Looking for a good read? Maybe something heartwarming that reassures you there’s still good in the world despite how mean your social media friends have become? This is an excellent choice!
“The Day The World Came To Town” is a first book by Jim Defede. Well researched and beautifully written, this book is officially one of my favorites.
It’s about the Canadian town of Gander (population approximately 10,000) which absorbed about 6,500 passengers and crew from 38 planes diverted to their town when American air space was closed on 9/11.
The people of this and neighboring towns rallied, opening emergency shelters in every church, community center, school and fraternal organization they could find. Residents stripped bedding and towels from their homes to care for these unexpected guests. They took care of quarantined pets at the airport, offered phones and computers for communicating with loved ones, bought toys for the hundreds of stranded kids and operated free taxi services to help people get to the store for new clothes because they weren’t able to access their checked luggage.
They gathered medicine, food, and diapers. Stores donated toothbrushes and toiletries. Locals opened their homes to strangers, inviting them to shower, watch tv or even stay the night. They called them the “plane people” and it seemed that everyone was eager to help make them comfortable and feel welcome.
And they did this for days.
It’s a depressed area and these people didn’t necessarily have a lot to give. However, they gave freely of what they had to help these weary, frightened and stranded travelers who arrived as strangers but left as friends.
A native of my community was on one of those planes and I once heard her recount her 9/11 experience. She told of how the passengers on her plane agreed to pool their resources to start a scholarship fund for the children of the town as a way of expressing their gratitude for the kindness they found here. By the way, she even talked the plane’s crew into letting her use the plane’s PA system to address all the passengers at once.
Donations were made by individuals and foundations to fund new computers for the school, food for the needy, a new roof for a church… the list goes on. But the community didn’t help because they might get something in return. They did it because there were people in need and it was the right thing to do.
Read the book. It will make you feel better and perhaps remind you of what can be done when we all work together.
If you have to wear a mask, you may as well make it a good one. My friend Shelly shares in this philosophy and gifted me this fabulous mask! Doesn’t this cat look exactly like 
Happiness is the call of the open road.
My parents were excited to plan a birthday adventure for us on Friday. We didn’t wander very far because of Covid worries but they successfully found a place that I had never been and that I thoroughly enjoyed.
This bridge is the only remaining WPA project in Fairfield County and it was rehabbed a few years ago. It’s a suspension style bridge with steel cables and tall concrete entrances on either end.
While the park is just outside a village, it is peaceful here, serene. It’s one of those places that hides in plain sight, providing easy access to the sounds of nature- the trickle of water, a woodpecker overhead, the call of a frog in the distance.
We are off the beaten path, simple pleasures kind of people so it was a good day, just wandering around and seeing what there was to see.
This is a magnet bought while out adventuring yesterday. I don’t enjoy a lot of refrigerator clutter but this spoke to me and seemed like a good investment for just a few bucks.
I’ve completed another trip around the sun and am starting my 43rd year of life today. I contemplated doing some kind of snazzy post about 43 things I want to accomplish this year but that seems like a great way to be disappointed during a pandemic.
4. Working from home suits me. I like the quiet and find that I’m typically smarter, faster and better at my home desk than my office desk. The transition back into the office has been a challenge.