On Tulip Trees

Tulip Trees Over My House (7 March 2022)

I have noted my appreciation for living on a wooded lot in the ‘burbs of Maryland. No abominable lawn to maintain. We have a hot tub in the back yard. It is a wonderful appliance. Therapeutic for mind and body to sit in 103° water…even more so in winter at times when the steam rises as snow falls around you.

But as I stare up at the dense webs of wood overhead, I have to accept that being surrounded by tulip poplars is not the greatest forest experience. Liriodendron tulipifera is commonly called ‘tulip poplar’ because it has a tulip-like flower. While the light hardwood has some commercial uses, my appreciation pretty much begins and ends with all the free fire wood that has literally rained down from the heavens.

Tulip Tree Crown (2 March 2022)

I do not find tulip trees to be very attractive. Some trees have a sweeping grace as they ascend skyward. I will give them this…poplars are tall and straight. In full leaf, they are dense and green but, their bare bones are awkward and ungainly. Tulip tree branches jut off in odd directions. Thick branches suddenly end where breaks have occurred. Because they’re brittle, wind and cold cause the less healthy parts of the tree to snap off. We have no garage and park in the driveway, there have been three insurance claims due to falling branches. The hot tub cover has been replaced three times.

Our Front Yard (14 May 2008)

One’s first understanding of trees is usually that some are ‘evergreen’ conifers and others are deciduous, meaning they drop their leaves in the fall and produce new ones in the spring. Tulip poplars elevate the term ‘deciduous’ to a year-round activity since there is no season when something doesn’t rain upon us. In the spring, it’s flower parts. In the summer, a fine mist of sap makes the cars in the driveway all sticky and the heat prompts the trees to start shedding leaves early.

Under the Shedding Tulip Trees (1996)

Of course, autumn drops enough leaves to make one think the house is made of them. If they stay in one place too long, wet leaves decompose rapidly and will stain whatever surface they cover. With winter freezing and any other time a storm blows through, these brittle trees shed branches. It is not a good place to be without a garage. Being outside on a windy day can be treacherous. If you hear a cracking sound from above, it’s best to take cover.

After the Latest Blow (3 March 2018)

Although it is a miserable tree, I have to appreciate that the house is shaded during the summer cooling season and there’s no lawn to futz with. There…the half-full guy in me ends on a positive note. There will be another post inspired by the trees soon.

National 9-11 Memorial Museum

Twenty-one years ago today, I remember driving to work. It was to a more distant office that year so there was more time to listen to news on the radio. Broadcasters were trying to fill in a ‘breaking news’ story after the first plane hit the North Tower. Was it some kind of horrible accident? How could that happen on such a clear, calm day? Stay tuned.

9/11 Memorial and Museum,

New York (13 December 2021)

The building is merely an impressive pavilion since all it

does is direct visitors to the escalators that take them well

below ground…to the vast space that houses all there is to see.

Meanwhile Beck was home with a crew of painters who were finishing our kitchen renovation. She’ll always remember how they all stopped to watch on the bedroom TV as the second tower was struck and then local networks reported the Pentagon crash. That was too close to home and painters then excused themselves and left early. The entire nation had entered a new scary time.

The Oculus, Interior (13 December 2021)

Right next to the Museum is the stunning building that is a transportation hub with a retail concourse above it. The former World Trade Center Terminal has been restored in grand style. Commuter rail service from New Jersey and city subways all converge here. Retail businesses fill the spaces and keep the traffic moving.

Thirteen years after the towers fell, on May 15, 2014, President Obama dedicated the National 9/11 Memorial Museum. Six days later, the Museum was open to the public.

9/11 Memorial and Museum,

New York (13 December 2021)

The museum is deep underground. For me, that was a significant aspect of this experience. The great square here is the footprint of the North Tower. Inside are exhibits and remembrances.

This is the sixth and should be the last time I have something to show or say about the event. In 2011, on the tenth anniversary, I posted old pictures of the soaring towers to encourage scanning and updating old images. As the three national memorial sites were completed, there were posts from the Pentagon in 2014, the World Trade Center in 2015 and the Flight 93 site in Shanksville, PA in 2021. In 2018, the anniversary post came from Arlington National Cemetery and was more of a lament on the endless wars that followed the attack.

