With rain forecast for the next few days, we felt we should take care of my parents' graves. If we could get the flowers in place before the rains, they would do well up on that rocky ridge.
First, we went to Appleton to the garden center at Menards, the one Gary used to work at each summer. There I bought geraniums, ageratum and alyssum using a gift card I got from Chris, Tisha and Evan.
At the cemetery, Gary did the spading, while I worked on weeding the hosta plants growing there. Then I went into planting mode while he sat down and leaned back against a tombstone and watched. It was a hot day but he reported that the grave stone was nice and cool.
I always feel content as I work the flowers into the ground. This ritual is one of the two times I spend time thinking of the family, the other being Christmas. The graves are on the corner of French and Cemetery Roads. Drivers of cars, trucks and motorcycles looked up the banks and waved at us. This is a small community, so I recognized some of the folks.
In the distance, we could see farmers working in their fields. It is planting season. My father selected this site because of the farms. Later, the golf course club house was built across the road, but you can still ignore the parking lot traffic and look beyond it to a Wisconsin farm scene.
In the trees all around us we could glimpse warblers flitting here and there. No matter who lies beneath the sod, there is life surrounding this country graveyard.
We finished our work and I said good-bye to my parents and my sister until Christmas when we place the wreath in the snow.
First, we went to Appleton to the garden center at Menards, the one Gary used to work at each summer. There I bought geraniums, ageratum and alyssum using a gift card I got from Chris, Tisha and Evan.
At the cemetery, Gary did the spading, while I worked on weeding the hosta plants growing there. Then I went into planting mode while he sat down and leaned back against a tombstone and watched. It was a hot day but he reported that the grave stone was nice and cool.
I always feel content as I work the flowers into the ground. This ritual is one of the two times I spend time thinking of the family, the other being Christmas. The graves are on the corner of French and Cemetery Roads. Drivers of cars, trucks and motorcycles looked up the banks and waved at us. This is a small community, so I recognized some of the folks.
In the distance, we could see farmers working in their fields. It is planting season. My father selected this site because of the farms. Later, the golf course club house was built across the road, but you can still ignore the parking lot traffic and look beyond it to a Wisconsin farm scene.
In the trees all around us we could glimpse warblers flitting here and there. No matter who lies beneath the sod, there is life surrounding this country graveyard.
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