For whom the bell tolls

Yesterday, JB and I wandered through the Chicago Botanical Gardens early in the morning. We hadn’t realized it until we arrived, but at 7:45am, carillon player James Fackenthal played “In Memoriam,” followed by a bell toll for each person who died as a result of the attacks on September 11, 2001. The chimes lasted until 9:45am.

It was haunting to walk in the stunningly beautiful weather; watching the mist burn off the bodies of water; photographing the blooms and the remains of blooms; capturing the patterns of the dew; observing chipmunks, monarch butterflies, finches, herons, and carp catching breakfast— all of us washed in the crisp September light and in the tolling of the bells.

(JB took the first photo of me walking in the mist…)