The Sky Was So Blue

Permit me to concentrate today on a 25th anniversary.  So, if you are looking for my Skywatch Friday post, please click here.

25 years ago today I woke up and prepared to go to work.  My spouse was at home - he would be going to work around 12:30 pm.

It was supposed to be a beautiful mid September day with clear blue skies.

Now, 25 years later, I remember that day.  Everyone of my generation remembers that day. Residents of New York City and its surrounding communities remember.  Residents of the area around the Pentagon remember.  Residents of the area around Shanksville, Pennsylvania remember September 11, 2001.  The people of Gander, Newfoundland, remember that day, the day we've called "9/11" since that beautiful blue sky late summer morning.  Until it wasn't. 

Other countries remember dates of tragedy.  Here in the United States, we remember, even after 25 years.

According to the World Trade Center Health Program, some 9000 people have died from 9/11 related illnesses.

9/11 is still claiming victims from related illnesses today.

I've blogged about 9/11 every year since I've started to blog in 2009, and I will continue to do so as long as I continue to blog.

Here are some of my posts:

September 11 Reaches Adulthood

Yes, One Day We Will Forget

In New York City's 9/11 Memorial and Museum there is an art installation called Trying to Remember the Color of the Sky on that September Morning".  How can I not forget that blue sky?  

Finally, we are also called to remember the generosity of the people of Gander, Newfoundland (Canada) on September 11, 2001 after United States closed its airspace and airlines grounded their planes.  Some 7000 passengers and crew on 200 planes ended up landing in Gander International Airport, near a city of (then) about 10,000. people.  

The people of Gander quickly mobilized  to make the people stranded there when airlines grounded their flights feel welcome. 

 Food and clothing was donated. Schools were turned into dormitories.  A hockey rink provided refrigeration for donated food.  The people of the planes became known as the Plane People.

The people of Gander never asked for payment but the passengers and crew of one of the flights set up a scholarship fund for students in the Gander area.  The fund has grown to over one million dollars.

Tonight, the City of Binghamton, New York will host the LUMA festival, which features light projections onto buildings.  I won't be there in person, but I will be there in spirit, as light chases away the darkness.

25 years.

One of the alumni lost from my high school. 

If you read some of my more recent 9/11 posts you can see my concern that the generations unborn on 9/11 will not understand the significance of that day in U.S. and world history or the kindness of 9/12.

Let us never forget those affected.

Seen Around Town #SkywatchFriday

I am posting early for Yogi's Skywatch Friday with some scenes from the Southern Tier of New York,  taken on two consecutive days.  Tomorrow, my blog will be devoted to commemorating the 25th anniversary of September 11.

Downtown Binghamton, Court Street bridge over Chenango River, September 9.
 

Mural, downtown Johnson City, New York, September 10.

Finally, today's mystery.  This diner used to be the Red Robin diner, situated in a 75 plus year old building in downtown Johnson City, New York. The diner closed in 2021 and a halal restaurant, part of a New York City chain called 8-Bit Bites, opened there in 2023.  8-Bit Bites closed this location around June of 2026.

I wonder what is happening with the building.  I hope it is just being fixed up and will continue as a diner.

Joining Yogi and other skywatchers for #SkywatchFriday.

Cuddly Corn #WordlessWednesday

 At this time of year, I eat corn on the cob several times a week.  I can't get enough of it.  That sweet goodness is so fleeting.  I am fortunate that I live in an area where I can get fresh sweet corn at farm markets or even in a local supermarket chain that buys local when they can.

So, the other day, I peeled the husk off a corn.  Seemed like the corn was a bit thicker than normal.

Before cooking.

After cooking.

Cuddly corn.  

I don't know if this was one corn that split in two while developing, or two separate corns. 

Either way, it was delicious.

If you enjoy sweet corn on the cob, have you ever run into this?

Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday.

Summer Ends #MusicMovesMe

It's Monday and it's time for music!

Who are the Music Moves Me bloggers?  We are a group of music loving bloggers who blog about music each Sunday or Monday (or even later in the week). If you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join!  We are brought to you by Cathy of Curious as a Cathy, Stacy of Stacy's Random Thoughts, Marie (Xmas Dolly), and myself, plus other music loving bloggers.  

Our theme this week is: You Pick.  But I am choosing as my theme today, last week's theme, which was:  It’s the end of the month, summer is drawing to an end unofficially. Share songs that make you think of the end of summer.

Songs for the end of summer, many times, deal with the end of summer romances, or a nostalgic look back at summertime.  So here's my selection.

The Boys of Summer, Don Henley, from 1984.

Summer Nights - John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, from the wonderful Grease soundtrack.

Summer's Almost Gone - The Doors, from 1968.

Famous Last Words - Billy Joel, from 1993.

Last but not least, out of ideas, I decided to look up the number one song for the week of September 21, 1976 (50 years ago) and came up with this:

Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry.

This song has nothing to do with the end of summer, but it carries a lot of nostalgia for me.  My spouse was undergoing technical training for his military job.  We would go to the enlisted persons' club and listen to live music and perhaps eat supper there, and this is one of the songs the cover bands played a lot.  Call it an end of summer song.

And that's a wrap!

Join me again next week for another episode of Music Moves Me. 

Late August Stroll #ShadowshotSunday

Today, for #ShadowshotSunday, brought to us by Lisa at This and That: A Blog, I'm featuring some shadows from two late August walks in a park.

Picnic bench.

Trees and clouds. 

A wildflower that my iPhone photos app identifies as heal-well. 

Update: since my Friday Skywatch Friday post which mentioned the 2026 tornado count in my state of New York, that number has been updated to 22.  I hope September is calmer.

Have a shadow photo?  Why not join us at Lisa's link above?

 

Thunderheads #SkywatchFriday

Where I live in the Southern Tier of New York, it has been a stormy week.  But we've escaped a lot of the severe weather that the central and western part of the state has experienced in the last few days.

As of last night, we've had 18 confirmed tornadoes so far in New York State since the beginning of the year.  

I took these pictures on August 27.  

Thunderheads.

Let's zoom in.  

Pinkish sky right before sunset, taken through trees.  Sorry for the blur.

Tuesday and Wednesday we had on and off torrential rain.  We got at least four inches, and my spouse and I were caught in one of the downpours trying to get to an appointment.  A bit over an hour away, the New York State Fair had to close because of flooding. 

Our storms Wednesday night came after sunset, and I wasn't going to go out there at 10pm with lightning flashing and lighting up the sky.

Hoping for better weather for all in September.  

Joining with Yogi and other skywatchers for #SkywatchFriday. 

Monarch Time #WordlessWednesday

One of our local libraries has an aquarium set up with monarch butterfly larvae developing. They’ve had several become butterflies.

Here are some pictures of their set up. The larvae are the striped caterpillars, and I hope you can make them out in these pictures.

If you are interested, here is more on the life cycle of a monarch butterfly. 

You can see one towards the right middle of the picture.  I apologize for the glare. 

These are milkweed plants, which the caterpillars feast on until their next stage of development.  I see at least three in this picture.

The enclosure itself. 

This is the Vestal Library's certificate of recognition from the Monarch Waystation program.  The program states, in part:

"Monarch Waystations are intentionally managed gardens that provide critical breeding resources and food sources to support monarch butterflies throughout their multi-generational, 3,000-mile migration.....As of 11 August 2026, there have been 57,969 Monarch Waystation habitats registered with Monarch Watch."

The very first monarch waystation was established in 2004 at the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence, Kansas. 

 

Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday.