Arlington?? and a confession

I have arrived in DC and have already been reminded of why I love the east coast. (I like to think it's in my blood since I was born in Connecticut) It's a great time of year here, the weather is mild and there isn't much humidity, the leaves are starting to change and most of what you would need is within walking distance. I truely enjoy walking to get groceries or to pick up starbucks and really wish I lived somewhere that made that possible. I have been fortunate enough to live in several areas of this wonderful country and each had it's unique quirks, but I haven't yet lived in a walking city. I'm not sure Dominic would be up for a move back to the east coast (he was in NY for college) and certainly both sets of parents would have my hide for asking him...but I still want to :) I bet he would tell me to visit in the winter and then reconsider.

Now, on to the real reason for the post....on my walk today I stumbled upon a cemetary. Ok it's not really Arlington it's actually Holy Rood Cemetary and I have a confession to make...I really like old cemetaries. For some reason they draw me in. I like to read the tombstones and often find several interesting things
1. spouses who significantly outlived each other or their children.
2. wives who are significanly younger than their husbands.
3. children who passed very young.

Now number 2 is still pretty common today, but 1 and 3...not so much. Sometimes I'll even see many family members with the same date of passing or dates within a month or so of each other and wonder just what happened. I know many of you might be thinking this is morbid but it's actually quite the opposite for me. It really lets me appreciate what we all have today as it's unusual for children to pass and infection deaths are just as rare....some pictures to illustrate my findings....


You might notice in the one above he passed in 1906, she was 1914, and their daughter was 1902 (before them). Please also note that he is 16yrs older than his wife and she was 15 when she had their daughter!!!!!!Notice that Catharine and Blanche (the bottom 2) died within a day of each other 11/29 and 11/30

Oh and this cemetary is OLD (I used to love the ones in TN because of all the civil war connections) and seems to be a little unkept. It's not neglected by the caretaker, but instead it seems the relatives stopped coming, probably as generations forgot about the past. Do you see all the knocked over headstones and huge bushes...well those bushes are covering up the headstoneThere is actually a headstone right on the front of this mass of bushes...not that tall one sticking up that one's far away. Someone obviously planted a nice tree or small bush and eventually the family just stopped coming and the plant overtook the plot.
It seems that some just uncovered these two headstones on the ground as the dirt was fresh there...wonder who and why?

On a final note, I saw this today at Whole Foods (which CA is known for but Modesto DOES NOT HAVE) and I thought of my hubby...he loves all things olive/pickled...I miss you babe