Such a busy month of travel for me – from New York City to Chagrin Falls, Ohio to Ely, Minnesota – and I must say that I am a little weary, but my visit to each of these places was special and memorable and beautiful. Before too much time passes, I want to highlight a few photos and thoughts about my visit to New York City. I had not spent time there in many years, but when the opportunity of joining my husband for a weekend there arose last month, I decided that it was time to go back and explore. During the course of my visit, I discovered a new love for this city. Although huge and extremely busy, as we all know, there is a special beauty and charm to this place. By taking a bus tour of the downtown area, I was finally able to identify many of the different neighborhoods that I had heard about. I realized that although the city is huge, it really is quite organized. I particularly appreciated the beauty of Central Park… such a lovely oasis of quiet and solitude in the midst of a bustling city! How wonderful that this magnificent green space was planned and that it remains today! We spent a great deal of time at the 911 memorials and museum. These lovely memorials, incredibly beautiful and moving, are a splendid and fitting tribute to those who perished on that horrific day in September of 2001. I was extremely impressed with the thought and detail that went into their planning and execution. I wish we’d had time to take advantage of more of the rich culture of this city – more of the art, the theatre, the history… but we enjoyed and took advantage of as much as we could in a few days time. And I got to know New York a little better. I  wouldn’t want to live there, but I now appreciate its special charm and significance more fully. Visiting there was a wonderful experience, and I would love to go back to visit again and discover more.

It is so important to visit and discover… while we can, when we can. We never know when another opportunity may arise to see and do things that we are unable to do on an everyday basis. We can find memorable beauty in so many different places on this planet of ours…  there may perhaps be beauty in things and places that we never expected!  It’s important to be open to finding it!

~ Carole Carter – words and photographs