and grandparents all. Perhaps the nicest thing of all, is that my son and his girlfriend have decided to get married!

I am quite pleased, knowing at the same time that I really have very little to do with it.

Despite the weather for this last day of the Shipyard Cup or perhaps because of the family picnics, this summer has been wonderful up here on the Coast of Maine. That makes it hard to think why Congress can't do what we elected them to do - reach reasonable compromise and make a decision in favor of the country and not their own reelection, when the possibility of spending time here in Maine during a beautiful summer hangs in front of them! let's hope the stock market thinks of this possibility also, this coming week!

What goes up, must come down

Several years ago, when I lived in Paris, I spent three days in Oslo, Norway. Most of that time, I spent at the Naval Museum area, where I could explore boats that were used to explore New England long before it was called New England. Thor Heyerdahls' Kon Tiki was also there. I was quite pleased that I could find my way around Oslo quite safely without speaking a word of Norwegian.
My naivete has been shattered with the bombing and then the massacre of the youth, in Norway yesterday, on an island which looks a lot like the image of Oslo here. The psychic break with reality that people can talk themselves into, which allows them to commit such crimes, is unbelievable to me. But it hasn't been so long since it happened here - Gabby Gifford's shooting most recently.

Still I have always thought of Norway as different. Perhaps because my uncle, Streeter Bass, was one of the skiers airlifted into Norway during World War II, who managed to sink the ferry carrying "heavy water" to Germany. That water would have allowed the Germans to develop an atomic bomb. The skiers were airlifted into northern Norway, and then, miraculously and only with help from the Norwegian Resistance, they were rescued by submarine after the ferry sinking.

The Norwegian criminal who committed these crimes has betrayed the Norwegians who survived that war, who lived to create the vital, multicultural community that Norway is today.

That is not the only tragedy of the moment though. Priscilla's engine has blown a gasket of some sort, and the Marina is so busy that no one has been able to look at it yet - after a week.
It has been superb sailing, too, and for the first time, I am thinking that if she were on a mooring, I could still sail her. But she's not; she's in a slip. I am quite frustrated by this, and by the rule that you can't bring in an outside mechanic into the Marina. I'm not sure whether this is part of the territoriality of fishermen, or what. But it is completely frustrating, and puts me in the position of nag as I try and get Brian, the mechanic, to hurry up on the other boat that has broken down.

In the scheme of things, I cannot help but feel frustrated - except that it dwarfs in comparison to Norway's sorrow. For now, I will put aside my simple frustration, and hope and pray that some sort of justice is brought to bear on the horribly warped man who created the tragedy in Norway.

glory days of summer

Though Priscilla looks nothing like this big, there have been several glorious sailing days of late - including today. Summer so far has been a total delight, except for the spider mites on my nasturtiums. But there has to be at least one or two problems or we humans lose our touch at solving problems.

I can't think why DC is having such trouble putting aside election issues when so much is at stake economically. Do they not realize how dangerous is the game they are playing??? You cannot be a leader of this country and be rigid. Presidents and Members of Congress and the Senate all represent All of us people, and there must be give and take on both sides.

Have they forgotten when the budget was last balanced? It is within their memories - all of them. It was at the tail end of Bill Clinton's second term - before 9/11, Iraq and Afghanistan, before George Bush's tax cuts for the rich. The budget was in balance for the first time since World War 2. How is it too much to ask that those tax cuts be rescinded, that we leave two countries on the opposite side of the world, and where we finally accomplished revenge for 9/11.

I see people making less than $100,000, now struggling to hold on to homes, jobs. I rarely see people making over that limit struggling. It cannot be that rescinding those tax cuts will hurt many people, and it would provide some economic justice! As Nancy Reagan said the opposite way: "Just do it," DC!