Catch Up with This and That

The irises are in bloom now.

 Well, I did it! I made it to the end of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge without hating the whole thing. I have done the A-Z challenge seven times over the last eleven years and have found it a struggle to post six days a week, as required. Actually, nothing is required. It's not like I won't eat or something if I miss a day, but I am stubborn and like to finish what I start. 

The next obvious question is: why do I keep doing the challenge if it stresses me out so much?  Because with the desperation of coming up with six posts a week comes some of my more creative postings. Much of the time, I don't feel like I have anything to talk about, and the A-Z forces me to think outside the box of my routine life. 

This year, I revisited posts from the past. That made the task much easier, and it also made things interesting for me as I read through past posts. Thanks to all of you who read along with me.

Now, it's back to the everyday, and I'm drawing blanks again. Also, it seems that I didn't take many pictures in April to jog my memory, but here are a few.

Last weekend, we went to West Virginia for a memorial service for my cousin. We also visited three different cemeteries where my parents and grandparents are buried. In one of the cemeteries, we were trying to locate the unmarked grave of my found-grandfather. (It's a long DNA story.)
Also, at this cemetery was this Lewis family marker. They were early settlers of the Northwest Territory, and it was interesting to see something tangible that I had only read about in history books. 

Ward continues to work on puzzles. This one, called Literary Dogs and was quite interesting with its whimsy pieces. (Enlarge the picture if you want to see the details.) As it turns out, the puzzle was based on a 40-foot mural in a library that was only about an hour from us.

So we had to go visit it. It was hard to get a picture because it was so long, but it was a really fun mural.

And speaking of Ward, he had a birthday yesterday.
 Note: He is not quite 100 years old yet. 😀

This bluebird has been flying into our living room window many times a day. He then goes to the gutter to keep watch. Apparently, he is trying to defend his territory from his reflection. Some sources this could go on for weeks. 

We recently visited the Brighton Dam Azalea Garden. We try to go each spring when the 22,000 azaleas are in bloom. However, we kept up our trend of being about a week late for peak blooms, but it was still pretty. It is a popular place for photo shoots, and we saw several. If you look closely, you can see one here.

And true to form, Ward was just as interested in the structure of the dam as he was in the flowers.

That's all I've got for now.

Until next time...

Celebrity Encounters--sort of, Part Two

Celebrity Encounters--Sort of, Part One

Mount Auburn

It was a pleasantly warm day in Boston. After having a very filling lunch with Ward's sister and family, we were deciding how we wanted to spend the afternoon. The lunch had lulled us into a lazy-afternoon-feeling, so we decided to stroll among some gardens of the area which were in full spring bloom. One of them was the Mount Auburn Cemetery. Now I'm not one to visit cemeteries regularly, but this one had more to see than usual. It was founded in 1831 and was America's first landscaped cemetery as well as the first large scale green space open to the public. Today it is an arboretum/botanical garden, a bird sanctuary, as well as a place steeped in history.

We arrived too late for a formal tour so we wandered around in the visitors center where I picked up a map. It was then that I got a gleam in my eye and a little spring in my step. I asked the others what part they wanted to see and there were no firm answers. Ward's sister pointed to a certain road on the map and said that this area was one of her favorites—perfect. Just where I wanted to go.

You see, the map included the locations of 62 notable sites of the over 1000 notable people who were buried there. I had already picked out the first two graves I wanted to visit—James Russel Lowell and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and they were in the same area that Sis pointed to. Now how was I going to say that I wanted to celebrity grave hop without sounding too shallow? I managed to mumble something about using a quote from James Russel Lowell in my high school graduation speech and how I admired him. So we set off in that direction.

While the others were enjoying the blooming dogwoods and azaleas, I hopped out of the car to search the headstones. After a bit of looking, I found the Lowell family. I went round and round and found every name except James Russell. I had to console myself with his wife's spot. She apparently was a well known poet also. Next to find Henry. After going back and forth several times, it was determined that I needed to climb a hill to find his spot. So off I went for a climb while the others enjoyed the scenery from the comfort of the car. Henry was a bit easier to find. He too was surrounded by his family.

The afternoon was waning and we had to leave soon. I had the urge to do one more blitz for a famous monument sighting, but knew that we had something much more important to do. We were going to visit my brother-in-law's parents' grave. I have to admit that while I didn't get the same thrill as I did with my famous sightings, this was a much more meaningful stop. We talked about his parents and learned family jokes. We asked questions and he told stories. We left Mt. Auburn with a smile while enjoying the beautiful scenery and memories of two important family members.

(And, okay, I had some pictures of some famous people's graves. :) )