The morning of that fateful day, Peter and I went ashore to bike into
town for some minor errands. For the past three days, we had been aboard
our Mariner Yacht '36, Fandango for our annual two-week sailboat cruise.
On 9/8 we left southern NJ and sailed directly to Montauk Point, Long
Island, NY. It was an easy passage with a following wind and only took
us 30 hours from dock to anchor. We were going to circumnavigate Long
Island and pass right by the Towers along the East River of Manhattan
on our way back to New Jersey. Needless to say our plans changed.
As we continued our modified voyage route, we went ashore a few times
and looked for sports bars to watch CNN. We listened to NPR when we were
able to tune it in, and we were spared the constant viewing of the video
tape that so many of our friends have talked about.
For the rest of our voyage, we flew our Yacht Ensign at half-mast on our mast. It is the nautical version of the American Flag with an anchor surrounded by a circle of thirteen stars.
When we finally returned to our home port, I found an email from Karey
Bresenhan urging me to create a quilt for the "AMERICA: FROM THE HEART"
special tribute.
"Half Mast at Anchor" was hand painted, appliqued, trapuntoed, and embellished.
