Yesterday was another quiet day, I think John and Maria must be getting old, they seem to need a day to recover after any busy day. Not like me , I still have the resilience of youth. (Maria keeps muttering about the ease of travelling in a bag, but I don’t see the relevance of that.) Anyway John had a lot of work to do and Maria had the washing etc to do. The weather was pretty miserable too, the first really nasty day since we arrived (first day of spring of course).
Today John was back at work but he and Maria were meeting at lunch time, so since Maria wanted to go uptown we had to set off pretty early. Maria had bought beads for 12 bears but she is currently working on bear no 13 and as I really feel I ought to have a set, we thought we’d better go and get some more beads. So since we were going up to 36th Street anyway Maria decided to look in the Yellow Pages (yes they have them here as well) for any fabric shops. She found one on 37th St. near 7th Ave. in the area known as the Garment District.
So we headed up there and bought the beads and then searched for the fabric shop.It was only because we ‘d taken note of the address that we found it. The outside was just a standard skyscraper with assorted offices etc on the different floors. However when we got up to the 3rd floor (it’s only really the 2nd ‘cos they call ground the 1st) we found an ENORMOUS fabric shop with every kind of fabric you could think of. Maria had a marvelous time, she was actually very restrained, she bought some synthetic fur for some big bears and some fake crocodile skin for some bear pads. I look forward to the finished bears once we get back to the UK.
We then had to hurry back to meet John at St Paul’s Chapel next to the World Trade Site. They were doing a free performance of Haydn’s Mass in Time of War. We got there at 10 to 1 and it was due to start at 1.00. Phew.
The performance was by the Rebel Baroque Orchestra (who are currently in residence at Trinity Church) and the Trinity Choir (St Pauls Chapel is attached to Trinity Church). It was truly excellent.
The chapel itself is rather special. It is a survivor of the great fire of 1776 and of 9/11. It has been referred to as ‘the little chapel that stood’. It was used by the rescuers during 9/11 both as place of prayer, and somewhere to sleep, there are several memorials from that time, one of the cots used to sleep on, a small selection of teddy bears, peace cranes sent from Japan (including Hiroshima) and various banners and hangings.
It is still very much a place of pilgrimage and prayer.
NATIVE AMERICAN PRAYER FOR PEACE
Oh Great Spirit of our Ancestors,
I raise my pipe to you,
To your messengers the four winds, and
to Mother Earth who provides for your children.
Give us the wisdom to teach our children
to love, to respect, and to be kind to each other
so that they may grow with peace of mind
Let us learn to share all good things that
you provide for us on this Earth.