Graveyard Gardens

Christmas Decorating at the Cemetery

Thumbnail image for Christmas Decorating at the Cemetery December 15, 2010

This past weekend Debbie and I went to the cemetery with Christmas trees. Once again we took small, real trees. We plan to take them and plant them somewhere later. Hopefully we’ll retrieve them before they disappear this time. Last year Debbie made strings of cranberries to put on the trees. Richard liked cranberries. Not that Jello [...]

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Silence of the Birds

Thumbnail image for Silence of the Birds October 31, 2010

It’s Halloween. Richard always had a good time with Halloween. So after church this morning we stopped in Kroger and got a couple of helium filled Mylar Halloween balloons to take to the cemetery. It was a beautiful morning, perfectly clear sky and crisp but not too cool air. A hundred feet or so from [...]

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Spring In The Cemetery

Thumbnail image for Spring In The Cemetery April 23, 2010

Though it often hasn’t felt possible after Richard’s death, life does indeed go on. Spring is when nature shows us there is hope. There is new life. I took my camera to the cemetery this morning. Even in a place that is the focus of our pain there is also much beauty. Hope you enjoy [...]

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Life Returns to the Cemetery

Thumbnail image for Life Returns to the Cemetery March 12, 2010

I guess it’s true that life goes on. This winter has been long and cold. Really it has been cold since Richard died. I don’t remember a summer as cool as the past summer was. The grass stayed green the entire time. And the winter bleakness has lasted very long. But it seems life is [...]

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Perpetual French Fries

Thumbnail image for Perpetual French Fries February 4, 2010

I don’t guess this really has that much to do with grieving, but it’s sort of amazing. In the week before Christmas I was on vacation. Debbie wasn’t, and since she works at our church, Christmas is one of her busy seasons. I went in to help her one morning with some stuff to get [...]

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Tree Thieves Strike

Thumbnail image for Tree Thieves Strike February 3, 2010

Christmas was always a big deal to Richard. So we put out a Christmas tree at his grave and one at my mom’s grave which is located right behind Richard’s. We used live trees, intending to plant them somewhere later. They were in pots. We just dug into the ground and buried them up to [...]

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Christmas Decorating at the Cemetery

Thumbnail image for Christmas Decorating at the Cemetery December 16, 2009

Sunday afternoon we did a little Christmas decorating at the cemetery. There have already been many wreaths showing up. Debbie decided she wanted Richards grave to look different. So she bought a couple of small live trees. She put in a few ornaments and red bows. Richard always insisted on cranberry sauce for Christmas. Not [...]

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Trouble at the Cemetery

Trouble at the Cemetery September 17, 2009

Got a call last week from Mark at the cemetery. “Someone put up a rock border around your son’s headstone.” Well, yeah. Debbie and I spent an entire Sunday afternoon putting that there. We wanted to get it looking nice for Richard’s birthday. It was hard work. The sod in that area of the cemetery [...]

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