I just thought something funny was in order after the whole depressing death and cemetery email. And so I give you Jim in a loin cloth because I couldn't find Special Kate body surfing.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
I think you may have already seen this, but....
I just thought something funny was in order after the whole depressing death and cemetery email. And so I give you Jim in a loin cloth because I couldn't find Special Kate body surfing.
HIghgate Cemetery
Today, after much deliberation, we decided to go to Hampstead Heath and then to Highgate Cemetery. It was a beautiful day and originally we were going to go to Epping Forest, which is a forest in London, but then our efforts were thwarted by problems with public transportation and we remembered that we have some nice bikes that we haven't been using enough, so we headed to the park.
It wasn't exactly warm today, but there were a few brave souls swimming in the Hampstead ponds. There is a co-ed pond, where we swam last summer (we saw WAY too much of people there. It seems that when it warms up, everyone in England loses modesty.) but the nice, calm ponds seem to be the all male and all female ponds. Although today the co-ed one was pretty quiet, too. Anyway, here is Jim outside of the "Men Only" pond. We parked our bikes there and then walked up the giant hill to get to Highgate.
But, of course, we got sidetracked by the cute adolescent coots and their parents. So we fed them some pretzels. We are suckers for coots.
This part of the blog is especially for Dad. We liked this car and thought you would like it, too. and could tell us what kind it is.
The cemetery is very large and peaceful, with lots of dirt paths winding through the graves. We had a picnic next to the particularly sad grave of a boy who would have been my age, had he not plunged to his death from a cliff in Portugal at the age of 16. His family had put up information about him and his grave is covered in a garden, which was the situation with many of the graves there.
We thought this was a good philosophy...and true:
Just as we were starting to feel a little morose, this grave cheered us up. We think it's occupant probably had a good sense of humor. (It says DEAD in case you can't tell from the picture.)
We also saw some graves of famous poets and writers...none of whom I can remember now, of course. This is a sculptor's grave:
Spending the afternoon in a cemetery gives you perspective. I hope I'll live to be 94 and will die in my sleep at the same time as Jim (that's our plan), so that when people pass my grave they'll say "That's a good age to die." But if I have the misfortune to die before then, at least they'll be able to say that I had a full and happy life, that I knew true love and friendship, that I had incredible experiences and a loving family...which is a really lucky thing. I have also requested that my grave not say R.I.P. on it and that any quotations referring to "dragons" or "demons" be left off, too (yes we really saw a grave that said something like "Your dragon has been subdued and now you can rest." What a horrible thing to put on some one's grave!)
This picture is for Mom, who complained that my last blog only had one picture of me in front of an empty tennis stadium. There were more, but they were horrible and showed all my wrinkles. This one is nice and blurry and ethereal (or as much as it can be when the subject is wearing a baseball cap). Happy to be alive in Highgate Cemetery.
It wasn't exactly warm today, but there were a few brave souls swimming in the Hampstead ponds. There is a co-ed pond, where we swam last summer (we saw WAY too much of people there. It seems that when it warms up, everyone in England loses modesty.) but the nice, calm ponds seem to be the all male and all female ponds. Although today the co-ed one was pretty quiet, too. Anyway, here is Jim outside of the "Men Only" pond. We parked our bikes there and then walked up the giant hill to get to Highgate.
But, of course, we got sidetracked by the cute adolescent coots and their parents. So we fed them some pretzels. We are suckers for coots.
This part of the blog is especially for Dad. We liked this car and thought you would like it, too. and could tell us what kind it is.
The cemetery is very large and peaceful, with lots of dirt paths winding through the graves. We had a picnic next to the particularly sad grave of a boy who would have been my age, had he not plunged to his death from a cliff in Portugal at the age of 16. His family had put up information about him and his grave is covered in a garden, which was the situation with many of the graves there.
We thought this was a good philosophy...and true:
Just as we were starting to feel a little morose, this grave cheered us up. We think it's occupant probably had a good sense of humor. (It says DEAD in case you can't tell from the picture.)
We also saw some graves of famous poets and writers...none of whom I can remember now, of course. This is a sculptor's grave:
Spending the afternoon in a cemetery gives you perspective. I hope I'll live to be 94 and will die in my sleep at the same time as Jim (that's our plan), so that when people pass my grave they'll say "That's a good age to die." But if I have the misfortune to die before then, at least they'll be able to say that I had a full and happy life, that I knew true love and friendship, that I had incredible experiences and a loving family...which is a really lucky thing. I have also requested that my grave not say R.I.P. on it and that any quotations referring to "dragons" or "demons" be left off, too (yes we really saw a grave that said something like "Your dragon has been subdued and now you can rest." What a horrible thing to put on some one's grave!)
This picture is for Mom, who complained that my last blog only had one picture of me in front of an empty tennis stadium. There were more, but they were horrible and showed all my wrinkles. This one is nice and blurry and ethereal (or as much as it can be when the subject is wearing a baseball cap). Happy to be alive in Highgate Cemetery.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)