Today was another grey day, but it wasn't raining, and I had nothing special "scheduled", so I decided to go for a walk around the cemetery around noon, to get the most out of the little daylight that there was. For the first time since my knee injury I walked all around the place - and then a bit extra. (All in all I was out for about 45 minutes - using both walking poles.)
And old ("returned") grave reused as flowerbed, with some plants that still add a bit of colour to this grey season.
Hydrangea climbing on the old stone wall along one side of the cemetery.
The buds on the rhododendron bushes seem a bit too far gone for their own good as well (I made the same observation about some azaleas on my last walk there). Weather forecasts now indicate that temperatures will probably be dropping again next week, though...
From a distance, on a grave out in one of the "fields", I spotted something very bright red on top of a standing headstone. I couldn't quite make out if it really was what I thought it looked like - or perhaps just some red flowers giving me the illusion...? So I decided I had to go and have a closer look - and it was indeed something I don't think I've ever seen as grave decoration before:
I decided to blur the name before posting the photo here, but (not surprisingly) the grave belongs to someone who died only 19 years old, and less than a decade ago.
When I got back home, I got started on my own "final" Christmas decorations... (Got those boxes up from storage yesterday, which was also laundry day for me, so I had to make a few turns down to the basement anyway.)
I don't have a lot of gnomes and "santas", but I have a few, which are now up on their usual shelves etc around my flat. For example, the Santa family knitted by my mum...
... And as soon as they had settled in, Skipper came to visit them, and return the stray little yarn gnome doll which she has been looking after all autumn (ever since I found him under the sofa, where he must have been hiding since last winter)...
As reward for her faithful "babysitting", when back home on her own shelf again, Skipper got to decorate her and Barbie's own Christmas tree:
I also have a few kitchen gnomes, but I'll save those for another post.
I think the gnome on the stone is quite a touching, whimsical dedication to a young, lost life.
ReplyDeleteJC, I agree.
DeleteA gentle, hard-earned walk made memorable by an unexpected flash of red, reminding us that even the quietest places can still surprise
ReplyDeleteThey can indeed, Ro.
DeleteThose buds will probably be alright through the winter. I was surprised the first time I saw azaleas set buds so early. But then when its cold, the leaves do a kind of droppy in-folding on rhododendrons...they are all through the woods here. I have to find my joke about elf on a shelf now!
ReplyDeleteI suppose you're right, Barbara. After all this is hardly the first season of "confusing" winter weather that we've experienced here either...
DeleteYour Mom's work is so amazing and stunning to me. Some of the family are even holding babies!! the tree is the perfect size for Barbie & Skipper. I love where you perched the owls. HURRAH, it seems your knee is doing really well!!
ReplyDeleteGinny, the two tiny grey yarn dolls are not part of the original set made by my mum but added by me later. (I didn't make them, they were given to me by someone else who bought them at some market.) Mum's dolls in this family were made to be able to hold things, or hold hands with each other. (Push buttons on their hands!) Except the one furthest to the right, who originally belonged to a separate pair. But I didn't find her partner when I went through my parents' box of Christmas things. So she got "adopted" by this family.) The train the boy is holding is a small pin brooch, added by me. My dad was a train enthusiast...
DeleteYay!! The Christmas gnome/Santa family are all reunited again, AND Barbie & Skipper have the tree up! Well, it's less than a week until Christmas Eve, so I suppose it is good to get ready so that nothing has to be hecticly done at the last minute.
ReplyDeleteSo glad to read that you've been out for a longer walk now, and hopefully not suffered any pain or more swelling.
Meike, "my own" little Christmas tree still remains to be decorated, but that will probably happen this weekend. :)
DeleteMy knee is better, but I'm still constantly "aware" of it, and need to be (it does not like certain movements). It still easily gets a bit extra swollen and overheated (even if not the initial "balloon size"). Compression sleeve needed when I go out, or when on my feet a lot, and over night. And painkillers - but as I need those for other parts of me as well, not all that much more than usual...
The gnome on the headstone is very poignant, but seems a happy memory.
ReplyDeleteI like your Santa family, joined by baby gnome thanks to Skipper. I don't go in for gnomes as a rule, but do like your 'Dumbledore' pottery fellow.
Janice, I had a period of banning gnomes altogether, but eventually had to give up and grant asylum to a few...
DeleteI am glad you saw the elf on the stone and showed it to us, it's touches my heartstrings. so young to die. I am with jabblog on the Dumbledore pottery, that is the first gnome I thought I could live with, it is very pretty. I did not notice moms gnomes were holding things, had to go back and found all kinds of details I missed. glad the baby was found and returned . I do really like the vase that is with the gnome. its beautiful
ReplyDeleteSandra, I found that elf on the gravestone touching, too.
DeleteThe big brown vase stands on the chest in my living room all year round, with different fake branches that I change according to season.