Vee, from the delightful blog A Haven For Vee asked us to join her in a special Linky blog party where we would chose four photos we would like to make into greeting cards, from the many we have published on a blog posts in the past. It was not an easy task for me, as my blog is photo rich, and choosing just four photos out of the thousands I have used in blog posts over the past five years was going to be hard. Naturally, since my blog is a journal about my experiences in New York City, I had to chose one iconic view of the city out of the many I've taken. This view above was taken a couple summers ago from my blog post about Governor's Island. Governor's Island lies in New York Harbor, and the island was once a military base. It is significant to me as my father and mother both lived there when my father was on active duty in the United States Army.
The next is a photo collage I did from photos I took of the Statue of Liberty, which stands on Liberty Island which is also in New York's Harbor. I blogged about Lady Liberty on this post. She is a very important icon for me as my maternal grandmother sailed by her on a ship in 1912. She then went through immigration on Ellis Island. I wish I knew what her experiences on Ellis Island were like. All my Mother knew was that my grandmother came with papers that instructed where she should be sent, and she was put on a train to meet her sponsor in Pennsylvania, with those instructions pinned to her back. I can't imagine how brave my grandmother had to be to leave her homeland at nineteen years old, see the ocean for the first time in her life, and then get on a ship and cross that ocean. Happily, her decision to take that chance would give her, and her future family, many opportunities!
The last photo is of the construction of the new World Trade Center One -- also known as The Freedom Tower -- that I blogged about in December. Everyone in New York City is watching this building at Ground Zero rise above the Manhattan skyline, floor by floor, until it will eventually be topped by a spire that will reach a symbolic 1776 feet above the ground. The events of 9-11 will never be forgotten by any New Yorker. The 9-11 Memorial that lies in the footpaths of both towers that were destroyed are a poignant sight to see. I visited them in autumn of 2011, but I still have not found the emotional strength to blog about them as yet. The new tower, however, brings a vision of hope and resilience to the New York City skyline. America will never forget, but it tells us that we can, and will, rebuild and remain a strong and free country!
I hope you enjoyed my selections and that you will visit the other participants over on Vee's blog to see what photos they chose as their card selection. Thanks, Vee!
