Behold, we know not anything;
I can but trust that good shall fall
At last–far off–at last, to all,
And every winter change to spring.
So runs my dream: but what am I?
An infant crying in the night:
An infant crying for the light:
And with no language but a cry.
Big Stupid Tommy linked to a blogger’s story about people dumping the ashes of people at Disneyland this week. It reminded me that I haven’t posted much about my recent adventures, which involved both the scattering of ashes and Disney — though not contemporaneously, but rather as back-to-back events.
First was a family gathering here in Chattanooga for the anniversary of my mother’s death last year. We got together down here because her family has their own cemetery in Huntsville. Everyone stayed at my house and we drove down to Alabama for the day on the 30th. My mother has a stone next to the graves of her parents, and we scattered some of her ashes there during a service before having lunch together and going over to my grandparents’ old neighborhood to visit with friends and see a few landmarks. We had our lunch at the tiny church my grandfather attended in his retirement (he was a presbyterian minister), which has a beautiful little sanctuary:
Well, I’m having trouble getting back into the swing of things around here. I’m sorry if you’ve been let down by the light content lately. I’ve had a busy, wonderful couple of weeks, starting with a week here in Chattanooga with my whole family (peaking at 17 houseguests!), and a great memorial service down at the family cemetery in Huntsville on the anniversary of my mother’s death. That was followed immediately by the trip to Florida (with some of my siblings) for my uncle’s surprise 70th birthday party at Epcot. It was quite the whirlwind, and I returned home to lots of laundry and a really messy house, and I’m still trying to return some order around here. I have lots of cool photos (I think), but haven’t had the time to sort through them all yet. I’ll dig something out for WW tomorrow and hopefully by the weekend, I’ll be back up to speed. Thanks for your continued patience!
Shemini Atzeret begins at sunset, and it’s the Feast of Abd-al-Masih. Abraham Lincoln set the date of the American Thanksgiving, the first woman to serve in the US Senate was appointed, and Edgar Allan Poe was rescued from a gutter — all today. Also, Pravda was founded, and both the Mickey Mouse Club and Captain Kangaroo premiered. It’s the anniversary of German reunification and the OJ verdict. It’s the birthday of John Ross (founder of Chattanooga), Gore Vidal, Thomas Wolfe, Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Perry Barlow, Chubby Checker, Lindsey Buckingham, Al Sharpton, and Keiko Agena.
And it’s the day DD became Dear Daughter.
And as a gift to you, DD, I am not posting a baby photo here in this space. ;-D
This all started at some point this summer when I ran upon this article in Salon.com. It’s all about brides who take “trash the dress” pictures after their ridiculously expensive weddings (and sometimes wearing unbelievably expensive designer dresses). I really enjoyed the photography (there’s a blog at trashthedress.wordpress.com), and shared the article and info with Dear Daughter. Well, over the summer, we got to thinking… why wait for a wedding? Why not just get a throwaway dress and have fun with the photography right away?
So, we paid a visit to Goodwill, and found a really cool wedding dress for only $50 (small price to pay for a fun photography project!). And our plan was to go scout out cool locations and take some photos, maybe even taking turns wearing the dress and being photographer. But (the plot thickens) on that very evening, a friend (who I’d told about the project) called to tell me that she’d found a wedding dress in her closet — she thought she’d given it to Goodwill, but there it was, and I could have it. So, all of a sudden, we had two wedding dresses (think of the possibilities!)!
Ah, but then if we’re both wearing the dresses, who’s going to take the photos? This is where Fletch enters the picture. He brings another camera, and lots of enthusiasm and energy to the project. We all got together this afternoon for our inaugural photo shoot and had tons of fun and a hilarious time playing with our two gowns and three cameras (with a dog thrown in on occasion!).
(btw, if anyone out there would like to join in the project, or if you have old wedding attire that you’d like to contribute (we only have one veil at this point, and it might be fun to throw a tux into the mix…), please feel free to contact me!)
UPDATE: more here!
(Photos by Fletch)
This is the roasted quail stuffed with zucchini, mushrooms and bacon, served with gouda grits at St. John’s Meeting Place (I took this picture when we were there last weekend as part of DH’s birthday celebration).
“I only have seven hundred and eighty two pages left!”
–DD (dear daughter) as she worked her way through David Copperfield during her Labor Day break
Well, it’s been a busy week and I haven’t been keeping up with things very well around here. Last week I mentioned a bit of chaos in the back yard, but never got around to the story. To keep it short, we spent several days last week puzzling though a plumbing problem in our early 20th-century house. The resolution finally arrived on Friday (along with a backhoe) when a couple of guys dug up one side of the backyard and replaced a 93-year-old clay pipe. Now that the job’s done, the back yard will need some TLC, but that will have to wait until cooler temps arrive (hopefully soon!).
Then, at the beginning of this week, we had some visitors who came all the way from upstate New York. We enjoyed a great couple of days frolicking in Chattanooga, taking in (among other things), Rock City (which is where I took this week’s WW photo) and the Tennessee Aquarium:
[btw, since school has already started for the year in Chattanooga, we had both attractions nearly to ourselves. There was only one group at Rock City (a few dozen blind people rolled up in a couple of vans with Louisiana tags just as we arrived) and there were no groups at all at the Aquarium -- just a smattering of tourists. These first few weeks of the school year apparently provide a great opportunity for us locals to see the cool stuff in town without the huge crowds.]
And here we are, almost to another weekend! Time just zings past us lately! We’re looking forward to getting some relief from the heat and dry weather, though, so the Labor Day weekend should be a good one!
