I don’t set an alarm and awake at 7:00––dear Brittany barking to go out. Good girl! It’s raining heavily, it’s cool, it’s more autumnal than summer-like, and kind of a nice surprise and break from the intense heat and sun. I know the garden is glad for it. I went for a walk before my swim and found something delightful. On the trails of our property, the tallest milkweed stalk I’ve seen, with two fat pods. The delight was that I didn’t plant this one, and it’s thriving on its own in an unexpected place. Because I started with one plant taken from the near the railroad tracks and transplanting it into my garden, it’s fair to say I have twenty milkweed plants on the property now, spreading all around, which is what I’d hoped. I’ve seen the monarchs racing around the yard. In the New York Times I found not one, but two wonderful articles about the 50th anniversary of Philippe Petit’s momentous walk between the Twin Towers. The first one, by the novelist Colum McCann, author of the fabulous novel about the walk, “Let the Great World Spin, quoted below, followed by a quote from another NYTimes article out today that quotes Petit at age 74. Both articles really enriched my day. And lunch with my dear friend Deb in Wellesley enriched my day too, with a time to talk and catch up, but not quite enough time. Tonight, I took the eggplant from my garden and another that my daughter purchased and made a most delicious and appreciated eggplant parmesan.

"We are living in high-wire times, with anxiety and fracture all around us, and it is the job of the artist to show that we can, in fact, get from one side to the other."

~ Colum McCann https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/06/opinion/philippe-petit-twin-towers.html

“The human need that Mr. Petit met with his walk is still with us today. We are living in high-wire times, with anxiety and fracture all around us, and it is the job of the artist to show that we can, in fact, get from one side to the other.

When I think of the Frenchman, he still remains high in the air, a distant flyman walking across a three-quarter-inch steel wire in an act so outrageous that it still shakes my soul out. His imaginative act catches in my throat and reveals a truth that is often obscured or degraded: that we can confront, and even triumph over, the seemingly impossible. His walk provides a pulse of relief as an antidote to despair. He didn’t defy gravity; he aligned himself with it, and in so doing he allowed us to defy our own possible falling down.”

~ Colum McCann https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/06/opinion/philippe-petit-twin-towers.html

“People think in old age you cannot do anything anymore,” he said in an interview. “I think it’s the opposite. I think I’m more majestic, more in control, more beautiful to look at today at 74 than I was at 18.”

~ Philippe Petit, NYTiimes https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/06/arts/philippe-petit-world-trade-center-50.html