Foundation Hall, 9/11 Memorial and Museum,

New York (13 December 2021)

Beside the North Tower footprint is Foundation Hall. On the right is the giant concrete slurry wall that holds back the waters of the Hudson River. Its construction dates to the earliest excavations for the World Trade Center in the mid-60’s. It survived the collapse of the towers and remains a symbol of strength and resilience.

At the center is the Last Column, the final piece of steel removed from Ground Zero. Recovery workers covered the 36-foot girder with inscriptions when its removal on May 30, 2002 marked the official end of the recovery period.

9/11 Memorial and Museum,

New York (13 December 2021)

Memorial Hall is the vast space between the footprints of the Twin Towers. Using steel recovered from the site, an artist forged a quote from Virgil – “No day shall erase you from the memory of time.” Surrounding the quote are 2,983 paper panels, each a different wavelength of sky blue, there to represent the lives lost on 9/11 and the earlier 1993 bombing.

9/11 Memorial and Museum,

New York (13 December 2021)

There are permanent and temporary rotating exhibits of photography and artwork. The South Tower space includes ‘In Memoriam,’ a space dedicated to the victims of the attack and the earlier bombing in 1993. The North Tower space prohibits photography and details the story of the attack. It is still unsettling and I had absolutely no interest in making images there.

Back to the Surface

9/11 Memorial and Museum,

New York (13 December 2021)

Passed Vice Presidents - # 24 – Garret Hobart

Grave of Garret Hobart (14 August 2022)

Served under William McKinley

4 March 1897 – 21 November 1899

Preceded by # 23 – Adlai Stevenson

Succeeded by # 25 – Theodore Roosevelt

Born – 3 June 1844

Died – 21 November 1899 (age 55)

Buried – Cedar Lawn Cemetery, Paterson, NJ

Date Visited – 14 August 2022

One more dead vice president before the final September 11 post.

I’ve always said that this vice president grave pursuit did not have the same urgency and it would be a quest of opportunity and convenience. Then I realized there was one within a mile of the road I take to my sister’s home in New York. I needed to harvest that low-hanging fruit. It happened on a bright Sunday morning last month.

New Jersey born and raised, Garret Hobart, graduated from Rutgers and studied law with an influential Paterson lawyer whose daughter he later married. He rose through state politics and became Speaker of the General Assembly, then President of the Senate. By 1896, Republican presidential candidate William McKinley saw the value of adding this important swing state leader to his ticket and they won.

In keeping with long-standing perceptions of the position, one Chicago newspaper wrote,
"Garret A. Hobart will not be seen or heard until, after four years, he emerges from the impenetrable vacuum of the Vice Presidency."

Garret Augustus Hobart

24th Vice President of the United States

(Doremus Gallery of Art, Paterson, NJ)

Despite the weakness of the office, Hobart was popular in Washington and a close advisor to President McKinley. His tact and good humor came in handy at times…like when Secretary of War Russell Alger performed poorly in prosecuting the Spanish-American War. Apparently, Alger didn’t take the president’s hints and it was Hobart who made the secretary understand it was time to resign.

Hobart Mausoleum, Cedar Lawn Cemetery,

Paterson, NJ (14 August 2022)

Hobart became the sixth vice president to die in office. Heart disease ended his life at age 55. True to form, President McKinley made no effort to replace him until it was time to run for reelection. He then selected Teddy Roosevelt to be his running mate…and we know how that turned out.

 

Hobart Sarcophagi Through the Glass Door

Cedar Lawn Cemetery,

Paterson, NJ (14 August 2022)

Although the First Lady serves as the White House hostess, in this case, Ida McKinley was not able to fulfill that role. In poor health much of her life, the deaths of her mother and two young daughters brought on depression and epileptic seizures. The vice president’s wife Jennie often stood with the president at White House functions. She was a close friend of Mrs. McKinley and rushed to Buffalo to be with her when the president was shot.

On the other hand, Jennie Hobart was also against women’s suffrage and organized state efforts opposed to giving women the vote. She never remarried and lived to be 91, forty-two years following her husband’s death.

Not All the Residents Here are Dead

Cedar Lawn Cemetery,

Paterson, NJ (14 August 2022)